abbreviated serve help

[princeO32433]

i am currently using an abbreviated serve motion. however i do not get too much power on my serve. on abbreviated serve motions do you have to arm the ball more to get more power.

[RestockingTues]

No, try pushing off the ground more/harder with your legs. And shoulder rotation too. Could you post a vid of your serve?

[SystemicAnomaly]

i am currently using an abbreviated serve motion. however i do not get too much power on my serve. on abbreviated serve motions do you have to arm the ball more to get more power.

Are you referring to an abbreviated motion like Roddick's serve? Or perhaps you are talking about a serve where you start your racket arm in the trophy position or at some other point.

Note that a lot of the motion that good servers use prior to the trophy position is primarily for timing and rhythm and don't necessarily have a huge, direct impact on the power of the serve. It should not be necessary to "arm" the ball -- this can lead to shoulder problems. Shoulder tilt, shoulder/body coil, forearm rotation (pronation) and knee bend can be employed to generate more power on the serve.

[seb85]

i am currently using an abbreviated serve motion. however i do not get too much power on my serve. on abbreviated serve motions do you have to arm the ball more to get more power.

No you don't have to arm the ball. Furthermore, presumably you are using an abbreviated motion to combat some kind of shoulder trouble meaning that its really important not to.

It takes a little while to get used to an abbreviated motion- i found the best thing was to really make an effort to the body round and down with the stomach muscles whilst leaving my arm almost floppy. As another poster has already said its also very important to use the legs. Make sure you push off from both feet and propel yourself off the court, not just onto toes. You can gain a huge amount of power just from making sure you're body is moving into the court at impact.

Finally you must must must hit the ball in the sweet spot otherwise it will go nowhere fast!

Seb

[stinkpaw]

i am currently using an abbreviated serve motion. however i do not get too much power on my serve. on abbreviated serve motions do you have to arm the ball more to get more power.

In theory, the takeback shouldn't have any effect on what happens after you get into the trophey position. If you used to kill the ball before you switched takebacks I'm guessing your timing is just off.

I switched to a Martin-like takeback because it helped my timing. One thing I initially had problems with is I wasn't getting my tossing arm straight up in the air, which in turn gets ou into the good shoulder position.

Spen the $40 and join hitechtennis.com (I am not affiliated.) Go thru the serve lessons and you will have immediate improvement. They also have vids on Martin's takebak.

I know a lot of people here posted about using your legs. That may get you the extra 10-15% of power that makes the difference between a good and a killer serve. But if you aren't even at the 'good' level you probably have to work on your timing and **MOST IMPORTANTLY** your pronation into the ball. I don't care how much you jump into the court if you don't pronate (instead doing the waiter tray serve) you'll never have a solid serve.

But I suck so take what I say with a grain of salt.