Framing Kick Serves

[lordmanji]

man, what a horrible night for serving. i framed so many kick serves. im starting to think since it happens often enough that my technique - namely my pronation - is off. i always just swing up and forward but i saw fyb's video and it said i should be pronating to the right (im a righty). any thoughts on this? open to suggestions. i have a eastern bh grip btw for it.

[SystemicAnomaly]

Have you has this problem in the past? Was it just an off night? Topspin kick or twist kick?

It may or may not be helpful to concern yourself with pronation on your kick serves. While pronation is part of every non-beginner server, it doesn't necessarily help to dwell on it. For some it does, while for others, it does not. Have you tried other grip variations? I recall a thread from last year that included a discussion of various service grips. Some used a standard continental, some used a standard Eastern BH grip and others used variations of these 2 grip types.

[larry10s]

ive been told framing kick serves is a good thing( ie good miss) .means the racqet swingpath is in the correct direction

[mikeler]

Try and keep your head up longer the next match. Pulling my eyes off the ball too soon is usually the cause when I frame my kickers.

[Nellie]

^^^Yes - you are likely dropping your head and not looking at the ball. Framing the kick serves usually means that you are just mm's off, and likely do not a big adjustment.

[GuyClinch]

Try and keep your head up longer the next match. Pulling my eyes off the ball too soon is usually the cause when I frame my kickers.

Heh. This tip might help me too. The OP isn't the only one framing kick serves. I was doing it like crazy the other day..

[ls206]

what's you ball toss like?
try throwing a little more into the court.

[SystemicAnomaly]

Try and keep your head up longer the next match. Pulling my eyes off the ball too soon is usually the cause when I frame my kickers.

Excellent advice. Make sure that you also keep your tossing arm up (and vertical) until your racket drop. The outstretched tossing hand should provide a much-needed spatial reference to your ball toss. This should make it easier to time your swing and hit the ball more accurately.

As for keeping the eyes & head up, take a look at videos of Federer serving. There are some excellent slo-mo videos that really show him intently watching the ball toss. He keeps his head up & his eyes glued to the contact point even tho' his head is somewhat (it is moving out out of the way to allow his back shoulder to come up & round).

Contrast Federer's head/eye actions with Roddick's. Andy pulls his head down early -- he does not watch the ball toss as long as Federer. This is something only an advanced player can get away with -- the rest of us moer mortals would do better to emulate Roger.

[LeeD]

Yeah, since kicks and topspin serves are hit with a very closed racket face, lead by the frame of the racket, the margin for error is also very low, and mishits will result if you don't pay attention to watching the ball and having a repetible swing. More practice so you can kick with your eyes closed is a good practice to try. It's a timing thing anyways, so work on getting the toss and the swing working as one.
Night can be difficult to keep sighted on the ball, since lights are up there in your eyes. So consister TIMING as your main crutch to keep serves in and located when you get better at tennis.