open stance serve

[Skppr05]

I've recently switched from using a closed traditional serving stance to a fully open one. My question is how do you gain more power using this stance? Also, is it only a flat serve that can be hit with this stance or are there more?

[Marius_Hancu]

hm, perhaps this helps

in the Sticky at the top find the link to:
Going from platform to pinpoint?

[nickybol]

Why would you use a open stance on the serve? Can you explain exactly how you stand with an open stance on your serve, because in my opinion it`s impossible to hit a serve with an open stance.

[Geezer Guy]

Open Stance Serve? As in both feet are parallel to the baseline, toes pointed at the net? I don't see how you could get ANY power with that! Did you make that up yourself, or did you get advice from someone else on that?

UPDATE: Sorry - as i re-read my post I realize it sounded pretty sarcastic. Please consider it a genuine question, not a sarcastic comment.

[Marius_Hancu]

are you talking about something similar to Venus W's serve?
she's more "open"

[Skppr05]

Yea, thats exaclty what it is, toes pointed to the net, throw the ball in front of you, and bring it down. Its effective and accurate. So far all my power comes in my wrist movement. no, i di not make it up.

[jeebeesus]

the swing path of the serve is inside out. by opening up your stance you make it an outside in swing.

[Marius_Hancu]

Yea, thats exaclty what it is, toes pointed to the net, throw the ball in front of you, and bring it down. Its effective and accurate. So far all my power comes in my wrist movement.

OK, so you're trying to serve like Venus.

Now before the switch to this stance, were you any better?

Were you using other elements for power, or still just the wrist?

[Marius_Hancu]

well, just to refresh myself on what Venus is doing, I went to tennisplayer.net and visualized several clips of her serve, including "leg action" and "body rotation" ones

as expected, all the basics are there

what she is executing is practically a modified pinpoint serve:
she starts with the right foot at the back of her left leg
then brings it forward close to the line (instead of having it close to the left foot and behind it) to the right; you might say that her legs are facing the court more than for other players, but:

she's NOT open in terms of torso, her torso is at least perpendicular to the net during the backscratch phase, thus she has a nice torso rotation

the left knee is also very well bent, as for all good pinpointers, and there's a lot of action there too

her shoulder and upper arm flexibility during the backscratch are outstanding (as for Serena), and they bring another important contribution too (the upper arm rotation wrt the shoulder)

and of course, there's pronation

thus all the elements are there, you just have to use all of them

as I told you, get to my posting
Server Power and Placement
at the top of this forum
and try to absorb what's there

[Exile]

So far all my power comes in my wrist movement.


And we all know how smart using your wrist forcefully in tennis is....

[Skppr05]

I was doing well with both types of serving....

[donnyz89]

if u want power, first examine where the power comes from...

wrist? arm? legs? shoulders? hips? definitly not wrist and litle from arm. some from let but most of the power is being relaxed and be fully extended when u hit, then its the launch up motion. trying to use wrist for power is not healthy.

[GrahamIsSuper]

Actually, a lot of coaches now-a-days are employing this strategy. It is a good way of teaching propper shoulder/trunk rotation on the serve. The problem is, is that you can't really get much leg action, and so your serve power is vastly diminished. If I were you, I would slowly (like maybe 3 inches at a time, at most) start rotating your feet, assuming you are right-handed- back to the right towards a more traditional formed serve.

So, if you are hitting serves for practice, which I strongly advise you do, I would hit around 25 or so with your new open stance, focusing on getting lots or trunk/shoulder coiling and rotation. Then, rotate your entire stance to the right about 3 inches. It SHOULD still feel pretty natural compared to your open. Now hit like 25+ more serves, or until it feels really natural. Then just repeat the process until you are back to the closed stance. But remember, YOUR TOSS MUST REMAIN IN THE SAME PLACE EVERY TIME!!!! Do not change it. Keep it to the right of your body and slightly in front. The toss is one of the most under-rated and neglected part of the serve. A consistent toss leads to consistent serves.

Its important for you to know this. What you are doing may be considered "weird" by some, but it actually will help your game considerably. With your newly discovered trunk/shoulder rotation, not only will it up your percentage, but you should experience a pretty big increase in power and placement. Just make sure you take your rotation to traditional slowly, work at your own pace. Some people can fix it in a day and be fine, others may take weeks or even months. Slow and steady wins the race, pal!

[donnyz89]

now i think of it. one of my friend uses a kind of open stance serve. its not normal where he is sideways and he can get kick, slice, power on it. hes a great player too, top 20 in the state caliber if he plays enough tournaments.

[lkdog]

Braden actually espouses using this completely open stance as a way to practice and also see if you are getting adequate shoulder/ hip/ arm rotation and action.
You can hit it hard this way, but must have everything else in the kinetic chain working.

[kian]

Can someone please post some clips of an openstance serve?

Thanks alot!