seeking a more consistent service motion

[TennisBoy]

I seem to have trouble with taking my racquet to the back scratch position on the serve. Perhaps I am just unsure of where it should be but i find the position to be inconsistent, espceially with the ball toss. I was wondering if anybody know the most effective way to bring your racquet over your shoulder.

Thanks.

[dozu]

If you don't have a good regular coach, just go with whatever you are most comfortable with, don't worry about back scratch, wrist snap and all that "by-products".

just stay loose, toss the ball up there and hit it.

[jun]

actually backscratch is extremely important. Without that proper position, you are likely to injure yourself and you won't be able to hit different types of serves effectively

If you are having trouble with going into backscratch motion, maybe you will have to consiously make an effort to do it. You can have whatever motion you want, but you have to go to the position before going up for the ball

[TennisBoy]

actually backscratch is extremely important. Without that proper position, you are likely to injure yourself and you won't be able to hit different types of serves effectively

If you are having trouble with going into backscratch motion, maybe you will have to consiously make an effort to do it. You can have whatever motion you want, but you have to go to the position before going up for the ball


Jun: So does that mean it isn't too important that the way u bring your racquet back? My question is say if you want to put a little slice on the serve, as opposed to a flat serve, i find myself changing the way i bring it back. On the flat serve, i like to bring it quickly up my shoulder to go along with my momentum, while hitting a slice serve, i'm more straightened out and have more of a loopy take back motion.

thanks

[Nikeman0092]

Here's a good drill you can do at home. Get a long sock (Tube sock, soccer sock, anything long) and put a tennis ball in it. Stuff it down to the bottom of the sock. Now go through a service motion but work on a fluid motion. Instead of stopping and starting again just keep going around and around. Work on bringing it down, back up, down to your back and exploding up. Then repete the cycle.

[TwistServe]

I dont think backscratch position is important at all.. If you force that you'll going to mishit the ball.. If you understand about giving the racquet more distance, you can let it happen naturally. Think more about pointing the butt of the racquet up than to "back scratch"...

Like a one hand backhand, you dont want to take back the racquet all the way when you're just learning.. Just go with a small takeback and after you understand the motion and feel, you'll naturally pull the racquet back more.. Same with serve.. Let the beginner abreivate the swing a bit so that he stays in control and gets comfortable.. After the server can do some flat and slice serves consistently, then they'll naturally take the racquet back farther and generate more power. Thats my opinion because that's how I learned...

[jun]

You have to go in to back scratch motion to have butt cap pointing towards sky before you go up for the ball. Of course, you want it to happen naturally, but some people don't get into that motion, and they have to practice it.

Obviously you can scratch back in many different ways. So it's important that you get the right picture. Go to tennisone.com and see some pics. Don't try Sampras's backscratch motion. His arms so damn loose and goes so far back. ^^

If you don't have this motion, then you will have hard time hitting certain types of serves, esp kick serve.

So my POINT is that, you can have any motion you want as long as you get into that butt cap point skywards - back scratching motion.
As you try different motion, you will probably find one that suits you the most, stick with it, and practice.

[Tim Tennis]

Hi Guys,

Nikeman0092, you said, "Here's a good drill you can do at home. Get a long sock (Tube sock, soccer sock, anything long) and put a tennis ball in it. Stuff it down to the bottom of the sock."

Another thing that you can try is to put a towel in the fork of the racquet and go through the process as you described. You will get about the same affect. It is a good drill to smooth out your service motion and eleminate and hitches.

You got to love the game.

[Ryoma]

There is no back scratching in the service motion at all. It's a throwing motion very much like the baseball pitch but added the leg element. And you are supposed to tilt a little bit to reach for the ball, since that's the proper way for the shoulder to work. And one of the crucial part of the service motion is retrieving the tossing arm, again like the baseball pitcher, the tossing arm should touch the chest to faciliate trunk and shoulder rotation.

[Bungalo Bill]

When players try to achieve the "so called" backscratch position it ruins a lot of players serves. The backscratch theory was to help elminate "waiters wrist". But it is not a fact of the serve.

A good way to practice the service motion is to get a ball and attach a string the length of your racquet. The string should be strong but loose. Swing the ball around so that there is no slack in the string throughout the swing. Keep swinging this around and around. That is your serve motion.

[dozu]

or use the thumb and index finger to hold the racket and swing it around and around.....

[Bungalo Bill]

or use the thumb and index finger to hold the racket and swing it around and around.....

Yes you can do that and that is a good warmup exercise as well. The purpose of the string is to find out where the swing slows down. In a service motion, the swing should maintain speed or gain speed depending on your coordination and toss.

When the swing slows down, slack is introduced into the string and the ball "jerks" in certain spots when the slack is removed.

But I agree with you that swining the racquet around helps too, it is just that the string has a purpose for being there other then just allowing the ball to swing around.