Which pro has the best serve action to copy?

LeeD

Bionic Poster
Back on thread......
You gotta try looking at player's with your body type.
Like, I'm a stiff. I should be looking at server's who don't have extreme flexibility, or have long arms. Michael Stich is more my "model" than Pete Sampras.
If you're gumby, you can look at Pete's serves and try to emulate.
 

Curiosity

Professional
Limp,

Groth? OK wow. And my last comment is on Lew. ...........(deletions)......... As I learned many years ago in my Philosophy 10 class, due to the nature of human perception anyone can claim that a black wall is white. At least that is as long as we have freedom of speech--and I say that disagreements like this are a small price to pay for that.


Plato insisted that those who would study philosophy together must be friends. I think this applies to discussing stroke realities as well. There must be an attempt to present only theory carefully abstracted from real and worthy examples, and challenges to statements should flow from a combination of sincerity and proffered evidence. At least in the ideal tennis republic.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
No. I just stand straight up, with hardly any rocking motion, and use a knee bend to get the rhythm.

But to be frank my serves are not as good as his.

Don't use very much knee bend -- I don't believe that Stan would approve if you did. And, while you are at it, don't use shoulder tilt and make sure that your right elbow is too high at the trophy position. Lift your tossing arm in the direction of your intended serve (instead of parallel to the baseline). This should help you to use a minimal amount of torso/body coil for your trophy phase.

And be sure that your toss arcs back toward you to put that added stress on your shoulder. It might take a few years of hitting big serves, but I'm confident that you will need some shoulder PT or surgery if you follow my instructions closely on mastering the Wawa serve.
 

heninfan99

Talk Tennis Guru
No, no, you're more similar to marcus willis. :)
marcus_willis_eating_chocolate.width-370.jpg


We are not all created equal. We don't all have the same range of motion.
There are people who can stretch everyday and never go into the full splits.
Likewise, if you lay on your back on a table you can easily test the range of motion
of the shoulder and this can vary greatly. Some of the positions are not comfortable for all
and this is why there is a variety of serves.

Warinka tilts enough, you don't have to tilt like Gasquet.


I am doing a Wawrinka type of serve these days as I realized we have similar body types
 
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D

Deleted member 23235

Guest
If you want a very simple, abbreviated motion, consider a couple of (somewhat) recently-retired pros -- Todd Martin and Jeff Salzenstein.

http://www.hi-techtennis.com/serve/martin_serve.php

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrU6C8eilkI&t=77s


Note that Federer, Sampras, Djokovic, Martin and Salzenstein all use a platform stance. If you are so inclined, you might consider a pinpoint stance. Andy Murray and many others use this. Many find the balance and mechanics a little but trickier than the platform stance. But some find that it feels more natural for them. Another option is to go with a narrow platform (or a wide pinpoint) as characterized by Andy Roddick and Gael Monfils

Even tho' the abbreviated motion is fairly simple for many pro and non-pro servers, some rec players find it difficult to implement. Not sure why this is. They just seem to have trouble coordinating the 2 arms. If this is the case for you, you might want to use more of a full (classic) windup. Or a staggered preparation might be to your liking. Sampras is an extreme example of this latter style. Note that many players find the full/classic style and the staggered style tricky to implement. They often develop hitches in the serve and cannot coordinate their 2 arms properly.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/public/site_tour/the_three_service_rhythms/index.html
Personally, I like how Roddick played his serve. You adopt a narrow, yet comfortable stance, toss and set as you would for an overhead. His rhythm is very fast, but you can send the ball a tad higher to suit your needs. Hitting with an abbreviated motion is like practicing serve for your first time, except you do bother to bend your knees and get a full shoulder turn.

In my opinion, its simplicity makes it a good choice, but some people do find the longer preparation useful to get a proper rhythm. In my case, I just constantly screw up the arm movements, so I got rid of the whole takeback entirely. I'll definitely stick to that type of motion.

In your case, you have to try a few things and see if one kind of swing feels easier than another. It's all about getting the rhythm right so you can repeat the whole thing all the time.
+1 for roddick
very simple.
 

GuyClinch

Legend
If you want a very simple, abbreviated motion, consider a couple of (somewhat) recently-retired pros -- Todd Martin and Jeff Salzenstein.

Todd Martin is fine. To much emphasis on abbreviated vs. not - all the coil, shoulder tilt, even toss is quite similar between say Todd Martin and Pete Sampras.. So you aren't buying that much with abbreviated.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
Todd Martin is fine. To much emphasis on abbreviated vs. not - all the coil, shoulder tilt, even toss is quite similar between say Todd Martin and Pete Sampras.. So you aren't buying that much with abbreviated.

Sampras employs an extreme Staggered rhythm for his serve. Many have great difficulty trying to emulate that rhythm. Even with a moderate staggered rhythm or with a classic Down together-Up together rhythm, many players have considerable difficult trying to synchronize the arms. This can result in hitches in the motion or a very awkward rhythm for many players. While an abbreviated motion is not for everyone, it can eliminate the hitches or spastic rhythms that many players experience with the other serving styles.
 

PMChambers

Hall of Fame
If you want a very simple, abbreviated motion, consider a couple of (somewhat) recently-retired pros -- Todd Martin and Jeff Salzenstein.

http://www.hi-techtennis.com/serve/martin_serve.php

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrU6C8eilkI&t=77s


Note that Federer, Sampras, Djokovic, Martin and Salzenstein all use a platform stance. If you are so inclined, you might consider a pinpoint stance. Andy Murray and many others use this. Many find the balance and mechanics a little but trickier than the platform stance. But some find that it feels more natural for them. Another option is to go with a narrow platform (or a wide pinpoint) as characterized by Andy Roddick and Gael Monfils

Even tho' the abbreviated motion is fairly simple for many pro and non-pro servers, some rec players find it difficult to implement. Not sure why this is. They just seem to have trouble coordinating the 2 arms. If this is the case for you, you might want to use more of a full (classic) windup. Or a staggered preparation might be to your liking. Sampras is an extreme example of this latter style. Note that many players find the full/classic style and the staggered style tricky to implement. They often develop hitches in the serve and cannot coordinate their 2 arms properly.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/public/site_tour/the_three_service_rhythms/index.html

Jeff has said that he basis a lot of his service training material on Sampras and Federer. So with that in mind Federer and Sampras are good technical reference. Problem is they're both advanced so need a Jeff to simplify them some what, most people aren't fit enough to copy either verbatim and Sampras pronation levels are unobtainable for most including pro's.
 

GuyClinch

Legend
Sampras employs an extreme Staggered rhythm for his serve. Many have great difficulty trying to emulate that rhythm. Even with a moderate staggered rhythm or with a classic Down together-Up together rhythm, many players have considerable difficult trying to synchronize the arms. This can result in hitches in the motion or a very awkward rhythm for many players. While an abbreviated motion is not for everyone, it can eliminate the hitches or spastic rhythms that many players experience with the other serving styles.

Staggered is tougher. But the difference between Martin and guys like Thiem and Federer is small in terms of difficulty. It's not that abbreviated buys you nothing - just not much. Martin still has to coil -toss - tilt shoulders etc. Only difference is he doesn't let racquet drop and then bend arm during all this stuff.

Most teaching pros will start a player with abbreivated and then relatively quickly go to a normal motion rather then stick on with abbreviated. I think thats because the hard part of the serve - that stuff is still there with eitehr technique.
 
V

VexlanderPrime

Guest
I second Lopez and Fed. Fed in particular nails the fundamentals. Nearly identical tossing regardless of serve. Doesn't wildly dive foreword like some. Hits a great TS kick serve at times.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
I think Stan the man

Some of Stan's tosses are too far back (behind the baseline). Stressful to the shoulder. Too many flaws with Stan's serve to consider him as a suitable model.

I'm not sure Stan's is the right motion to copy. I even heard a commentator, possibly Johnny Mac but I don't recall for sure, Mention that Stan is kind of muscling the serve. Stan is a really strong dude, even for a pro athlete. I'm not sure he's a good model to copy.
Not a huge fan of the Stanimal serve. Not much of a knee bend or a leg drive at all. Elbow a bit high for his trophy phase. While it is not as bad as Tomic in this respect, it is not something that others should emulate. Rec players who try to implement a high elbow like these guys might do it even worse and risk a shoulder impingement.

Don't really like the direction than Stan lifts his tossing arm. It is nearly in line with the direction of his serve. Most elite servers lift the tossing arm close to parallel to the baseline. This might not be easy to emulate for some players. If that is the case, I would recommend lifting the arm at some intermediate angle -- but definitely not in the direction of the serve and many WTA and non-elite players do. The other side of the coin in this is that Wawarinka, like many WTA players, does not achieve a sufficient body/torso coil.

Because of his lack of leg drive and body/torso coil, Stan may be relying in the the strength of his shoulder and arm for his serve power. This is not efficient and might place too much stress on the shoulder/rotator cuff for most players.

Wawa also pulls his head down early. His eyes are looking straight ahead, not up, on contact. Much prefer Federer, Sampras, Murray and Nadal in this respect. Eyes stay on the ball until impact for most of their serves. Much better habit to cultivate for most rec or aspiring players.
System,
Fully agreed. If you look at his contact point it is too far back over his head. That is the hardest thing on the shoulder. With his extreme pinpoint stance he has no turn away from the ball. On the left to right axis his contact is also pretty far to the right making it harder to kick. He's about a 56% lifetime server.
I don't think the "body type" argument makes sense either. Look at Henin--complete opposite of Sampras and Fed yet a similar motion. As I said above there are core elements in all the good serves. Stan is a little off on several. If it was Johnny who said he muscled it, for once I agree with him on technique!
Thanks for this post. Excellent points. The contact point issue was one of the "flaws" (sub-optimal features) that I had overlooked. It didn't register with me until you pointed it out. He lifts his left arm forward (toward the net), like delPotro does, but he doesn't quite get the toss far enough forward at contact (relative to his head/shoulder). His toss actually arcs back toward him quite a bit in the video below:


This video highlights 2 of his other "flaws" -- the high right elbow and the lack of shoulder tilt. Gotta say that I prefer Henin's serve mechanic to Wawrinka's. I wouldn't be surprised if Stan changed his serve mechanics if he decides to stick around on the pro tour for a few more. years.

When his serve is ON, it serves him quite well. However, his serve seems to betray him at other times. And I don't believe that he ever had the ability to place the serve as well as Federer does. Seems to be quite a bit less effective at times.
 

Shroud

G.O.A.T.
You are being disingenuous. I never said impingement was the only shoulder injury but it shows the type of poster you are.

If you're too rigid to learn from Wawrinka, well, all I can say is it makes sense reading your posts.
I would recommend being more fluid in your thinking because you're stuck in the mud.

Again, Stan proves a dramatic knee-bend, over-arching of the back and jumping a foot off the ground are not necessary to having a world class serve.
All tennis players get injuries it is a brutal sport but so far so good for Stan. Even perfect Federer had back issues but I think Stan's results against the best returner in history speak for themselves.

The game is changing and moving forward so remember:
The players are the teachers.
Yeah and stan uses an open stance so he is best
 
I've started comparing my serve to Roger but before I go too far is he a good example to try and copy?

I guess some-one with lots of online footage, a simple motion are probably the priority.
I pick Pete Sampras's serve. It's simple to follow and Pete was perhaps the best server of all time.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
@men8ifr
I pick Pete Sampras's serve. It's simple to follow and Pete was perhaps the best server of all time.

Excellent serve but not easy at all to emulate his extreme staggered rhythm. Take a look at how much his racket and right arm are delayed relative to tossing arm. He needs a pretty high toss to accommodate this delay. I believe that Federer had used the Sampras serve as a model back in the 90s. Roger's serve evolved -- his serve rhythm has much less stagger than Pete's and should be much easier to emulate.

sampras-serve.jpg
hqdefault.jpg


 

NLBwell

Legend
Bad idea to copy the motion of any ONE or TWO pros.
Good idea to develop your serve knowing the motions of 20 pros, taking the parts you need as they apply.
You just cannot decide to serve like Tanner, if you're a long loop swing server with a high toss.
Conversely, practicing Ivan Lendl's serve is absurd if you hit a low toss quick motion serve.
Then it comes down to final details. If you don't have the back bend to start with, you can't copy ANY Pro serve except maybe Stan's.
I think imitating pros serves for fun has incidentally helped me to understand the serve and my motion better. I learned how to hit a low-toss quick serve imitating Tanner and later Ivanisevic. I imitated Mark Cox sometimes with a lot of shoulder tilt and low elbow. Imitating McEnroe proved to be a very worthwhile endeavor since I used that motion a lot when I tore my elbow tendon and still use it a lot. Of course, I always kept my own service motion as my basic serve, but even that has changed due to all of my injuries. I think it could be worthwhile to try imitating several different pros to understand the different aspects of the serve, especially the relationship between ball toss and swing timing.
 

SinjinCooper

Hall of Fame
I second Lopez...

Some things that are extra awesome about Lopez:
  • Absolutely textbook from the soles of his shoes to the top of his toss
  • Uses a very limited but effective arsenal of serves (this in particular makes studying Fed a task)
  • Does nothing that requires inherently great athleticism or timing -- modestly angled (but sufficient) feet, modest rotation (but sufficient) on the shoulders, modest knee bend, 90 degree angles all over the place on the hitting arm, normal toss height, no excessive arching with the back, no excessive overreaching with toss arm, activates hips using about 90% footwork instead of relying 100% on Samprasian hip yoga
Pity the fact that he's a lefty screws with some people's perception, but what'cha gonna do.
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
I think imitating pros serves for fun has incidentally helped me to understand the serve and my motion better. I learned how to hit a low-toss quick serve imitating Tanner and later Ivanisevic. I imitated Mark Cox sometimes with a lot of shoulder tilt and low elbow. Imitating McEnroe proved to be a very worthwhile endeavor since I used that motion a lot when I tore my elbow tendon and still use it a lot. Of course, I always kept my own service motion as my basic serve, but even that has changed due to all of my injuries. I think it could be worthwhile to try imitating several different pros to understand the different aspects of the serve, especially the relationship between ball toss and swing timing.

Aren't we saying the same thing?
 

heninfan99

Talk Tennis Guru
Troll betterer
All jokes aside, this truly looks like Wawrinka's serve. Yes, it is in platform stance, overly loopy, in slow motion, with truncated pronation, and the player is morbidly out of shape, but other than that, it is Stan's serve.
 

ark_28

Legend
I have modelled my serve on Pete here is a clip.


I quite like Juan Carlos Ferrero serve though nice and smooth and I think it would be a good one to try and copy.
 

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
Nice serve & volleying.

The beginning part of your serve looks like a lefty Sampras.

Are you using a continental grip?

I have modelled my serve on Pete here is a clip.


I quite like Juan Carlos Ferrero serve though nice and smooth and I think it would be a good one to try and copy.
 

coupergear

Professional
Federer. Effortless power. I think the critical thing is keeping the motion smooth and easy no matter what you're doing. I think a lot of people are trying to guide their arm through the motion that they see when they see Federer or Sampras and then they're basically just arming the ball and then when they try to add power they just arm it harder trying to mimic a pro and this can cause all kinds of shoulder problems. I think the secret to a good serve and a lot of people talk about it--unlocking and so forth is that the take-back motion even the loop they're all slow and easy. power is only added really at the last millisecond of a serve. If you start gripping and trying to muscle the ball any earlier than that last split-second you're in for a world of shoulder pain and injury.
 

heninfan99

Talk Tennis Guru
Good work & effort but this is what always happens. People say they should be imitating Sampras and just hunch over and lift the toes up and that's it and ignore the whole of the serve motion. I guess I am spoiled with seeing Rampras' serve and hoped someone else could do it.

With Federer as a model they rock forward and that's where the similarities end. The key checkpoints are totally ignored.

I think Fed & Pete's serves are very complex AND athletic...prolly too difficult for we regular rec players.


I have modelled my serve on Pete here is a clip.


I quite like Juan Carlos Ferrero serve though nice and smooth and I think it would be a good one to try and copy.
 

watungga

Professional
OP, if you want to determine your natural serve motion and see what pro that's similar to you, make a hundred of practice serves with your feet positioned at 1m-2m away from the service line. You don't need to be stationary to start your serve, you can walk to the said area and start the toss right away (like a volleyball server). Make sure that you get your consistencies in putting the ball in, and of course, make note of those serve action changes that you like.

After all things get done and done, you won't really mind what your preferred "pro" does.
 

watungga

Professional
Federer. Effortless power. I think the critical thing is keeping the motion smooth and easy no matter what you're doing. I think a lot of people are trying to guide their arm through the motion that they see when they see Federer or Sampras and then they're basically just arming the ball and then when they try to add power they just arm it harder trying to mimic a pro and this can cause all kinds of shoulder problems. I think the secret to a good serve and a lot of people talk about it--unlocking and so forth is that the take-back motion even the loop they're all slow and easy. power is only added really at the last millisecond of a serve. If you start gripping and trying to muscle the ball any earlier than that last split-second you're in for a world of shoulder pain and injury.

Effortless... wrong. In ATP world, everyone needs effort when serving. The pronation itself demands that you negotiate your body movement with it, otherwise your arm/shoulder may break.

In a club perspective, an effortless serve is possible coz there are majority who serve the ball like it is delivered like 'manna' from heaven.
 

philosoup

Rookie
A cleanup version of Nadal's is good also for rec players. An great example of body natural weight shift and rotation, effortless although he is not the best atp server.
 

MajesticMoose

Hall of Fame
I think another good motion to copy was Rafter's. Pretty solid motion and easy to try and emulate. That's the one I try to go after anyway.
 

NothingButNet

Semi-Pro
Stan has a terrible service motion. I would not want anyone to copy it as he doesn't make use of his body very well.

For all those that say Stan's is great but still imperfect (though it suits him), I think Escobedo's serve is perhaps an overall improvement on it:

Start at 7:37

"
"

Love the way this dude hits the ball - forehand and serve in particular
 
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talbs

New User
I somewhat attempted to copy the Sampras trophy position when I initially learned to serve. Went with what felt right for easy power and just tried to keep things fluid. Here's a picture breakdown of my motion.











Works well for me. Maybe there's something in there others can benefit from.
 
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mcs1970

Hall of Fame
Forget Sampras or Fed. They're serving Gods. Here's a 5'9" (maybe) pro blasting aces against one of the best returners of all time. No contortions or gimmicks. Just throw the ball up and hit....should work for most rec level players. Plus if you're tired you can always serve underhanded like he did :):

 
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Digital Atheist

Hall of Fame
I'd say take what is most natural to you for a starting place then look to a pro for similarities
Absolutely +1. Video your serve then find the best match (remember that you don't need to mimic every single aspect of that players serve, as parts of it will be unique to you).

I have tried to copy quite a few of them. My final opinion is the more simple, fewer movements, rolling, the better. So the answer is definitely Djokovic's serve. Yes Federer's and Lopez' serve are beautiful to watch and very effective but it's not easy to do. For example Federer bends over a lot during the ball bounce and suddenly straightens up with a huge racquet take back all of which makes it difficult to coordinate and time. Djokovic stands upright, he doesn't even bring the tossing arm all the way down his leg or knee at the start, so nothing exaggerated. To me that's the perfect serve.

I hear what you are saying but it's not entirely true that leaning or rocking forward and then back is difficult, and just standing upright during the prep phase feels quite unnatural for me. That may also be the case for some but not for others, but it can make the serve more effective in certain instances. An often overlooked aspect of the serve is this preparation phase (including the rocking motion) which helps establish a rhythm. It's all about finding the rhythm that's best for the individual. Here is an excellent breakdown of the options:


And another:


Basically, pick what's most comfortable.
 

joe sch

Legend
If you want a very simple, abbreviated motion, consider a couple of (somewhat) recently-retired pros -- Todd Martin and Jeff Salzenstein.

http://www.hi-techtennis.com/serve/martin_serve.php

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrU6C8eilkI&t=77s


Note that Federer, Sampras, Djokovic, Martin and Salzenstein all use a platform stance. If you are so inclined, you might consider a pinpoint stance. Andy Murray and many others use this. Many find the balance and mechanics a little but trickier than the platform stance. But some find that it feels more natural for them. Another option is to go with a narrow platform (or a wide pinpoint) as characterized by Andy Roddick and Gael Monfils

Even tho' the abbreviated motion is fairly simple for many pro and non-pro servers, some rec players find it difficult to implement. Not sure why this is. They just seem to have trouble coordinating the 2 arms. If this is the case for you, you might want to use more of a full (classic) windup. Or a staggered preparation might be to your liking. Sampras is an extreme example of this latter style. Note that many players find the full/classic style and the staggered style tricky to implement. They often develop hitches in the serve and cannot coordinate their 2 arms properly.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/public/site_tour/the_three_service_rhythms/index.html
Great advice especially if you dont have the flexibility for the classic toss/takeback service motion, read the hi-tt link above regarding the below advice:
"If you are having trouble getting in the trophy position ..."
 
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