Has anyone on the board learned to hit 130mph serves?

[dennis10is]

Originally Posted by dr325i

I am sorry, did not know Tatiana or a Pro posted in this thread. If I had known, I would have not challenged it.
On the other hand, any poster buff claiming a consistent 120 throughout the match or a 130 at any time, IN OR OUT OF THE BOX, I would challenge to see the video.

Something must be lost in the translation here so I'm just going to leave it alone.

[tennisnoob3]

Originally Posted by dennis10is

Something must be lost in the translation here so I'm just going to leave it alone.

by buff, i think he meant internet buff, not athletic build buff.

[maverick66]

Originally Posted by tennisnoob3

by buff, i think he meant internet buff, not athletic build buff.

He is Buff and he is the Stuff.

Late 90's WCW rules.

[tennisnoob3]

howd you find that picture of me???

[kiteboard]

Originally Posted by 5263

Nicely stated.
When the elbow extends earlier in the movement, it will move slower to make the contact timing work out. By delaying, the racket must go farther in a shorter amount of time; which will equal racket head speed when done right.

Do you mean rotating the hitting structure upwards, only after yanking toss arm down and tucking leading shoulder down first, and then rotate the elbow upwards?

[kiteboard]

So one guy posting, has learned how to do it? The guy who put up the vid, that serve is about 80mph.

[Loopy07]

Originally Posted by 5263

Nicely stated.
When the elbow extends earlier in the movement, it will move slower to make the contact timing work out. By delaying, the racket must go farther in a shorter amount of time; which will equal racket head speed when done right.

I'm not sure I can see the picture. Do you have a link with pictures to explain this? I think my best serve is only about 75-80 mph. And I see players with really bad 2nd serves can hit 1st serves pretty fast. Not sure how they are doing it.

[LeeD]

Kiteboard....
Having faced your serves once in practice, I can honestly say your fastest would fall right around 90 mph with heavy top/side spin, sometimes top/top, sometimes top/twist.
So if you flatten it out, you'd get an easy 120, which might not be fast enough to bother anyone you play unless you have great placement when you need it.
That's why you chose to hit it slower, but get it in 65% the first time.

[kiteboard]

Josh radared me a couple days ago, at night, and got 86-88-91mph with a slice wide, and 103-105-106 with a flat serve dtm. Not so good. It would be a real dream to hit 130, but it's out of reach. I don't have the right technique. Not enough stick speed, or whip. My stick mass is 360g, and my string was gut/og micro, so that was not it. I just cannot do it yet, if ever. No leg drive, and am not delaying the elbow. Destroyed the doubles competition with it, though, as they were only 4.0s. My return was killing them as well, and I came into net off it, after blasting 80mph bh returns at the net man, and on rushing listed 5.0 guy, who is really a 4.0. I am an all courter, with aggressive returns, used as approaches, poach/fake well, and can serve/volley or stay back and blast off the ground, but, the serve is not going to cut it against 5.0s. You faced my serve years ago, but it's not much better now. Very hard to change an old stroke.

[LeeD]

I wonder if your "flat DTM" is still highly spun.
Did it really go "POW", or did it pow with a hiss?
Most players can add easily 30 by flattening out their fastest spin serves, if the flat is pure "POW" with no hissing sounds.
And isn't your second serve very similar to your first? That would mean you should be able to increase the first flat speed by quite a bit.

[Power Player]

I am tring to figure this out still..the hardest serves I have hit seem effortless and like my arm is relaxed..I am not sure if this is correct tecnique or luck, but when my arm is real relaxed and "noodle-like" I have unleased some bombs. But lately I have just been working on hitting 80-90ish mph placement serves so I get some consistency.

[LeeD]

Fast serves need that effortless whippy snap effect. Little muscle, but tons of acceleration and a high elbow finish to add the final "whip" to the rackethead.
Most players who can serve into the 100's, if they figure out the high elbow after impact finish, can increase ball speed into the teens.

[dozu]

so Lee, looks like your radar, aka your eyes, needs to be recalibrated by -15 mph or so.

[LeeD]

Not at all!
He said his slice wide serves goes slightly slower than I said.
I'm surprised his "flatDTM" goes so slow, but I'll bet he doesn't flatten it out to a pure POP, but rather retains some slice or topspin to make the ball go IN.
Gotta understand, Kiteboard is basically 6' tall and 220lbs of sheer muscle. He covers baseline like nobodie's business, and moves extremely well for a big guy.
And I've watched him hit over 30 times. His motion TWISTS on takeback, giving the spin effect.

[SlowButSure]

I can't hit it 130, but can hit low to mid 120's (fastest I've clocked was 125, but usually it's 123-124 max).

That being said, I very rarely use that serve as it's pretty flat. My main serve is typically 112-116 with a fair bit of spin. Seems to be a lot harder for people to return than the flat one. I throw the flat one in occasionally as a change of pace, usually as a body shot.

I started playing about 6 years ago. I played football in high school and was a pitcher in baseball in high school and college. I read a fair bit about tennis when I started, and really worked on my serve motion from the begining. Someone else in this thread mentioned using the towel drill and high football throws. I did those, in addition to a weighted rope and lots of shoulder ROM work (especailly external rotation.) I worked a lot on the upper body part then added leg drive as timing got better.

Personally I'd disagree with the lots of practic part, at least intiially. I'd start with doing drills to help develop a faster arm swing. Do that for a while, then go back to your serve. I've always found when I'm serving I worry a lot about getting it in, which of course is important, but can be counter-productive if you're trying to re-vamp your motion.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

And here's a video. Not an all out serve, but same general motion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsobxufECTM

[rdis10093]

fastest I ever got was 93 mph, not close to 130, but at the level I play at, it gets the job done, besides it is placement and spin not power. I know guys on my team that can hit low 120s and there serves are not that hard to get back, but none the less my 93 slice looks like chilplay comapared to there 120s.

[Kevo]

I haven't been able to get my speedtrak to register above 115mph. My fastest flats down the middle never register. I think the angle to the gun is too steep. Maybe a tall tripod behind me might work, but I'm not concerned enough with top speed to try it. I think once you get over 110mph you have more than enough speed to ace anyone assuming you also have reasonable placement.

The trick to speed is rotation from the arm. A lot of people have too much forward arm motion at impact and that actually reduces top speed.

[BMC9670]

So, do all you big servers ever S&V? I once played a guy who had a HUGE serve. Not sure how fast, but the biggest I'd ever faced. I could only block it back, which worked, but was very defensive and weak. The thing is, he stayed at the baseline as waited for my floating return instead of coming in and putting it away. IMO he didn't capitalize on his weapon as the rest of his game was very average.

It seems to me that if you have a big serve at the 3.5/4.0 level, S&V would be a good strategy as many players will not be as offensive on the return.

[kiteboard]

Originally Posted by SlowButSure

I can't hit it 130, but can hit low to mid 120's (fastest I've clocked was 125, but usually it's 123-124 max).

That being said, I very rarely use that serve as it's pretty flat. My main serve is typically 112-116 with a fair bit of spin. Seems to be a lot harder for people to return than the flat one. I throw the flat one in occasionally as a change of pace, usually as a body shot.

I started playing about 6 years ago. I played football in high school and was a pitcher in baseball in high school and college. I read a fair bit about tennis when I started, and really worked on my serve motion from the begining. Someone else in this thread mentioned using the towel drill and high football throws. I did those, in addition to a weighted rope and lots of shoulder ROM work (especailly external rotation.) I worked a lot on the upper body part then added leg drive as timing got better.

Personally I'd disagree with the lots of practic part, at least intiially. I'd start with doing drills to help develop a faster arm swing. Do that for a while, then go back to your serve. I've always found when I'm serving I worry a lot about getting it in, which of course is important, but can be counter-productive if you're trying to re-vamp your motion.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

And here's a video. Not an all out serve, but same general motion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsobxufECTM

This is well thought out comment.

[kiteboard]

Originally Posted by Kevo

I haven't been able to get my speedtrak to register above 115mph. My fastest flats down the middle never register. I think the angle to the gun is too steep. Maybe a tall tripod behind me might work, but I'm not concerned enough with top speed to try it. I think once you get over 110mph you have more than enough speed to ace anyone assuming you also have reasonable placement.

The trick to speed is rotation from the arm. A lot of people have too much forward arm motion at impact and that actually reduces top speed.

Nice arm comment.