How to hit a ball harder?

[derickyan]

okay i've been playing tennis and whenever i serve i hit it really soft or else it'll just fly all the way out. it also happens sometimes when i have flat hits. i hit it and it would go out. any tips? and yes im pretty much a beginner. i havent played for a while.

[Headshotterer]

for me i would hit long if my ball toss wasnt high and my swing mechanisms was incorrect

[derickyan]

Originally Posted by Headshotterer

for me i would hit long if my ball toss wasnt high and my swing mechanisms was incorrect

i try to hit harder but it would go a little too long. ahah
any tips? :3

[KenC]

You really need a couple hours with a teaching coach who thoroughly understands how to hit the serves.

[treblings]

best tip, find a good coach who will work with you on your technique
alternatively post a video here and let the usual suspects analyse your strokes

[vil]

Originally Posted by derickyan

okay i've been playing tennis and whenever i serve i hit it really soft or else it'll just fly all the way out. it also happens sometimes when i have flat hits. i hit it and it would go out. any tips? and yes im pretty much a beginner. i havent played for a while.

Oh well, it sounds like there's a lot of work to be done and not just getting a hint from forumers. It would be best if you could afford a good coach for few hours to show you and explain you some fundamentals. The way I understand, you can actually hit the ball hard but you have no control over the shot. What keeps the ball in the court while hitting hard, is the spin. As for the serve it also depends how tall you are. You might consider to start learning kick serve. There's a whole forum about it somewhere here.
Good luck

[Mick3391]

Originally Posted by derickyan

okay i've been playing tennis and whenever i serve i hit it really soft or else it'll just fly all the way out. it also happens sometimes when i have flat hits. i hit it and it would go out. any tips? and yes im pretty much a beginner. i havent played for a while.

You'll hit harder as you learn. Don't worry about power, work on technique and power will come.

[TheCheese]

You need more spin to control your shots as you develop more power.

[donnygg]

1) Toss further into the court so that you'll naturally have the tendency to hit downwards
2) Learn to add topspin to your serves

A little off topic but if you're a beginner as you said, you shouldn't be using poly (re: your other thread). You wouldn't be able to reap the benefit of poly and may even injure yourself. Stick to synthetic gut and multi until your strokes are more developed.

[5263]

Originally Posted by derickyan

okay i've been playing tennis and whenever i serve i hit it really soft or else it'll just fly all the way out. it also happens sometimes when i have flat hits. i hit it and it would go out. any tips? and yes im pretty much a beginner. i havent played for a while.

Strive for good form and your power can and will come.

[UCSF2012]

Form schwarm. He hasn't found his range yet. Even the pros occasionally serve a yard long. That's because they lost the range.


The most important part of the serve....is the toss.

[LeeD]

P R A C T I C E ....
Nothing else matters as much as lots of practice.
For form, look at vids of JuanCarlosFerrero or LeytonHewitt. Don't make up your own.
Lots of spin for second serves, swung as fast as you can under control.
For first serves, your choice. Some need high percentage, some like to take the risk with flat serves at 40%.

[Coach Chad]

Same thing was happening to a woman I was coaching last night....toss and form were good, but her contact point was off. Watch some videos on here and see if your contact point is off. Just a thought!

[derickyan]

Originally Posted by donnygg

1) Toss further into the court so that you'll naturally have the tendency to hit downwards
2) Learn to add topspin to your serves

A little off topic but if you're a beginner as you said, you shouldn't be using poly (re: your other thread). You wouldn't be able to reap the benefit of poly and may even injure yourself. Stick to synthetic gut and multi until your strokes are more developed.

Thanks everyone! and sorry i was trying to find a little stronger string like bhbr. which string should i use?

[Fuji]

Video yourself! Best thing you can do to analyse your game. My coach does video analysis on the spot and it's great. He'll pull up your own video vs a pro with a similar stroke style and you're able to see the (normally) HUGE difference between your game. It helps because you can really see what mistakes you are making.

-Fuji

[derickyan]

Originally Posted by Fuji

Video yourself! Best thing you can do to analyse your game. My coach does video analysis on the spot and it's great. He'll pull up your own video vs a pro with a similar stroke style and you're able to see the (normally) HUGE difference between your game. It helps because you can really see what mistakes you are making.

-Fuji

okay thanks guys. ill try to video myself sometime when i have the time. hey fuji i also had a question. will rpm blast or bhbr hurt my arm if i used it? or is it comfortable?

[derickyan]

Originally Posted by derickyan

okay thanks guys. ill try to video myself sometime when i have the time. hey fuji i also had a question. will rpm blast or bhbr hurt my arm if i used it? or is it comfortable?

oh yeah, when i said comfortable i meant if it would hurt your arm, wrist, shoulder, etc.
thanks.

[Metalica]

The serve is the one shot where you really wanna get help from a coach since it the hardest shot to hit technically and because you can easily hurt your shoulder if you hit incorrectly (imo). But generally, the most important thing is to have a smooth motion where you pronate correctly and contact the ball high.

[gmatheis]

Originally Posted by derickyan

oh yeah, when i said comfortable i meant if it would hurt your arm, wrist, shoulder, etc.
thanks.

It's highly dependant on how tight you string , how stiff your frame is, your own physical build, etc...

It has a higher chance to cause some pain for sure but you'll never know until you try it.

Also If you are going from a non poly to a poly remember that it is recommended to drop your tension by 10%

So if you string at 60lbs , you would want to string your poly at 54lbs (60 - 10%) I personally string at about 49lbs for a full poly setup and there are people who go even lower down into the 30s

[LuckyR]

Originally Posted by derickyan

okay i've been playing tennis and whenever i serve i hit it really soft or else it'll just fly all the way out. it also happens sometimes when i have flat hits. i hit it and it would go out. any tips? and yes im pretty much a beginner. i havent played for a while.

You need to learn a spin serve first. Once you do then the harder you swing your racquet, the more likely it is to go in.