Heavier racquet; serve advice?

[crash1929]

Seems like its a chore to serve with a heavier racquet. Harder to get spin on second. I switched from an 11oz to a 12 oz. Any thoughts? Have you gone through this? Tks

[LeeD]

It's a "chore" because you don't have a service motion.
You just arm through on your serves, employing little ankle, knee, hips, twist trunk, and full shoulder swing.
When you employ the whole kinetic chain, the serve goes just as well with a 12.5 oz racket as it does with anything lighter.....or heavier up to maybe 13.5 oz, when the actual weight starts to slow down your swing when you get too tired to use your whole body.
Yes, some women's pros use sub 10oz rackets. No, they aren't the big servers.

[LuckyR]

A heavier stick is a server's racquet. Once you get that head moving it plows through the ball for a killer serve. I agree with Lee, work on your form.

[Blade0324]

I actually can see both sides of this. I use a MGPP and have to say that recently I have noticed if I play deep into a tournament where I have played a lot in a short period of time, my shoulder starts to get a bit sore and tired and my second serve loses it's spin and kick. I agree with the others though that a heavy racquet will do much of the work for you, as long as you can swing it fast enough.

[mordecai]

Try swinging 'later'. Keep your arm loose and don't use it until your body is already moving up into the ball. With a heavier racquet this works well because you are using your largest muscles to start accelerating the racquet, so its mass seems insignificant compared to their power. Then you can use your arm to guide the racquet up into the shot.

Your legs are probably weak or your posture is preventing you from using them. Start doing some box jumps, and mess around shadow-serving trying to really activate and use your butt to get that racquet going.

[LeeD]

If you're weak and feeble, run out of steam, lose your wind and conditioning, and your muscles get tired, maybe get in shape.

[fuzz nation]

I'm on board with mordecai...

One recommendation I can make is for you to take some practice motions with that heavier racquet without hitting a ball. Keep it as smooth and loose as possible while including a deliberate (but not over-exaggerated) upward leg drive.

After 10-12 of those, you'll be somewhat grooved to the tempo that you want in your motion when you serve a ball. Try and keep that same smoothness while hitting a serve and if it's hard to duplicate, you may be tossing the ball too soon. A relatively light racquet can allow any of us to get away with a quick snatch at the ball, but to serve well with a heavier frame, it's usually necessary to get more "loaded up" and ready to swing before putting the toss in the air.

If your shoulder is getting fatigued, that's often an indication that your legs need to carry more of the load.

[150mph_]

Originally Posted by fuzz nation

If your shoulder is getting fatigued, that's often an indication that your legs need to carry more of the load.

hmm... how is that possible? your shoulder is doing the swinging not your legs.. usually after 30-60 minutes of practicing serves by myself my right shoulder is about to fall off

[crash1929]

tks for the advice. it helped very much.

[crash1929]

A relatively light racquet can allow any of us to get away with a quick snatch at the ball, but to serve well with a heavier frame, it's usually necessary to get more "loaded up" and ready to swing before putting the toss in the air.

fuzz, this advice was very helpful today served great. i think another part of my problem was that my timing was off with this new raquet also. but it was mainly what you said. took my first set off a 5.0 singles player today. checked his usta ranking and he has a loosing record but he is rated 5.0 and has won some matches this year. lol. baby steps.

[ms87]

Originally Posted by 150mph_

hmm... how is that possible? your shoulder is doing the swinging not your legs.. usually after 30-60 minutes of practicing serves by myself my right shoulder is about to fall off

you're arming your serve