Serve Help (video included)

[lostintravise]

Hello fellow board members,

I have been trying to work on my serve and was just wondering if any of you all could give me some tips. Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwbUPyFw3fk&feature=plcp

[Limpinhitter]

Not an easy perspective to look at. And, I can't see what the ball is doing. But, your motion looks servicable (no pun intended). How is your toss? Consistent? If not, you could be a bit more deliberate with your toss technique by coming to a full stop in the service ready position, then bring your tossing arm down to a fixed position (ie: your front leg), and then push the ball up with a slower, more gradual, acceleration. Having said that, it's hard to assess your tossing tempo because the video is a bit jumpy.

[LeeD]

Back view would be nice, about 7' off the court to show ball landings.
Overall good, looks like you fall off to your left on most serves, meaning your toss is too far behind you for that particular serve.
Swing looks boringly slow/smooth.
Try to complete your swing above your head, hit the ball, allow the rackethead to come thru and past your head, while your hand is still above your head. High hand, high elbow finish.

[ringingpeace]

I can tell you that you have to improve your ball toss. You should toss ball more gently, not throw it in the air, just extend your left arm fully while holding the ball with your fingers not in a palm and then just open the fingers and let the ball slide out. You should also try to have a contact more in front of you, more into the court which again means that you have to work on your toss. good luck!

[sportsfan1]

Nice smooth motion. However, I am thinking for a first/flat serve, your point of contact should be a little bit further out in front so you can accelerate your racquet into the shot.

[LeeD]

I"m of the opposite thinking club....
For a conti grip flat first serve, the ball should be struck almost directly above your head...off to one side, of course.
Conti grip would cause a wrist break if you contact the ball in front of your head. Wrist break leads to backspin, leading to long serves.
Now tossing farther into the court, then driving your body into the court under the ball, that I agree with.
Further in front contact usually denotes eFOREhand grip, the beginner serve.

[sunof tennis]

I agree with previous posters that your motion looks pretty good. The slow motion confirmed that you were pronating. I just didn't see any real racquethead acceleration up to the ball. It almost appeared as if you were decelerating upon impact. While, one doesn't want to force the acceleration, make sure you are nice and loose (light grip, relaxed stance, etc)., which may allow you to let the motion accelerate naturally, without forcing it.
Woould love to see you throw a ball. Unfortuantely, not evveryone can be born with a live arm live Sampras or Roddick.

[Chas Tennis]

Check whatever cameras you have to see if any will do 60p - 60 frames per second, progressive, usually '720 60p'. Some recent cameras including DSLRs under $1000 often do 60p as well as have MANUAL exposure control for video. As other posters mentioned, video from behind, camera high, trying to align as best you can with the ball's trajectory. It is not possible to get a camera high enough using just a tripod. 60p is not fast enough to properly show the fastest part of the serve around impact -internal shoulder rotation - but it will do a better job from behind because the racket motion is mostly going away from the camera and the angle between the arm and racket is important. Video only in bright sunlight in the hope that the camera's AUTO shutter will select a fast shutter speed. If your camera has MANUAL exposure control select a very short exposure time, say, 1/2,000 sec.

Your serve looks pretty good. To fully evaluate your serve compare your internal shoulder rotation to that in a strong serve. Compare your elbow axial rotation to that in this serve as seen by looking at the rapid rotation of the bones in the elbow. That motion lasts roughly 0.03 seconds and needs high speed video to see.

https://vimeo.com/27528701

[lostintravise]

Hi all, just wanted to come back here to thank you all. I forgot I posted this video and then realized today. I will try to get a different angle. Thanks a lot, everyone!