Criticism on serve please!

[faditennis]

Feedback ?


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

[SystemicAnomaly]

Not bad. There is a lot of things that you've got right. However, it does appear that you rotate/uncoil too much to the left. You actually are falling in that direction on many of your serves. You should be rotating (shoulder-over-shoulder) more upward as well as forward (toward the direction of the served ball). Try driving your right shoulder (and right pec) upward toward toward the sky/ball. On some serves you seem to be driving forward (and to the left) more than upward.

When you land your left foot should point toward the target area (not off to the left). Your back (right) heel should kick toward the back fence -- your right leg should not kick off to the right (as it does in some of your serves).

[TennisCJC]

Looks pretty good all in all. I'll give you a few tips. I am not a certified instructor so take it or leave it.

1. You get a good front arm extension, but the loop on the racket arm and the drop of the front arm/shoulder don't seem to be in sync. Try thinking shoulder over shoulder where the front shoulder is higher than back when you front arm is fully extended. Then, the front shoulder pulls down and the back shoulder pushes up as you go up into contact.
2. Related to tip 1, you can get the feel of how the front and back sides work together by taking a few shadow strokes. pause in trophy position where front arm is fully extend, front shoulder is higher than back shoulder and racket tip is pointed toward sky. Now, work you hands together, the front hand will come down and stop at your chest (hand can touch chest around sternum), back hand will go thru loop and reach up into contact. Your racket hand should reach contact point at same time as you front hand reaches chest. The shoulder over shoulder action is integrated into this.
3. Last thing, hold your balance better. Sometimes you kind of fall into the contact. It is better to keep your weight back or slightly on front foot. You want your weight loaded into your legs so you can push up and in rather than fall in and drag the racket thru contact. Watch Federer, he doesn't poke the front hip out like a lot advocate. Rather his knees are balanced with a slight load to the front leg. You can still toss 1 to 1.5 feet in front of the body with weight balanced and still spring up and forward from legs.

Hope I have not ruined your serve if you chose to try any of this.

[OHBH]

Fix the ball toss first. Don't work on anything technique-wise until you can properly place the ball to hit it. Hold the ball gently in the fingers and and the the arm straight out from the hip. It should have little to to spin on it so you can clearly see the letters and seams.

[LeeD]

Looking real real real good until....
you start that weirdo forward swing leading with your body..
Don't lead with the body, keep all the parts together and moving forwards at the same time.
You lose power by lagging behind with your arms. You get a nice arch, but you never SNAP it straight to impart swing speed.
You have no swing speed. Your motion suggests a solid 5.0 level serve, until just after the trophy position, you THROW your waist into the court...and forget to swing the racket.
Start your racket swing earlier, timed WITH your body thrust forward, and you will have the 5.0 level serve.
Oh, and your swing is like a whimpy girls. Why are you swinging in slow motion?

[Trippisthebest]

I agree with OHBH. Although I cannot see where your toss is at, your motion says that your toss is very inconsistent (different places every serve). 1 thing that really helped my toss out is tossing the ball with my arm parallel to the baseline (almost right over it). This will really help you toss the ball in a more consistent spot.

[arche3]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Looking real real real good until....
you start that weirdo forward swing leading with your body..
Don't lead with the body, keep all the parts together and moving forwards at the same time.
You lose power by lagging behind with your arms. You get a nice arch, but you never SNAP it straight to impart swing speed.
You have no swing speed. Your motion suggests a solid 5.0 level serve, until just after the trophy position, you THROW your waist into the court...and forget to swing the racket.
Start your racket swing earlier, timed WITH your body thrust forward, and you will have the 5.0 level serve.
Oh, and your swing is like a whimpy girls. Why are you swinging in slow motion?

I agree with lee d. Your not actually using the throwing muscles. Shoulders, chest, arm, etc... Your just floping your arm up and over. You need to Hit the ball. The falling into the ball analogy by lee d is spot on. You need to swing at the ball. Punish it and make it behave.

[LeeD]

Some of us can be extremely critical when we armchair our critiques..

[pgreg]

Your face is open in your upswing to the ball. This kills pronation. Watch how late pros pronate on their serves.

[TRVX1912]

Yup you do need work on the ball toss also your arm action. You have to explode to the ball. I would work on the ball toss first. Than I would work on exploding to the ball. I would have the racquet back. I'm teaching my students http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GljqJv84tTI