Pete Sampras ‘How to disguise your serve’

[Raul_SJ]

Originally Posted by TennisCJC

Disquise is important but I have noticed that Federer uses 2 tosses. He 1st serve toss appears to be toward 1 and out front. His 2nd serve toss is around 12 and not quite as far out front. He can hit L, R or middle from these 2 toss locations.

So, I don't think it is too bad to move the toss.

Can Federer still hit slice and flat, along with kick, with the second serve toss?

Coach thinks that it's important not to telegraph the spin, else the returner will have an advantage if he knows it will always be a kick with a 12 o'clock toss.

[SystemicAnomaly]

Originally Posted by Raul_SJ

Can Federer still hit slice and flat, along with kick, with the second serve toss?

Coach thinks that it's important not to telegraph the spin, else the returner will have an advantage if he knows it will always be a kick with a 12 o'clock toss.

It is very unlikely that Federer is going to hit a flat 2nd serve very often, if at all. It is no secret that the 2nd serve will usually have a lot more spin than the 1st serve.

Originally Posted by TennisCJC

Disquise is important but I have noticed that Federer uses 2 tosses. He 1st serve toss appears to be toward 1 and out front. His 2nd serve toss is around 12 and not quite as far out front. He can hit L, R or middle from these 2 toss locations.

So, I don't think it is too bad to move the toss.

Sampras has also spoken of using 2 different tosses. However, the difference in his 2 tosses, or Roger's 2 tosses will usually be less noticeable than it is for us mere mortals. Even 3 different tosses are ok for most of us as long as it is effective.

No need to disguise the fact that we are hitting the 2nd serve with more spin that the first. It is more important to disguise your placement than the type of serve you are delivering. Your shoulder motion and the swing path of your racket should tip the receiver off to the type of serve -- Can't get around that even if you try to disguise with your toss. You do not want to vary the toss just to vary the placement of your serve.

[Relinquis]

what about a tweener serve, i.e. more pace and flatter than a topspin serve, but more spin/kick then a flat serve?

can we not achieve this by the same toss and motion as the kick/topspin serve, but just adding pronation and hitting more through the ball?

[Mick3391]

Originally Posted by DropShotArtist

Wow, and people always accuse of Roger being arrogant. This guy takes the cake, he's an egomaniac.

Is it ego if true?

[Raul_SJ]

Originally Posted by Sid_Vicious

Great read. Thanks for posting, Laurie.

Pete is definitely right about this. He really had an extraordinary service motion. Whether he was crushing, slicing, or topping the ball, the difference in the swings was so subtle that you could really notice it only in the slow motion.

Are you saying that with Sampras, the changes in his swing path and toss were so subtle that the returner often could not tell if a flat,slice or kick was coming?

[Relinquis]

one of the greatest tennis players and servers of all time gives a few tips and you guys talk about ego and arrogance?!

how insecure are you guys?

[GoudX]

Originally Posted by DropShotArtist

Isn't hitting a first serve ace or unreturnable serve ALWAYS more desirable than hitting a serve that requires a follow-up volley?

Yes, attempting to ace an opponent isn't always the correct play. If you go for fast serves at wide angles all the time you will hit a ridiculous number of faults and put a lot of pressure on your second serve. Also your opponent will get used to having to return your best serves, making them less effective than if you mix the serve up, which they can't get as used to and leaves the ace attempt as more of a surprise.

[brucie]

Originally Posted by DropShotArtist

Wow, and people always accuse of Roger being arrogant. This guy takes the cake, he's an egomaniac.

When you are one of the greatest players of all time I think you should be allowed to make them sot of statements.

Likewise Federer, hes quite modest all things considered.

[Anaconda]

Originally Posted by SystemicAnomaly

Was it Sampras or Tim Henman that Agassi could read intended serve direction by the position/direction of the tip of his tongue? This would certainly be ironic if it was Pistol Pete that had this "tell".

That's what Agassi said of Becker's serve about the tongue. Eventually Becker kicked the habit.