The Serve [video]

[wemic]

Hey mislav, the link works now, thanks. ..and I think it's a very good serve, it's very smooth and very fluid.. Definitely better than mine lol

[Boris]

Mislav,

I'd like to back what kehven says about hitting with fully extended arm. The first thing I noticed when I looked at your video was (besides that your serve is nice overall) that your arm is not fully extended at contact (it is evident in your last serve). Based on personal experience, this is very often a cause of elbow pain; it happened to me, and went away as soon as I started to make contact higher or more out in front.

Good luck!

[TennisAsAlways]

Mislav, I notice that your serves have some "top" on them, on top of having sidespin, so essentially you have Topspin-slice serves. That's good, since it offers you a higher margin of error than the extreme Pure Slices.

[mislav]

Thanks again guys, you're comments are very helpful.

I've tried today to use your advice but things didn't really work out. I had problems with the lights on the court. If I tried to serve right they'd blind me, so I gave up on trying for this session.

I've also paid more attention to what goes on during my serve with my golfer's elbow. I'm very surprised as to how much it affects my service motion. I am really afraid to move my arm freely cause of the fear of aggravating the GE condition.

Boris - I'l try and see if extending the arm would help. I really hope it would! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'll play again tomorrow, but during the day. No blinding lights on court. I'll try again to fix my serve based on inputs I got in this thread.

TAA - Thanks again for your effort and advice. I wish you could help me with my flat serves, coz I have the most incosistent flat serve in the universe...

[kevhen]

Good stuff TAA! Notice the arm is slightly bent on contact which can cause the elbow problems. Otherwise good points in that the contact point is high and the nice deep back scratch and the priceless service winner.

Mislav,
Also on your second serve, you really fall off to your left instead of jumping forward and into the ball. When you play against good returners they will smack this ball with their forehand sharp crosscourt so you can't be falling off to your left. When people mishit a slice serve because of the spin it often ends up going to your right so just another reason to not be falling off to the left.

Overall it's a nice 3.5 level slice serve, so keep at it and don't try to change too much too soon, maybe just one thing at a time until it's engrained or it's easy for the serve to become worse instead of better if you try to change too much too soon. Good luck!

[mislav]

Originally Posted by kevhen

Make sure your arm is full extended on contact, so you don't injure your elbow. Slice serves can be painful if not extending properly. You will get more pace as well but maybe less curve on the slice with an extended arm. Your arm does look slightly bent on contact.

Kevhen, thanks for this. It is a huge problem for me and I'll focus on trying to fix it. Hopefully, while I do, I'll get some serves in - with all the stuff that need fixing.

And thanks to everyone saying I'm above 3.0 NTRP. I am self rated at that level based on this description. I admit being harsh on myself, but with shots inconsistencies I can hardly justify calling myself 4.0, although based on this description this would be where I belong.

[Tomba]

Your form is easily a 4.5 level slice but since it is very slow, your overall rating is about a 3.0. Pretend the ball is someone you hate and smack him.

[JCo872]

Mislav,

Nice looking serve! I agree with the comment about not hitting the ball at a high enough point. Also, your "racket drop" position is nice and deep, but should be more in line with the right side of your body. See this piece I did for another tenniswarehouse member:

http://www.hi-techtennis.com/students/serve/

Jeff