I don't know where my arm is on serve !

[mdhubert]

I'm getting desperate because I screw up my serve by not controlling my right arm.
First in the trophy position it goes to far behind the back as I focus on the ball. From there I have difficulties to reach the racquet drop, my racquet stay in diagonal, almost hotizontal, and I end up doing a windmill type of movement. If I try to maintain longer the arm up in the trophy position, I still have problems to see mentally the path of my arm and it remains blocked at the elbow, doing the windmill stuff again.

It is OK in terms of speed and consistency, but my back is suffering from over-rotation (horizontal rotation to compensate the lack of racquet drop and vertical acceleration), plus I'd like to get the proper form.

I'm thinking of changing my motion to a more abbreviated one (cf. Gasquet), where I can see my right arm and drop the racquet at the very last moment, when my legs release their power.

Has anybody experienced such a problem ? How did you cure it ? Thanks

[varuscelli]

Originally Posted by mdhubert

... From there I have difficulties to reach the racquet drop, my racquet stay in diagonal, almost hotizontal, and I end up doing a windmill type of movement. If I try to maintain longer the arm up in the trophy position, I still have problems to see mentally the path of my arm and it remains blocked at the elbow, doing the windmill stuff again. ...

I'm no expert on evaluating people's serves (especially working with only a written description of what's going on), but it sounds like you might not be using a proper "throwing" motion with your racquet arm. (Not your ball toss, but the "throwing motion" your racquet arm should be going through, kind of like "throwing" the racquet toward the opposite court.)

If you find yourself going from an almost horizontal racquet position behind your back (and not a vertical racquet position) and ending up with a "windmill" motion, you're not really mimicking a typical drop of the racquet head to an upside-down vertical position behind your back and not going through mimicking the motion of "throwing" the racquet. (What it sounds like to me.)

Hope I've said that right. I'm sure someone will correct me, if not.

See if you can find someone like an instructor, coach, or in the very least an advanced player to give you at a few minutes of evaluation on your service motion just to see what you're doing wrong with the racquet arm. Also, see if you can get someone to do a short video taping of your service motion and you might very well see for yourself what you're doing wrong.

[mdhubert]

Originally Posted by varuscelli

See if you can find someone like an instructor, coach, or in the very least an advanced player to give you at a few minutes of evaluation on your service motion just to see what you're doing wrong with the racquet arm. Also, see if you can get someone to do a short video taping of your service motion and you might very well see for yourself what you're doing wrong.

Thanks, that makes sense. And on taping my serve I've done it many times already, that's why I know perfectly well what I'm doing wrong.
You're right, the throwing motion is not really what I'm doing coz' it doesn't feel natural to strike a ball downward by throwing my racquet up. I have to work on that.

[rfprse]

Well, you are supposed to feel like hitting the ball upward instead downward unless you are really tall.
Maybe, trying to swing the racquet by throwing bottom of the grip to the ball as if you want to hit the ball with the side of frame might help.