Serve for talentless players - 'Serve for dummies'?

Inken

New User
I have a big problem: the serve. The rest of my game is fine, but a am absolutely useless with the serve.
I tried everything: eastern grip, conti grip, a loop, a big loop, a bigger loop, no loop, bending knees, holding the racket only with three fingers for a whip factor, changing foot position, side spin, throwing the ball higher, etc.…

All other strokes I play two handed (groundstrokes and volleys on both sides), and it feels for me that I don't have enough strength for the serve.
I am not sure if my bad serve is a matter of a wrong technique or just because I am too weak to produce enough power (I am also very bad at throwing balls)

When I asked our pro, she lectured me in depth about grip, loop, feet, knees, shoulder, pronation, speed, spin - all in all about 30 things I should think of when I practice serves. But to think of more than one thing at the same time seems literally not possible for me. If I am doing 1 thing right, the other 29 are wrong.

Isn't there an easier, less complicated way for a good serve? Something like 'Serve for dummies'???

Is there a tricky and easy technique which helps talentless and weak players to learn a serve of average quality? Just to get the ball into the service box with average power. It could be any technique, and as easy as possible. Could even look ridiculous, that wouldn't matter. It need not to be the 'right' technique. It only has to be very easy and to help weak players like me to produce a certain amount of power.
Thanks for any advice.
 

Bud

Bionic Poster
I have a big problem: the serve. The rest of my game is fine, but a am absolutely useless with the serve.
I tried everything: eastern grip, conti grip, a loop, a big loop, a bigger loop, no loop, bending knees, holding the racket only with three fingers for a whip factor, changing foot position, side spin, throwing the ball higher, etc.…

All other strokes I play two handed (groundstrokes and volleys on both sides), and it feels for me that I don't have enough strength for the serve.
I am not sure if my bad serve is a matter of a wrong technique or just because I am too weak to produce enough power (I am also very bad at throwing balls)

When I asked our pro, she lectured me in depth about grip, loop, feet, knees, shoulder, pronation, speed, spin - all in all about 30 things I should think of when I practice serves. But to think of more than one thing at the same time seems literally not possible for me. If I am doing 1 thing right, the other 29 are wrong.

Isn't there an easier, less complicated way for a good serve? Something like 'Serve for dummies'???

Is there a tricky and easy technique which helps talentless and weak players to learn a serve of average quality? Just to get the ball into the service box with average power. It could be any technique, and as easy as possible. Could even look ridiculous, that wouldn't matter. It need not to be the 'right' technique. It only has to be very easy and to help weak players like me to produce a certain amount of power.
Thanks for any advice.

Take a tennis ball, stand at the service line and throw it into the service box across the net. Do it again. Now, duplicate that feel with a racquet in your hand.

Serving is very similar to throwing something.
 

papa

Hall of Fame
Take a tennis ball, stand at the service line and throw it into the service box across the net. Do it again. Now, duplicate that feel with a racquet in your hand.

Serving is very similar to throwing something.

Although what Bud said is right on there are a variety of other techniques that work also.

Using one of those light weight bats from Wal-Mart with the foam around the barrel works great but a piece of wood or even a stick about the length of a racquet works pretty good.

Long sock with ball in the end is a good exercise that works also.

One of the best things is using old/broken racquet and go out into your yard/field and just throw the racquet.

Biggest thing here is making sure you try and stay away from a "windmill" type throw/motion - try and not letting the thing (bat, sock, ball, stick, racquet, etc) your working with go more than a foot or so behind your back. The other thing I like is to have they throw the ball, stick, etc. over a high fence standing about 8 feet away - gets them in the hitting up position.
 

larry10s

Hall of Fame
throwing this tennis football will also help promote pronation in your throw when you get it to spiral correctly
you should throw in an upward direction from baseline to baseline(even tho you woint reach the opposite baseline probably
http://www.oncourtoffcourt.com/tennis-football-set-of-2.html

tennis-football-set-of-2.html
 

mightyrick

Legend
OP, there's probably a lot of "weaker" people than you who can actually serve. I wouldn't worry yourself about the strength. I think a lot of people have problems connecting with how it feels to generate that kind of speed from a throwing motion.

If you've never really ever truly thrown a ball (hard), then this might take some time for you to learn.

One great drill to "get the feeling" of creating power is to stand at the service line with the racquet, toss the ball, and hit it hard enough to hit the opposite side fence. Don't worry about style points or where you hit the back fence. Just HIT IT. After you do that about 10 times, move back some. Repeat the drill. Then move back to the baseline and try to hit the far side fence.

If you are able to consistently hit the back fence, you definitely have enough power to serve. You just need to focus it.

If you are able to hit a groundstroke long -- past the opponents baseline -- then you have enough power to serve.
 

Kevo

Legend
Stand sideways at service line.
Hold racquet in hand with continental grip above your head so that the racquet points toward the back fence.
Your racquet and arm will form something like a 90 degree angle. Optimal is probably a little larger, but it's not that important at this point.
Rotate the whole arm so the racquet points toward the front fence.
The face of the racquet should pass right above your head.
Try that motion out for a bit until you are comfortable with it.
Then, once comfortable, toss the ball into the path of the racquet so you make contact over your head, but slightly in front of your body. Be sure not to adjust your motion. You need to toss into the swing, not swing to the toss.

After you do this for a while, you should be able to hit the ball in the box relatively easily with a fairly relaxed motion. We're not looking for speed here. Just clean contact and good direction. It really doesn't even matter that much if it goes in or out. Good contact and the right direction is what's important.

If you have questions let me know. Once you are comfortable with this much you can add in some additional features. Just remember at this point you are only trying to learn this arm rotation movement. You are not trying to do anything special. That comes later. As you're practicing this, try to build a consistent toss and a consistent rhythm. This is just a foundation to build on.
 

user92626

G.O.A.T.
Hi OP,

I'm curious, when you say you're weak, how big are you and what racket are you using?

IMO, it matters alot when you use a racket that you feel in complete control and you could hit/launch a ball past the back fence from standing in your own service box. It's not a proper tennis stroke, but it's just to show how hard you can hit the ball. If you could serve with that much power, I'm pretty sure your serve is unattackable by anyone up strong 4.0!

After you get your racket squared away, a very simple serve technique is point the racket head up first, then toss and simply hit, like Safina does. Obviously such mechanic is so simple that you'll soon realize that to hit more efficiently you'll need to turn the racket face somewhat (grip) and/or the direction of swinging through the ball.

Good luck!
 

eliza

Rookie
OP, Papa is very knowlegeable. I would also ask 5263, Playnice and that old eccentric person (quote not mine) who teaches tennis in 2 hours.......
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
post vid.
A weak person can still serve OK. I can barely bench press 65 lbs., and can do no more than 3 pushups. I'm pretty sure on a warm day (over 55 degrees), I can serve with the best serving 4.0 guys.
Before you (PowerPlayer) chime in, I can also do 15 pullups and 15 extended pushups, so while some things don't work, other's are OK.
But the fact you use 2 hands to hit every ball might suggest you are less coordinated using one hand, so doubling up gives you the power and coordination you need to hit groundstrokes and volleys.
 

Caesar

Banned
All the best servers have an extremely simple action. For most people, the key to a good serve is developing an uncomplicated motion and a reliable ball toss. All improvement from there is just practice, practice practice.

Because it's so mechanical there are a bunch of different components to a good service action, and you really need to be guided by a coach in order to learn it right.

Try to find someone who distills it all for you. I had never heard of trophy poses or pronation or loops until I started posting on messageboards. I had a coach who just drilled into me a smooth, unflashy, uncomplicated, straight action with a continental grip, and a good, high ball toss. I practiced and practiced and practiced until it was silky-smooth grooved. I didn't even think about the word 'spin' for several years, until my flat serve was operating like clockwork.

As a result I have a very reliable, very heavy serve that seldom goes off the boil. And when I did start to add variation to my serve with topspin, slice and kick it came very easily - because I was making minor adjustments to a foundation that was second nature to me.
 
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kcmiser

Rookie
The serve tends not to be a very natural thing for players to learn. It's really mechanical, and there are a LOT of ways to screw up a serve. The biggest general problems I see are not getting "through" the ball, failing to swing up through the ball, and allowing your body to fall out of the shot (to the left for righties).

The comment that you have 30 things to think of at once, and you can't do that, is insightful. You are absolutely right. All the advice you get may all be correct, and any one piece of advice may help you with a particular problem you are having at any point in time, but it doesn't help you build a serve. You need to get the feel of it in a simpler way.

My best advice is to get some towels and kneel on them behind the service line. You should be pronating, but don't need to over-do it. Let your body figure it out. The pronation should be natural. Give it ten minutes, and if you're not getting anywhere, quit, and try again the next day.

Here's a link showing this drill. He's looping the ball more than I do. I focus on getting decent pop, but the concept is the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqUDzYl2IJg

Anytime my serve hits a slump, I go back to this. It forces me to hit up on the ball (since I'm lower and need to get lift on the ball, and also to prevent my followthrough from hitting the court), and removes any problems related to excessive body movement. I generally find that doing this for just five minutes gets me back on track, and adds maybe 10% to my serve velocity over what it was before.
 
This is the serve for you from the Serve Doctor:

Serve Doctor's Simplified Spring-loaded Serve Technique http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixx-MCC7D88


Pat Dougherty is a real expert among experts. He has simplified the serve above by taking the jump out of it. It does not involve an overly deep knee bend where many lose their balance.

What this serve motion does include is using body rotation (winding the shoulders and hips) plus the powerful going into a bow/reversing the bow body action to power your serve.

This serve should give you a consistent serve.

Furthermore, if you start to really feel the rotational and unbowing actions, this serve can be the platform on which to add a deeper knee bend/leg launch to get more of a pro style serve.
 

Power Player

Bionic Poster
One of the best things is using old/broken racquet and go out into your yard/field and just throw the racquet.

This is what I did to stop from overusing my wrist. It simplifies everything.

Another thing I was taught to develop rhythm is to do what Becker did. Count 1-2-3. 1 starts at your toss and 3 should be said on contact.
 

user92626

G.O.A.T.
Does anyone here think Andy Roddick's serve is simple enough, after you remove all his "extra" movements?

For simplicity's sake, is it simple to have roddick's trophy pose

rod.jpg




And then hit the ball without throwing the body too much

andy-roddick-serve.jpg


?
 

WildVolley

Legend
^^Yes, Roddick's serve doesn't have a lot of unnecessary movements except some weird shuffling with his feet. That's why it is called an abbreviated motion - Roddick goes directly into his trophy pose and the launches into the serve. It happens so fast in real life that people aren't sure what they're seeing. Once you watch it in slow motion it is quite elegant.

The best servers tend to have precise movements. Poor servers tend not to time the kinetic chain properly and have exaggerated movements like a little kid trying to throw a ball hard having huge movement but hardly launching the ball at all.

I model my serve on Roddick's but ultimately it doesn't look the same.
 

user92626

G.O.A.T.
thanks WV. one other question.

When roddick launches to strike the ball, would you know if he launches his body up or forward or some sort of degree? Also, is this corresponding with the direction he swings his racket?
 

CoachingMastery

Professional
Keep in mind, OP, that power on the serve is seldom a true "strength" related issue. With proper technique and learning to serve with a relaxed motion, you should be able to increase your racquet head speed to impart more speed and spin.

As a teaching pro, I've demonstrated serving with two fingers, serving from my knees, and serving with almost no backswing whatsoever. Yet, in most of these examples, I can generate significant serve speeds.

I've had 13 and 14 year old girls serve over 100 mph...girls who were far smaller and shorter than many men who couldn't serve over 90. (Men with poor technique!)

As others have suggested with good tips, check your motion, have a pro look at your serve, study the pros, and experiment a bit.

Most of all, understand the swing path you need to develop and use the right grip and body position relative to good serves.

Everything is interrelated. The grip will affect your stance which will affect your swing path which will affect your contact point which will affect the point of contact ON the ball with the racquet. Your leg drive, your body rotation, your collapse, and the dynamic pattern from the collapse to contact are all critical elements that must match.
 

WildVolley

Legend
thanks WV. one other question.

When roddick launches to strike the ball, would you know if he launches his body up or forward or some sort of degree? Also, is this corresponding with the direction he swings his racket?

Roddick launches both up and slightly out. Forum member Drakulie shot some nice video that gives you an idea of his motion and his impressive "archers bow." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZbxKuLEP_o

Roddick swings up to the ball and varies his swing path slightly depending on what sort of serve he's hitting. For a flat serve, he hits more forward through the ball. For a slice serve, he hits more across the back of he ball. His second serves are all hit with a racket path more out toward the side fence than his first serves.
 

TimothyO

Hall of Fame
I too am a begginer playing just a year this month. To keep the serve simple for me I try to remember four things. This is a gross simplification so take it with a grain of salt. But these few things help me focus on the finer points too.

1. The serve has two primary components: the swing up which generates spin and the hip/shoulder twist which generates power. Keep the arm loose and swing up at the ball so as to brush it up the back. Simultaneously unwind the body from legs to hips to shoulders like a spinning cartwheel rotating around the neck.

2. As your arm makes contact pronate at the forearm as if throwing a football. Your arm will move from straight to an upsidedown U shape.

3. Toss the ball more front and center for power, more directly up for topspin, and more to the side for side spin. Experiment with these angles until you find something comfy for yourself.

4. This is crucial: be patient and focus on the ball as you swing up and rotate to contact...imagine contacting the ball with the stringbed perfectly. Don't toss and hack. Toss, focus, observe, and unwind the body as you slice up at the ball. Timing the turn and slice motions with the ball's motion during the toss simply takes tons of practice. "Find the ball" by accelerating the racquet at a pace you can handle comfortably.

By staying loose and repaxed you'll be SHOCKED at how much more pace and spin you can generate. Killing the ball with a tense arm leads to injury and weak, inconsistent serves.

None of the advice you're getting in this thread will mean anything unless you hit many buckts of serves. I've seen many fellow rec players declare "today I'll work on my serve" while playing a practice match. That means little. The only way to improve is to hit 30-50 serves during a practice session and do that a few times each week.
 

TimothyO

Hall of Fame
Keep in mind, OP, that power on the serve is seldom a true "strength" related issue. With proper technique and learning to serve with a relaxed motion, you should be able to increase your racquet head speed to impart more speed and spin.

As a teaching pro, I've demonstrated serving with two fingers, serving from my knees, and serving with almost no backswing whatsoever. Yet, in most of these examples, I can generate significant serve speeds.

I've had 13 and 14 year old girls serve over 100 mph...girls who were far smaller and shorter than many men who couldn't serve over 90. (Men with poor technique!)
h.

We watched our friend's tweener daughter play a match this past Sunday and noticed this. Both girls moved smoothly, simply, and cleanly...almost slowly but very focused. When they hit, whether serving or Groundies, there was a rifle crack and the ball rocketed from their frames effortlessly. Their efficient form allowed them to blast balls across the court with focus rather than exertion.

Total opposite of the many middle aged male hacks I watch trying to beat the ball to death in red faced rage.
 

sureshs

Bionic Poster
Serve is a complex thing. Fundamentally, it requires good body sense and lack of awkwardness. Many adults don't have it. Different parts of your body should not move out of control and wobble in different ways. If you are basically clumsy and started tennis as an adult, you are going to suck. Just accept it.
 

TennisCJC

Legend
Go to Youtube and see if you can find Serve Doctor Pat Dougherty videos. He has one where he talks about the rec player server with a eastern forehand grip. He demostrates lower toss, arms up together, and the racket kind of pushes thru the ball. This is not the simplified server mentioned above but an even more basic serve.

Also, Oscar Wegners book or video show a basic serve. Basically, arms up together, find the ball with the strings, and finish by brushing across. This is a basic serve that should not be too difficult to master. Don't worry about knee bend or excessive weight transfer. Keep body, knees, arms, and grip relaxed. Place toss up to natural hitting area - just a bit in front and to right of front shoulder. Small prep stage - lift arms together, place ball in proper location. And hit up and across L to R on ball. Think Find (place toss and arms up), Feel (contact ball, brush up and thru to R) and finish (follow thru and let arm extend and wrap).

I think Oscar's approach might be the best to reach a competent level of serving quickly.

Lastly, take a few lessons. No one can really fix your serve over the internet. To give advice, we have to see what you are doing and have some degree of interaction to offer suggestions and watch you incorporate the suggestions. But, the videos/books above are next best thing.
 
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sureshs

Bionic Poster
Problem with the simple serve instruction is that it works - at the lowest level. Very soon club players outgrow this stage and realize that even they have to put a little juice on the serve, especially the men. That is where the frustration comes in. The simple slow serve by "finding" the ball with the strings and dropping it into the other box is good advice for beginners - but club players have to rather quickly deal with sun and wind and aggressive opponents. And everyone knows that a real man needs to have a bigger serve, and poor groundstrokes do not matter to the ego. Hence all the effort to speed up the serve and the frustrations that result from it. I went past the basic serve within a few months of starting tennis.
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
No BS here.
Actually tried throwing a HeadTitaniumMid a couple days ago, from service position, ad court, me lefty.
Flat face tosses barely reached the baseline. Some actually landed only on the service line.
On edge tosses hit maybe 17' high on the backfence.
Racket did NOT break, nor did the strings, but scratches did show.
Arc maybe 35 degrees upwards.
The old folks just chuckled and shook their heads.
 

Power Player

Bionic Poster
No BS here.
Actually tried throwing a HeadTitaniumMid a couple days ago, from service position, ad court, me lefty.
Flat face tosses barely reached the baseline. Some actually landed only on the service line.
On edge tosses hit maybe 17' high on the backfence.
Racket did NOT break, nor did the strings, but scratches did show.
Arc maybe 35 degrees upwards.
The old folks just chuckled and shook their heads.

Lee..what did you think? BTW, the release point you want is 75 degrees, which is roughly the swing path you make on your serve.
 
T

TheMagicianOfPrecision

Guest
I am surprised that LeeD didn`t throw the racquet out of the State !!
 

CoachingMastery

Professional
We watched our friend's tweener daughter play a match this past Sunday and noticed this. Both girls moved smoothly, simply, and cleanly...almost slowly but very focused. When they hit, whether serving or Groundies, there was a rifle crack and the ball rocketed from their frames effortlessly. Their efficient form allowed them to blast balls across the court with focus rather than exertion.

Total opposite of the many middle aged male hacks I watch trying to beat the ball to death in red faced rage.

Yes, you are so right. Isn't it ironic that professional golfers, (and skilled junior golfers) swing with such fluid form that they don't look like they are trying to swing hard? Yet, the sound and the distance is unmistakable.

My 12 year old daughter who is a very solid golfer (and tennis player) was taught golf the same way I teach tennis. She drives 220 and we played two guys last Monday...she out drove one of the guys by a good 10 to 15 yards on every hole. (Including the distance between tee boxes taken into consideration.)

The one man she outdrove had very poor mechanics and swung with all his might. My daughter swings with fluid motion, good hip rotation and great release of the club head at the bottom of her swing.

Point is, skilled strokes learned correctly will almost always out perform anything else.

While some players can win initially over those working on such skilled patterns, those developing skilled strokes will almost always pass up those who initially beat them early on.
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
I tried everything: eastern grip, conti grip, a loop, a big loop, a bigger loop, no loop, bending knees, holding the racket only with three fingers for a whip factor, changing foot position, side spin, throwing the ball higher, etc.…
. . . .
When I asked our pro, she lectured me in depth about grip, loop, feet, knees, shoulder, pronation, speed, spin - all in all about 30 things I should think of when I practice serves. But to think of more than one thing at the same time seems literally not possible for me. If I am doing 1 thing right, the other 29 are wrong.

I'm not a teaching pro or anything. I'm a 3.5 female player, 50 years old, 5'4". If you saw me throw a baseball, you would laugh -- my kids do. If we ranked all TT posters in terms of upper body strength, I would probably tie you for last place.

But I have an effective serve. Note that I didn't say a good serve. Or a fast serve. I can hold my own up to 4.0 ladies, and I can usually get by at 8.0 mixed (although that can get a little hairy!).

I think what may be happening is that you have received *so* many tips and bits of advice that you have nothing committed to muscle memory. I mean, that is quite a list of things you have tried. And any pro that vomits that many pointers on you isn't helping.

When I was a 2.5, my pro told me I had to do a few things to work toward a decent serve.

1. Continental grip, always.

2. Toss the ball to 1 o'clock, with straight elbow. If the toss is not at 1 o'clock or is otherwise unacceptable, never hit it. Doing so undermines muscle memory. Catch it. Keep your tossing arm up, up, up. I actually compare the ball to the tossing arm, and this tells me whether the toss is in fact at 1 o'clock (and makes me toss higher, so I have time to compare!).

3. The things you do before you make contact (toss, takeback) should be in super-slow motion. The only thing you do fast is accelerate the racket to contact. Because you have done everything else slowly, those things will be controlled and you will have accumulated energy to accelerate.

That's it.

If you lay a foundation of proper grip, proper toss location and slow + acceleration, you will find a serve that works for you. Then you can build and improve other elements (pronation, knee bend, weight transfer, blah, blah, blah).

Good luck!!
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
For Kuno and MofP, TRY IT!
I did, and you know PPlayer is my biggest critic. But I tried it because it makes sense.
I think level of degrees depends on your measurement. I tossed the racket lower than 45 degrees, just like I'd toss a ball for the longest distance. Lower than 45 makes ABOUT 30.
I have problems arching upwards higher than that.
 

sureshs

Bionic Poster
In the serve, no risk no reward.

First serve is the risk. Risk means it can go wrong. But without risk, there is no reward (pace).
 

Power Player

Bionic Poster
For Kuno and MofP, TRY IT!
I did, and you know PPlayer is my biggest critic. But I tried it because it makes sense.
I think level of degrees depends on your measurement. I tossed the racket lower than 45 degrees, just like I'd toss a ball for the longest distance. Lower than 45 makes ABOUT 30.
I have problems arching upwards higher than that.

It sure helped me. For some reason I was locking up my wrist on contact and trying to use my wrist to apply spin and power. This was the only thing that helped my muscle memory retain that "loose arm" feeling on serve I used to get at will when I was younger.
 

papa

Hall of Fame
No BS here.
Actually tried throwing a HeadTitaniumMid a couple days ago, from service position, ad court, me lefty.
Flat face tosses barely reached the baseline. Some actually landed only on the service line.
On edge tosses hit maybe 17' high on the backfence.
Racket did NOT break, nor did the strings, but scratches did show.
Arc maybe 35 degrees upwards.
The old folks just chuckled and shook their heads.

Lee, best idea here is to throw the racquets out in a field/lawn. But if you have some old racquets (Head Titanium fits the bill) and you have Har-Tru courts, nothing gets effected/damaged. I've used old racquets on courts, and your right, "some" don't understand what's going on.
 

papa

Hall of Fame
It sure helped me. For some reason I was locking up my wrist on contact and trying to use my wrist to apply spin and power. This was the only thing that helped my muscle memory retain that "loose arm" feeling on serve I used to get at will when I was younger.

Try hitting some balls over the fence from maybe a distance of 8 feet away - give you some good practice about hitting up on the ball. Everyone thinks they can do it but its a little bit more difficult that most think.
 

Inken

New User
Thanks everybody for all your ideas. I studied them all carefully and tested some of it. But don't ask about the glances from the neighbor courts when I practiced the swing with a ball in my old ski sock, or when I tried to pronate while kneeling at the baseline (which is actually a good exercise to give one a feeling of pronation which I had never before) :???:

Actually, my serve changed, maybe because of all that practicing. But I don't know if it changed the 'right way', because it changed unintentionally, it just happened. Before, I hit the ball very high up. Now I let the ball come down a little bit more and hit with a more bend elbow. The serve is definitely faster now. Only I don't know if this is the right way, maybe I will end up like some old ladies in our club, hitting the ball just 10 cm over their heads…..
 
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