How do you serve down the T?
- Thread starter AceServer
- Start date
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
theres so many different things people can say on here. but here is the KEY. you are not going to get advice this for free anywhere else. ask yourself this-how do you walk from point a to b? or how do you throw a ball to someone from point a to b? as soon as you figure that out, bingo! that will be $100 please
AceServer
Rookie
theres so many different things people can say on here. but here is the KEY. you are not going to get advice this for free anywhere else. ask yourself this-how do you walk from point a to b? or how do you throw a ball to someone from point a to b? as soon as you figure that out, bingo! that will be $100 please
That's good advice, but how can you serve with variation like that if the other player knows where you are standing and where you are going to serve?
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
ok same question. you are standing at point A. from point A you can walk left right up down diagonal, etc etc to point b,c,d,e,f, etc etc. so same with serve. only difference is your points are restricted in a box. so they dont know. you can decide to walk to point c, then point k, then point L, then point A1, or point G3, etc etc. get it?
Tennis_Monk
Hall of Fame
Most recreational players are unlikely to be able to go DOWN THE T with ease on both sides (ad n Deuce). It takes considerable amount of practice (nothing new here that you arent aware of).
What i would suggest is pick which court (ad or deuce) where one has some success (or atleast some comfort in serving ) and start working from there. Next step would be to hit down the T without worrying about Pace (ie dont over power the serve. keep comfortable pace and add some spin). Repeat with some extra pace and spin until this gets routine.
Assuming one already have done this kind of work, one can also trying varying the toss. Yeah, i get that opponents can pick up varying toss patterns and dial in. Please bear in mind
a) keeping the same toss will become easy once one gets the hang of hitting the serve down the T.
b) Even if opponents pick up on the toss, a good serve is still a good serve , especially a recreational levels (we are not talking Djokovic's)
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
no....you stand at the same spot. if you move around depending on teh serve it will make it easier to hit some serves, but that gives away your diguise. i stand in teh same spot no matter what serve so i have a disguise.
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
dont think too much about 'how' to do with your body. when you toss a ball to your buddy at point B, do you say 'oh no how do i turn my body"?? no you just do it. same with the serve. try it. same with walking. you dont say 'how shoudl i turn my body to go left this way" you dont do you? you just do it. let your body do it. just decide in your head. your body will follow. you decide you wanna walk left, your body follows right?
AceServer
Rookie
in your case looks that way to me....
I am engulfed in confusion. Explain it to me directly please?
I tried it and it didn't work. I hate it when people give advice like this. For some, it may work for you to tell your body where you want the ball to go and it'll plug in the variables by itself, but for others, it's crap. There's REASONS why your ball goes a certain way and it's because of PHYSICS.
For example, if you want to serve down the T on a deuce serve, toss more in line with your body, don't open your shoulders as much or early, stop slicing so much, and pronate more. Overly opening your shoulders or opening it too early will cause you to drag your racquet leftward too much and you'll miss the T. If you don't hit the right side of the ball by slicing, then it won't rebound so much to the left. If you're right handed and you pronate, the racquet angle will face the T more instead of the deuce corner.
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
eh. i think my method is pretty fail proof. i mean...you know how to walk right????
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
I am engulfed in confusion. Explain it to me directly please?
what dont you get???
AceServer
Rookie
You just think about where it goes and want it to go and 'just do it'?
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
think about where you WANT it to go. and let you body do it. if you reall yhave trouble post a video up andi can see exactly what you are doing.
the easiet way for me is to repeat: you decide where you want to walk, and your body does it right? you dont say "ok move left foot this way move right foot this way move arm this way angle body this way do this do that' your body automatically makes adjustments based on where you want to go. i get the feeling the serve is brand new to you. so maybe you havent even learned the motion yet. if you dont know how to serve then dont ask about placement yet.
Bartelby
Bionic Poster
Yes, I'm always amazed that I know how to do a forehand slice without the slightest problem.
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
i am thinking you dont even know how to serve yet....
autumn_leaf
Hall of Fame
lol. i had this question when i started. but like zapvor said think of it like when you started throwing a ball. it's mostly mental. aim and your body should be able to do the rest as long as you have enough experience to execute the motion.
yes, you're body motion is going to differ, in fact that's how some players are better returners, they can tell slight differences in your body motion and move towards the intended target.
yes, you're body motion is going to differ, in fact that's how some players are better returners, they can tell slight differences in your body motion and move towards the intended target.
AceServer
Rookie
Haha, yes I made this account when I first started playing tennis. I had nothing to think of other than this. Quite ironic, hmm?
tennis-kid
Rookie
Your advice is so vague. I can hardly understand.
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
lol what about the other 14 posts i made here. did you read those???
tennis-kid
Rookie
yes sweetheart
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
make more sense now?
Mahboob Khan
Hall of Fame
It is obvious that you are tossing the ball more to your right when serving in the deuce court, and bypassing the ball at 3 o'clock, that's why you are ok with wide serve and your opponents know this and they always wait there. I also suspect that you use close to forehand grip.
Well, to serve up the T in the deuce court:
Think of the ball as a clock.
You want to hit the center of the clock where needles meet, NOT at 3, NOT at 9.
Grip: continental. base knuckle of the index finger on panel 2 or between panel no. 1 and 2.
(panel no. 1 is the top panel). There are 8 panels if you count them.
Pronation for right-handed player. Imagine you are unscrewing a bulb (your wrist-forearm turns anti-clockwise).
Toss the ball between 12 and 1 o'clock up front, as your racket comes into contact pronate so that the strings are lined up with the T target; hit through, and follow-through and keep on pronating. Keep your hitting arm loose .. very loose indeed.
Mahboob Khan
rufusbgood
Semi-Pro
I'm no coach and no great server either but here is my two cents worth: If you look at photos of most pro players service grips you'll notice that the index finger is separated from the rest of the fingers of their racquet hand. I don't know about the rest of the tennis playing population but I keep my index finger separated like this and I use it (my index finger) to point the ball in the direction I want the ball to go.
Mahboob Khan
Hall of Fame
I am glad that this works for you but actually it is the face of the racket at contact which guides the ball to the targets. Pronation allows you to manipulate the racket head.
mightyrick
Legend
Forget ball toss and contact location. If your ball toss is maybe one foot to the right of your body and on a plane with the baseline, that is all you need to start.
What you probably need to do is slow your serve down. You need to start very slow and relaxed so that you can get a feel for aiming. Your body should naturally make adjustments necessary to put the ball. When I say slow, I mean sloooooooooow.
Slow your serve down until you can predictably aim it. Then practice that for maybe 20 serves. Then, try to speed it up a small amount.
Developing the feel for serve control takes a substantial amount of time. Slow your serve down to give your body a chance to learn it.
Take some lessons man.
General rule: the ball usually goes where your strings are pointing at contact. If your strings are pointing wide; the ball will go wide. If your strings are pointing down the middle, the ball will go down the middle.
This may confuse you but your swing path can cause slight deviations to the rule above stating that the ball goes where your strings point. For example, you can hit forehands with a slightly closed racket (strings pointing at bottom of net) but they go over the net because the swing path is upward to lift the ball over the net. Same with a serve, you can hit down the middle with a slight closed face if you are brushing left to right and following thru to right of contact point.
But, to start with, I would keep it simple and try to time pronation so racket strings point at intended target at contact. Then follow thru just slightly to R of contact (for righty server).
General rule: the ball usually goes where your strings are pointing at contact. If your strings are pointing wide; the ball will go wide. If your strings are pointing down the middle, the ball will go down the middle.
This may confuse you but your swing path can cause slight deviations to the rule above stating that the ball goes where your strings point. For example, you can hit forehands with a slightly closed racket (strings pointing at bottom of net) but they go over the net because the swing path is upward to lift the ball over the net. Same with a serve, you can hit down the middle with a slight closed face if you are brushing left to right and following thru to right of contact point.
But, to start with, I would keep it simple and try to time pronation so racket strings point at intended target at contact. Then follow thru just slightly to R of contact (for righty server).
rufusbgood
Semi-Pro
I suppose you could do what Boris Becker did, control the direction of your serves with your tongue.
:lol:
:lol:
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
this is pretty bogus lol
^^^^ using index finger or palm as guideline to where stringbed is pointing is not bogus at all. I think rufusbgood is saying that the inside of his index finger is in parallel to his stringbed. He then uses the finger as a guide to point his strings where he wants the ball to go.
Grab a conti grip and see which part of your palm or fingers are parallel to the strings. Then hit the ball with that piece of hand pointed at target.
Many coaches teach use the palm as a guide on eastern forehand to know where strings are pointing. Want to go DTL then palm points down the line - want to go cross court, then palm points cross court. And, some coaches say use the ridge between the 1st and 2nd knuckles on the one handed eastern backhand to know where the strings are pointing. Sometimes, I actually use the the inside of my index and ring finger to get feel for racket face on FH. Similar concept could work on serve.
Not a bad suggestion in my view.
Grab a conti grip and see which part of your palm or fingers are parallel to the strings. Then hit the ball with that piece of hand pointed at target.
Many coaches teach use the palm as a guide on eastern forehand to know where strings are pointing. Want to go DTL then palm points down the line - want to go cross court, then palm points cross court. And, some coaches say use the ridge between the 1st and 2nd knuckles on the one handed eastern backhand to know where the strings are pointing. Sometimes, I actually use the the inside of my index and ring finger to get feel for racket face on FH. Similar concept could work on serve.
Not a bad suggestion in my view.
Last edited:
Mahboob Khan
Hall of Fame
Of course, of course, as the racket, the racket head, is an extension of one's arm. Position of one's palm and the racket stringsbed are the same. If your palm is correct at contact the racket face will also be correct.
In order to line up your palm-racket head to hit down the T one has to pronate to get this allignment.
People are different so they learn from different examples.
rjw
Professional
ya, what about them???? answer or die!!
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
well...i see. but thats real old school. i mean eastern forehand???? i dont know anyone under 30 hitting that way. i guess different people use different methods but i am nto going to advocate this method at all.
"when walking left make sure your toes are point left" lol really!
In tennis, we aim with our eyes/imagination - you have to give your brain a target. Most don't and are surprised that they can't hit the spots. So often, I'll ask players were they were aiming and they respond, "the service box" - that's just to vague for our brains, we need a more precise target about the size of a small hula-hoop. Experience and practice allows us better success at hitting the target more consistently.
So, the bottom line is to aim (at first anyways) with your eyes - look at the spot your going for and just let it happen. You'll be amazed at your ability if you just let it happen.
So, the bottom line is to aim (at first anyways) with your eyes - look at the spot your going for and just let it happen. You'll be amazed at your ability if you just let it happen.
zapvor
G.O.A.T.
this is exactly right
Not old school at all youngster - you whipper snappers think you know everything. Roger Feder and Juan Martin Del Potro currently play with a soft eastern forehand grip and they tend to do quite well with it on all surfaces. I play with an EFH that is shifted slightly toward a semi-western - kind of between the 2. I think this is the best grip. Agassi also uses something between a SW and EFH grip and so did Sampras. I hate to tell you whippersnapper but tennis stroke production has not really changed much since Agassi and Sampras ruled the game.
SW is a very poor grip for low balls, and Western is horrible for low balls and is very limiting as it is only good for pounding high balls.
You can use a portion of your fingers and palm to feel where the strings are pointing with ANY grip. Just take your normal grip whatever that is and see what part of you fingers, palm, or knuckles are in-line (parallel) with the stringbed. I frequently think brush the ball with a portion of my hand to get the spin and location I want. It is a good teaching aid as it helps develop feel, brushing action and directional control.
