FiReFTW
Legend
No, that was just my comment and opinion about his serve, that the technique is good but hes missing 1 key thing.
Drastically improved my serve this summer
- Thread starter AlexR
- Start date
No, that was just my comment and opinion about his serve, that the technique is good but hes missing 1 key thing.
5263
G.O.A.T.
Ok, just a "Jolly" comment jab...
AlexR
Rookie
I’ll give it a shot sometime soon. it’s getting cold here in upstate new york and soon the nets will come down!
5263
G.O.A.T.
good catch on the shoulder positioning, as that is a bit odd with someone doing so many other things well as you did. Imo you shouldn't just think about it as shoulders, but also the elbows....meaning notice how the hitting elbow should stay inline with the plane of the shoulders, extending that straight line from tossing deltoid to hitting deltoid to hitting elbow.....but the tossing elbow goes up higher breaking that clean straight line as it goes up around vertical. See that at 29secs ?
AlexR
Rookie
Yeah I see what you’re saying. I should try to record from the baseline to show how much tilt I’m actually getting. the video i made wasnt a great angle, too low. I noticed from such an angle, even some pro serves don’t look like much tilt is happening. but, as you said I agree that this is something to improve.
Chas Tennis
G.O.A.T.
The middle 2 are good serves. The last one I clearly shanked. First one, gimme a break it was the first one!
I'm actually glad you challenged me, watching the video showed a few other things I'd like to continue working on. For instance, the shoulder tilt still doesn't look too pronounced, though I think that's partly due to the low camera angle.
Not enough frame rate (fps) and too much motion blur. 240 fps is very good. You need high speed video with small motion blur to see the fastest parts of the service motion.
Recommend a Casio FH100 used from $bay. Maybe your smartphone has high speed video?
You go directly to Trophy Position (some high level servers do that) and then move the racket mostly toward racket drop before some of the sub-motions that are supposed to cause racket drop are used, leg thrust, trunk twist.... If you simply move the racket to positions it is not likely to stretch muscles as done in the high level serve when sub-motions accelerate and force the upper arm to rotate back and down..... . Compare your serve to high level serves to see these points.
The fastest arm and racket motions are not in the video because of the low frame rate and motion blur. The blurry racket head positions at 19 sec does not look like there is enough ISR before impact, maybe none. ?
Your body at impact tilts to the side more than a high level serve and your foot lands more to the side rather than with forward motion like high level servers.
You should study the Ellenbecker video "Rotator Cuff Injury" as it describes the upper arm to shoulder joint orientation angle to use to minimize the risks of impingement. Available as one of Tennis Resources's collection.
One good camera angle looks along the ball's trajectory from behind (show impact) and another is to view impact from perpendicular to the ball's trajectory. If weather allows video in a short sleeve shirt and bright sunlight to see shadows at the elbow. The shadows can often indicate internal shoulder rotation (ISR) directly.
You are moving fast.
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Keendog
Professional
Form does look bad, I think the band is too strong, use a lighter grade one. As fire says keep elbows in a stable position and pull shoulder blades together throught alll exercises so shoulders don't become rounded and pointing in front of you.
I also assume you are doing the equivalent reverse exercises as well to work the opposite muscles so your shoulder joint stays balanced and the stability muscles on both sides are developed? We are just concerned for you.
Curious
G.O.A.T.
It was just a casual demonstration. No need to be concerned!
