Flat serve - Flat racquet face on contact

sgrv

Rookie
First of all, let me start out by providing a brief background: I am a leftie and can serve slice and kickers on both sides of the court. I use continental and eastern backhand respectively. In both cases, the racquet makes a sideways contact with the ball.

Now, I am trying to develop a good flat serve. I understand the racquet face should be flat at point of contact. That's where I am having issues. I can't seem to develop a serve motion/grip combination that makes the face flat, while still getting power and consistency. I can emulate canon ball motion, by hitting the back of the ball with a straight arm, but rarely the ball falls in, it is either long or hits the net.

My other serves are fairly consistent. In such cases, my swing is balanced, smooth and hence repeatable. I am just not able to get that level of comfort with flat serve.

How can I improve?
 

plasma

Banned
loosen up and use no force. Practice the motion everyday without a ball at home. Hit up on the ball a bit. Loosen the wrist and use the weight of the racquet. learn to rotatte your shoulders at the last second. Throwing a ball may help....????
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
Yeah, pronation... twisting the arm inwards to get a FLAT contact with conti or conti with a slight twist towards EBH.
 

Bagumbawalla

Talk Tennis Guru
Well, I don't know if this will help you, but here is one way of looking at things.

Hold a ball to the center of your strings. Notice the "center" of the sphere always touches your strings, no matter what direction your racket is facing.

When you hit a slice sreve, a topspin serve, a "kick" serve, a "flat" serve-- your racket is (basically) always touching the same part of the ball-- and "aiming", pointing, facing toward the intendetd target-- that much is the same.

What makes the difference is the rackets path THROUGH the ball-- in the same way that hitting a forehand you can slice, topspin, pull the racket inward, or hit outward- to impose different "trajectories' on the ball.

Same thing with the serve. You hit the ball with the same part of the racket, facing the same direction--- but to hit a "flat" ball--- the follow-through is more through the ball and toward the target than with the various spins.

Notice that as the racket comes up to meet the ball it is not following a straight line, rather it is an arc and you are always going to want some (however slight) amount of follow-through over the ball (unless you are about 7 feet tall).

Suggestion: watch the ball intensly at the top of the service toss. Imagine the path through the ball the racket must take to produce the shot you want. Then practice it a thousand times until you get it right.
 
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