Foot alignment on serve (platform stance)

[HuusHould]

I've made a lot of changes to my service action and foot placement over the course of many years. (tried the step up/pinpoint stance, modeled on Sam Groth, which improved my power markedly (~10-15km/h), but impaired my accuracy/consistency a bit and did seemingly irreparable damage to my ball toss, which I only now, a few years later, seem to have mitigated. Consequently I feel like my feet don't naturally align themselves by feel. I often find myself shuffling/pivoting my feet to find the right stance after setting up, much the way some golfers do on the teeing space. In a recent mixed doubles, I served for the set at 5-3 and double faulted twice. (We lost the set) I feel like my inability to find a comfortable foot placement, combined with a bit of pressure (probably suboptimal ball tosses as well, but this didn't stand out) resulted in a couple of serves flying long. I currently have a fairly simple, old school action, with relatively low level leg drive, so I'm only just airborne when I contact the serve. I feel if you've got a fully airborne spike, the foot placement is less restrictive) I've tried to standardise my foot placement visually, lining my feet up with/perpendicular to, certain line locations on the court. I think this might work quite well, but time will tell.

I was just wondering if anyone has useful techniques they use to line their feet up for the platform stance. Or if you have an opinion on how the feet should be aligned and how variations affect the serve;
Is it a good idea to have the exact same foot alignment for all serves? (I think it is)
I find it relatively easy to standardise the direction my feet are pointing (although serving from different positions along the baseline, which I think is necessary, can make this more difficult), but does anyone have an idea how you could standardise the width of your stance? Is there a foot alignment conducive to serve and volleying? (Width of stance and/or foot alignment) Cheers.

 

[Dartagnan64]

I'm not sure why it's hard to standardize a platform stance. Front foot angled towards the right net post, rear foot set back and parallel to the baseline. Shoulder width apart. Straight line from heel of front foot should intersect the heel of the rear foot.

Can't imagine a slight variation off that will make a difference in the serve outcome. I have more variation in my toss than in my stance.

 

[HuusHould]

Straight line from heel of front foot should intersect the heel of the rear foot.

I prefer to have my front foot more closed (toe points to the singles line, halfway between the service line and baseline) and the back foot too far right relative to the left (right hander) for this to occur.

 

[HuusHould]

Can't imagine a slight variation off that will make a difference in the serve outcome. I have more variation in my toss than in my stance.

You'd be surprised. I even think a slight variation in stance can affect the ball toss, now that you mention it.

 

[HuusHould]

rear foot set back and parallel to the baseline

I prefer to have it perpendicular to the middle of the service box at service line depth. But am open to experimentation.

 

[LeeD]

Look at parole tennis platform serving men.
Slightly more than aligned to the target to keep shoulders fully closed and alight back to target.
Fine tune thru practice and repetition.

 

[Mountain Ghost]

Serve Stances: http://www.mountainghosttennis.com/tennisservestances.pdf

 

[Dartagnan64]

You'd be surprised. I even think a slight variation in stance can affect the ball toss, now that you mention it.

clearly some variation is going to be necessary if you serve from different locations along the baseline. My description is for serving from 2-3 feet to the left or right of the center hash. If you are serving from the doubles alley, your toes likely will point elsewhere. And yet it shouldn’t alter your toss.

 

[HuusHould]

Serve Stances: http://www.mountainghosttennis.com/tennisservestances.pdf

This looks like a good way to ensure you're oriented the same way to both courts, which is half the issue for me. The other half is finding the right stance. But that's just trial and error. This method can be like a "snapshot" of the stance that works for you after experimentation. The other benefit is you can take the board wider along the baseline (or closer to the centre tag) and point the target line at the target and you have your adjusted stance.
Have you stuck with the same stance over time? Where do you get your poster board?

 

[Mountain Ghost]

Poster board can be found at art supply or craft stores ... ... ... once you find your "default-perfect-stance" on the duece side ... the same "perfect" stance can easily be found ... and practiced ... wherever on the baseline you are serving from.

~ MG