I have read some of the post regarding hitting up on the serve. I know when serving the racquet shoud approach the ball on edge. If you are hitting up does this mean when the racquet is still on edge or between the on edge and when the racquet strings are facing the net part. It seems if you hit up when the racquet is on edge you would hit the right side of the ball but if you wait till the racquet strings face the net you would hit the bottom of the ball when hitting up.
hitting up on the serve
- Thread starter stephenf
- Start date
I'm also very inquisitive about 'hitting up' on a serve.stephenf said:
I'm 6'3" and 210lb and I have two serves:
1 - toss straight up, and forward about a 8-10" in front of me and flat-bomb it using a 'semi-continental' (if such a grip exists) (about 50% success - it either nets or goes a foot long) or:
2 - 2nd serve, toss toward my right-shoulder, about 2-3" in front of me and hit it with slice using a standard continental grip (about 75% success - curves away nicely from the right-hander's forehand but not with that much pace)
However, I've not yet had much success with the toss straight up and slightly behind me for a topspin/kick-serve that clears the net around 1-2 feet.
I guess it's something that would take hours and hours of practice!!
x Southpaw x
Semi-Pro
Nah, you don't hit the bottom of the ball, in fact you don't hit the ball at all. You graze the back of the ball. Think of painting a wall, what do you do? As your brush moves from down to up on the wall, your racquet moves from down to up on the ball.stephenf said:
Here's a huge start for you: Change your serving grip to eastern backhand. Find it weird... but it really is the easiest grip to learn and serve topspin and still have drive.
For first serve: Switch to eastern backhand, and try to serve a flat bomb: the grip should force your wrist to do some topspin.
x Southpaw x
Semi-Pro
They are effective but having no topspin serve at all will limit your progress beyond a certain skill level and this certain level is not really high. And topspin serve is very very possible at ALL heights.kevhen said:
I think taller guys are able to get away with flat serves from the beginning so we don't have to learn the topspin serve to be effective at 3.0-3.5 level. I have a topspin serve now but didn't have one for about the first 8 years I played. Now another guy I play with who is 6'3 hits just like me about 5 years ago with a flat first (90mph) and flat second (50mph). He is able to be effective at 3.5 level serving without topspin but our 5'8 buddy who can hit 100mph flat serves (10%) in, pretty much has to hit topspin to avoid DFs, so he is forced to hit those and has practiced it routinely. I rotate the serves I practice and tend to spend more time on my flat (100-110mph) placement and slice (90 mph with lots of movement), second serve slice (70mph with even more spin and movement) and less time on my hard topspin and slow topspin serves since they are generally less useful to me in matches.
Kaptain Karl
Hall Of Fame
No!Galactus said:
A 6' 2" (plus) player can learn a very effective Topspin (or Kick) serve ... and have it be a MONSTER serve. More later....
- KK
x Southpaw x
Semi-Pro
If it works for you... Great! Do it! Gives you more drive at the same time too!mistapooh said:
Bungalo Bill
G.O.A.T.
mistapooh said:
Yes, this is fine. I use three grips for spin serves and flatter serves. I mix them up for various effects for both the first serve and second serve.
I use the Eastern backhand grip for strong spin serves. The trick to this grip is delaying the wrist release into the ball a tad. So you dont frame it or dump it into the net.
The rest of the grips I use for all kinds of serves.
Kaptain Karl
Hall Of Fame
Ahh! I see. But think of it this way....Galactus said:
The taller you are, the farther into the court you can toss the ball and the more of your mass is then "behind" the serve, rather than beneath it. That greater mass (from the taller person's Topspin) will give more "umph!" to the serve. The tall server's topspin will have "jump" AND pace. (The shorter person's topspin will take more of the server's energy to produce that kind of pace.)
Does that make sense?
- KK
Hmmm....not really. This just seems to me as if the basic topspin tecnique (ball slightly behind head; hitting up-and-over) is now nullified somewhat back to a more basic serve.Kaptain Karl said:
I can't see how you can hit up-and-over the ball when it's forward of the standatd topspin strike-zone - you're now hitting the ball more towards it's middle then underneath it???
For topspin serve:
a) is a Continental grip required?
b) do you have to consciously snap your wrist forward on impact?
Dr.Lobster
Rookie
really solid tips, good work :]
crosscourt
Professional
For me the key swing thought on the serve is to swing up into the ball. I think this is what people mean by hitting up on the ball. It doesn't mean that you try to hit the underside of the ball, it describes the trajectroy of the racket -- you are swinging up and out (right or left depending on the serve) through the ball and not forward and down. Once you are swinging up and out there are variations according to the serve that you are hitting. The effect, depending on your wrist position and the precise trajectory of the racket may be flat, topspin or slice serves. But they all come out of an up and out motion. Or at least they do for me.
cc
cc
Kaptain Karl
Hall Of Fame
When I write about tossing, "forward" means more toward the target Service Box. As a "six-footer, plus" you're toss placement can be farther "forward"....Galactus said:
Yes, actually. (It's only a matter of "degree" but "Yes" the tall Topspinner is hitting slightly higher on the ball than the short Topspinner.)
Not "required", but definitely more helpful. As noted all over these boards, Boris Becker could hit all his serves with an Eastern FH grip(!).
Whether Flat, Slice, Twist or Topspin, the Continental grip is (generally) understood to make serving more effective. Many Servers prefer the Eastern Backhand for serves. I -- and a few of my peers -- use an extreme EB grip for all serves.
Boy! (You have no idea what a "powder keg" you just opened with that question...!)
The phrase "snap your wrist" causes so much grief on TW. My really *Anal* TW friends will argue ad infinitum that "wrist pronation" is so much more correct ... (and they are correct.) But "snap" is okay with me ... so long as you mean "pronate".
Now, to answer your question.... Yes. Once you've "loaded" your body for the serve, and are unloading your coiled body into the ball, yes, you snap your wrist to make your racket strike through/up/over the ball.
Are you back with me?
- KK
100% KK!Kaptain Karl said:
The fact that I consider myself a comfortable 3.5 player who played twice a week (now that's 4 times) and up until recently hardly ever used the Continental Grip - I find that I now get 60-70% of my 1st serves in now and 70-80% of 2nd serves, and I'm almost automatically using Continental for serving now.
As I've said in other posts, I concentrated on the 1st serve 'flat-bomb' way too many times, (I'm roughly guessing 70-80mph?) and obviously after a while, they're easy for my opponents to read and simply block back into play.
All I have to do now is practive that 'up-and-over' topspin technique!
With the wrist-snap-action on impact, this is a lot easier with forehands and backhand and I can get so much more power than I was 6 months ago - but for the service, the habits I dont want to get into is what I've suffered with in the past: the more I 'think' about the technique instead of 'doing' - I make more mistakes....
Thanks for your input!
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