How fast should you pronate on a serve?
- Thread starter SuperFly
- Start date
supineAnimation
Hall of Fame
Certainly for flat and slice serves the later you begin pronating the faster you'll hit the ball, all other aspects of the motion being equal. You can swing the racquet much faster at the ball on edge than with the strings side, both because of the mechanics of your arm and because of surface area of the racquet, and the longer you wait to turn the racquet (with pronation) the faster you need to turn it to get the strings to meet the ball.
WildVolley
Legend
The pronation on a hard serve is usually pretty fast if you are using correct technique, but I think this is happening at a subconscious level with experienced players. Watch a slow motion video of Sampras serving and you'll see how drastic the motion is.
When I'm serving well, I really have an impression that I'm cracking the racket through the ball like a whip. I don't think about pronating, but it must happen because the racket is coming up on edge.
When I'm serving well, I really have an impression that I'm cracking the racket through the ball like a whip. I don't think about pronating, but it must happen because the racket is coming up on edge.
GetBetterer
Hall of Fame
I always believed the power came from your body as FYB stated, and the pronation is to direct the ball (i.e., if you hit the ball perpendicular to the ground, it would go down less in comparison to hitting it angled if you're tall).
salsainglesa
Semi-Pro
I think that you build up force with your body, within the kinetic chain and that the responsible for the most of the force is actually the shoulder rotation, being the pronation a byproduct of it, since its on the same axis of rotation.
Pronation by itself would not produce that much power, I mean, without shoulder medial rotation.
Pronation by itself would not produce that much power, I mean, without shoulder medial rotation.
Jaewonnie
Professional
I especially focus on pronation. If you do, all other body parts pretty much follow. Idk if its only pronation, but even if i try to only use pronation, I can hit past 110mph. I'm only 5'10" (service motion only feels like pronation however). <---too much pronation in one sentence...
For a really fast serve you have to have good pronation. When I say pronation, I'm not just referring to the forearm either. The rotation is rooted at the shoulder. (Technically pronation is forearm only)
This means that you need to fully extend your arm for the contact, and it helps to supinate a bit in advance.
This means that you need to fully extend your arm for the contact, and it helps to supinate a bit in advance.
charliefedererer
Legend
I was having an argument with a hitting partner about how fast you should pronate on the serve. He says that he serves fast because he has a quick pronation, but I argue that he serves fast because he's 6'3.
So, how fast should you be pronating on the serve?
You need to pronate really fast on the serve.
If you don't have a really fast serve, then maybe you need to understand pronation better and really work on it. I think this will be a revelation that tremendously helps you.
Secrets of the Serve by Jim McLennon from TennisOne.com:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7519285988848127213#
Tennis Serve Pronation by Brent Abel from WebTennis.net: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DpptgXq5j4&feature=related
