How to warm up your serve?

V

vince916

Semi-Pro
I just cant go through the warmup routine for a serve. I do everything "slower". I always end up tossing too low, get in the trophy position slower, and worst of all I dont swing hard since its warming up and have horrible timing. I'd say a underhand serve has much pace as my warmup serves

Will this issue go away when I improve my serve?

I have the same issue with my ground strokes when I play a newbie. I try to hit really soft and mess up my timing or hit with too little pace and end up going into the net.
 
Loose and Relaxed motion in the beginning of the warmup is the key and increase the power to about 75% as you near the warmup. Not sure i should recommend this but, i hit all my Overhead warmup at 130 MPH and that seem to loosen up my shoulder fast.
 
Just take it easy until you start feeling loose enough to let it rip. The pros don't come out firing either in warmups, they start slow and work their way up.
 
Fedace said:
Loose and Relaxed motion in the beginning of the warmup is the key and increase the power to about 75% as you near the warmup. Not sure i should recommend this but, i hit all my Overhead warmup at 130 MPH and that seem to loosen up my shoulder fast.
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OH please,
You cannot tell me you wake up in the morning go to your match and the first overhead you hit is 130 MPH, Andy Roddick doesn't even do such a stupid thing.
 
baseline08thrasher said:
OH please,
You cannot tell me you wake up in the morning go to your match and the first overhead you hit is 130 MPH, Andy Roddick doesn't even do such a stupid thing.
Click to expand...

That is how to pull a muscle. maybe someday he won't be so lucky. I always start slow just loosening up my sarm on the first few without any leg bend whatsoever then as I get loose I incorporate more into the motion.
 
vince916 said:
Will this issue go away when I improve my serve?
Click to expand...

Warm up your serve last, just after the overheads. i.e. groundies, volleys, overheads , serve..

start off with slow flat serves even if you do not hit them in a match. Then gradually increase to medium and fast flat serves. Then switch to topspin serves.

I just cannot hit 'slow' or medium pace topspin or slice serves. I seem to do more harm than help trying to warm up with slow topspin or slice serves. I never hit a flat serve in a match, but I always start with medium pace flat serves to warm up.
 
Vince you don't want to lose form when you are warming up your serve. You want to hit it with the same motion and form and focus like you do in a match. Your racquet head speed will be slower and maybe the knee bend won't be as deep but you should be very conscious of your form and not let it deteriorate.

Also when you are playing a newbie, drive through the ball and hit towards the newbie. You can give the ball more air to get it deep but slower. Don't lose form as well trying to hit slow. You need to focus on your engaging your legs and core even though you aren't hitting hard.

Can you do mini-tennis?
 
I just imitate some serve motion w/o the ball toss. Then I start off really slow, but getting the key points, leg bend, high toss, straight left arm, trophy pose and all that. Then after about 5~7 balls I try some corners for about 5~7 balls and I'm done.
 
split-step said:
Tennisdad, I always start warming up with my topspin serve, then slice, then flat.
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You must be younger than me :) I am 42 and tossing at 12 o clock and bending knees, arching body to look up for a topspin serve is fairly difficult without warming up :) . I need at least 15-20 practice serves, before hitting a topspin serve.

For a flat/slice I can toss at 1 or 2 o clock, into the court and use my body weight to get the ball in. I never use a flat serve in a match. It is just my warm up serve at about 60-75% effort to get my shoulder & elbow clicking.
 
I've seen people start at the service line and serve it into the box directly in front of them a couple of times, then take a few steps back each time until they're at their regular serving location. (I don't see why you couldn't do this crosscourt if you wanted to.) So they start with a pretty easy motion, and get closer and closer to their 100% motion as they move back. It seems like it might also help with getting the spin down. I haven't really tried this, though, because I'm usually in a match situation with I'm warming up and it doesn't seem like it would be polite to do this with an opponent on the other side.
 
vince916 said:
I just cant go through the warmup routine for a serve. I do everything "slower". I always end up tossing too low, get in the trophy position slower, and worst of all I dont swing hard since its warming up and have horrible timing. I'd say a underhand serve has much pace as my warmup serves

Will this issue go away when I improve my serve?

I have the same issue with my ground strokes when I play a newbie. I try to hit really soft and mess up my timing or hit with too little pace and end up going into the net.
Click to expand...

Do some arm circles while holding the racquet.
 
cghipp said:
I've seen people start at the service line and serve it into the box directly in front of them a couple of times, then take a few steps back each time until they're at their regular serving location. (I don't see why you couldn't do this crosscourt if you wanted to.) So they start with a pretty easy motion, and get closer and closer to their 100% motion as they move back. It seems like it might also help with getting the spin down. I haven't really tried this, though, because I'm usually in a match situation with I'm warming up and it doesn't seem like it would be polite to do this with an opponent on the other side.
Click to expand...

I like this idea a lot; I'll have to give it a try!

I usually start out by only doing 2nd serves. I'll do 2nd serves until they're consistently landing in. (e.g. 7-8 in a row). Only then will I start hitting my 1st serves.
 
I like warming up with some dynamic stretches, and do a set or two of shoulder (rotator) exercises with the exercise band.

Then serve motion without ball. Then Slow serves, then faster ones.
 
I was given some pretty good advice, which was to hit the first few serves way over the net, probably landing well beyond the service line, with a smooth, relaxed action. That's a great way of getting used to hitting up through the stroke and warming everything up. After a few of those serves, you're ready to zero in on the service box.

In a similar vein, a pro said to me that, when warming up, you should NEVER hit any serve into the net.
 
Just roll the arm over at 70% speed and dont bother aiming for the box, just hit it in between service line and baseline.
 
I don't start with second serves because my second serve actually takes more effort than my first. I usually end up warming up more like "anchorage" does - starting out with just the motion, without regard for whether the ball is going in the box or not. But I need to think more about the part about never hitting a practice serve into the net.
 
Do your serves after you've warmed up all your groundstrokes and footwork. Then use the serve warm-ups to LOOSEN up your arm. That should be your first priority. Getting it in the box does not matter if your arm isn't warmed up and tight. Once you get into a match that will only mess up your timing. With a loose arm the rest will follow.
 
vince916 said:
I just cant go through the warmup routine for a serve. I do everything "slower". I always end up tossing too low, get in the trophy position slower, and worst of all I dont swing hard since its warming up and have horrible timing. I'd say a underhand serve has much pace as my warmup serves

Will this issue go away when I improve my serve?

I have the same issue with my ground strokes when I play a newbie. I try to hit really soft and mess up my timing or hit with too little pace and end up going into the net.
Click to expand...

I get really nervous sometimes in the serve warmup so I have tried a lot of techniques. A lot of people recommend the arm circles as someone suggested. Also take two racquets together and do shadow service motions...that is my personal favorite along with this one -throwing a football before you go to the courts!
 
This issue WILL improve your serve if you get rid of it.

Serve slower, but get into the "trophy position" just as fast.

Get into a rhythm.
 
split-step said:
Tennisdad, I always start warming up with my topspin serve, then slice, then flat.
Click to expand...

That's a great way to damage your shoulder, regardless of age. You should always warm up flat serves first, and I also advocate loosening up the shoulder by slowly shadow swinging through a serve a few times. I see too many rec players not warming up correctly and then wondering how they ended up with an injury only playing twice a week.
 
keep serving the ball slow for a while with the same toss and etc thats what i do.....until i feel it and start to serve like crazy
 
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