Lead with the hip into court on the serve?

[jdubbs]

So I've been up and down with my serve for some months now. I started merely spinning my first serve in since my % was so low.

Then I saw a tip on Tennis Channel, and apparently, those 30 seconds changed my whole game.

"Lead with your hip into the court. "

I went out and tried it, hitting buckets of balls. It seemed to work pretty well, and lo and behold, I was banging hard, flatter, first serves in with aplomb.

Then I tried it in a match...my serve was back! My opponent was pretty good on my spin serve, so I tried hitting some harder first serves to keep him honest, and it was going in at a great rate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgeYmEScfgQ&playnext=1&list=PL18A564FEE436080F

Try it and let me know what you guys think.

 

[Djokovicfan4life]

Good advice, but people have been talking about this for a LONG time here already.

 

[Fugazi]

It is indeed a VERY important technical element of both the 1st and 2nd serves.

 

[jdubbs]

Good advice, but people have been talking about this for a LONG time here already.

I hear ya...I had a 12 page thread on beating pushers a couple of weeks ago and there's 3 new threads on it in the last couple of days (!)

There's only so much that's brand new...just wanted to share something that worked for me big time this weekend.

 

[charliefedererer]

Welcome to the lead-with-the-hip club.

"Leading with the hip" is a necessary component of a fast first serve.

In order to form the "archer's bow" shape in an aggressive trophy pose, the hip has to go forward to counterweight the upper body tilting backward with a steep shoulder angle.

You just can't get that steep shoulder angle and not "lead with the hip".

The main reason to call attention to "lead with the hip" is so player's won't resist the natural shift in body weight as they go into the archer's bow. (Some players do resist letting their hips go so far forward, and they just can't figure out why they can't get more body movement into their serve.)

(Note that on your kick serves, there is more shoulder/upper body rotation/coiling back from the ball as you go into your trophy position, and hence an observer looking from the side would not see your hip protuding as far over the service line, even though to the server it feels like they are still appreciably "leading with the hip".)

Do you think Soderling "leads with the hip" on this serve? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a56pvP1i6x8

 

[GetBetterer]

Leading with your hip into the court is part of the technique.

charliefederer already covered it, so I recommend reading his post.

Also, sometimes I forget to do this (it's not quite in my subconscious yet) and so what I do is I tell myself I'm going to serve and volley. Then I hit the serve, and play a baseline game.

 

[jdubbs]

Leading with your hip into the court is part of the technique.

charliefederer already covered it, so I recommend reading his post.

Also, sometimes I forget to do this (it's not quite in my subconscious yet) and so what I do is I tell myself I'm going to serve and volley. Then I hit the serve, and play a baseline game.

Interesting, what I found was I was a bit out of position for the next shot. I need to work on taking a step back after my serve. I was so stoked to see all those big first serves going in that I think I admired them too much and forgot to hit the 2nd ball.

 

[LeeD]

I always say most who post here don't use archer's bow, don't use high elbow and hand, and don't move into the court more than a foot, not enough for a real serve.
Archer's bow is the result of the high toss hand, and the lowering of the rackethand for a strong trophy.
How often have I mentioned this to some guy who posted serving vids? Oh, maybe 20 times to different guys in a year.

 

[GetBetterer]

jdubbs:

Interesting, what I found was I was a bit out of position for the next shot. I need to work on taking a step back after my serve. I was so stoked to see all those big first serves going in that I think I admired them too much and forgot to hit the 2nd ball.

My post is quite vague. What I mean is I think that so that my hip subconsciously leans inwards because it wants to create forward momentum for me to run towards the net.

 

[SuperDuy]

Very good tip, this gets your weight moving forward.

 

[LeeD]

Interesting.
Maybe I'm a dyslesic old fart, but when I try to raise my right hand as far as possible, I naturally use the archer's bow to get the extra 3".
Don't you?
And if you believe in the hitting (swinging) up thing, shouldn't you employ archer's bow?

 

[SuperDuy]

Interesting.
Maybe I'm a dyslesic old fart, but when I try to raise my right hand as far as possible, I naturally use the archer's bow to get the extra 3".
Don't you?
And if you believe in the hitting (swinging) up thing, shouldn't you employ archer's bow?

Yes this forces your body into the trophy position as there is nothing else for it to position to.