My first serious attempts at getting a good serve

[whatheup2]

Hey posters,

I started playing earlier this year and now that I have a little bit more time I really want to improve my tennis -- starting with my serve. I know it is FAR from perfect, but if you guys could help me out in any way, I'd appreciate it. Unfortunately these were my better serves out of the bucket I hit, and you'll notice that not one hits the fence with any kind of authority.

The first 3 are my flat '1st' serves, and the last 4 are my slice serves. I feel that each time I practise my serve I get a little better with my timing and contact, but I'm pretty sure I'm doing something wrong with my technique too.

I'm eventually going to post another follow-up video of my serving, hopefully with big improvements, on this thread so you guys can laugh at my slow progress

Looking forward to hearing your comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2fGTIX767Y

PS - This is actually an HD camera but the quality looks horrible, if someone can explain how to post proper HD videos on Youtube I would give him/her UNLIMITED PRAISE!!!

 

[whatheup2]

Scratch my PS (fixed it), instead anyone who helps me with my serve gets the coveted UNLIMITED PRAISE!!!

 

[xFullCourtTenniSx]

Hey posters,

I started playing earlier this year and now that I have a little bit more time I really want to improve my tennis -- starting with my serve. I know it is FAR from perfect, but if you guys could help me out in any way, I'd appreciate it. Unfortunately these were my better serves out of the bucket I hit, and you'll notice that not one hits the fence with any kind of authority.

The first 3 are my flat '1st' serves, and the last 4 are my slice serves. I feel that each time I practise my serve I get a little better with my timing and contact, but I'm pretty sure I'm doing something wrong with my technique too.

I'm eventually going to post another follow-up video of my serving, hopefully with big improvements, on this thread so you guys can laugh at my slow progress

Looking forward to hearing your comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2fGTIX767Y

PS - This is actually an HD camera but the quality looks horrible, if someone can explain how to post proper HD videos on Youtube I would give him/her UNLIMITED PRAISE!!!

Strongly resisted the urge to say first... I was the first view.

Anyways, change your grip to a continental grip, not a forehand grip, and turn your shoulders so that your back is facing the net.

 

[GetBetterer]

1. Your grip, as previously stated it needs to be continental.

2. Get more of a trophy pose.

3. Try to bring your hitting arm a little more back, so that your body is sideways from the camera's current viewpoint.

After all that, the swing should come naturally and you should be fine.

The HD needs some time to get set-up in YouTube, but it will work.

Unlimited Praises for me!!!

 

[Kunohara]

Besides whats been said before, you also lack forward movement when you explode into the ball. Your arm also is not fully straightened when you make contact (you want to hit the ball at the highest point). But you're pretty close.

Nice knee bend.

 

[LeftSHBH]

Pretty good for someone who just started playing.

 

[charliefedererer]

The single thing I would work on is to get into more of a "Bow Shape" in your trophy pose.

That means that your body is curved when one looks at you from the side, with your upper body and feet bent back towards the back fence, and your front hip pushing out into the court.

You have a nice toss and keep your tossing arm up until you are just ready to swing which is great. Now just take Brent Abel's advice and flow into that bow shape out of the tossing sequence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeZp90h-Ar8&feature=channel

Your trophy pose should look like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgeYmEScfgQ

[Getting the bow shape will give you a much bigger windup for power, and the powerful way you reverse your upper body position adds the topspin to keep the serve in.]

 

[whatheup2]

Thanks everyone, I truly appreciate the complements and the help you guys have given me

Looking at it now it looks so obvious:

I have no 'Bow Shape'!
Wrong grip!
My arm isn't fully extended when I hit the ball!

Of course it sounds simple but I doubt I'll be able to get my fluent serve for quite some time :-? Someone mentioned pronating my racquet when I hit my shot, but I think that's the least of my worries right now. Also, does the butt of the racquet have to be looking up right before my arm begins the motion to hit the ball?

Is my entire service motion something I can practise without being on a court? Or is it just time wasted because my timing is more important?

Now for the important stuff....charliefederer, it is no wonder roger named himself after you! LeftSHBH, your kindness will forever flow through the wheels of time! Kunohara, your words are almost as rich as your pockets! Getbetterer, your humbling grace and embarrassingly infinite wisdom is something I will hope emulate forever! And last but not least, FullCourtTennis, Joe Esposito's "you're the best" will never do you justice!

Now that I've made an ass of myself, I'll go enjoy the beach!

 

[WildVolley]

Is my entire service motion something I can practise without being on a court? Or is it just time wasted because my timing is more important?

Yes. Just avoid practicing indoors where you might break something.

If you have an old racket, you can take it to a field and practice throwing it into the air using a continental grip. Serving well is sort of like throwing a racket up into the air rather than forward. The racket should actually be on edge as it comes out of the racket drop, like throwing a hatchet, and then turn into the ball. This is often described as giving the ball a high-five.

You can shadow swing outdoors to learn the proper motion. You don't have to go fast at first. Just try the motion until it feels natural.

It will also be worthwhile for you to study slow motion video of serves by professionals to see what it should look like.

 

[whatheup2]

Update on my wretched serve:

I've gone to practise my serve about 5 or 6 times now and the biggest thing I've focused on is hitting with a continental grip. I think I've gotten better and just in my last session I discovered I'm better off doing a pinpoint (?) stance serve, where my feet start out wide on the toss and come together before I jump up into the ball. I plan on posting a video soon on my serve to ask you all to bash the hell out of my 'new' serve' and to see if I've made any progress, but that's not the point of this thread...

I've noticed that since switching to continental my right hand absorbs quite a bit of shock which I'll feel during and especially after the practise session, much like when some jackass shakes your hand WAY too hard, always for the remainder of the day. I'm hoping it may be easy to fix and buying a new, softer base grip (from what I've seen in stores base grips are much more absorbant/cushier than overgrips) will fix that problem, but it may be that I'm holding the racquet incorrectly - in the video I'll show closely the position of my hand. My current racquet has the base grip I bought it with along with a Wilson overgrip (I forget the name, I can find out later) which I've only had problems with on serves and not on any strokes. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Also, should pronation be last on my checklist to find the ideal service motion? The reason I ask is because I'm still having trouble bringing my elbow up first (pointing the buttcap up) and arching my hip forward - I figured if I can get my body motion down my arm should be relatively easy to isolate and work on after...

Thanks posters

 

[whatheup2]

Forgot to ask, but which programs are used to show the videos in slow-motion? I've seen some good ones here where you can clearly see every part of their serve because of it.

 

[supineAnimation]

It seems a lot people don't like this suggestion, but for players just starting and/or players with several fundamental issues with their mechanics, I believe very strongly that at least a few lessons from a good teaching pro are in order. The posters on this board are great and can help solve minor issues and help you tweak certain things, but you really need someone there with you to show you the basics and help you get the minimum fundamentals down.

 

[GetBetterer]

whatheup2:

Forgot to ask, but which programs are used to show the videos in slow-motion? I've seen some good ones here where you can clearly see every part of their serve because of it.

Well Mr. Up-the-Down-Escalator, you can use:

Windows Movie Maker (free with most modern Microsoft Windows products)
Here's How: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071022222600AAEFDuN

or

The one for Mac's have it too, but I'm not familiar with Mac's.