My newest serve video

[Eph]

Trying to take the comments from my last thread two nights ago, I reworked my service motion following the information in Nick's _Sonic Serve_ video. I think I've done a pretty good job thus far, but please help me make my motion more fluid thus I'll have a more accurate serve, along with a powerful serve.

The problems I see:

Not enough knee bend
Have a shoulder rotation, but not using the power from it

Thoughts?

Thanks!

http://vimeo.com/4185659

 

[ramseszerg]

You're jumping, not exploding. Reach up for the ball and you will naturally come off the ground. This will automatically improve your swing path as well. Instead of jumping for the sake of jumping. In order to utilize the shoulders more, keep your left arm up a little bit longer and higher. Also pros use a smoother toss, not a punching kind of toss like yours. However I have seen one teaching pro that uses it, so it's up to you.

To analyze movement of your racquet arm we might need a slow motion/frame by frame. If you send your video to Jeff at high-techtennis he can analyze it for you.

p.s. Is your arm loose? That's the only way you'll get significant racquet head speed.

 

[DavidGarcia]

Your knees do not bend enough. I also think your body is not straight while tossing the ball. Then when you jump after hitting the ball it does not look natural therefore your body seems unbalance once you come off the serve.

Only my opinion.

 

[Eph]

You're jumping, not exploding. Reach up for the ball and you will naturally come off the ground. This will automatically improve your swing path as well. Instead of jumping for the sake of jumping. In order to utilize the shoulders more, keep your left arm up a little bit longer and higher. Also pros use a smoother toss, not a punching kind of toss like yours. However I have seen one teaching pro that uses it, so it's up to you.

To analyze movement of your racquet arm we might need a slow motion/frame by frame. If you send your video to Jeff at high-techtennis he can analyze it for you.

p.s. Is your arm loose? That's the only way you'll get significant racquet head speed.

How do I "reach" for it? Aren't I doing that now?

What do you mean by a smoother toss?

I also know I don't have a good racquet drop - what are some things I can do to fix this?

The one thing I noticed in this video versus my others is my front foot is landing first not my back, so that's an improvement, though my serve is in shambles now.

Thanks

 

[Eph]

I can do a frame by frame video with my video editor. How fast, etc would you like it and I'll do that now...

 

[Rickson]

Get on the balls of your feet a little more.

 

[Eph]

Get on the balls of your feet a little more.

At which point in the serve?

 

[Rickson]

As soon as you slide up your right foot.

 

[Eph]

Anything else? I know my serve is getting better but I don't want to instill bad habits as I rebuild it.

 

[Rickson]

You said you have problems with knee bend. Getting on your toes will help you with knee bend. You don't want to be a flat footed server.

 

[zapvor]

Trying to take the comments from my last thread two nights ago, I reworked my service motion following the information in Nick's _Sonic Serve_ video. I think I've done a pretty good job thus far, but please help me make my motion more fluid thus I'll have a more accurate serve, along with a powerful serve.

The problems I see:

Not enough knee bend
Have a shoulder rotation, but not using the power from it

Thoughts?

Thanks!

http://vimeo.com/4185659

couple things...

but i will just say this-when you bring your right arm up, keep it up, dont drop your elbow, then accelerate from there. watch youtube of pros serving and hopefully you can see what i mean. even if they drop the elbow the racket is pointing straight up.

 

[Nellie]

you know what - this video show so much improvement in a lot of ways. Before you were falling over, and now, you seem so much more balanced over your feet. You have lost your arm motion, however, and are chasing a lot of bad tosses, especially on the add side, where the toss is often over your shoulder right shoulder, instead of further out forward. In all of these serve, you are not accelerating up and at the ball. Keep your head up, accelerate up and through the ball, and finish fully to the left side, instead of just poking at the ball. Also, try to delay opening the shoulders as long as possible. Some of the serves look better, but in some of them you are merely opening your shoulders, moving your racquet to a position over your head, staying still for a second (thereby losing all energy from the knee bend, racquet back, shoulder rotation, etc.) and essentially restarting with your racquet straight up with no body movement.

 

[Eph]

you know what - this video show so much improvement in a lot of ways. Before you were falling over, and now, you seem so much more balanced over your feet. You have lost your arm motion, however, and are chasing a lot of bad tosses, especially on the add side, where the toss is often over your shoulder right shoulder, instead of further out forward. In all of these serve, you are not accelerating up and at the ball. Keep your head up, accelerate up and through the ball, and finish fully to the left side, instead of just poking at the ball. Also, try to delay opening the shoulders as long as possible. Some of the serves look better, but in some of them you are merely opening your shoulders, moving your racquet to a position over your head, staying still for a second (thereby losing all energy from the knee bend, racquet back, shoulder rotation, etc.) and essentially restarting with your racquet straight up with no body movement.

Thanks!

Can you recommend any drills or techniques to practice so I can accelerate up and through the ball rather than what I am doing now?

Once I have that, does that mean I have finally figured out how to serve properly?

 

[BullDogTennis]

pretend like yoru trying to throw the racquet as far as you can, but dont let go!

 

[ichibanosaru]

pretend like yoru trying to throw the racquet as far as you can, but dont let go!

I agree - that's a tip that never gets old! Also, try to keep the back of your hand facing the sky as long as possible on your take back will help.

There is a portion of this video that addresses the throwing the racquet concept. Check out this clip and let us know what you think: http://iws.punahou.edu/user/lcouillard/2007/07/

Good luck!

 

[ramseszerg]

I agree - that's a tip that never gets old! Also, try to keep the back of your hand facing the sky as long as possible on your take back will help.
There is a portion of this video that addresses the throwing the racquet concept. Check out this clip and let us know what you think: http://iws.punahou.edu/user/lcouillard/2007/07/

Good luck!

Now I may be learning something. What's the significance of this? Do all pros (except those with abbreviated takebacks) do this? What's wrong with coming up side on, thumb first?

 

[ramseszerg]

Also which one of the videos has the thing about throwing the racquet?

 

[onehandbh]

eph,

IMO, instead of working on all these little details and fixes for you serve,
you need to work on a more basic level and work on getting a relaxed
"throwing" motion. The kinetic chain in your service motion is off by
a bit. Something that may help is doing some throws with a friend using
a softball and then maybe a football. Once you get a good relaxed and
efficient motion, try throwing the ball up at a 45 degree angle. This is
roughly the angle of attack for a serve.

 

[Kobble]

^^^Right, fix that throwing motion. I would look at a lot of professional serve video in slow motion, pause it, rewind, play it again. It helps to view a lot of serve motions, so you can see what is absolutely important.

 

[ramseszerg]

Your arm's gotta be loose. Very loose. Can't beat this horse enough.

 

[ichibanosaru]

Serve Tips

Here are a few tips that may help:

http://iws.punahou.edu/user/lcouillard/2008/07/picachus_serve_tips.html
http://iws.punahou.edu/user/lcouillard/2008/07/pikachus_serve_part_2.html

Let us know what you think? :-?

 

[Eph]

This camp seems awesome.

I'll work on the motion with a baseball. Will be interesting to learn - I was a left handed pitcher and I'm playing tennis right handed.

 

[NLBwell]

Well people are starting to pick up on what I told you about the last video. As I said, using a rope will show hitches in your swings (you can't push on a rope). See if you can keep it taut throughout the movement. Throwing a racket, as others mentioned, is good also. Throw it upward, high over the net. I kept an old racket in my bag for my students to use.