My serve. 100 + MPH with video and radar

drakulie

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
Here are some videos of me serving over 100 mph.

Some information before we begin:

Racquet : PS 85
String: Ashaway Kevlar Crossfire II , 16 gauge
Tension: 70 lbs.
Tennis Balls: regular Wilson/Penn balls 1-3 weeks old pulled out of my bag.
Shoe: Oscillates, LOL
Video Camera: Kodak 30 fps
Radar Gun: speed track II.

The back fence is a little over 21 feet from the baseline.

Here are two serves I took as soon as I got the radar gun. It was dark out but I just could not wait to play with my new toy. One is 103 MPH, and the second is 107 MPH.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2SC9Pmp-V8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvKjCsXQggc

Lastly, not sure if you could tell but I was unable to jump and explode into the ball as the arch on my left foot is bruised. As a result, I don't leave the ground and land inside the court as it was too painful.


Enjoy!
 
Some more:

On these two watch the ball carefully "take-off" immediately after the bounce. Try to watch it in "full screen".

105 MPH:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYjOyfMicR0

108 MPH:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDNhhzaj3wc

Here is an action shot of the 108 MPH serve:
100_0073.jpg
 
nice serve, videos are very nice quality, but when your foot isn't bruised do you usually have a follow-through?
 
ubel said:
nice serve, videos are very nice quality, but when your foot isn't bruised do you usually have a follow-through?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I land about a 1-2 feet inside the baseline. Unfortunately, because of my foot I was unable to explode up into the ball and take off. Pushing off and landing was hurting too much.

I just wanted to post the vids because some people were getting ancy.

Here is a pic of my feet leaving the ground:
776c670b.jpg
 
to me, it just didn't sound like a 100+ mph serve. the ball also didn't look like it was going that fast.
 
tennisfanatic said:
are you sure you're serve clocks at 105 and 108 mph?
Click to expand...

What more do you want? I hit the serve, walked up to the radar and hit the recall button. I show you in the vid the serves are being tracked with the MPH and not the Kilometer Per Hour.

Oddly enough, I took some videos of my serve from an angle rather than directly behind me, and they looked a lot faster. In fact, the camera doesn't really do a good job of tracking the ball. I would suppose it is kind of like when you watch tennis on TV. The serves don't look so fast because you are watching from behind the server. So you really don't get a good gauge of the ball speeding away like you would if it was at an angle.
 
Hm.. You got a pretty nice serve. The last 2 the 105 & 108 really don't seem like their going that fast but yeah.. Mine look's around the same but not as good form.. The camera plays tricks haha but yeah nice serve, pretty fast too.
 
Imagine how fast you would serve if you had a nice serve action. There's alot of problems there, one being you are trying to look and serve like sampras, and what is it with using everything he used? Seems a bit odd to me. Why don't you be yourself, not try to be someone else? Not sure how fast i serve, but it's a heck of a lot faster than that, sure you set that thing properly?
 
AJK1 said:
Imagine how fast you would serve if you had a nice serve action. There's alot of problems there, one being you are trying to look and serve like sampras, and what is it with using everything he used? Seems a bit odd to me. Why don't you be yourself, not try to be someone else? Not sure how fast i serve, but it's a heck of a lot faster than that, sure you set that thing properly?
Click to expand...

that's exactly what i was thinking....

that definitely didnt look like a serve in the 100s. because if that was 108, my second serve is at least 100mph...which i know is not. the thing that i find is not only the sound coming off the strings (it's not the loudness but the pitch) and how slow the ball is going for a "108 mph serve" but it's how windy it is in all your videos. im not trying to be detrimental here....but the guy i played had his serve clocked at one of the ATP or WTA tournaments in LA and his first serve was like 108...and i can tell you that your serve does not have as much pace as his....
 
As far as the "sound theory", all the videos have the same sound. The ones where I walk up to the radar gun (99, 103, 104, 105, 107), and the ones that I don't (105, 108 ).

Keep in mind, I am using a Kodak Digital Camera to record the videos. The sound or video is not going to be clear.

The guy on the video with the annoying cameraman does have a nice serve. It would have been nice if the cameraman wasn't such a goofball. I can't really tell how fast he is serving, but on the first serve it looks very fast. Too many foot faults though.
 
drakulie said:
The guy on the video with the annoying cameraman does have a nice serve. It would have been nice if the cameraman wasn't such a goofball. I can't really tell how fast he is serving, but on the first serve it looks very fast. Too many foot faults though.
Click to expand...

I wonder if 'the guy' is snoflewis? Given the fact from the brief look I had (before I got rather dizzy) it seemed to me that he was using an RDS 001 90.
 
snoflewis said:
THIS is a serve in the 110s....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIWF07KW9k4
Click to expand...
When I look at the two videos and judge time between when their racquet contacts ball and when the ball hits the back fence, they both seem about the same.. at least to me they do. Try it yourself, look at your video, then compare it to the 105 video. The only difference I'd say is your video's guy completes the follow through while drak stops his for some reason. Also, drakulie is serving from the ad side toward the body while yours is down the middle from deuce.
 
So, the guy records his serve, records the radar speed, and we still dog him??:confused:

(Note: Never post my serve on this forum.):mrgreen:
 
ubel said:
When I look at the two videos and judge time between when their racquet contacts ball and when the ball hits the back fence, they both seem about the same.. at least to me they do. Try it yourself, look at your video, then compare it to the 105 video. The only difference I'd say is your video's guy completes the follow through while drak stops his for some reason. Also, drakulie is serving from the ad side toward the body while yours is down the middle from deuce.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I am going to try this with a digital stop watch tomorrow AM.
 
OrangeOne said:
I wonder if 'the guy' is snoflewis? Given the fact from the brief look I had (before I got rather dizzy) it seemed to me that he was using an RDS 001 90.
Click to expand...

haha...no it's not me. despite the fact that he does use and rds001 AND white/obsidian breathe 3's like i do, it's not me. he posted vids of himself several months back, under the name Yondan.

i serve platform and dont recall having footfaults....im thinking of filming myself and seeing it on the screen one day. and if i like it, i mgiht post it online :)
 
drakulie said:
Interesting. I am going to try this with a digital stop watch tomorrow AM.
Click to expand...

Please don't go from a radar gun to a digital stop watch! The level of inaccuracy you'd be adding would just be ridiculous, imho anyways.

Maybe try your new gun out on some other people, or get it calibrated against another gun, or anything but using a stop-watch. The human error you're throwing in there would be proportionally massive.
 
grimmbomb21 said:
So, the guy records his serve, records the radar speed, and we still dog him??:confused:

(Note: Never post my serve on this forum.):mrgreen:
Click to expand...

If the pros get dogged on this message board, what do we expect?

Nobody escapes the tyranny of the board! LOL
 
OrangeOne said:
Please don't go from a radar gun to a digital stop watch! The level of inaccuracy you'd be adding would just be ridiculous, imho anyways.

Maybe try your new gun out on some other people, or get it calibrated against another gun, or anything but using a stop-watch. The human error you're throwing in there would be proportionally massive.
Click to expand...

You're right. And I just realized we don't know how far the fence is from the baseline on the serve with the goofy camera guy. The fence on mine is a little over 21 feet from the baseline.
 
It doesn't really matter if doesn't sound like a 100+ mph
serve or looks like one, etc. The radar read 100+ and I
seriously doubt drakulie doctored the video.
It could be the distance or angle from the baseline that's making the
serve look slow. Usually serves look slower on camera vs.
in real life. Sort of like how people look about 5-10 lbs
bigger (or fatter) on camera vs. in real life.
 
drakulie said:
You're right. And I just realized we don't know how far the fence is from the baseline on the serve with the goofy camera guy. The fence on mine is a little over 21 feet from the baseline.
Click to expand...

Phew. Checking the accuracy of a radar gun with a stopwatch sounded akin to checking the accuracy of a nuclear clock with a home-made sun-clock! :)

(Other factors that would have came into play - other than distance to fence - would have been ball, spin, surface.... and sure, the first two can come into it with the gun, but not nearly as much as when calculating average speed which includes the bounce & associated decceleration).
 
Yeah those serves are over 100mph. They only look slow if you look at the speed after it bounces. It came off the racquet and hit the service box in about the time a 90-110 mph serve ranges. Nice serves btw.
 
I love it :D

I feel special being mentioned in one of the videos. lol

drakulie, you don't sound so bad. maybe under the right circumstances we'd get along. :p

As far as my opinion of the video, you have a nice serve. But i do think the amateur video does make serves look slower than they do in person. thank you for sharing that with us.
 
Yup, that defintely looks like the Sampras motion alright. Nice serve. The only thing I don't get is how can you get that much pace on the ball with your racquet being strung so high. 70lbs is insanely high. And for some reason I don't really like those radar guns. I don't know why, something about them just bugs me.
 
ZPTennis said:
I love it :D

I feel special being mentioned in one of the videos. lol

drakulie, you don't sound so bad. maybe under the right circumstances we'd get along. :p

As far as my opinion of the video, you have a nice serve. But i do think the amateur video does make serves look slower than they do in person. thank you for sharing that with us.
Click to expand...

Hey ZP, I thought you would get a kick out of that! I actually pulled the ligament in the arch of my left foot a few days ago, so have been in a lot of pain. It affects the uncoling into the serve, and my landing-so no follow thru.

But I decided to record some serves and post them. I didn't want you to think I was dodging you. LOL.

We definitely should hit if you ever come to Miami, or I am in clearwater. I already met one guy from the boards (No Skillz). Nice guy. We have hit a few times.

Thanks for your reply, and glad you liked your name being mentioned. Hope I don't get sued for copyright stuff. LOL
 
Drak, congrats, first legit "I have a 100+ MPH serve" ever on these boards. Definitely a historic moment here at TW. Whered you get the little radar thingy from?
 
drakulie said:
Hey ZP, I thought you would get a kick out of that! I actually pulled the ligament in the arch of my left foot a few days ago, so have been in a lot of pain. It affects the uncoling into the serve, and my landing-so no follow thru.

But I decided to record some serves and post them. I didn't want you to think I was dodging you. LOL.

We definitely should hit if you ever come to Miami, or I am in clearwater. I already met one guy from the boards (No Skillz). Nice guy. We have hit a few times.

Thanks for your reply, and glad you liked your name being mentioned. Hope I don't get sued for copyright stuff. LOL
Click to expand...


yeah. it does look like you could normally go after the ball a little more. That must hurt. I've never injured my foot before. it sounds like a strange injury.

Once in a while I do go to Miami. I'll definitely let you know ahead of time if I ever plan another trip. Or if your ever up here we could hit also.

now i want my own radar too. :) good stuff.


Zach
 
Incredible. He posts it with a radar gun and people still insist that they can tell the serve isn't 100+ by watching the video. I think this certainly proves at least one thing: people can't tell how fast a serve is on home-made video. Pretty ironic that you were saying ZPT's serves couldn't be 125, drak, and then you post your video with a freaking radar gun and have disbelievers. ;)

Nice serve BTW. You've got me curious as to the speed of mine. I'd always estimated low 90s, but I wonder if I can crack 100.
 
ShooterMcMarco said:
Drak, congrats, first legit "I have a 100+ MPH serve" ever on these boards. Definitely a historic moment here at TW. Whered you get the little radar thingy from?
Click to expand...


Too funny. Thanks!

I ordered it online after asking a few coaches how accurate they were. From what everyone has told me they seem to be +/- 2-3 MPH. This includes a couple baseball coaches as well. Here is the link:

http://www.opticsplanet.net/speedcheck-radar.html
 
shindemac said:
Nice serve. I still can't believe people are making conspiracy theories.
Click to expand...

he knew they would too so he walked up with the camera to show the proof of which light was on. And still, people arent believing it. LOL

maybe i can find the link to a picture of that radar gun to prove it to them. :p

nevermind its up there ^
 
FitzRoy said:
Incredible. He posts it with a radar gun and people still insist that they can tell the serve isn't 100+ by watching the video. I think this certainly proves at least one thing: people can't tell how fast a serve is on home-made video. Pretty ironic that you were saying ZPT's serves couldn't be 125, drak, and then you post your video with a freaking radar gun and have disbelievers. ;)

Nice serve BTW. You've got me curious as to the speed of mine. I'd always estimated low 90s, but I wonder if I can crack 100.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it has been pretty funny to say the least. Like I said earlier in this thread these boards are harsh (I can definitley be one of them)!

I actually took it the other day to the league where I play. After all the matches, I pulled it out to see who could break the 100 barrier. In the 3.5-4.0 league nobody broke 100. If I remember correctly one guy hit low 90's. Everyone else in the 80's and lower. Mind you, all these guys are always talking about how they serve 100, yada yada yada, and thought they could easily hit 100. After they took their turns they were surpsised and shocked to see how hard it is even to hit 90.

4.5-5.0 League, a few of the guys broke the 100 barrier, including a few of the 5.0 players hit the 110 mark. Some of the 4.5's also thought they had 100+ mph serves, and were shocked to see they could not reach it.
 
lol,
I knew even if you show a picture and you did one better and they still do not believe? lollllll..

BTW, S.'s serve has a little more sting. The last radar gun I used was POS. Half the time it would not take a reading and would never read a flat serve. Any problems with it not taking a reading?
 
drakulie said:
What more do you want? I hit the serve, walked up to the radar and hit the recall button. I show you in the vid the serves are being tracked with the MPH and not the Kilometer Per Hour.

Oddly enough, I took some videos of my serve from an angle rather than directly behind me, and they looked a lot faster. In fact, the camera doesn't really do a good job of tracking the ball. I would suppose it is kind of like when you watch tennis on TV. The serves don't look so fast because you are watching from behind the server. So you really don't get a good gauge of the ball speeding away like you would if it was at an angle.
Click to expand...

ok then.:)

BTW i will be visiting some of friends in my miami (maybe two weeks from now). It would be nice if we could have a friendly match. ;)

Hope by that time your injury will be completely healed.:)
 
I wonder - if drakulie served a professionally timed 101 mph and aced Federer on international TV, would God himself believe it? ;)

(Or indeed, if he served in a forest and no-one heard it.... :) )
 
thanks for the vid. so is it measuring the speed of your serve as it crosses the net? if that's the case, then your serve would be faster since pro serves are measure right after contact, if i'm not mistaken. Or is it reading your serve as the ball is coming toward the radar? In any case, your true service speed would be faster than those readings.
 
drakulie said:
What more do you want? I hit the serve, walked up to the radar and hit the recall button. I show you in the vid the serves are being tracked with the MPH and not the Kilometer Per Hour.

Oddly enough, I took some videos of my serve from an angle rather than directly behind me, and they looked a lot faster. In fact, the camera doesn't really do a good job of tracking the ball. I would suppose it is kind of like when you watch tennis on TV. The serves don't look so fast because you are watching from behind the server. So you really don't get a good gauge of the ball speeding away like you would if it was at an angle.
Click to expand...
alright alright u serve 200mph you proved your point
why you braggin meng
i hit 80 so what git beef?
 
tennisfanatic said:
ok then.:)

BTW i will be visiting some of friends in my miami (maybe two weeks from now). It would be nice if we could have a friendly match. ;)

Hope by that time your injury will be completely healed.:)
Click to expand...
make sure you tape that match
 
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