Need a good definition of the Platform vs Pinpoint stance!

[acer]

I understand the basics of what the Platform and Pinpoint stance is but I need a little help with the specifics of the Pinpoint stance. I use the platform stance but I have tried the pinpoint stance where I keep both my feet together right at the start of the serve. In watching the pros, I noticed that the pros usually start off in the platform stance but that they drag thier right leg (if they are a righty server, I am a lefty) to thier left leg just after or during their ball toss and thus they get into a pinpoint stance. Do you have to do this (drag your leg) or can you start off with the feet together already? Also does the Pinpoint stance get more power than the platform stance? Let me know!

Thanks

Acer

 

[TennsDog]

If you have watched Roddick serve, he kind of combines pinpoint and platform...he does what you're saying (I think) in that he starts with his right foot very close to his left foot through his whole motion. It is impossible to hit a good serve and keep the back leg back and not bring it forward any time throughout the serve. As to your other question, I feel like I can get more power with the pinpoint stance. However, I have not worked on or developed much the platform serve. I have noticed that pretty much all of the women pros I have seen use the pinpoint stance dragging their back foot up next to the front foot -- this leads me to believe that it does increase the power.

 

[guernica1]

I have seen a couple people do it such that their feet are close together in a pinpoint before they serve.

There are also a couple pros who do this as well that I've seen, Jurgen Melzer and Nicolas Massu.

I guess the advantage of doing that is you are in a pinpoint without having the risk of footfaulting.

As to which is better, well I've used both and I happen to think the platform is better. For one thing it is much much harder to footfault in a platform. I also think your overall motion is a bit more stable as you've eliminated another source of movement which can lead to very subtle variabilities in the motion.

As for power some of the best servers in history have used the platform, including a certain guy who has won 14 grand slams, and a German guy who won Wimbledon at 18 and ushered in the power serving era.

 

[acer]

Thanks for the replies. They were helpful.

 

[BSousa]

One small tip, don't force your leg to move forward. If you bend your front leg and move your weight forward, the back leg will easily follow. Forcing the leg to move alone will only cause you to lose balance quick.