Oh. Hai. It's a Serve.

herosol

Professional
hello there.
anyways these are some random serve videos i decided to film outside of my house. pretty much the first video is my old one from iono when, and then other two are the ones i just filmed today (very short).
The first one was mis-filmed, but gives a nice zoom on knee-bend so you can comment on that.

anyways. if you want to know player bio:
age: 16
height: 6' ftish
years of play: 1.5-2 years (coaching)
rackethead speed: 1.0 miles per hour
the serve: i'm trying to hit what my coach calls "roll-pop" a nice balance between spin and no spin


anyways. please criticize, any help is much appreciated. thanks :D

Old Serve Video (Has strokes ignore please. they suck):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lURAZ2aQtc0

New Serve Video 1 (Shows Knee-Bend):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4vJBh6QY9g

New Serve Video 2 (Whole Package of Sucks):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHXA86djX1U

thankshhhh.
 
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843

New User
Looks like the knees are bending for the sake of bending. The bend in that video doesn't seem to serve any purpose at all. You'd want to use your legs as springs in order to hit the ball with momentum and explosiveness.
 

BullDogTennis

Hall of Fame
uh, kinda hard to explain but ill try...

when you use your legs you should be using them to create more rackethead speed. just to jump, or bend yoour knees isnt doing anything but tiring you out.
 

herosol

Professional
uh, kinda hard to explain but ill try...

when you use your legs you should be using them to create more rackethead speed. just to jump, or bend yoour knees isnt doing anything but tiring you out.

alright. hmm...
any advice on actually using my knee-bend?
Like is it timing of when i accelerate up and relax the knee-bend?
 

sulcer

New User
By saying explode they mean bend you knees then push up to the ball as hard as you can. You have to remember to go up to the ball, not just push yourself out into the court.

Also, even tho you said not to pay attention to the strokes in that first video, I had to ask. I saw that at one point in the video you attempt to hit a slice backhand, and it is flat out terrible. Please tell me that that is not how your coach has taught you to hit a backhand slice. Totally open, and looked more like a lob then anything.
 

BullDogTennis

Hall of Fame
maybe this will help a little more.

1. toss ball
2. get into trophy position, with knees bent
3. explode into the ball at the highest point you can reach

you got the first 2 right, now you just need to work on explosion


what it looks like you're doing is just kinda jumping. you do not want to exactly jump, jumping is just a side product of you using your legs to get to the ball

i know this sounds kinda confusing, because i cannot figure exactly how to word it, Bungalo Bill will probably jump in here sooner or later and be able to tell you exactly what to do
 

herosol

Professional
By saying explode they mean bend you knees then push up to the ball as hard as you can. You have to remember to go up to the ball, not just push yourself out into the court.

Also, even tho you said not to pay attention to the strokes in that first video, I had to ask. I saw that at one point in the video you attempt to hit a slice backhand, and it is flat out terrible. Please tell me that that is not how your coach has taught you to hit a backhand slice. Totally open, and looked more like a lob then anything.

ahh okay that makes sense.

that is not a slice. that was just a deep ball, and i was being a lazy bum, so bad timing everything all together, just made it terrible. i know what you're saying though. It is muy horible as they say in the Spanish-speaking countries.

bungalooo bill. pleasee come. and criticize me, and crucify me, so i may have a better serve? :D
 

BullDogTennis

Hall of Fame
ahh okay that makes sense.

that is not a slice. that was just a deep ball, and i was being a lazy bum, so bad timing everything all together, just made it terrible. i know what you're saying though. It is muy horible as they say in the Spanish-speaking countries.

bungalooo bill. pleasee come. and criticize me, and crucify me, so i may have a better serve? :D


muy horrible--thats just funny right ther
 

BullDogTennis

Hall of Fame
im not saying your serve is muy horrible- thats just what i like to call redneck spanish--i think real spanish would be somethin like muy malo-or somethin of that nature
 

Quasar

Rookie
A roll-pop, a balance between flat and spin? Sounds like a bunch of crap if you ask me, haha. What do you want to do here exactly? Hit it harder? If so, I would start by tossing it more into the court and not tossing it behind your head.
 

Quasar

Rookie
I will add that I think it would be a good idea to at least experiment with hitting a hard flat first serve and a spin second.

Btw, can posts be edited on here? All I see are quote and reply buttons.
 

quicken

Professional
I don't understand why does everyone has to try to style their serve like Federer's?

Maybe its comfortable for the server?
I found that platform stance gave me less power compared to pintpoint, but platform did provide better balance. But I go with pinpoint anyway because it just looks better and I get more power out of it.

Anyways to the OP,
you need to follow through, your racquet should end on the opposite side of the body, not on the same side. Your ball toss is a bit low, that is why you can't jump into the shot. Make the toss higher to take advantage of that great knee bend you have. Also, you need to toss the ball infront of you, so that you land well inside the court. What you are doing now is that you are serving from the same spot. Your starting point and ending point should be different. When you start you should be behind the baseline, but when you finish your serve, you sholud be well inside the baseline. For that you need to throw the ball infront of you. Other than that, looks like you are arching your back a bit too much, but that's a personal preference. I wrecked my lower back doing that. Just letting you know hehe.
 

BullDogTennis

Hall of Fame
I will add that I think it would be a good idea to at least experiment with hitting a hard flat first serve and a spin second.

Btw, can posts be edited on here? All I see are quote and reply buttons.

you have to have like 58 posts before you can edit.
 

BullDogTennis

Hall of Fame
it may be, but when i hit it, or noticed it..i was like whats up with this weird number? so i may just not have noticed it till like 58 lol-
 

herosol

Professional
Maybe its comfortable for the server?
I found that platform stance gave me less power compared to pintpoint, but platform did provide better balance. But I go with pinpoint anyway because it just looks better and I get more power out of it.

Anyways to the OP,
you need to follow through, your racquet should end on the opposite side of the body, not on the same side. Your ball toss is a bit low, that is why you can't jump into the shot. Make the toss higher to take advantage of that great knee bend you have. Also, you need to toss the ball infront of you, so that you land well inside the court. What you are doing now is that you are serving from the same spot. Your starting point and ending point should be different. When you start you should be behind the baseline, but when you finish your serve, you sholud be well inside the baseline. For that you need to throw the ball infront of you. Other than that, looks like you are arching your back a bit too much, but that's a personal preference. I wrecked my lower back doing that. Just letting you know hehe.

hmm okay. i went out and served again today, tried to explode a little bit more, and it seemed to help but i didn't that many, cause it was just a set, and not pure practice. But, i do see what your saying, and ill keep working on my toss, It has always been a big problem. sigh.

A roll-pop, a balance between flat and spin? Sounds like a bunch of crap if you ask me, haha. What do you want to do here exactly? Hit it harder? If so, I would start by tossing it more into the court and not tossing it behind your head.

well it's not crap just because the fastest serves are flat...
I rather make all my first serves, even if they are a bit slower then the fastest? Perfect example, Federer, does not play with pure flat serves.


I don't understand why does everyone has to try to style their serve like Federer's?

IVE BEEN CAUGHT!
Haha yea originally when i started to play, i tried to do everything like Fed, but slowly but surely everything changed.

forehand doesn't wrap around anymore, goes over the shoulder the traditional way.
sticked with a two-handed backhand

it's just the serve was the most comfortable, cause i like keeping the racket fairly lower so it loosens up the wrist. I sort of even attempted to emulate Nadal, cause if you notice when he throws up the ball is front foot sort of comes up for a split second, so yeah, i kinda of did that both out of emulation and just habits. but hmm, ill work on it tomorrow. CAUSE NO SCHOOL :p
 
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