Please critique my Eastern Grip serve

[watungga]

To me, too many player's are stuck at backscratch, and can only get 3/4 power without learning the full loop swing, which is a 360 degree serve swing, starting from trophy with the racket pointed AT the sky above your head...or slightly forwards of vertical.

Those are just guidelines to advance personal serving technique. Can't push someone to strictly follow them completely. By my experience, it would result to a larger disappointment when situation gets tough.
To each his own.
I have a way to push them toward the 360 serve swing as long as the trainee is capable of power hitting with loose grip and a consistent toss.

 

[LeeD]

Those are just guidelines to advance personal serving technique. Can't push someone to strictly follow them completely. By my experience, it would result to a larger disappointment when situation gets tough.
To each his own.
I have a way to push them toward the 360 serve swing as long as the trainee is capable of power hitting with loose grip and a consistent toss.

Perhaps you should advise JackB1 or DGold in how to perform the loop swing?

 

[Wander]

I suspect we ALL made the switch from eastern forehand serves to conti serves sometime in our tennis career. For some with training, it might be within a few months of starting tennis. For me, it took a whole year, and for most of my buds who started tennis when I did, never.

When I first played tennis at 6 to 7 years old I served exclusively underarm. I must have been at least 10 before I even started doing the forehand grip pancake serving, but as I was only a summer weekend hacker all through my childhood and teenage and no-one I played with served properly either, I never moved on from that until I got really into tennis just a couple of years ago as an adult. And still almost no-one I play with serves properly, lol.

 

[dman72]

Even at lower 4.0 level there are still a few people hitting with pancake serves, especially 40 and overs. I don't think you can progress to 4.5 serving like that but most people aren't getting to that level anyway. To me it was an easy transition eastern to continental even as a warm weather only hack....but some guys I know just can't get the pronation necessary to hit continental.

My weakness is that I've never "gotten" the backhand. It's never been intuitive to me and it always is the first thing to break down.

 

[10sDog]

1HBH with a FH eastern grip...yikes...how you managed to avoid shoulder and wrist injuries all this time is a point of study in itself...

That said, slicing with the EFH grip isn't too bad--there's a risk that your slice may float a bit too much, but if you can keep it in and aim it well, then you should not prioritise a conti BH slice too much.

Nadal uses an Aussie grip on his BH slice as well. Not quite an EFH like yours is, but his grip is more open than most other pros' slice grips, and he happens to have one of the better slices on tour.

Great comment! A rare mention of Aussie grip! And correct. Most people (and coaches) don't know what it is.

 

[10sDog]

But where is my drink on it?

I think you ordered nachos. So there's no drink for you. You can still change the order.

 

[dominikk1985]

You actually have to use the frying pan technique with ano E grip. If you use full pronation/isr you would hit a reverse slice with that grip.