Question about the legs on the serve

yescomeon

Rookie
Do you find that your leg closest to the service line (for right-handers, the left leg) works a lot harder than the other leg as you the push upwards?

I have a platform stance, and I notice this for myself. I'm not entirely sure if this is normal, but I have ended up straining/pulling my left leg's calf muscle after a recent serving session. I was serving for at least 2 hours before I noticed the strain on my calf, so maybe that had an effect? Or maybe my serve technique is slightly wrong and its causing the problem :confused:
 

WildVolley

Legend
For almost all servers, both platform and pinpoint, most of the jumping is done by the front leg. You could narrow your stance more to get the rear leg to work a little more.

It sounds like you strained your calve muscle because you were out of shape, but it is possible that you torqued it by moving in a strange way.
 

Chas Tennis

G.O.A.T.
The calf gets forces on it when thrusting the legs up and when landing.
https://vimeo.com/95462922

You might study the foot motion on Vimeo with single frame stop action to see whether take off or landing is faster. To single frame on Vimeo hold the SHIFT KEY and use the right and left arrow keys. If the video jumps to another video by error, let me know.

When you are fatigued, the other muscles that may play a part in leg thrust or landing may not do the job as well. ?

It is very difficult to know what caused an injury. For considering footwork technique issues keep in mind that the landing may be stressful in addition to the leg thrust.

Especially the body has a protective response when the joint nears the end of its range of motion. That can cause added forces to the muscles.

There are many threads on calf strains. Many are serious and require a long time to heal.
 
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