Serve Better with Higher Swing Weight

[Fluffy_Skye]

I used to put weight on my racket at 3&9 when I was playing against players at my level. With the added weight, I would still setup and hit the ball on time and the added weight would give more power.

However, lately I’ve been playing stronger players. Their balls have more spin and jumps forward and upward aggressively after bounce. In this case I found myself too slow with taking back and swinging my racket. So I had to take off the weight and then I could keep up better against their high speed ball.

It’s not hard for me to adjust my technique to the reduced swing weight, well, except serve. I found my self serve better with the original setup. The weight at the hoop would naturally create racket head speed for me. With the reduced swing weight, I find it not as natural for the racket head to wrap around and I will subconsciously apply some force with my arm and wrist to snap the racket head. It feels like with higher swing weight, serving is like swinging a hammer and smashing into the ball. However, with lower swing weight, I don’t have that natural smash feeling any more. Overall my serve just get slower.

My coach also says it’s easier to serve harder with more weight in the racket head. But I have to remove the added weight to keep up against good players during points as the added weight is slowing my strokes. Thus I need to get used to serving with reduced swing weight.

Any tips would be appreciated!

 

[StringSnapper]

I used to put weight on my racket at 3&9 when I was playing against players at my level. With the added weight, I would still setup and hit the ball on time and the added weight would give more power.

However, lately I’ve been playing stronger players. Their balls have more spin and jumps forward and upward aggressively after bounce. In this case I found myself too slow with taking back and swinging my racket. So I had to take off the weight and then I could keep up better against their high speed ball.

It’s not hard for me to adjust my technique to the reduced swing weight, well, except serve. I found my self serve better with the original setup. The weight at the hoop would naturally create racket head speed for me. With the reduced swing weight, I find it not as natural for the racket head to wrap around and I will subconsciously apply some force with my arm and wrist to snap the racket head. It feels like with higher swing weight, serving is like swinging a hammer and smashing into the ball. However, with lower swing weight, I don’t have that natural smash feeling any more. Overall my serve just get slower.

My coach also says it’s easier to serve harder with more weight in the racket head. But I have to remove the added weight to keep up against good players during points as the added weight is slowing my strokes. Thus I need to get used to serving with reduced swing weight.

Any tips would be appreciated!

I've found my returns improve a lot with added swingweight actually, the opposite of your experience. Yes you need to prepare early but that's a technique issue. For serve return you need a more compact swing than usual. I focus on grip change, turning sideways, and then drive and follow through.

On a normal groundstroke I'd turn more and have a bigger takeback, whereas serve return the focus is more on driving the follow through

 

[Fluffy_Skye]

I've found my returns improve a lot with added swingweight actually, the opposite of your experience. Yes you need to prepare early but that's a technique issue. For serve return you need a more compact swing than usual. I focus on grip change, turning sideways, and then drive and follow through.

On a normal groundstroke I'd turn more and have a bigger takeback, whereas serve return the focus is more on driving the follow through

Oh yeah I agree you would get better stability with more weight, but that will only help if you can hit the ball on time right? Against good players, I find myself need to have a faster stroke to hit the ball on time. If I add weight, it would slow my strokes and I would feel like getting pushed by the ball. No doubt you will get better stability if you add weight. But if the added weight makes you unable to hit the ball on time, then the added stability is no use any way.

I totally understand skill and technique plays an important part. However, I think I was originally using more swing weight than I could handle. As I was playing against player at my level, I have sufficient time to execute a complete stroke fast enough to meet the ball on time.

Against strong players, however, I couldn’t get away with so much swing weight as I am unable to complete my stroke on time.

In fact I didn’t take off the added weight when I first played against this strong player. I subconsciously had to apply force with my arm and wrist in order to finish my stroke on time. Next day I felt fatigue in my forearm and wrist which I never ever have before. Which is why I immediately took off the weight.

 

[Hall]

I recently changed to a higher swing weight. It forces me to have a more compact swing in order to hit the ball on time, which actually improved my consistency and control a lot. At serve it helps a lot as well. Just need to be more focused on acceleration of the racket than before.

 

[Fluffy_Skye]

I recently changed to a higher swing weight. It forces me to have a more compact swing in order to hit the ball on time, which actually improved my consistency and control a lot. At serve it helps a lot as well. Just need to be more focused on acceleration of the racket than before.

Well you are going the opposite way as I am. Indeed you need a more compact swing in order to hit the ball on time with a higher swing weight racket. I like to have a full swing so I took off the weight I added in the hoop to reduce swing weight in order to keep up with strong players. This enables me to complete full stroke on ground strokes on time but makes my serve weaker.

Also the reason I favors full complete stroke more than compact stroke is that I find myself have more racket head speed and better spin with more complete stroke. With compact stroke while I do get more consistency, I couldn’t get enough racket head speed and spin that I like.

 

[Curious]

Well you are going the opposite way as I am. Indeed you need a more compact swing in order to hit the ball on time with a higher swing weight racket. I like to have a full swing so I took off the weight I added in the hoop to reduce swing weight in order to keep up with strong players. This enables me to complete full stroke on ground strokes on time but makes my serve weaker.

So what are you gonna do now? They say serve is the most important shot in tennis.

 

[tele]

have you considered adding 1 or 2 grams at 12?

 

[Hall]

Well you are going the opposite way as I am. Indeed you need a more compact swing in order to hit the ball on time with a higher swing weight racket. I like to have a full swing so I took off the weight I added in the hoop to reduce swing weight in order to keep up with strong players. This enables me to complete full stroke on ground strokes on time but makes my serve weaker.

Also the reason I favors full complete stroke more than compact stroke is that I find myself have more racket head speed and better spin with more complete stroke. With compact stroke while I do get more consistency, I couldn’t get enough racket head speed and spin that I like.

I used to have a full swing as well which actually hurt my consistency too much (timing issues, being late). With a more compact swing and really focussing on acceleration and swinging from low to high I get more racket head speed and more spin as well. It required a change in technique but I think changing techniques is part of getting better at tennis.

 

[Fluffy_Skye]

So what are you gonna do now? They say serve is the most important shot in tennis.

Well yeah at pro level serve plays a really big part. At my 3.5-4.0 level, few players have a serve strong enough to make a huge impact. Nevertheless I do wish to have a good serve. So either I get used to serving with lower swing weight or I find some middle ground on how much weight I add. This is exactly what my post is about.

 

[Fluffy_Skye]

have you considered adding 1 or 2 grams at 12?

That sounds like a good idea. I’ll try it next time I play!

 

[Curious]

or I find some middle ground on how much weight I add.

Yeah, I was thinking about that, too.

 

[Fluffy_Skye]

I used to have a full swing as well which actually hurt my consistency too much (timing issues, being late). With a more compact swing and really focussing on acceleration and swinging from low to high I get more racket head speed and more spin as well. It required a change in technique but I think changing techniques is part of getting better at tennis.

Hum, I wonder how you could achieve more racket head speed with a compact swing. In theory the longer path your swing is, the more speed you could accumulate, right? Also I find that consistency is not a problem with full stroke as I have better spin with a full stroke and the spin will make the ball land inside the court.

 

[Curious]

How about a light weight but powerful racket like Babolat pure aero? Or a more controlled version Pure Aero 98?
They have plenty of power and swing through the air quite fast.

 

[Fluffy_Skye]

How about a light weight but powerful racket like Babolat pure aero? Or a more controlled version Pure Aero 98?
They have plenty of power and swing through the air quite fast.

While I am very tempted to buy new rackets, I wish I could suppress my urge and wait for sale when the new version comes out. I’m not a fan of babolat rackets as they are quite stiff. Hit with PA 98 once and find it quite uncomfortable. I think light weight and powerful usually implies stiffness. I am very tempted to get a vcore 98 or extreme tour though. They have lower swing weight in stock form and that should give some room to quality control as well as customization. They are also more comfortable than PA 98. I couldn’t decide between them though. Would your recommend vcore 98 or extreme tour?

 

[Dragy]

If you don’t need SW for stability against hard hitters, stay with lower SW. You can serve just as big with fast swing - watch latest Alcaraz Wimbledon serving for inspiration. He serves harder than Rafa ever did for example using way lower SW.

But if you prefer higher SW, look at 2 things:
- technique and early preparation
- balancing the racquet in the handle to make it come around into contact faster

 

[Hall]

Hum, I wonder how you could achieve more racket head speed with a compact swing. In theory the longer path your swing is, the more speed you could accumulate, right? Also I find that consistency is not a problem with full stroke as I have better spin with a full stroke and the spin will make the ball land inside the court.

Can you maintain your acceleration easier on a short path or a long path? If I acceleratie with a large swing I feel I have already slowed down when hitting the ball in front of me. While with a compact swing I am still in the "acceleration phase" when hitting the ball.

Consistency is regarding balls going wide. Full swing lead to late hits (in my case) forcing the ball to go wide.

 

[Fluffy_Skye]

Can you maintain your acceleration easier on a short path or a long path? If I acceleratie with a large swing I feel I have already slowed down when hitting the ball in front of me. While with a compact swing I am still in the "acceleration phase" when hitting the ball.

Consistency is regarding balls going wide. Full swing lead to late hits (in my case) forcing the ball to go wide.

I think you prefer burst of power to gradual increase of speed. I feel pretty relaxed and can use the racket weight to assist my acceleration in a full stroke whereas I find it difficult to pick up the same amount of speed with a shorter path. We just have different style.

 

[Hall]

I think you prefer burst of power to gradual increase of speed. I feel pretty relaxed and can use the racket weight to assist my acceleration in a full stroke whereas I find it difficult to pick up the same amount of speed with a shorter path. We just have different style.

I agree, it is about personal preference.

 

[Fluffy_Skye]

If you don’t need SW for stability against hard hitters, stay with lower SW. You can serve just as big with fast swing - watch latest Alcaraz Wimbledon serving for inspiration. He serves harder than Rafa ever did for example using way lower SW.

But if you prefer higher SW, look at 2 things:
- technique and early preparation
- balancing the racquet in the handle to make it come around into contact faster

I do want to stay at lower SW as I was having fatigue in my forearm after playing against strong player with higher SW. I’m sure technique is part of it but I don’t find a lack of stability at the lower SW so there’s really no need for higher SW. I do find it hard to adjust my serve technique to the decrease of SW though.

Do you think there’s a difference in feel when serving with a higher SW and a lower SW racket? I find that with a higher SW racket on serve, the racket head naturally gets whipped out really hard whereas lower SW racket doesn’t have that much momentum in the head and doesn’t get whipped out fast on it’s own.

 

[Fluffy_Skye]

If you don’t need SW for stability against hard hitters, stay with lower SW. You can serve just as big with fast swing - watch latest Alcaraz Wimbledon serving for inspiration. He serves harder than Rafa ever did for example using way lower SW.

But if you prefer higher SW, look at 2 things:
- technique and early preparation
- balancing the racquet in the handle to make it come around into contact faster

I was trying to copy Djockvic serve when I was using higher SW. His serve technique looks very relaxed and letting the racket do the work. I can kind of sense the high SW he’s using just looking at his serve.

Alcaraz serve does look quite different. I couldn’t gel with it just by looking at his serve. I’ll check out some analysis video on alcaraz serve, surely someone has made such video.

 

[Curious]

I find that with a higher SW racket on serve, the racket head naturally gets whipped out really hard whereas lower SW racket doesn’t have that much momentum in the head and doesn’t get whipped out fast on it’s own.

Wouldn’t you have that both on the serve and groundstrokes?
I guess you have the extra power from incoming ball on groundstrokes, which makes a big difference.

 

[Fluffy_Skye]

Wouldn’t you have that both on the serve and groundstrokes?
I guess you have the extra power from incoming ball on groundstrokes, which makes a big difference.

Yes exactly. The difference is in the power from incoming ball and timing.

I add weight to the hoop when I was playing weaker players. Their shot isn’t as powerful so I like to add power on my own. Against strong players with powerful shot, what I need to focus on is to hit the ball on time and their ball already has lot of power so I don’t have to create too much my own.

Also with serving, you control the rhythm of the whole motion, so you don’t have to worry about rushing and hitting the ball on time even with higher SW as long as it’s within reasonable range. With ground strokes against powerful shot, you might be late with your stroke if the SW is high. So against weak players, I have time to complete my stroke even with added weight and the added weight give me more power. Against good players, I can’t finish my stroke on time with the added weight in a relaxed manner. So I ended up having fatigue in my forearm as I was trying to swing on time with more SW than I could handle.

And I think timing is more of a factor when it comes to how much SW you could handle. If somebody hand toss me ball for groundstroke, I would probably have no problem using Rafa hammer. But obviously I can’t use 370+ SW in actual game play as I can’t execute a swing on time. That being said I think people can use higher SW on serve than on ground strokes against strong players. As in serve you are more relaxed with timing but in ground strokes you would be pressured on time against good players.

 

[Dragy]

I was trying to copy Djockvic serve when I was using higher SW. His serve technique looks very relaxed and letting the racket do the work. I can kind of sense the high SW he’s using just looking at his serve.

Alcaraz serve does look quite different. I couldn’t gel with it just by looking at his serve. I’ll check out some analysis video on alcaraz serve, surely someone has made such video.

Serve is most sensitive to change in balance and SW. So you better give yourself time and practice hours.

I don’t agree with “racquet doing the work” on the serve, no way for proper technique. Djokovic does look smooth because he invested ton of work into serve even after getting to world No. 1. He uses his body to accelerate the racquet. Not relaxed at all - but really smooth through contact, and arm not tight, that’s true.

I don’t suggest that you copy Alcaraz motion and intensity. They all share same basics. I brought up this example just to show how one can serve huge with relatively low-SW racquet. Taylor Fritz is another example.

Once again, I suggest that you can serve big with any reasonable racquet. It comes down to good technique. But it takes time to adjust for significantly different one, SW or balance-wise. More than it takes for groundies usually, so when you tinker on-court - serve gets messed.

 

[johnmccabe]

Most people add weight and improve techniques to match up with better players?

 

[nyta2]

I used to put weight on my racket at 3&9 when I was playing against players at my level. With the added weight, I would still setup and hit the ball on time and the added weight would give more power.

However, lately I’ve been playing stronger players. Their balls have more spin and jumps forward and upward aggressively after bounce. In this case I found myself too slow with taking back and swinging my racket. So I had to take off the weight and then I could keep up better against their high speed ball.

It’s not hard for me to adjust my technique to the reduced swing weight, well, except serve. I found my self serve better with the original setup. The weight at the hoop would naturally create racket head speed for me. With the reduced swing weight, I find it not as natural for the racket head to wrap around and I will subconsciously apply some force with my arm and wrist to snap the racket head. It feels like with higher swing weight, serving is like swinging a hammer and smashing into the ball. However, with lower swing weight, I don’t have that natural smash feeling any more. Overall my serve just get slower.

My coach also says it’s easier to serve harder with more weight in the racket head. But I have to remove the added weight to keep up against good players during points as the added weight is slowing my strokes. Thus I need to get used to serving with reduced swing weight.

Any tips would be appreciated!

can try the aero+... higher swingweight due to added .5" of length, but still feels light and whippy (still headlight)...
i find adding weight at 3&9 makes it headheavy... can counter with weight in handle, but then the entire racquet is heavy...

 

[Happi]

@Fluffy_Skye do you know your SW and what numbers are we talking about.

 

[StringSnapper]

Oh yeah I agree you would get better stability with more weight, but that will only help if you can hit the ball on time right? Against good players, I find myself need to have a faster stroke to hit the ball on time. If I add weight, it would slow my strokes and I would feel like getting pushed by the ball. No doubt you will get better stability if you add weight. But if the added weight makes you unable to hit the ball on time, then the added stability is no use any way.

I totally understand skill and technique plays an important part. However, I think I was originally using more swing weight than I could handle. As I was playing against player at my level, I have sufficient time to execute a complete stroke fast enough to meet the ball on time.

Against strong players, however, I couldn’t get away with so much swing weight as I am unable to complete my stroke on time.

In fact I didn’t take off the added weight when I first played against this strong player. I subconsciously had to apply force with my arm and wrist in order to finish my stroke on time. Next day I felt fatigue in my forearm and wrist which I never ever have before. Which is why I immediately took off the weight.

I disagree though, if you vs a good opponent why would you need a faster stroke to hit the ball on time? The advantage of heavier weight is that your stroke doesn't need to be as fast to smack it back deep. The timing comes from the shortened take back. Think zero takeback, all follow through