Serve contact point drills on fence

[dgold44]

my instructor is really trying to get me to make contact with arm extended and hitting above racket center

One drill you stand facing fence and toss ball then swing racket to trap ball on fence
This helps with contact point and you can see if arm is extended and where your strings trap the ball

 

[SinjinCooper]

Hate this drill.

IMO, it encourages broken "stand up" mechanics.

 

[Deleted member 23235]

it's an ok beginner drill to get you to extend and understand how much higher you're able to make contact, gives you a better idea of the area you need to be making contact (ie. if you're tossing/making contact too low)

it's not good, in that for a long time (because i didn't have the proper context) it gave me the wrong mental model of how to hit a serve (ie. hit through the ball toward the target, vs. hitting up and out)

hopefully you're instructor is just using this drill to convey a specific concept (toss higher, make contact higher), but once you get it, will move onto other drills...

personally i'd rather use something like this:
http://www.mansionathletics.com/ser...kxvX1NIiicq0X97CQ58o9iDMam2gNKsRBkaAkrZ8P8HAQ

but a fence is usually more readily available ;P