Serve help? Opening hips early?

pignick

New User
Hey all, I've been working on my serve a bit and after reading some of the posts here I thought I'd look for some advice. Any areas that I could do better and how I could improve them would be appreciated :)

I've never been any good at throwing a ball and so the analogy of 'throwing the racquet up at the ball' has never really worked for me. I don't feel like I have a very natural serve action but I can't quite work out what it is.

Serve from the back http://youtu.be/0PyBoIBGZqk
I've noticed my hips seem to open up quite early and it seems like my right leg is beside my left leg by the time I get to contact. Is this a problem?

From the side http://youtu.be/jlhaHC7IsK0
Does my left shoulder drop enough? Also, I've noticed that as I swing up to contact, my legs move into the court over the baseline. Does that indicate there's something wrong somewhere?

Apologies for the quality of the videos - I'm away from home so I've only got some old tennis courts, a wall and a mobile phone to work with.
 

Lukhas

Legend
And there goes my neck. Nevermind the Vertical Video Syndrom you have.

Gotta bring my inner Chas... You're asking about very specific details that are very difficult to answer to with a 30FPS real speed video. If you were able to shoot in slow-motion in 120 FPS it'd be easier to answer. From what I can see without pivoting the video, it doesn't look bad at all. And it's perfectly normal and even advised to finish inside the court when you serve. It's the sign of proper weight transfer.
 

oble

Hall of Fame
Looks fine to me. Very strong "bow" form at trophy position, solid racquet drop, solid swing, solid weight transfer forward (which is why you jump slightly forward into the court, and that's good).

If I want to nitpick, it would be the low elbow on the racquet arm at the trophy position.

Other than that, it looks like a serve that will make many jealous (including myself). :)

And there goes my neck. Nevermind the Vertical Video Syndrom you have.

:lol:
 

tennisdad65

Hall of Fame
Very nice serve. I like the nice 'archers bow' you get.

Regarding 'throwing racquet up at the ball' . That's easier to do with a loosely held grip. Try with your pinky finger off the grip and try a few 2nd / topspin serves. You will notice that you get much more and consistent brush and spin on the serve.
 

pignick

New User
And there goes my neck. Nevermind the Vertical Video Syndrom you have.

Sorry! I uploaded this before bed and it didn't occur to me at all. Have reuploaded the videos in portrait in case anyone else wants to look without breaking their necks. I can't seem to edit my original post though.
http://youtu.be/znkVQ3MiyvA
http://youtu.be/ap4eot0GWaE

If you were able to shoot in slow-motion in 120 FPS it'd be easier to answer.

I wish I could! But I'm a poor student and only a social tennis player so can't really justify getting a slow motion camera. May be a gopro on the horizon for some mountain biking videos though which could double for tennis footage :)

Thanks for the other feedback tennisdad and oble. I think I do hold onto my racquet quite tightly when I play so I'll try loosening up next time I'm out. I'll also have a think about keeping my elbow a bit higher too.
 

Lukhas

Legend
Sorry! I uploaded this before bed and it didn't occur to me at all. Have reuploaded the videos in portrait in case anyone else wants to look without breaking their necks. I can't seem to edit my original post though.
Well thank you.
I wish I could! But I'm a poor student and only a social tennis player so can't really justify getting a slow motion camera. May be a gopro on the horizon for some mountain biking videos though which could double for tennis footage :)
And welcome to the club. Unfortunately.

Now that I can properly see it, you don't seem to engage yourself fully into your serve. You load well during your backswing, but do not finish with your right leg kicking behind. Try to think of your legs as the "trigger" to your serve. IMO legs don't add much power by themselves, but they're the first moving part in the service motion and allow other parts of the kinetic chain to fall right in place. So while you don't want to jump into the ball, you don't want to be "leaking" into the serve with some part of it being too late (or to early) to activate. Legs->Hips->Shoulder->Arm->Racquet.

As for the low elbow... It's tough for me to comment, since it looks very good on the behind view and lower than indeal on the side view.
 

pignick

New User
Now that I can properly see it, you don't seem to engage yourself fully into your serve. You load well during your backswing, but do not finish with your right leg kicking behind.

Yeah I did notice this but I'm not sure what I can do to fix it? If I start to think about my what my hips and legs are doing, the timing of my serve goes off. One theory I have is because my hips rotate round too much, my right leg ends up beside the left leg and starts to swing out to compensate before I get to contact but I'm not sure whether that's a problem.
 
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