Serve timing goes away when nervous

EddieBrock

Hall of Fame
I've struggled with the serve for years and one aspect that gives me trouble I didn't appreciate was the timing of the shot.

In my last match I double faulted about once per game, sometimes more. My opponent was standing in on both serves and I was trying to go bigger/move it around more and I ended up double faulting instead and completely lost the timing. Today I played against a coach and when I noticed people were watching all of sudden my serve fell apart and I lost the timing.

In general when I get nervous I noticed I talk faster or more like a robot and just don't handle it well and I think that messes up my serve because of the importance of being loose and timing all the movements together. Are there any tricks I can use to fix the timing when I know I'm nervous? My coach suggested slowing down like I'm under water, which helped things but didn't fix them. It's like I release the ball too soon and I rush to get my racket to it or too late and I wait for the toss. When I'm relaxed and serving my best my serve is actually pretty good. I just can't get it to work when it counts.
 

Fintft

G.O.A.T.
Minor quick pointers:
- Stop for a second just before you start the rocking motion (when you touch the ball to your racket). This will slow things down.
- Breathe (not only on the serve).
 

Pete Player

Hall of Fame
In bowling, I’ve counted the pendulum: One’nd Two, to keep the pace and not speeding things up. Speeding most often results muscleing the rythm off.

When my serve starts to detoriorate, it usually is implied by dropping the tossing hand too early and losing vision on the ball.


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On pain meds - all contributed matter and anti-matter subject to disclaimer
 

FiReFTW

Legend
When nervious you also tend to get tight and grip the racquet tighter which also causes ur stroke to disintegrate.
You just need to practice serve and improve week after week.
The better ur serve gets the more confident you are.
The more confident you are less neevious u will get because you will trust your serve more.
 

nvr2old

Hall of Fame
Hang in there. I serve much worse in dubs than singles. I feel more pressure to not let my partner down. I refuse to pancake a serve motion though and am determined to continue a good serve motion and form. I have backed off my serve speed considerably and value form and consistency over power and speed. I find that if I can maintain form then speed/power will come automatically as needed. Good luck.
 

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
I'd advise working on a consistent topspin or topslice second serve. Those will give you greater margin for error, won't break down as easily under pressure and don't require big speed to be effective. Vertical and sideways movement can be tricky for many returners leading to returns long or into the net.

Once you know you can get your second serve in reliably, it frees you up to be looser on the first serve. I've found since I developed a topspin second serve, my first serve percentage has improved considerably since I'm not so nervous if I miss it.

The adage goes, "You are only as good as your second serve." Work on it as much as possible.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
I've struggled with the serve for years and one aspect that gives me trouble I didn't appreciate was the timing of the shot.

In my last match I double faulted about once per game, sometimes more. My opponent was standing in on both serves and I was trying to go bigger/move it around more and I ended up double faulting instead and completely lost the timing. Today I played against a coach and when I noticed people were watching all of sudden my serve fell apart and I lost the timing.

In general when I get nervous I noticed I talk faster or more like a robot and just don't handle it well and I think that messes up my serve because of the importance of being loose and timing all the movements together. Are there any tricks I can use to fix the timing when I know I'm nervous? My coach suggested slowing down like I'm under water, which helped things but didn't fix them. It's like I release the ball too soon and I rush to get my racket to it or too late and I wait for the toss. When I'm relaxed and serving my best my serve is actually pretty good. I just can't get it to work when it counts.

Serve timing deterioration is an effect of nervousness; therefore, trying to fix serve timing is only addressing the effect, not the cause.

You may benefit a lot more by trying to address your nervousness: everyone gets nervous but not everyone deals with it the same way.
- Why are you getting nervous? A crowd watching puts more pressure on you but is it crowd-generated or self-generated?
- Don't try to suppress your nerves; embrace them.
- Be more process-oriented than results-oriented; this allows you to focus on doing the things needed to produce a good shot. It turns attention away from obsessing over how good the shot was.
- Don't be so hard on yourself; recognize that everyone makes mistakes and it's part of the game. Concentrate on what you need to do not on what just happened.

Maybe the following interview would help:

 

lwto

Hall of Fame
IT's actually quite easy to over come.

Stand at your position.. take a deep breath, and just relax your muscles.. to the point where your just like playdoe.
In other words, don't stand rigid, let your arms free fall, loosen your grip.. it's all about being loose.. loose loose loose.
 

Fintft

G.O.A.T.
...my first serve percentage has improved considerably since I'm not so nervous if I miss it.

I'm not so nervous if I miss it, since I'll serve ....another first serve right away. That way:
  • Practice makes perfect, since I'm only practicing one serve (I may only vary my placement, or a bit the power, all the time trying to serve relaxed and in a good rhythm).
  • I stay the Alpha male :D
  • Less risk on injuries, due to less defence needed.
  • Surprise opponents (at least with the depth and pace of the serve served second).
  • Once in a blue moon I throw in a...second serve (like a drop shot).
 

EddieBrock

Hall of Fame
Serve timing deterioration is an effect of nervousness; therefore, trying to fix serve timing is only addressing the effect, not the cause.

You may benefit a lot more by trying to address your nervousness: everyone gets nervous but not everyone deals with it the same way.
- Why are you getting nervous? A crowd watching puts more pressure on you but is it crowd-generated or self-generated?
- Don't try to suppress your nerves; embrace them.
- Be more process-oriented than results-oriented; this allows you to focus on doing the things needed to produce a good shot. It turns attention away from obsessing over how good the shot was.
- Don't be so hard on yourself; recognize that everyone makes mistakes and it's part of the game. Concentrate on what you need to do not on what just happened.

Maybe the following interview would help:


I'm actually not sure why I get nervous. It doesn't happen with other shots anywhere near as much as with the serve. I think it's just because I've had problems with it like in the last match and I haven't been able to fix it mid match. With my forehand for example, when I miss it I usually know why. With the serve I'll play in practice with a coach or even a doubles match with friends and I can control the serve really well. If someone stands over towards the middle on the deuce side I can hit a slice out to their forehand.

In these singles matches the serve just falls apart and I can't fix it. The 1st serve goes in the net or sometimes if things are really bad hits the ground before the net. It' feels like when I make contact my wrist twists a strange direction, the toss is wrong, the contact is too low or too high, I'm not using my legs, I'm dropping my heard/arm etc. Just everything feels wrong and it doesn't work. It's like the feeling of being on date and not being able to pick up glass of water without spilling it. You know how to do it, but all of a sudden when it counts you mess up.

I think last time I started arming the serve to try and simplify it so I could just get it after so many double faults. In practice a lot of times I'm trying to hit harder, get more spin, or jam my opponent, but in a match I'm just trying to not embarrass myself.

I'm going to play in a league with people that have played in clinics and practice and I'm stressing over how I'll do in competition. Something as simple as just throwing the ball and hitting it in a box becomes very complex. I think I also get nervous and frustrated because I've worked so hard on my game and I can't really compete in singles because of this problem. Maybe it's like a self fulfilling prophesy that I know going in there's a chance the serve can fall apart and it's not fixable.
 

FiReFTW

Legend
I'm actually not sure why I get nervous.

Because ur serve is not good enough, thats why.
Trust me that is the sole reason someone gets nervious on a particular shot, if its not good enough and then u miss 1 or 2 and u get even more nervious and tight because its not working and u know its not good enough for you to count on always.

If your serve was at a very high level, meaning u can hit 100 out of 100 2nd serves in practice, you will never get nervious and tight like this, because even if u miss you usualy know why and you also know its good enough and that you have good enough control and level on the stroke that it was just an abnormality and a bit of a bad swing but u wont miss again next time.

If you think back long and hard enough ur forehand was at that point at a certain time aswell, almost certainly, where u missed a few and then u got nervious because it was not on a good enough level yet and you could not count on it and were not confident in it.

But now its at a much better level and you know you can control it and hit it well and hit it where and how you want much better and u can count on it, trust it and are confident in it, so even if u miss u know what you did wrong and you also know it was just a small mistake that happens to anyone sometimes but you know that you are capable of hitting it the way you want and are confident in it, so u wont get nervious.
 

EddieBrock

Hall of Fame
Because ur serve is not good enough, thats why.
Trust me that is the sole reason someone gets nervious on a particular shot, if its not good enough and then u miss 1 or 2 and u get even more nervious and tight because its not working and u know its not good enough for you to count on always.

If your serve was at a very high level, meaning u can hit 100 out of 100 2nd serves in practice, you will never get nervious and tight like this, because even if u miss you usualy know why and you also know its good enough and that you have good enough control and level on the stroke that it was just an abnormality and a bit of a bad swing but u wont miss again next time.

If you think back long and hard enough ur forehand was at that point at a certain time aswell, almost certainly, where u missed a few and then u got nervious because it was not on a good enough level yet and you could not count on it and were not confident in it.

But now its at a much better level and you know you can control it and hit it well and hit it where and how you want much better and u can count on it, trust it and are confident in it, so even if u miss u know what you did wrong and you also know it was just a small mistake that happens to anyone sometimes but you know that you are capable of hitting it the way you want and are confident in it, so u wont get nervious.

Of course you're right there was a time I couldn't hit a forehand, but that was many years ago and I've known how to control and fix it for years. Even with my volleys if I miss one I know what I did wrong. What's really frustrating about the serve is that in practice with friends or with a coach I'll go 2 sets with maybe 1 or 2 double faults. About a week before the match with all those double faults I practiced and got ~6 to 7 1st serves in and got 9 out of 10 and then 10/10 2nd serves. I just get a rhythm where the serve works and I can control it.

As I put in the OP when I get nervous I lose that rhythm, get tight and feel uncoordinated in a real match.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
Of course you're right there was a time I couldn't hit a forehand, but that was many years ago and I've known how to control and fix it for years. Even with my volleys if I miss one I know what I did wrong. What's really frustrating about the serve is that in practice with friends or with a coach I'll go 2 sets with maybe 1 or 2 double faults. About a week before the match with all those double faults I practiced and got ~6 to 7 1st serves in and got 9 out of 10 and then 10/10 2nd serves. I just get a rhythm where the serve works and I can control it.

As I put in the OP when I get nervous I lose that rhythm, get tight and feel uncoordinated in a real match.

If you execute fine in practice but fall apart under pressure, then it's not physical; it's mental. Watch that interview with Bob Litwin that I posted and see if you find any useful ideas.
 

FiReFTW

Legend
If you execute fine in practice but fall apart under pressure, then it's not physical; it's mental. Watch that interview with Bob Litwin that I posted and see if you find any useful ideas.

But again, mental is because OP doesn't seem to trust his serve and is confident in it, it can't be anything else, if he was 100% confident in it, he would not get nervious and be affraid to miss it, I still think the real solution is to practice it much much more and get it much more consistent and safe so much that he will start trusting it completely, as long as he has doubts about it he will always get nervious and tight, specialy after he makes a double fault.
 

EddieBrock

Hall of Fame
Serve timing deterioration is an effect of nervousness; therefore, trying to fix serve timing is only addressing the effect, not the cause.

You may benefit a lot more by trying to address your nervousness: everyone gets nervous but not everyone deals with it the same way.
- Why are you getting nervous? A crowd watching puts more pressure on you but is it crowd-generated or self-generated?
- Don't try to suppress your nerves; embrace them.
- Be more process-oriented than results-oriented; this allows you to focus on doing the things needed to produce a good shot. It turns attention away from obsessing over how good the shot was.
- Don't be so hard on yourself; recognize that everyone makes mistakes and it's part of the game. Concentrate on what you need to do not on what just happened.

Maybe the following interview would help:


I watched the whole video and when I heard the word "double fault" I felt a bit sick in my stomach. He obviously has a great perspective and I think a lot of the advice will help. Particularly with embracing the pressure and that you remember those big moments after the match.

Another big point was the 4 judges there on your shoulder. When I played doubles I told my doubles partner all this info about how we were doing and all the tendencies of the opponents and he was shocked I noticed so much. When I'm playing I would make a great commentator on the match.

When I go to serve it's a combination of knowing I've crumbled under pressure before and all the work I've done on the serve with a realization that it's happening again. It just feels like everything is off and there's a million things to try and fix. Tensing up, not using my legs, toss is wrong, etc. Next time maybe instead of looking at all this possible mistakes I should focus on the basic process of serving and just focus on doing that. Of course also focus on breaking and loosening up before the motion.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
Next time maybe instead of looking at all this possible mistakes I should focus on the basic process of serving and just focus on doing that. Of course also focus on breaking and loosening up before the motion.

I think this is key: focus on the process, not the result.

If I tell you to not thing about X, it's going to be very difficult to not think about X. If you tell yourself not to think about DFing, what do you think you concentrate on?

Look on YouTube for videos by Dr. Patrick Cohn; he has several that you might find useful.
 
Get a hopper of balls, and go to the court 3 times a week and serve 200 balls each time.
Do this for 3 months. This should calm your nerves.
 

Bender

G.O.A.T.
My serve timing goes away inexplicably, not even high pressure situations or anything. I could be coasting 5-0 and then suddenly double fault four times in a row.

Then on my next serve I'll hit four good serves and hold to love.

Yesterday, I played three sets of doubles, won 6-1, 6-7, 5-2 when my time was up.

In that second set, I could hold serve at all despite lowering my pace on firsts and seconds. After losing that set in a tiebreak (with one minibreak thanks to a DF on my serve), I held to love / 15 easily after a break between sets of less than one minute.

I think when I get bored or start on a DF run, I cease to move forward on my serve, my forearm locks up, and my toss gets lower, so I lose momentum both forward and upward, not to mention a loss of rhythm because of the changed toss (and therefore contact point).
 

Chas Tennis

G.O.A.T.
Take a high speed video of your serve and especially screen yourself for Waiter's Tray Technique. Probably 60% or more of active tennis players use a WT. Unless your technique is known, advice for the serve may not apply to you. Of course, any practice is likely to improve your consistency and pace with whatever technique you are using. If your racket faces the sky, as in this picture below, you do not have a high level serve and probably have the common WT.

http://www.hi-techtennis.com/serve/big_l_student.php

Note - racket face to sky means - not a high level serve and a likely WT technique. As an example of advice that does not work with a WT technique, the common advice to use a Continental Grip for the serve does not work with a WT technique. How much time has been wasted on that? !!
andre_serve.jpg


For a high level serve the arm swings forward plus the near straight arm rotates using the shoulder joint motion of internal shoulder rotation (ISR). Both motions add to racket head speed. For the WT, little ISR occurs.
 
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Pete Player

Hall of Fame
Take a high speed video of your serve and especially screen yourself for Waiter's Tray Technique. Probably 60% of active tennis players use a WT. Unless your technique is known, advice for the serve may not be apply. If your racket faces the sky, as in this picture below, you do not have a high level serve and probably have the common WT.

http://www.hi-techtennis.com/serve/big_l_student.php

Note - racket face to sky means - not a high level serve and a likely WT technique. As an example of advice that does not work with a WT technique, the common advice to use a Continental Grip for the serve does not work with a WT technique. How much time has been wasted on that? !!
andre_serve.jpg

Without doubt one of the most vital errors in rythm or understanding the hand action, if the player has used all his supination range at the racket drop.

I kind of have allways thought that WT would only be possible with Semi-Western fh grip serves, but seemingly it is very much makable even with Eastern or Continental as well.


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On pain meds - all contributed matter and anti-matter subject to disclaimer
 
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