Serving Revelation!

[david7410]

So I was out practicing my serve today after a few weeks hiatus and discovered something about my serve that has not only improved my consistency, but really upped my pace and placement. (I model my serve after Pete's)

I basically started throwing the ball directly over my head and little into the court for my first serve. I've been working on strengthening my legs, so I tried really getting down and bending my knees more than I usually do, I discovered that if I time it right, the momentum from pushing off the ground really helped accelerate my arm.

So.. okay, I discovered that bending the knees more and throwing the ball more over my head is a good thing.

Next, and probably the most important thing I discovered, was to hit the ball at a higher point that I have usually done. I thought I was hitting it in the right place all along... but I decided to swing a little earlier and to my surprise, I can really crack that ball now.

So bending the knees, combined with earlier swing/higher toss and toss placement, my serve is at a whole new level. After messing with it and getting all these things down, I kept hitting one amazing serve after another for about 4 hours. One of the last serves I hit before I left was right down the T and jumped up about 7 or 9 feet and slammed into the fence a good 5 feet up.

Next time I go out I'll record some serves and post them here.

That's the end of my gloating.

 

[Thanatos]

So I was out practicing my serve today after a few weeks hiatus and discovered something about my serve that has not only improved my consistency, but really upped my pace and placement. (I model my serve after Pete's)

I basically started throwing the ball directly over my head and little into the court for my first serve. I've been working on strengthening my legs, so I tried really getting down and bending my knees more than I usually do, I discovered that if I time it right, the momentum from pushing off the ground really helped accelerate my arm.

So.. okay, I discovered that bending the knees more and throwing the ball more over my head is a good thing.

Next, and probably the most important thing I discovered, was to hit the ball at a higher point that I have usually done. I thought I was hitting it in the right place all along... but I decided to swing a little earlier and to my surprise, I can really crack that ball now.

So bending the knees, combined with earlier swing/higher toss and toss placement, my serve is at a whole new level. After messing with it and getting all these things down, I kept hitting one amazing serve after another for about 4 hours. One of the last serves I hit before I left was right down the T and jumped up about 7 or 9 feet and slammed into the fence a good 5 feet up.

Next time I go out I'll record some serves and post them here.

That's the end of my gloating.

Congradulations on discovering your new found serve. Practice your serves at least once a week or else you will lose the rythem. Also the more you practice, you'll find niches in your motion, ball contact, toss, etc. that will need further improvement. Soon you will re-discover your serve again and again.

For example, I thought that I found the right serve about 6 months ago. Then I found a better way to make clean contact with the ball 3 months latter. Now I have a different serve that smoother, more pace, and better placement. I reccommend taking videos of your serves today, 6 months from today, and a year from now so you can see the transitional differences over time.

 

[kevhen]

Cool, sounds like a nice serve. I'm bending my knees more on my second serve lately for added topspin. I noticed Blake wasn't bending his knees on second serves when he double faulted during the 3rd set in his loss to Agassi.

 

[mark rodgers]

I would imagine that you're also gripping the racquet as loosely as possible...

 

[Galactus]

So I was out practicing my serve today after a few weeks hiatus and discovered something about my serve that has not only improved my consistency, but really upped my pace and placement. (I model my serve after Pete's)

I basically started throwing the ball directly over my head and little into the court for my first serve. I've been working on strengthening my legs, so I tried really getting down and bending my knees more than I usually do, I discovered that if I time it right, the momentum from pushing off the ground really helped accelerate my arm.

So.. okay, I discovered that bending the knees more and throwing the ball more over my head is a good thing.

Next, and probably the most important thing I discovered, was to hit the ball at a higher point that I have usually done. I thought I was hitting it in the right place all along... but I decided to swing a little earlier and to my surprise, I can really crack that ball now.

So bending the knees, combined with earlier swing/higher toss and toss placement, my serve is at a whole new level. After messing with it and getting all these things down, I kept hitting one amazing serve after another for about 4 hours. One of the last serves I hit before I left was right down the T and jumped up about 7 or 9 feet and slammed into the fence a good 5 feet up.

Next time I go out I'll record some serves and post them here.

That's the end of my gloating.

Sampras' action is a perfect one to try and emulate.

However, with regards to your toss-location - I find that it's almost inmpossible for me to hit it with any power whatsoever....
I have to toss the ball about 6-10" out in front and to the right of me (about 1 o'clock) in order to get any power/speed.
And that's serving FLAT without any spin.
And even those balls don't hit the back-canvas with any real speed. They either stay real low or hit about 2-3 ft up (and I'd say the back-canvas is 15ft from the service line)

BTW, how tall are you, David7410?

 

[tom-selleck]

my three on-court fixes for my serve are 1) relax your arm; 2) raise the contact point; 3) cut over the ball or over the corner to get some spin.

if you ever want to impress with your ability to miss your serve by 10-20 feet without any effort, just lower your contact point and don't toss forward. so i guess for good serves, you want to do the opposite.

i think in the spring i need lessons on serve. i serve well but i find myself battling swing thoughts constantly, just like in golf. rahter have something closer to automatic.

 

[shindemac]

That's great to be always learning. Soon you'll discover other things, and your serve could be totally different in a few months. For me, I took a week off to just practice flat serves. When I got back to doing spin serves, I wanted to throw the ball more to the left and above my head for topspin. This caused me to arch my back more, and my racket started more to the left. Well, I was able to generate a ton of spin, much more than ever before and with a lot more ease. Before I threw it way to the right, and it took a lot of effort to generate racket head speed and spin, and I felt I had no control at all. Now I'm sure this is much closer to the proper way to do it, although the serve I got is prob. more topspin-slice or even sometimes slice. I always wanted a topspin-slice anyways, but I still need to make it more topspin for a second serve. My spin serve has so much movement in the air, it looks like those pro serves you see on tv except a lot slower! Yay!

 

[david7410]

Sampras' action is a perfect one to try and emulate.

However, with regards to your toss-location - I find that it's almost inmpossible for me to hit it with any power whatsoever....
I have to toss the ball about 6-10" out in front and to the right of me (about 1 o'clock) in order to get any power/speed.
And that's serving FLAT without any spin.
And even those balls don't hit the back-canvas with any real speed. They either stay real low or hit about 2-3 ft up (and I'd say the back-canvas is 15ft from the service line)

BTW, how tall are you, David7410?

I'm 6'1". And to reply to others, yes... I hold the very tip of my racquet (Ncode 90) and keep it as loose as I can, tightening my grip right before contact.

Also, I greatly improved my second serve by simply tossing the ball further behind my head, bending my knees and arching my back more, and instead of just brushing up the ball, I try to hit it like a first serve. The action on the ball in incredible for a second serve, and I can really hit it with a lot of pace with a quick dipping action. I'm almost considing making my second serve my first and using my first serve to go for lines.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

all are correct obs.

check if you haven't done so
my posting
Serve Power and Placement
in the Sticky thread at the top of this forum.