While I admit it's hard to be objective about one's self... I felt it would be nice for people to discuss their own interpretations of their own serves. It'll be tough to describe, and probably tough to know how close to reality everone's serves are described... But it should make interesting discussion, no?
Anyways, here's how I would profile my serve... AND YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE AS OVERBOARD DETAILED AS I WENT. But you can if you want. Sorry, I'm so verbose usually...
*Style
*Types of Serves
*Notes on consistency & Tendencies & Warmup
*Physical Notes (how you feel during or after service sessions)
*Notes on Build (body type)
Style: Abbreviated Service Motion (similar to Roddick). Continental grip on all serves.
Stand anywhere from 2-5 feet from the center mark. Shoulder and feet aligned somewhat towards right netpost, left foot generally points to right netpost. Right foot tends to be almost parallel to net/baseline. Semi-deep knee bend, left foot ends up pointing to the right when the knee bend occurs and occasionally will move back a couple inches, but body moves forward a bit. In fact, there's a tendency to footfault forward even if I'm standing far from the baseline. Exhale before ball toss, or slowly throughout serve until contact helps a lot. When serving, I'm focusing on keeping my eyes on the contact point, keeping that left hand up a good while (and not to let it drop early), and bending my knees.
Types of Serves I hit
-1st Serve: Flat/Slice -- It's my "flat serve" but opponents tell me that it has a really funky kick to it that's hard to read and it stays low. The slice (that causes this low kick) doesn't apply to the serve until it hits the ground, at which point it will move off course of straight anywhere up to 1.5 feet (to my left, opponent's right) or not at all. While I have never measured the speed and I really have no idea how fast it is... Some experienced opponents tell me they're guess is that I hit it around or just a little under 110 MPH. When I hit this as well as I can, it feels like my chest expands, I'm off the ground (without much intention) with really good timing, and my body rotates a bit to my left as I hit this with my head focused on the contact zone. Placement wise, on a good day, I feel I can direct this very close to any of the further corners, into the body, up to 1 foot short of the furthest corner, and as low as about 1 foot up of dead center in the box. While on good days I feel good about controlling placement, I never really have control of how much the serve will stray from perfectly straight--it seems to vary by the day (as opposed to the point).
-1st Serve: Slice -- Pace wise, it's not too much slower than my flat serve. Technique wise If my flat serve really is anywhere close to 110 MPH (again, I dunno), I would say this serve feels about 80 MPH and sometimes upper mid 80s. This serve is not the usual extreme slice serve some people throw out that slices wide long before crossing the net, but the effect is there throughout the serve. The placement is really the thing with this serve for me. On good and average days, I'm comfortable hitting around the middle of the sideline of the box on the deuce court, or right on the T from the ad-court. Against 3.5 and 4.0 opponents (in my area anyways), I consistently get aces or weak returns with this serve. Against 4.5 opponents, I get a lot of weak returns, a few aces, and occasionally a very well controlled return. The difference in my mind in terms of hitting this serve is that I don't pronate my wrist much or at all when serving. I just think of it as hitting straight through on my serve.
-2nd Serve: Topspin serve. I put a lot of energy into this serve, but it's my weakest serve, but most consistent. It's nowhere near a bonafide kick serve, and I can't hit the twist serve (which some people would call The Kick Serve anyways). So generally, I have a ball that comes in at decent speed (similar speed as my slice serve), has a lot of topspin, but 80% of the time has almost no "weight" behind the ball, though I hit it with authority. I feel confident in placing this serve just about anywhere, and I can hit it with very little pace (like slug pace, comprable to underhanded serve, maybe slower if I wanted to hit it that slow) or I can hit it with a lot of pace. I try not to think about wrapping my racquet around the ball--instead I just think of hitting up on the ball, as if I was trying to hit that ball into the sky. Just my way of thinking about it--for better or worse. Generally I hit it with fast pace and it gives players up to 3.5 trouble. But players 4.0 and 4.5 will almost always return this serve, and mostly enjoy returning this serve with authority.
-2nd Serve: Slice serve. Same as the 1st Serve slice, but once in awhile I will purposefully go for an extremely low pace with this, but almost anyone can attack it if they catch onto it early.
Notes on Consistency & Tendencies (and Warmup)
I used to have very little consistency with my serves a year ago. But now I'm pretty consistent, even when putting nearly my all into it. In fact, putting my all into a serve is generally what keeps it at its most consistent. However, it generally takes me 1 set or 40 minutes of playing with serves to warmup my serve to the point where it's at a very consistent and effective state. Once that rolls, I'm a very happy server for pretty much the entire day. However, I average one lousy service game per set, which rears its ugly head in doubles play, but I can usually make up for a bad service game in singles play.
I mentioned earlier that there's a tendency to footfault forward. It bugs me, but it's there. I even do this when I'm standing a good foot and a half away from the freaking baseline. For my serve to be at its most effective, I generally need to be tossing into the court. Almost in front of my shoulder or to the right of my head. Tosses are very high some days, and other days I'm more comfortable tossing to where I can hit the ball at the apex of the toss. The toss is probably the most critical factor on my serve (and I believe in any serve). Some days I prefer the toss to be more straight up and down. Other days I prefer the toss to be tossed from a bit more to my right, going towards my left. It really varies by the day.
Physical Notes
While the serve is my strongest asset 80% of the days I play serious matches... it's also the most demanding. I get fatigued after a set and a half of hitting good serves. My main racquet is the Dunlop 300G which is a very light, but underpowered MidPlus racquet. This racquet is probably the most demanding racquet I've used for serves, but it's been wonderful to my game overall and I do like the type of serves I hit with it. Anyhow, the point is... with this racquet, the fatigue factor goes up a bit, because this racquet demands a much sharper action, generating high speed and acceleration by the time I make contact. So I end up fatiqueing after 4 or 5 service games, if I'm serving hard all day. My service games in general are much more demanding than my return games--so far I'm comfortable returning serves, but maybe that comes from having faith in my service games. With a racquet like a Prestige or a Pro Staff 6.0, serving is much easier in general if I tone down the intensity of my serves to 80% -- I can get good options and big serves using 80% of my normal energy for serves with these racquets. But after awhile, the big flat serves will start to feel a bit more demanding as the weight of the racquets get heavier, but that doesn't happen for like 7 service games (which is a lot). If I'm going 100% on flat first serves, the fatigue level hits at about 3 or 4 service games.
Areas that are stressed.... On the best of days, I'll feel perfectly fine after heavy serving. But on many days, my shoulder really feels it at the end of the day. If I haven't been working out much, I might feel a bit of tightness on my bicep and tricep the next day. If my knee has been bugging me, I'll feel it during the knee bend, but I feel much better with the knee bend than when stiff legged. During matches, the serve will take out some of my stamina during a point, so I have to make the serve count usually. If I'm having an off day or am way too fatigued, I go for more placement, but I end up running the points a lot longer, and that's just not the best idea for my game.
Notes on Build
I'm an asian guy that's 5'11, mid 20s, overweight but described by doctors as "healthy," "husky," and/or "athletic." Most people say I look like I weight 180 lbs (but I honestly weigh way more than that--because of muscle or bone structure, I don't know). I do come from an athletic background. Early in the session I have very little stamina, very little endurance, and my balance isn't it's greatest. After 2 hours I guess the endorphins really kick in because I end up feeling like I have a ton of stamina & speed & agility, my endurance becomes much more like a normal non-overweight person's, and my balance is adjusted and generally very good. Kinda weird, but that's how it is... But I'm working on trimming up--but it's hard. The best shape of my life only happened when I was working out 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, and eating a very proper diet. It's hard to do that in college though (but it's gotta be much easier in college than when working full time at a desk job).
-Chanchai
Anyways, here's how I would profile my serve... AND YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE AS OVERBOARD DETAILED AS I WENT. But you can if you want. Sorry, I'm so verbose usually...
*Style
*Types of Serves
*Notes on consistency & Tendencies & Warmup
*Physical Notes (how you feel during or after service sessions)
*Notes on Build (body type)
Style: Abbreviated Service Motion (similar to Roddick). Continental grip on all serves.
Stand anywhere from 2-5 feet from the center mark. Shoulder and feet aligned somewhat towards right netpost, left foot generally points to right netpost. Right foot tends to be almost parallel to net/baseline. Semi-deep knee bend, left foot ends up pointing to the right when the knee bend occurs and occasionally will move back a couple inches, but body moves forward a bit. In fact, there's a tendency to footfault forward even if I'm standing far from the baseline. Exhale before ball toss, or slowly throughout serve until contact helps a lot. When serving, I'm focusing on keeping my eyes on the contact point, keeping that left hand up a good while (and not to let it drop early), and bending my knees.
Types of Serves I hit
-1st Serve: Flat/Slice -- It's my "flat serve" but opponents tell me that it has a really funky kick to it that's hard to read and it stays low. The slice (that causes this low kick) doesn't apply to the serve until it hits the ground, at which point it will move off course of straight anywhere up to 1.5 feet (to my left, opponent's right) or not at all. While I have never measured the speed and I really have no idea how fast it is... Some experienced opponents tell me they're guess is that I hit it around or just a little under 110 MPH. When I hit this as well as I can, it feels like my chest expands, I'm off the ground (without much intention) with really good timing, and my body rotates a bit to my left as I hit this with my head focused on the contact zone. Placement wise, on a good day, I feel I can direct this very close to any of the further corners, into the body, up to 1 foot short of the furthest corner, and as low as about 1 foot up of dead center in the box. While on good days I feel good about controlling placement, I never really have control of how much the serve will stray from perfectly straight--it seems to vary by the day (as opposed to the point).
-1st Serve: Slice -- Pace wise, it's not too much slower than my flat serve. Technique wise If my flat serve really is anywhere close to 110 MPH (again, I dunno), I would say this serve feels about 80 MPH and sometimes upper mid 80s. This serve is not the usual extreme slice serve some people throw out that slices wide long before crossing the net, but the effect is there throughout the serve. The placement is really the thing with this serve for me. On good and average days, I'm comfortable hitting around the middle of the sideline of the box on the deuce court, or right on the T from the ad-court. Against 3.5 and 4.0 opponents (in my area anyways), I consistently get aces or weak returns with this serve. Against 4.5 opponents, I get a lot of weak returns, a few aces, and occasionally a very well controlled return. The difference in my mind in terms of hitting this serve is that I don't pronate my wrist much or at all when serving. I just think of it as hitting straight through on my serve.
-2nd Serve: Topspin serve. I put a lot of energy into this serve, but it's my weakest serve, but most consistent. It's nowhere near a bonafide kick serve, and I can't hit the twist serve (which some people would call The Kick Serve anyways). So generally, I have a ball that comes in at decent speed (similar speed as my slice serve), has a lot of topspin, but 80% of the time has almost no "weight" behind the ball, though I hit it with authority. I feel confident in placing this serve just about anywhere, and I can hit it with very little pace (like slug pace, comprable to underhanded serve, maybe slower if I wanted to hit it that slow) or I can hit it with a lot of pace. I try not to think about wrapping my racquet around the ball--instead I just think of hitting up on the ball, as if I was trying to hit that ball into the sky. Just my way of thinking about it--for better or worse. Generally I hit it with fast pace and it gives players up to 3.5 trouble. But players 4.0 and 4.5 will almost always return this serve, and mostly enjoy returning this serve with authority.
-2nd Serve: Slice serve. Same as the 1st Serve slice, but once in awhile I will purposefully go for an extremely low pace with this, but almost anyone can attack it if they catch onto it early.
Notes on Consistency & Tendencies (and Warmup)
I used to have very little consistency with my serves a year ago. But now I'm pretty consistent, even when putting nearly my all into it. In fact, putting my all into a serve is generally what keeps it at its most consistent. However, it generally takes me 1 set or 40 minutes of playing with serves to warmup my serve to the point where it's at a very consistent and effective state. Once that rolls, I'm a very happy server for pretty much the entire day. However, I average one lousy service game per set, which rears its ugly head in doubles play, but I can usually make up for a bad service game in singles play.
I mentioned earlier that there's a tendency to footfault forward. It bugs me, but it's there. I even do this when I'm standing a good foot and a half away from the freaking baseline. For my serve to be at its most effective, I generally need to be tossing into the court. Almost in front of my shoulder or to the right of my head. Tosses are very high some days, and other days I'm more comfortable tossing to where I can hit the ball at the apex of the toss. The toss is probably the most critical factor on my serve (and I believe in any serve). Some days I prefer the toss to be more straight up and down. Other days I prefer the toss to be tossed from a bit more to my right, going towards my left. It really varies by the day.
Physical Notes
While the serve is my strongest asset 80% of the days I play serious matches... it's also the most demanding. I get fatigued after a set and a half of hitting good serves. My main racquet is the Dunlop 300G which is a very light, but underpowered MidPlus racquet. This racquet is probably the most demanding racquet I've used for serves, but it's been wonderful to my game overall and I do like the type of serves I hit with it. Anyhow, the point is... with this racquet, the fatigue factor goes up a bit, because this racquet demands a much sharper action, generating high speed and acceleration by the time I make contact. So I end up fatiqueing after 4 or 5 service games, if I'm serving hard all day. My service games in general are much more demanding than my return games--so far I'm comfortable returning serves, but maybe that comes from having faith in my service games. With a racquet like a Prestige or a Pro Staff 6.0, serving is much easier in general if I tone down the intensity of my serves to 80% -- I can get good options and big serves using 80% of my normal energy for serves with these racquets. But after awhile, the big flat serves will start to feel a bit more demanding as the weight of the racquets get heavier, but that doesn't happen for like 7 service games (which is a lot). If I'm going 100% on flat first serves, the fatigue level hits at about 3 or 4 service games.
Areas that are stressed.... On the best of days, I'll feel perfectly fine after heavy serving. But on many days, my shoulder really feels it at the end of the day. If I haven't been working out much, I might feel a bit of tightness on my bicep and tricep the next day. If my knee has been bugging me, I'll feel it during the knee bend, but I feel much better with the knee bend than when stiff legged. During matches, the serve will take out some of my stamina during a point, so I have to make the serve count usually. If I'm having an off day or am way too fatigued, I go for more placement, but I end up running the points a lot longer, and that's just not the best idea for my game.
Notes on Build
I'm an asian guy that's 5'11, mid 20s, overweight but described by doctors as "healthy," "husky," and/or "athletic." Most people say I look like I weight 180 lbs (but I honestly weigh way more than that--because of muscle or bone structure, I don't know). I do come from an athletic background. Early in the session I have very little stamina, very little endurance, and my balance isn't it's greatest. After 2 hours I guess the endorphins really kick in because I end up feeling like I have a ton of stamina & speed & agility, my endurance becomes much more like a normal non-overweight person's, and my balance is adjusted and generally very good. Kinda weird, but that's how it is... But I'm working on trimming up--but it's hard. The best shape of my life only happened when I was working out 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, and eating a very proper diet. It's hard to do that in college though (but it's gotta be much easier in college than when working full time at a desk job).
-Chanchai
. But obviously, I won't bounce beyond the limit, never had to anyways.
