The Tennis Serve

The Tennis Serve
Parts
1. Feet Position
2. Ball Bounce
3. Toss
4. Leg Drive
5. Body Coiling and Uncoiling Rotations
6. Trophy Pose
7. Racquet Drop
8. Racquet Bounce
9. Racquet Throw
10. Contact Point (racquet and arm angles)
11. Directions
12. Follow Through
13. Serve Rhythm
14. Feet Landing
Green Highlight = Ready

No Highlight = Still working on it
Other Highlights = Details in the section
1. FEET POSITION
See all in Flash Archive.
The position of the feet help
It is personal, and must be comfortable to the player.
Roger opts for disguise rather than power.

So he points both feet to the same direction.
From the Add Side,
Both feet parallel to the baseline.
Rafa does the classic.

From a righty Rafa perspective in the Add Side,
Front foot 45 to the baseline, or pointing to the inner net post.
Back foot parallel to the baseline.
Delpo does power rather than disguise.

So he places both in the same direction of the front foot.
From the Add Side,
That is about 45 to the baseline.
Andy Murry
Fabio Fogna
2. BALL BOUNCE
Bounce the ball for 3 to 5 times.
Relax.
Tell yourself, forget about all other things.
And just remind the type of serve, the checkpoints of the motion, and the target.
3. JA – THE BALL TOSS

Starts from the hips, Roger style.
Ball toss direction:

 In the Add side is 45 degrees.
 In the Deuce side is the equivalent, 45 from the baseline.
 Check this in Flash drawing.
Ball Toss Release Point:

Ball release is done mostly at Eyes Level.
Between chin and hair. Slighty varying between those two reference points, depending on
the desired serve.
Watching from behind the player, towards the serving box as the horizon, visualize a
clock. And toss the ball to it arrives to make contact on, the following “hours” for:
Type of Serve Release Point Clock reference Contact Point

Flat Nose and Eyes 1 or 2 o’clock
Slice Chin 1 or 2 o’clock
Kick Eyes 11 or 12 o’clock
Topspin Forehead 11 or 12 o’clock
Try these out. And find your own variances.
Clay Ballard – Trophy Pose, and Racquet Loading

Don’t load the wrist and racquet on the trophy pose.
Reach the Trophy Pose.
Then jump up first.
And then the wrist will load naturally as you jump up.
Before contact and during contact:

feet, legs, and hips, stay put rotation wise
they only do the “U” movement
In other words, they just load down and back, and then move forwards and up
After contact:
Torso and shoulders rotate depending on the type of serve hit
Tomaz Mencinger – His mechanics from the Trophy Pose, to the Racquet Drop,
and Racquet Throw, to the Contact Point
Clay Ballard – His mechanics from the Trophy Pose, to the Racquet Drop,
 Trophy Pose
 Shallow racquet drop
 Little or none biceps contraction
 Relys more on “forearm lag”, in other words, external shoulder rotation.
 Just like a slingshot effect on a baseball pitch throw.
JA – My chosen mechanics from the Trophy Pose, to the Racquet Drop,

 Arm starts in “Side L Position”
o Shoulder Abduction to 90
o External Rotation to 90
 Then Biceps naturally flexes to a deep racquet drop
 Racquet Drop reaches its deepest point and bounces upwards with Triceps Extension
 Horizontal Rotation starts
 Horizontal Flexion starts
 Triceps Extension ends at the same time the shoulder Horizontal Flexion reaches the
Scapular Plane, and Elevated 45
___ = these happen at the same time.
Clay Ballard/JA – Body Coiling and Uncoiling Rotations
The Body initiates pointing in a parallel direction in relation to the baseline.

In other words, the Body, made of the hips, torso, and shoulders, points to the side fence, or
towards the direction the toes are pointing.
Ordered from least to most amount of Rotation:
Easy Simple version

Body pointing towards the same direction of the front foot. And stays the for the
whole mechanics for the most part.
Mid Level version

Body pointing towards the mid direction between the two feet. Some coiling and
uncoiling rotation is applied.
Advanced version
BoMore Body coiling towards the same direction the rear foot is pointing or even
past that, towards the back fence. The more
Sampras coiled, loaded, rotated past 45 to the back fence. Around 70.
JA NOTES: Try doing these options, both in slow and fast manner,
a) Rotate fast from the shoulders
b) hips, then shoulders
c) hips, then torso, then shoulders
At the end of the Coiling Rotation, you reach also the Trophy Pose position.
From there the Uncoiling Rotation motion and Racquet Drop and Racquet Throw begin.
JA - Throwing motion
It is a motion that comes from the Shoulder and the Arm.
The target is the opponent’s service box.
So at the contact point, the body will be facing the opponent’s service box.
That is our true front, our true direction.
At the end of the motion, these will be the position reached:
Side Raise Wise (Shoulder Abduction wise)

The arm is raised 45 past the arm.
Have the hitting arm pointing to the side of the body, then raise the arm 45 more.
Front Raise Wise (Shoulder Flexion wise)

Have the hitting arm in front of the body, then raise the arm 45 more.
Fly wise (Horizontal Extension wise)

The arm is now
Arm raised at 90+45,

The arm in now placed in “Scapular Plane”.
and horizontally flexed to 45.
10. Contact Point (racquet and arm angles)
Fabio Fogna
Smashes at least
Racquet vertical at 90
Arm slanted.
Non hitting arm: Tucks arm the straightens it backwards.
JA - Clay Ballard - Serve Drill

Shadow Serves.
Breaking down the Serve into small pieces

This part is not about building the rhythm, but rather about understanding each small part.
Toss and Back Swing

Trophy Pose
Racquet Drop
Shoulder Rotation and Tilt + Extending the Arm + Upswing
(Racquet reaches L position)
During the Upswing, and prior to contact, you go to the “Racquet reaches L position”, the
racquet head is lagging behind, and is what Tomaz refers to as going to the ball and contact
point on edge, then changing my mind and pronating at the last minute.
Tomaz say Contact will happen perfectly and naturally. And works perfectly.
Thumb ends point the ground as the elbow bends and we fold the racquet to our non
dominant side.
1. First go super slow, stopping through each checkpoint for 3 secs.

2. Making sure you go through
3. Feel how each part of the body slows down as the next part gains more speed
4.
5. Then do the whole motion, fluidly, at 25%. (100 reps) this one
6. Then do the whole motion, fluidly, at 50%. (100 reps)
7. Then again, the whole motion, fluidly, at 100%. (100 reps)
JA – Trophy Pose to Racquet Drop

Biceps Contraction? Or External Shoulder Rotation?
Ivo Karlovic does both. 50% of each.
He contracts his biceps to do a 45 with his forearm.
And at the same time, he externally rotates his shoulder to some 30
Swingweight is a crucial factor.
The more Swingweight, the more weight on the hoop there is. And the more you can use a
pendulum effect on your serve as well (just like in the ground strokes). And the racquet will
automatically will lag behind on the serve motion. You’ll pull the racquet with acceleration
and not muscling it towards your target. And the weight in the hoop will whip and plow the
ball. The heavier it is, the more effort it will require to muscle the ball, so instead you rely on
letting the racquet naturally do the lagging, snapping, and “plow whip” (JA).
The less Swingweight, the more easily you force the racquet into movement. Like muscle
the ball with less effort. But the he more you’ll have to consciously move the racquet, pull
the racquet from the handle. The more you have to “put” the racquet head behind instead
of letting it happen automatically, naturally.
The less Swingweight, the more relaxed your muscles have to be to allow Lag, and to feel
less shock upon contact.
Also:
More Swingweight, more lag.
Less Swingweight, less lag.
Some guy on the TT Forum

Ivo Karlovic nearly completes his rotation by the time he starts his upswing, and is left with only
an arm swing up to the ball. If his rotation and upswing were more togther, his serve would be
beyond ridiculous.
JA - Leg Drive
Front Leg pushes upwards
Rear Leg pushes 50/50 upwards and forwards
Mechanics
Flat Serve, and Slice Serve

 First turn the Shoulders
 Then hit the ball
 Then follow through
Kick Serve, and Topspin Serve

 First hit the ball (with shoulders staying sideways)
 Then follow through
 Then turn the shoulders
In reality, at the point of contact, the Flat Serve will have the body, torso, facing forward to
the net.
While on the Topspin Serve, at the point of contact the body will be more sideways, be it
completely or diagonally (between the side fence and the net in front of the player).
Try both orientations
And also try the two different feels of the kinetic chains.
a) By slowing down the forward shoulder/body turn
b) By splitting into steps
c) Delaying the shoulder turn
Flat
Most rotation
A some degrees past 45, less than 90, towards the court.
Slice
Mid point rotation
Torso reaches 45 towards the court.
Kick
Less than midpoint rotation
Shoulders rotate less than 45 towards the court.
Topspin
Least-to-none rotation
Tómaz - Serve Rhythm

Serve Rhythm is not 2-1-3, but rather 2-Neutral-3.
LANDING
Land on the front foot first.
Then the rear rear foot passes to the front with a step forward.
To recovery to the baseline, or to the net (serve & volley).

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The Tennis Serve

Green Highlight = Ready

Roger opts for disguise rather than power.

Rafa does the classic.

Delpo does power rather than disguise.

3. JA – THE BALL TOSS

Ball toss direction:

Ball Toss Release Point:

Type of Serve Release Point Clock reference Contact Point

Try these out. And find your own variances.

Clay Ballard – Trophy Pose, and Racquet Loading

Before contact and during contact:

JA – My chosen mechanics from the Trophy Pose, to the Racquet Drop,

___ = these happen at the same time.

Clay Ballard/JA – Body Coiling and Uncoiling Rotations

The Body initiates pointing in a parallel direction in relation to the baseline.

Ordered from least to most amount of Rotation:

Easy Simple version

Mid Level version

At the end of the motion, these will be the position reached:

Side Raise Wise (Shoulder Abduction wise)

Front Raise Wise (Shoulder Flexion wise)

Fly wise (Horizontal Extension wise)

Arm raised at 90+45,

JA - Clay Ballard - Serve Drill

Breaking down the Serve into small pieces

Toss and Back Swing

1. First go super slow, stopping through each checkpoint for 3 secs.

JA – Trophy Pose to Racquet Drop

Swingweight is a crucial factor.

Some guy on the TT Forum

Flat Serve, and Slice Serve

Kick Serve, and Topspin Serve

Try both orientations

Tómaz - Serve Rhythm

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