Tennis serve has been a focus of mine for several years now.
I’ve made it a huge focus to get better in my tennis serve and help my students to improve their serves as well. I’ve learned a ton along the way, and just when I think I’m getting pretty good, reading and watching other tennis coaching stuff made me realize how much I have left to learn.
List Of Things That Will Help You To Improve Tennis Serve.
Regardless, here’s a collection of things I’ve been thinking about with regards to the tennis serve.
Enjoy!
1.If you’re using the eastern grip to serve, then it is time to change. You won’t progress much with this grip. Continental grip is the way to go.
2. It feels weird to use the continental grip at first, but you will get used to it very soon.
3. Toss the ball in a relaxed Lift the ball up with a straight arm. Keep it simple.
4. Stand sideways while you are preparing to serve. Your tossing shoulder should be pointing to your target.
5. You should stay sideways-on at the contact point. Many players turn too early towards the net when they make contact with the ball.
6. Legs are crucial if you want to generate more power on the tennis serve. Load the energy by bending your knees before launching up to hit the ball.
7. If you are loading the energy with your legs to hit the ball correctly, you should land with the front leg. Do a quick check on your own serve. Are you landing on the front leg or back leg?
8. Do you let the racket drop, before contacting the ball? This is the crucial part, if you want to serve with good speed. Imagine throwing your racket onto the ball.
9. Visualize you are brushing the ball up. If you think serving is actually slamming the ball towards your opponent’s court, you are going to hit the ball into the net. Remember there is a net in front of you. You need to brush the ball up to clear the net first.
10. Practice serving without targets initially, so that you do not try to ‘control’ the serve. Get the rhythm right. Control makes you tense.
11. There should not be any big change in swing speed between first and second serve. Accelerate your swing speed on the second serve. Hit with more spin instead.
12. Different players have their own style of serving. They may look different but they all end up with the same trophy position. This is the stage where you load your energy before hitting the ball.
13. When I was learning how to serve, I was just practicing and practicing without guidance from a coach. I was enlightened by the photo of Pete Sampras’s trophy position. That was a classic picture of the trophy pose. Somehow my serves improved when I visualized the trophy pose in my head.
14. Practice serving baskets of balls if you want to become a great server. There is no short cut. Most importantly, practice the correct techniques.
15. Acknowledge that double faulting happens all the time. Even the top pros commit many double faults in a match. Don’t be surprised when you see Maria Sharapova double faulting 10 times in a match. Trust your technique.
The thoughts are pretty broad and wide ranging. However, they are pretty focused on helping you to improve your tennis serve.
What about you? Anything new or novel you’re learning with regard to developing your serve?
Or maybe something you’re just flat-out doing better these days?
If so, I’d love to know. Leave a comment below so we can continue the discussion!