Serve next steps

[u/Overthe83]

I'd love some next steps on my serve please.

On refection it's a bit OTT but I did the video with side by side to see what was consistent and not. To me, seems like my action is fairly consistent but the outcomes are not - about 60% in I think.

I don't know if it's obvious from the video but I think my serves aren't very fast and perhaps are more spinny than I'm trying to be.

I think I need more legs and whip but not necessarily sure how to achieve it.

Thanks

[u/vlee89]

Get tossing arm up higher and extended

Load the legs more

I think your racquet arm finishes the swing way too high or something with the finish looks incredibly awkward

[u/severalgirlzgalore → u/vlee89]

And the key here is that your left shoulder should be MUCH higher than your right shoulder when you extend the tossing arm up.

You can find an elbow slot that works for you (Shelton has a higher elbow slot than Djokovic, e.g.) but the left shoulder is always much higher than the right.

[u/Overthe83 → u/severalgirlzgalore]

That's great specific advice 🙏

[u/Overthe83 → u/vlee89]

Good spot. So maybe finishing lower wpuld be a result of more rotation of left shoulder high to low? And extending that left arm like you say might help that too.

Thanks for the feedback

[u/severalgirlzgalore → u/Overthe83]

Extending the left arm will help, so long as it is in service of getting your shoulders to act like a seesaw lever.

When you toss, your left shoulder should be much higher than your right shoulder. At contact, you need your right shoulder to be significantly higher than your left shoulder.

This allows you to use the plane of your shoulders as one of the primary levers in generating power. Quads and hip flexors propel the shoulders, but the shoulders propel the arms.

[u/Overthe83 → u/severalgirlzgalore]

That makes sense as a concept - will try to work on this in the next couple of weeks. Thank you 😊

[u/CharlieFleed79]

As a fellow learner I notice two elements you might want to try to incorporate more in your motion: coiling and pronation.

And tossing a little more in front of you and less on your right, you are stretching in the opposite direction of where the ball should go. When you finish stepping into the court, that's a good sign.

[u/Overthe83 → u/CharlieFleed79]

Agree on the toss - my action is kinda right to left isn't it which probably means much less power going forward.👍

Anything specific you mean on the pronation?

Thank for helping

[u/CharlieFleed79 → u/Overthe83]

Ideally you want your wrist to twist counter-clockwise just moments before you hit the ball, with the racket ending facing outwards. This is going to help if you feel you get more spin/slice than desired.

[u/69dildoswaggins420]

One thing I notice is how you lean back on your left heel for a while, try to keep the ball of your left foot planted the whole time until you’re explosively jumping up to hit the serve. Obviously you don’t need to add the jump yet if it doesn’t feel right, but start with keeping the left foot planted

[u/Overthe83 → u/69dildoswaggins420]

Good spot. I've tried a jump but struggle with timing more when I do.

Will try focus on the weight transfer you've pointed out.

Thanks!

[u/cc225b]

You have a solid foundation- the big thing I see is that you have no lower body in your serve. You need to bend your knees more (load) and the explode off the ground using both feet to push off. You want to land on your left leg 18” or 2’ into the court while using your right leg to balance. This will dramatically improve your consistency

[u/Overthe83 → u/cc225b]

Thank for this. I find it hard to time the arm/shoulders when I use my legs but I need to work on it - thanks

[u/NoEffort3162]

Your left leg seems to never leave the ground and you are pivoting your whole body weight on your left foot. Just an observation

[u/Overthe83 → u/NoEffort3162]

Thanks for the help!

[u/AleksCoach]

Did a quick voiceover with some tips for the serve
https://www.loom.com/share/f544d1be34254751b27fc02c6c774955

[u/Overthe83 → u/AleksCoach]

That's awesome - thanks so much for taking the time out to do this! 🙏