Roger Federer: Serve Part 2

Now let’s look at the toss, body turn and leg action. In the first article on Roger Federer’s serve we looked at his starting stance, his wind up, his racket drop, and the path of the racket upward to the ball. We concluded that in many aspects his serve was a better model than more exotic motions we’ve examined in the past, for example, Andy Roddick and Pete Sampras. (Click Here.) Let’s keep going now and see what the high speed footage shows us about some of the other key aspects in his motion. In this second article, we’ll take a look at Roger’s tossing motion, how he positions the ball at contact, and his speed/spin combinations. Then we’ll look at his torso rotation, his leg action and his followthrough. Again, the high speed video shows that on these elements Federer is a beautiful technical model for most severs. Toss and Ball Position One of the components that gives any serve its particular look and feel is the shape and timing of the tossing motion. Roger’s toss is actually beautiful to watch. It’s minimalistic and fluid. It creates a rhythm that carries over into the rest of his serve. Federer’s…