Tour Strokes: Andrei Rublev Serve

[arturohernandez]

As a right handed server transitioning to a platform from a pinpoint stance, I immediately noticed pain relief in my left knee, anecdotally confirming for me, John’s analysis of the contribution of the rear leg in the platform stance.

I transitioned many years ago and it took a long time to get the new feeling. The problem was that I could not hit a kick serve with a pinpoint. A pro switched me to platform and this created a whole host of problems in my serve.

I think a transition is possible but it would require lifting the front foot so that there is no way to move the weight forward. Over time it would be possible to learn to hit with a platform as a player learned to move from back to front without an actual step.

Finally, having conquered the platform I was able to hit a better kick serve and a more reliable and replicable first serve.

But it took a long time...

[doctorhl]

As a right handed server transitioning to a platform from a pinpoint stance, I immediately noticed pain relief in my left knee, anecdotally confirming for me, John’s analysis of the contribution of the rear leg in the platform stance.

[doctorhl]

Very informative article on the ways in which the serve can go wrong even at the highest levels. Federer as a platform model is interesting. I noticed a while back that he will take a short step forward when he warms up his serve. Then I noticed that it is part of his serve in general. He kind of lifts his front foot during his windup. It is really subtle but you can see it in this picture that I took of the high speed footage.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...33827-0001.mov

So at some point in Fed's serve development he must have learned to move back and I wonder if this was an exercise to get him to do that. It's kind of like a footprint of how he learned the serve. This is opposite of what a pinpoint does which is to move forward. Again, Fed is a great model but these little quirks show why a serve like Rublev's is built around a shaky concept. It's also why the pinpoint with the added motion is harder to learn correctly. Again, some people do it just right but in general it is more difficult and leads to more problems.

In Rublev's case, the idea that we have to move forward into the ball appears too early and robs him of power.

Maybe an exercise like Fed (where he lifts his front foot) would help him improve.

Great video. Having been a pinpointer for years, that Federer step seems to make it easier, for me at least, to at least attempt a transition to a platform. I wonder how many old schoolers in this forum were able to successfully transition from pinpoint to platform?? It certainly requires different muscle development that makes it problematic for the 60+ group who were raised mostly in pinpoint.

[arturohernandez]

Very informative article on the ways in which the serve can go wrong even at the highest levels. Federer as a platform model is interesting. I noticed a while back that he will take a short step forward when he warms up his serve. Then I noticed that it is part of his serve in general. He kind of lifts his front foot during his windup. It is really subtle but you can see it in this picture that I took of the high speed footage.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...33827-0001.mov

So at some point in Fed's serve development he must have learned to move back and I wonder if this was an exercise to get him to do that. It's kind of like a footprint of how he learned the serve. This is opposite of what a pinpoint does which is to move forward. Again, Fed is a great model but these little quirks show why a serve like Rublev's is built around a shaky concept. It's also why the pinpoint with the added motion is harder to learn correctly. Again, some people do it just right but in general it is more difficult and leads to more problems.

In Rublev's case, the idea that we have to move forward into the ball appears too early and robs him of power.

Maybe an exercise like Fed (where he lifts his front foot) would help him improve.

[johnyandell]

Would love your thoughts on my article, "Tour Strokes: Andrei Rublev Serve"