Your Strokes:
Ching Lee: Serve

Analyzed by Jeff Counts

This month in Your Strokes we take a look at the serve of Ching Lee. Ching is a 4.0 level player, looking to take his game to the next level. When I first saw him play, I quickly realized how much potential this player had. With a natural athleticism and great flexibility, Ching already had pieces of a 4.5 level game. But like many athletic players stuck at the 4.0 level, technical deficiencies were holding back his potential.

I video taped all of Ching's shots, but the serve was the stroke that he really wanted to juice up. He told me he wasn't able to hit a hard first serve, so players could attack his serve and quickly put him on the defensive. He also wanted to be able to get a few "free points" a match to give him that edge that other players had over him.

On the court I took a look at his serve, and saw that he was generating a lot of spin on his serve, and had a nice motion with a deep racket drop, but he wasn't able to flatten out the ball at all.

It is very common for players to be limited to one type of serve. I frequently discover students that can hit a flat serve, but can't get topspin or kick. And equally common are players like Ching that can get good spin, but can't flatten it out. Through video we can see the mechanics that limit players to one type of serve, which usually boils down to the racket drop and the racket's path into into contact.

But before we get to Ching's drop and his racket's path into the ball, let's look at what I see as timing errors in his initial motion - errors that can affect everything else that follows.

Good servers always have two key components to their toss and racket take back. First, they extend their tossing arm straight up to the sky and hold it there for a few moments. Second, the serving arm is slow and controlled as it lifts upward and usually pauses when the racket points straight up to the sky. Together, the extended tossing arm and the racket pointing up to the sky give us the "trophy position", which sets up a very natural arm/racket drop followed by a throwing motion upward.

If we look at Ching compared to Baghdadis and Lubicic, we can clearly see how Ching's tossing arm never fully extends like the pro model. We also see how he never gets in the "trophy" position where the tossing arm and hitting arm point up to the sky together. A proper throwing motion upward is difficult if you move right through the trophy position.

Ching's rapid takeback and lack of a proper pause not only hurt the natural rhythm of his serve, but also lead to his hiting arm "escaping" his body far out to the left. This leads to a racket drop that runs straight down to the left of his body. In order to hit a flat serve, you have to let the racket arm fall along the RIGHT side of the body, but Ching's arm is so far to the left that he will not be able to achieve the proper drop position..

If you compare Ching's full drop position to the pro drop position, you can see how the path upward into the ball will be very different. Ching is forced to come upward into the ball at an angle, because he is so far to the left of his body. Baghdatis and Lubicic, with their rackets dropping on the right side of their bodies, can extend the hitting arm upward and prontate into the ball at a more direct angle, giving them the flat bomb.

I typically look at four pieces of every serve I study. I look at the "trophy" position with the tossing arm and racket both extended skyward. I look at the the rhythm of the serve, where there should be some pause or slowness in the trophy position. I look at the racket drop (which is only visible through video analysis), and I look at pronation into contact. In Ching's case, his rhythm is off with his initial motion, and his racket drop position is too far to the left. But I see huge potential with his serve. First of all, he gets a nice, deep racket drop. Second, he gets a nice knee bend and upper body coil. You can really see him launch upward into the ball with his legs and a great uncoiling of the shoulders upward. Third, he gets a very nice pronation motion. You can see how his arm has rotated outward as it drops down, with the racket driving downward.

With the racket drop, pronation, and natural body mechanics in place, Ching should be able to alter his rhythm and adjust his drop position, which will allow him to flatten out his serve. Adding the flat serve to his game will take him a big step forward toward the 4.5 level he is determined to achieve.