Head Position in Pro Tennis
The Serve
John Yandell
We've looked at the controversy over the variety of head positions at contact on the forehand (Click Here) and the backhands (Click Here). Now let's look at head position at contact on the serve.
Surely that is not as varied—and controversial. Right?
The commonly held view is that the server should keep his head up looking at the ball at contact. And our amazing high frame rate video allow us to test this empirically.
10 Players
I thought this article would be more straightforward, maybe even boring. But I decided to look at serve video of 10 great servers, past and present. I was very surprised though what the video actually showed.
| The 10 players | |
|---|---|
| Pete Sampras | Alexander Zverev |
| Roger Federer | Daniil Medvedev |
| Andy Roddick | Jannick Sinner |
| Milos Raonic | Stefano Tsitsipas |
| John Isner | Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard |
I knew from my previous study of Roddick's motion that he was at least one exception to the head up look at the ball mantra. With him it was pretty obvious because his head appeared to be looking directly ahead at contact.
But I thought that was the exception. And so I proceeded with the other players.
Pete
I figured I would start with Pete, still maybe the greatest server ever, known for power, heavy spin, and great accuracy. And I was not surprised to find that he in fact appeared to be looking directly at the ball at contact.
I found two other players who also appeared to be looking directly at the ball: Stefano Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev.
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Alcaraz
OK but what about the rest? I looked at Alcaraz next. Watching the video without the freeze frames, I initially thought he was looking directly at the ball. But you know what? Not quite. Carlos moved enough to look directly across the court in the very last split second.
So that was 3 of 10 looking at the ball or very close. At this point I thought that, except for Roddick, that this would be the range.
The Rest
What about the others? John Isner, Milos Raonic and our new serving star Gio (Click Here) All had their eyes facing the other side of the court at contact.
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Federer
Wait though what about Federer? I saved him for last. I initially thought he'd be like Pete. Nope. His face and head may not turn quite as much, but he definitely isn't looking at the contact either.
So What does that all mean. Anything? I am pondering. All the players look at the ball as it rises on the toss. But after that does it really matter where the head faces at contact.
Would love to get input from others in the Forum.
