Your Strokes:
Norman Ashbrooke: Serve
Analyzed by John Yandell
Recently I got some interesting video from Norman Ashbrooke, an elite senior player in Southern California, ranked in the top 5 in the men's 55 division. That's high level tennis. Norm wanted some advice about how he could improve his serve.
I've done a lot of serve analysis in Your Strokes and, almost always, there are two basic technical issues that hold back our subscribers. These are the drop of the racket and the position of the ball at contact.
When you look at Norm's motion, though, you don't see these problems which seem so universal in club and even in much tournament tennis. When I looked at Norm's motion, my thought was he should try to increase his leg action, and possibly also, his torso rotation.
Legs and body rotation are obviously important factors in racket speed, which in turn results in ball speed and spin. But a lot of times in these articles, we never get to the point of discussing how that might work because of more fundamental problems. So this article gives us a chance to address some more advanced issues that can have a huge effect on serving performance.
One qualifying point regarding Norm's motion though. I noted a knee brace in some of the footage he sent in. So I emailed him and asked him if I gave him some advice that might be more strenuous for his legs, did he think that might be a problem physically? He said no, go for it. So I will. But if you feel something in that knee Norm, take it easy ok?
Before we look at the legs, let's take the opportunity to point out the strong basic elements in Norm's motion , since that's pretty unusual in Your Strokes, and something we can all learn from.
For starters, Norm has a great racket drop. This starts with a fluid windup, what Doug Eng has called a classic serving rhythm. (Click Here.) This means that the racket arm is basically pointed at the back fence at the time of the release of the toss, similar to Roger Federer. In my opinion this is by far the simplest and most effective pattern and tends to help maximize the racket drop.
From the ball release, Norm's wind up continues to a great trophy position, and then to the drop itself, so that the racket falls along the right side of his torso. What makes Norm's drop above average is that it includes substantial backward rotation of his upper arm in the shoulder joint (what bio mechanists call external rotation). This makes the drop quite deep, equal in fact to that of many pro players.
Notice how the tip of the racket falls below the edge of the hips. As I have written many times, I believe every player can develop some version of this position with the racket aligned with the right side, but not everyone can get this natural depth.
The ability to develop a deeper drop is partially a matter of technique. But it also has to do with flexibility in the shoulder joint - something which can be increased through strengthening and flexibility training-- but is probably ultimately limited by genetic factors.
The level of backward arm rotation we see in Norm's motion means there will also be great forward rotation of the arm in the movement of the racket upwards to the ball. (Called internal arm rotation in biomechanics.) This is a major contributor to racket speed at contact.
First, watch how the elbow extends and how the upper arm and forearm rotate forward to the contact, and then how this continues well out into the followthrough. The more the arm can rotate backward, the more forward rotation you get automatically.
Ball Position
Which brings us to the other fundamental element I like in Norm's serve. This is the position of the ball from left to right at contact. We have seen that, when viewed from the rear, top servers make contact with the ball slightly to the left or inside of the racket hand. The means the tip of the racket is beveled or angled slightly backward toward the left at contact.
This ball position and racket alignment contributes to the topspin component. If the racket tip is straight up and down, the player hits mainly flat or with sidespin. We've seen this in our study of spin, (Click Here) as well as in the individual serves of players from Sampras to Federer to Roddick.
Many if not most of the players I end up analyzing make contact somewhat too far to the right and this reduces or eliminates their ability to hit topspin. But I think Norm has this factor in the right range.
So these two factors - the drop and the contact position - are what I look at before worrying too much about the legs or the body rotation. But since those are so solid, let's see how these other factors might contribute to Norm's motion.
As the video shows, Norm's use of the legs is pretty minimal. To understand this, there are four factors. First, Norm's lack of knee bend. Second, he barely gets into the air at contact and lands only slightly ahead of his starting position. Third, there is a limited kick back with the back leg.
The fourth factor is the stance. I like the way Norm starts with the shoulders pretty much perpendicular to the baseline - although maybe he could increase that slightly until they are completely square. As the motion starts, however, Norm does different things on different serves, using multiple variations of the pinpoint stance.
On some balls, he slides his back foot upward and around so that it ends up on the right side of his front foot. On others, he slides it more directly forward so that it is directly behind and parallel to the front foot. And other times he is in between.
A long while ago I wrote an article about what I thought the limitations of the pinpoint were (Click Here.) To a great extent I still feel the same way, although there may be positive aspects to certain versions of this stance that were not addressed in the article. (More on that in another article perhaps.)
But, having said that, I still believe that a basic platform stance is the easiest and most effective way to get more legs into the motion. And that is what I am suggesting to Norm. And there is a great pro model for this version of the platform, Roger Federer. We'll use that.
What do I mean by platform stance? In the platform, the rear foot stays in its original starting stance position as the player bends the knees. As the player swings upward to the ball and leaves the court, the rear foot naturally comes up off the court and into the air. But there is no independent sliding or forward movement prior to contact, and no intentional pushing off the court.
With a moderate platform like Federer, I believe it's relatively easy to develop a deeper knee bend, keep your balance throughout the motion, and explode upward into the ball with more energy. My experience is that everything improves if you get the platform coordinated with the more basic elements described above.
Norm's feet are already in good position to experiment with this, since he starts with both feet basically parallel to the baseline. So how much knee bend should he add?
To see how far down he can actually go, there is a simple test. From your starting stance you stand on the front foot, stay straight up and down at the waist, and lower yourself using your front quad.
However far down you can comfortably go, that is the amount of knee bend to try to incorporate in your actual motion. A lot of people bend over at the waist, trying to prove that can go down lower, but that isn't how it works. You want to have great, upright posture through the whole motion. So stay up, try it, and see how much bend you can add.
The goal is to find the amount of bend that feels natural. Then add it to the motion. To do this, keep your feet in position in the platform stance as you start the motion - don't slide the back foot--and just let your weight drop into the natural bend. It's almost like gravity does it.
Once you have the bend, there are two other factors. As you explode upward and make the hit, you need to kick the back leg back. This kick back needs to be substantial.
Top players vary the amount of the kick quite a bit, depending on the depth of the knee bend and also how far in front they throw the ball and make contact. But a good rule of thumb is to kick the leg back so the sole of your shoe faces the back fence, with your calf parallel or horizontal to the court.
The second point is where you land. A good target is to land with half your foot or more inside the baseline. The maximum is probably with your whole shoe inside the court and your heel touching the baseline. Top players actually vary this by a few inches at times, and some players like Roddick land much further in, but this is the range most players should work in, and is actually typical for Federer or even Pete Sampras.
As we can see in the video, Norm barely lands forward at all. This should start to increase naturally as he experiments with the bend and the kick back.
Once the platform stance is working, Norm could also experiment with one other factor, again using Roger as a model. This would be to try to increase the torso rotation slightly. This is actually a fairly easy adjustment that will happen naturally with a slight adjustment in the starting stance.
To do this, Norm just needs to offset the back foot slightly at the start of the motion. This means his right, rear foot moves to his left slightly - say until the toes are even with the arch of the front foot. Then he should turn the toes of the back foot slightly away from the baseline.
Top players who use the platform naturally turn their bodies away from the net on the line of the stance. So, usually, making this slight change results in the shoulders turning away from the baseline during the wind up.
Now of course they will rotate forward in swinging motion to the ball. If the stance is right all this tends to happen naturally, but it's good to check it with a video camera. Basically if you draw a line across the toes and another across the shoulders, the two lines should be parallel at the point at which the player is turned farthest away.
So there you have it. A few simple changes and Norm will be serving like Roger Federer, or a little bit more like him we hope. The key is to work on these factors sequentially. Get a feel for the knee bend. Make sure the back foot is staying put.
Practice the kick back. See where you are landing. When you are comfortable, and only then, experiment with the changes in the stance. Notice if your body is naturally rotating onto the line of the feet.
One other point. Most players find that if they deepen the knee bend and/or increase the torso rotation they need a little more time, and this means a slightly higher toss. If you incorporate these elements and feel a little rushed, adjust the toss height upward to give yourself more time until the rhythm feels smooth and natural.
Improving these factors should make a difference you can really feel and hear in the way the ball comes off the racket. And probably your opponent's will notice as well. Maybe Norm will send in some video and we'll find out if that proved true for him.
