Your Strokes:
Sai Serve

One of the greatest things about Tennisplayer is hearing from subscribers who are crazy in love with tennis. Especially if they are new to the game like Sai.

When he sent me his serve video he wrote: "I am 37 years old and started playing two years ago. I am a passionate tennis player and when I am not playing, I am watching."

I know that feeling of enthusiasm, don't you? For him the game is full of new wonder, and the potential to improve seems unlimited. I remember that feeling too—being on fire with excitement when I was developing my technical game.

So let's see if we can't give Sai something to inspire him and take his serve to a new level. I think we can.

One of the things that always fascinates me is what players think is going on in their strokes--compared to what is. Sai wrote that he never "jumps" and that he wants to "jump" to add pace. He also wrote that he prefers the platform stance.

How does that match with the reality of how the serve works and with his video? It's serendipitous that his video came in when it did, because in his motion we can see several important technical issues that have been the subject of recent Tennisplayer analysis.

See for example Ben Kibler's work on the role of the legs. (Click Here.) Or Chas Stumpfel's article on the role of the rotation of the arm in the shoulder joint, just to name a few. (Click Here.)

Not New—For Tennisplayer

It's not new information to Tennisplayer subscribers that players don't jump. Remember, Pete Sampras could dunk a basketball—and he got off the ground on his serve a few inches. He and other top players are not trying to jump.

The leg action on the serve is a natural uncoiling that happens in the course of the motion prior to the swing up to the ball.

So what happens to Sai? He starts with his feet in what could end up being a platform stance. It even looks like it could still be a platform at the knee bend, but then all of a sudden that back foot swings up and forward and around.

The front foot never comes off the ground! He looks almost exactly like Jack Kramer! But the difference is in Kramer's day the rule said you had to keep one foot on the ground!

In addition to the step (or maybe as a function of it) he overrotates substantially, with his shoulders parallel to the net at contact, versus a closed angle of 30 degrees or more for good servers.

So how is Sai going to fix all that? There is a chicken and egg situation here. What problem is causing what problem?

But in my opinion the place to start is with that horrific back foot step. He is going to have to develop the feeling for the front foot hop and the kick back—and to do this he is going to have to develop it first without the ball. (To read the detailed discussion of how the legs work in my teaching series, Click Here.)

What that means is learning to coil with his back foot staying back in his original starting stance. From there he needs to hop forward on the front foot, landing with the heel inside the baseline.

At the same time the back foot needs to kick directly back shoe the sole of the back shoe is facing directly at the back fence. All this without the ball. Like 50 times or how many ever til it feels natural. For days.

Then he has to do the hop with the ball, whether he hits a 90mph ace or misses the ball completely. To do this he should visualize the front foot leaving the court and landing inside the baseline.

Or another option. He can try a famous Robert Lansdorp drill. Lay a racket in front of the baseline with the shaft parallel to the baseline and make sure you land on the other side of it with your front foot—without touching it with your back.

Toss Versus Contact Point

Which brings us to his toss. We can't see the actual ball in his video but it's apparent the contact is too far in front. As video of top players shows time and time again, the contact point (from the side view) should be in line with the front edge of the face.

In fact Sai's step with the right foot and over rotation may be a compensation to try to reach the ball. Probably he needs to adjust his toss to pull the ball back in closer to the baseline and his body.

But if he really masters the footwork pattern there is a good chance this might just happen. Some players adjust the toss naturally, others have to work on it.

In any case the toss into the court doesn't mean the contact is far in front of the body. Instead the body catches up with the ball—and the relationship between the position of the contact point and the position of the body is critical and a core commonality.

In any case he should film his contact from the side. This angle shows the contact point in relation to the plane of the body.

As part of this work Sai should add the multiple hop version of the landing and kick back— what I call the "hoppity hop." It worked for a national champion like Jeff Greenwald (Click Here), I've seen it be transformative at all levels, and I am certain it will work for Sai.

The basic idea is that you keep hopping until you can catch your balance on the front foot with the back foot still pointing back. If you can't, it means that either that back foot is still swinging around, or that you are landing way off balance. The hoppity hop is the natural corrective to both!

How Many Times?

Which bring us to another central issue in his motion. Long time subscribers probably already know what it is: the rotation of the serving arm.

You can see that in the extension of the motion, Sai's racket is as flat as a pancake. He may even be a victim of that seemingly universal and pernicious advice to snap the wrist forward!

We've been fighting that battle for over a decade here on Tennisplayer—and I guess we will be fighting for the next decade—or forever—one player at a time, if that's what it takes!

As we've seen many times the solution is to model the full rotation turning the hand from left to right until the racket is on edge. Then to visualize the position and project this image into space with your mind's eye, then cover it with the actual swing.

We saw how that works in my work with Ingrid Neel in Miami just about a year ago—and that there can be an immediate jump of multiple mph. The methodology is all there in that article. (Click Here.)

And this is one element that is easy for most players to develop. It's simply the continuation of the rotation that is taking the racket up to the ball--and emphasizing it's continuation into the extension of the swing maximizes the effect.

Not Enough Yet

Ok is that not enough? Let's add one additional point—rhythm and relaxation. Notice Sai is stiff legged at the start of the swing. There is a small, almost imperceptible rocking back and forth as his motion begins.

That needs to change. He should relax his legs, and let them flex. The rock back and forth should be slower, longer and deeper. As some of our great coaches in the Forum have pointed this is a key to the feeling and timing of the entire motion.

As with so many other technical parts of the game, who could be a better model than Roger? Start with the weight leaning forward, rock back, then drop the weight on both feet.

This is the way to create the platform stance Sai says he prefers. Hey, the serve is complex—or at least there are a lot of variables.

But you have to know what they are before you can master them. Hopefully, this offers Sai an exciting path toward that goal. Hopefully he will let us know!