The Serve: Where Are We Now?
Part 1

John Yandell

So as we start our 18th year it's an excellent time to summarize some more of the things we have learned from the study of the strokes of the best players in the world in super slow motion—and how that applies to you.

A couple of years ago I did this in a series called The Forehand: Where Are We Now? (Click Here.) Now in these articles let's do the same for the serve.

Variety

If we look at the variety of motions among the top players, they can appear bewildering. There are major differences in starting stances, movement of the feet, windups, backswings, toss heights, tossing motions, amount of leg drive, amount of body turn, landing positions, followthroughs.

Time after time over the years I have worked with players who noticed certain parts of the motion of top players and tried to copy those parts. Often what stuck out to them however was secondary or idiosyncratic and not core.

So are there core fundamentals across all the variations? I say yes. And these are critical for all players to develop.