The tennis twist serve originates from the type of spin used on the tennis serve. Once the serve bounces in the opposite service box, the spin causes the ball to take a “twisting effect” hence the name “tennis twist serve.”

This requires learning to properly place the ball, followed by putting power into the shot, and, finally, putting spin on the ball. There are various types of spin that can be used.

The Different Spins for the Tennis Twist Serve

The main ones are topspin and underspin. All spin serves have either one or the other. The third kind of spin is side spin and this is applied along with either topspin or underspin. In actuality, there is no such thing as a serve that has only pure underspin.

All slice serves also have sidespin. There are, however, topspin serves that have only a small degree of sidespin, and these are usually what are referred to as the kick serve.

The tennis twist serve is a variation of the kick serve that combines topspin with a more significant amount of sidespin. Applying any specific type spin onto a serve may be one of the more complicated things that some players need to learn. But the rewards for learning to do so are great.

Using The Tennis Twist Serve At the Pro Level

There are players who have a natural tendency to slice their serves, while others find it a lot easier to put topspin on theirs. Even at the professional level, there are players who know how to hit one kind of serve but are not as good at hitting the other.

This is more evident on the women’s tour. Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport are two of the strongest servers in the history of women’s tennis, having great speed and accuracy with their flat serves. When hitting second serves or spin serves, they both prefer to hit slice serves. It’s not that they cannot or do not know how to hit topspin serves but they are just not as proficient doing so.

On the other hand, Australia’s Samantha Stosur serves almost exclusively with topspin. She can produce a very heavy and high kicking serve but her lack of variety probably cost herat the 2009 French Open where she lost in the final to the cunning Francesca Schiavone.

One of the reasons why Serena Williams is widely considered to be the best server ever in women’s tennis is her ability to hit all kinds of serves with almost equal aptitude.

Tennis Twist Serve for the Serve and Volley Game

The tennis twist serve used to be a commonly used shot for serve and volley players especially on fast hard courts. This is because the ball doesn’t travel as fast through the air so the server had more time to rush forward and get closer to the net.

When the ball bounces, it kicks up high and to the left side, which is the backhand side for a right handed receiver. This was usually the weaker side or the side less adept at handling high balls. It then became that much tougher for the receiver to hit a quality return that could put the server in trouble. As the game evolved, more players started returning with greater aggression.

Today’s players are also bigger and stronger so they have fewer problems handling high bouncing serves. Hard courts are also a little slower than before making it even more difficult for the net rusher to put the baseliner under pressure.

Tennis Twist Serve: Advantages

Nevertheless, the tennis twist serve is a shot that any player should desire to learn, if only to add variety. The basic principles of hitting the serve remain applicable for the twist serve as they are all the same for any kind of serve. The following is a review of these principles. At the beginning, you have to have the proper stance.

This is followed by the backswing when you toss the ball up to the right place, take your racket back while turning and tilting your shoulders, coil your torso, bend your knees and look straight up to the ball.

Tennis Twist Serve: Backswing

After this backswing, you get ready to hit by taking the racket behind the back, bending the elbow and cocking the wrist. The legs push down off the ground and help launch you up to the ball. The head remains fixed on the ball. The forward swing then commences. The body uncoils from the legs and hips to the torso and shoulders.

The elbow quickly extends and leads the forearm and wrist which at first remains cocked but then snaps mightily as it extends and makes contact with the ball. The forearm continues to pronate fully and the arm extends out forward into the direction of the ball before coming around to finish the follow through.

Meanwhile, during this whole time, the body has continued to uncoil until you are now facing forward again. The leading foot comes to land (this is the left foot for right handed players) followed by the other. Then finally, you recover by a split step and get immediately into the proper ready stance for the next shot.

Tennis Twist Serve: The Basics & The Grip

To learn the tennis twist serve, you must pay attention to certain details. There are some fine adjustments that enable one to hit this kind of serve. Every shot in tennis starts with a proper grip. Most players prefer to hit this serve using the eastern backhand grip.

Even players who would otherwise use a continental grip for their flat and sliced serves frequently switch to this grip. But it is still possible to hit it with a continental grip if your arm is loose and flexible.

Tennis Twist Serve: Toss

The next and most important thing you must know is where to toss the ball. On a flat serve, you toss the ball forward and a little to the right if you are right handed. A slice serve is hit off a toss that is similar but slightly further to the right, though it is possible to hit both serves off the same toss.

The kick and twist serves usually cannot be hit off a toss in front of the body. Rather, the toss should be above the head. If you do not hit the ball and let it bounce, you will see that it will do so behind you and to your left if you are right handed.

Because you are tossing to a different location, your body and your stroke will adjust accordingly. On all kinds of serves, you have to look at the ball directly and keep your head up. Since you are tossing above your head on a tennis twist serve, you will need to arch your back in addition to coiling your trunk. This facilitates your ability to look up and hit up onto the ball.

You then proceed to hit the ball. The toss has made it possible for you to brush up the back of the ball and across it from left to right. For less sidespin, you brush up more over the ball. For a true tennis twist serve, you brush more exaggeratedly across the back of the ball from left to right. Imagine that the ball is the face of a clock.

You will be brushing it from 8 o’clock to 2 o’clock, whereas for less sidespin, you brush more from 7 to 1. This all happens very quickly. Remember that at this point in the service motion, the racket head is moving at maximum speed.

Tennis Twist Serve: Follow through

The tennis twist serve also has a different follow through as a result of the toss and the wrist action at contact. The racket continues and finishes with the head pointing downward as the wrist completes its pronation. But the arm does not come around the body anymore. It stays on the same side, whereas on the flat and slice serve, the finish is on the opposite side of the hitting arm.

The tennis twist serve is quite useful as a second serve and also as a first serve to keep the returner guessing. If you keep hitting only a slice second serve, you will be too predictable. You can’t use a soft flat serve because many returners at the club level have the ability to aggressively return these serves. They do not have to deal with any disconcerting spin and unfamiliar bounces. The kick and twist serves can be used to throw them off. Anyone who owns a complete set of serveshas an advantage against any opponent.

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Steps to on how to execute the tennis topspin serve perfectly

Topspin Serve Stance

The player has to stand with his or her right foot (left foot for left-handed player) in the baseline making sure it is positioned parallel to the baseline. The left foot (right foot for left-handed player) of the player points towards the right net post if the player is right handed or left net post if the player is left-handed.

Grip

The continental grip is normally used when the player wants to execute a topspin serve. The continental grip, chopper grip or hammer grip designates similar tennis grip types. The Continental grip is a type of tennis grip that is frequently called chopper or hammer grip because the manner the player grips or holds the racket handle is the same as when you hold a an axe to chop a wood or hammer a nail. The continental grip is used in a tennis volley but in modern tennis, it is commonly used to execute the tennis topspin serve.

Wind-Up

The wind up for a topspin serve must be perfected in order to generate the proper rotation on the tennis ball. The player can choose to slide his right foot forward (left foot for left- handed player) to place it close to his left foot (right foot for left- handed player) or keep the feet back in a platform stance. A topspin serve requires a good knee bend in order to generate energy with a leg drive upwards with a strong force. The racket should be up high in a wind-up position. With the left hand (right hand for left-handed player) still up high after tossing the ball, the player should turn his left shoulder slightly so that his shoulder faces the back fence.

Upwards Swing

The swing to execute the topspin serve starts with the upward strike with the right elbow (left elbow for left-handed player) of the player in an upwards position but the racket is still down. Then the player’s legs straightened up exerting strong force so that the legs are lifted from the ground. Then the upper part of the player’s body uncoils and face the net. At this instance, the upper arm should be almost vertical and the elbow should be bent at 90 degrees. The wrist of the hand holding the racket is loosely laid making sure that the racket is angled at 90 degrees with the forearm. Then from this position, the racket has to drop down in straight manner to create racket head speed when the racket face hits the ball upwards.

Roger Federer is a good example of a professional player that utilizes the kick serve. Notice how in Roger Federer’s second serve, his racket brushes behind the back of the ball with the racket frame leading rather than the strings leading. The angle of attack is sharply in an upwards direction. It is as if Federer was going to hit the tennis ball with the frame, but the result is the racket actually brushes behind the ball violently producing the heavy topspin serve.

The next stage in the upward swing consists of a loose wrist holding the racket that should be angled at 90 degrees with the forearm. At this time, the body should begin to adjust by slightly bending forwards.

The last stage is when the racket head is about to hit the ball. In this instance, the player straightens his right elbow (left elbow for left-handed players) resulting in a vertical forearm position.

Point of contact

Once the right forearm is about to hit the ball, the player should hit the ball with the racket face slightly below the player’s full arm reach. This technique will create brushing effect to the ball. The player should also hit the ball when the ball is positioned directly overhead.

Ball Strike

To produce the topspin serve, the player should brush the ball perfectly to produce enough spin. One way to do this is to imagine you are hitting the ball from a 6:00 o’clock position and turning the ball into a 12:00 o’clock position. More topspin is also produced as you hit the ball at a lower height.

Elbow follow-through

The follow through for the tennis topspin serve consists of the player continuing to move after he hits the ball using a follow-through with a movement to the left side of his body (right for left-handed). In the end, the racket finishes on the left side of the player. Then he has to lean forward and land in the court with his right leg inside the court.

Additional things to consider in making your topspin tennis serve more effective.

Put power on your topspin serve

There is no particular strategy as to how to increase power in serving, but the basic information to remember is that serve power and racket speed on the topspin tennis serve are directly proportional. In order to increase your racket speed, you have to rotate you right shoulder (right handed), so as to position it just slightly on the inner side of the ball toss. Once you strengthened up from this position, you generate power thus increasing your racket speed. When you are hitting a tennis topspin serve, do not bend forwards with your waist as you swing.

Toss height

One question in the tennis topspin serve is how high should the ball toss be to generate the perfect topspin? The answer is the higher the better as long as the height is comfortable for you. Your body should be at full reach when you reach the contact point. The higher the contact (contact between the ball and the racket head) the higher is the impact.

Another consideration is your shoulders level, you should tilt your right shoulder (right handed) so that it is positioned at a lower angle than the left shoulder. This position will allow you to be able to generate the correct rotation by your two shoulders that originate from the trunk. This, in combination with a jump and leg drive will enable you to hit the ball at a higher distance providing you with a solid topspin serve.

Toss motion for the Topspin Tennis Serve

In the tennis topspin serve, the ball toss matters a lot. To execute the perfect ball toss, you have to avoid snapping the ball. You can simply toss the ball by releasing it from your open fingers after you have fully extended your left arm (right handed) above your head. You have to guide the ball toss rather than throw it. Make sure that you toss the ball at the perfect height that you are able to reach it with your racket comfortably.

Pronation

What is pronation in relation to the topspin tennis serve? Pronation is a special kind of arm movement used by professional tennis players that enables them to increase their racket speed hence generating very powerful topspin in the ball.

In the topspin serve, the player simply uses his wrist to generate racket acceleration. Pronation will naturally come out once you grip your racket with any of the recommended grip such as continental grip and of course with the perfect ball placement.

Do not be conscious in trying to execute the pronation by rotating your forearm and wrist because it be make it harder for you and cause stress on your muscles. Again, do it as naturally as you can.

Topspin Serve Accuracy

To be able to hit and execute a topspin tennis serve is not enough. You have to execute it perfectly and accurately. This mean you have to be able to hit the exact mark you want to hit. This will allow you to place the topspin serve accurately and gives your opponent hard time to return your serve (if he can!). But you have the option to aim for the ace if you can. Winning a match with all aces can be impossible but winning points with less work and hassles with aces is very good.

Make sure to practice your second serve with the correct topspin serve technique. This will boost your confidence in case you miss the first serve. A more accurate and safe second serve is ideal but the ability to put more speed on it will keep your opponent from taking advantage of your second serve.

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The tennis slice serve is hit with sidespin. The sidespin is accomplished by the brushing effect of the racket face into the ball. For right-handed servers, the racket face should strike the center part of the ball and brush the ball to the imaginary 3:00 o’clock position. For a left-handed server, the direction of the brushing motion is leftward.

The lack of topspin in this type of tennis serve gives a disadvantage to the server since the net clearance is very limited. This type of tennis serve is also a bit tricky and has a lower margin of error. The tennis slice serve must be perfectly executed to do it right. Because of these limitations, this tennis serve is only ideal for the first serve.

In addition, the tennis slice serve is best to use if your opponent has a weak forehand or when your opponent is standing far towards his backhand side. In both situations, you can use the slice serve to either hit an ace or force a weak return.

Adding Power on the Slice Serve

To add power on the slice serve in tennis, a full sidespin effect must be done. Technically, this type of serve is called the “sidespin serve” or the “slider serve”. A powerful slice serve normally curves to the left side of the court (right side for left-handed server) when the ball is in the air and skids off to the left after it bounces on the ground. This article explains how you can hit a slice serve accurately.

Use the Continental Tennis Serve Grip

To be able to hit an accurate slice serve, you need to use the right grip. Some players prefer to use the Continental grip for an easy and natural slice serve. Other tennis players prefer to employ the Eastern backhand. If you use Eastern backhand grip, you should hit the ball with the forehand side of the racket face.

Tennis Serve Stance

The proper stance is vital for a perfect slice serve. To be able to perform it properly, you can make use of the net posts as your point of reference. A proper stance is achieved when your body faces to the right hand net post if you are a right-handed player. If you are a left-handed player, your body should be facing the left side post. Once you are in the right position, coil your upper body in such a way that your shoulders are directly facing the net.

Toss the Ball Properly

The location of the toss for a tennis slice serve is different from other types of serves particularly with the flat serve or with the topspin serve, but the mechanics are similar. You have to hold the ball near the tips of your fingers. This is to ensure that there is no obstruction when you release the ball at the start of the ball toss.

In the other types of tennis serves, the ball toss is in done in a vertical manner (12:00 to 1:00 o’clock for right handed players, and 12:00 to 1:00 o’clock point for left-handed players). Whilst in a tennis slice serve, the ball is tossed slightly further to your right side (if you are right handed player). But remember not to overdo it. If you successfully toss the ball, it will allow you to swing across the ball in the later stage of the serve execution. For beginners, practice more and do some experiments in tossing the ball until you find the right way to toss the ball without losing your balance during the swing.

Bend your Knees and Coil your Body

Since a slice serve is normally used for first serve, it is therefore necessary to add power to it. To do this, proper knee bending and body coiling during the wind-up movement should be accomplished.

To do this, turn your shoulders at around 45 degrees towards your back or towards the back fence while your hips remain with their original position. A perfectly coiled body is when your shoulders and your hips are not aligned. At the same time, you also have to bend your knees.

Then slide your right foot (for right-handed players) to the right to facilitate your body alignment. As a result, you should hit a wide serve or your serve should hit the sideline of the service box.

The Elbow Up and the Racket Down Position

This position of the tennis slice serve is also typical with the other forms of tennis serves especially with the topspin serve. But both serves differ in some executions in the later part.

At this part of the serve, your legs are already up from the ground. Your upper body has also uncoiled. Your racket drops, with its racket head end point pointing to the ground. This racket drop position allows you to maximize your swing length and create a fast racket speed.

The position of your upper arm differs from the topspin serve. When you do a topspin serve, your upper arm should be in a vertical position.

However when you execute a tennis slice serve, your upper arm should be slightly slanted towards your front. That’s because your racket swing should be more to the side than going straight upward to produce the slice effect.

As a result, your elbow should also be bent at an angle of more than 90 degrees. Your wrist should be relaxed and angled at 90 degrees with your forearm.

The Slice Serve Swing

The most important aspect to look into in executing a tennis slice serve is the racket edge-first position during the swing.

From the drop down position (above) of the racket, the racket should be on its edge-first position as you start the swing. Edge-first positron means that side of the racket head is the one facing the ball instead of the racket face or the stringbed. The racket edge-first position is maintained from the time your arm starts to drive upward, to your forward swing, until you swing to the right.

Contact Point

Seconds before contact, the hitting arm elbow should start to straighten but the racket should still maintain the edge- first position as it approaches the ball. Then the edge-first position starts to change and the racket angle starts to slightly face the ball. This is due to the increased inertia lag in your racket, increasing the angle between the racket and your forearm to 90 degrees. The racket face should strike the ball at the center part of the ball, brushing it towards the 3.00 o’clock position.

After contact, your racket should continue its movement to right as the effect of the left to right (center to 3.00 o’clock brushing) motion.

Tennis Slice Serve Follow through

The tennis slice serve ends on the left side of your body, just like the other tennis serves. A slice serve is also evident with your right foot landing a bit more forward than the other serves like the topspin-slice serve.

Slice Serve Location

The point where the ball lands on the court is also an indication if the tennis slice serve was executed perfectly. The target point of the tennis slice serve is the service box sideline. Thus, if the execution is not done perfectly, the ball can land two feet towards the center. This means that the curving effect of the slice was not achieved.

A successful slice serve can be very difficult to return. In case the receiver does return the serve, the return is normally weak. The tennis slice serve is definitely a serve that every tennis player should consciously work on to perfect their overall serving game.

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What is Tennis Serve Pronation?

Are you the type of player that sits around wondering what keeps you from advancing a level or two higher in tournament play? Well, tennis serve pronation might give you part of that answer. It is no accident that all of the top amateur and professional players practice tennis serve pronation.

They do this because it works, because it adds power to the serve and more possibilities for exaggerated spins on the serve. Adopting tennis serve pronation could be the key to you taking your serve—and your overall game—to the next level.

Learning the Correct Technique of Tennis Serve Pronation

The term “tennis serve pronation” does not need to give pause; it is actually a very simple movement that is used most famously by Roger Federer. Let’s get to the details:

The first step in practicing tennis serve pronation is to undo some of the habits that you have formed as you’ve played for years and years. Let’s chat about grips for a few moments. When you pick up a tennis racket and serve, you naturally hold it like a frying pan. This is called a Western grip. It will give you a type of pancake serve with no pronation at all.

Perhaps you have served in this manner for decades. In order to adopt tennis serve pronation, you are going to have to abandon the Western grip as you serve. As you can surmise, this will take lots of practice, but once you master the movement, you will not want to change it again.

The Proper Tennis Serve Grip Leads to Proper Tennis Serve Pronation

With the Western grip discarded, you now open up your wrist to many more possibilities for movement. With the Western grip, you can only turn your wrist about 90 degrees, and that is usually clockwise, sometimes giving your serve a bit of spin. When you adopt a continental (or Eastern) grip, your range of motion will jump to 270 degrees.

Rather than gripping the racquet like a frying pan, pick your racquet up so that the knuckle of your thumb is aligned with the right ridge of the racquet, rather than the left ridge.

When you extend the racquet away from your body, rather than it being flat, it should be perpendicular to the court. This is the continental grip that will open up many new possibilities for your serve. It also will help immensely with any tennis elbow symptoms that you might have been experiencing.

With your new grip, you are now ready to practice tennis serve pronation. As you hold the racquet in this new way, you might quickly ask yourself, “How am I ever going to actually hit the ball with the strings? It looks and feels like I will simply make contact with the side of the frame!” This is a natural fear and has some logic behind it.

However, this is where the pronation motion comes into play.

Learning Tennis Serve Pronation

The best way to describe this movement is to say that it is a counter-clockwise rotation of the arm and wrist so that the racquet turns and meets the ball, strings-to-felt. If you know anything about baseball, this is the motion used to throw a screwball.

Another easy way to understand this motion is to hold your arms away from your body with your palms touching each other.

If you rotate your palms so that they face the ground, that is the pronation movement.

Some instructional pros also use this illustration: when you are talking on a cell phone or looking at the screen and someone asks to see what is on your screen, the movement you use to show your cell phone’s screen to your friend is pronation. Think of a karate chop that begins with your hand perpendicular to the wall. As your hand comes towards the wall, you rotate it so that the palm touches the wall.

The Biomechanical Explanation of Pronation on the Tennis Serve

That is the exact motion needed for tennis serve pronation and rather than your hand, the racquet will be rotating like a karate chop that ends up flat against the wall. It might not feel too natural the first few times that you do it, but your arm is actually better able to make this motion than many others that you do on the tennis court.

It will not cause any undue pain or strain. As you toss the ball and begin your service motion, twist your arm and wrist from knuckles facing you to the back of the hand facing you. This will enable your racquet head to align properly and ensure that you strike the ball with all strings and no frame.

The first few times that you try this motion, it will not feel natural and you might hit much more frame than strings.

Keep working! Soon, the movement will become second nature and you will have a more powerful serve thanks to tennis serve pronation. That power comes from a stronger follow-through as more muscles in the arm and shoulder are activated by this unusual movement.

You will feel that very soon after adopting tennis serve pronation. You will have much more force coming to bear on your serve. Essentially, you are giving the ball a “high five” with your arm, wrist and racquet as you pronate at the top of your motion.

Benefits of Achieving Correct Tennis Serve Pronation

Your serve will also gain power and speed due to the very quick rotation that occurs as you pronate. The racquet is rotated 90 degrees in a very short amount of time. That spin has a rotational energy that is transferred to the ball upon contact. This adds immense power and possible spin to the ball. If you want to combine a bit of spin with your newfound power, you will need to brush the strings of your racquet against the ball, as you would with any grip or movement in the service motion.

Tennis serve pronation could be the missing ingredient in taking your serve from adequate weapon to feared armament. These types of little tricks and rapid movements are what separate the pros from the average Joes. By rotating your racquet in a flash in a counter-clockwise motion (for right-handers, clockwise for lefties), you will add a burst of energy that will then enter the ball and cause it to zoom by your adversary. His/her next question will be, “Where did you get that serve?” You are not compelled to share your secrets.

Ingraining Pronation on the Tennis Serve to Produce a More Powerful Serve

Obviously, you will not want to debut this motion in a match. You will need to practice on your own until the movement becomes more natural and you have built sufficient muscle memory to the point that tennis serve pronation is an automatic rotation. For more information on this helpful motion, the Web is full of instructional videos that can guide you step-by-step. You will immediately notice that many of the examples cited in the video are the top professional players.

There are reasons why they are the best in the world; tennis serve pronation is one of them. You can edge toward that level as you unlearn previous service motions and adopt this new one. You will feel more power and a stronger follow-through immediately. The added rotation just before you hit the ball will add much more speed to your serve than you even thought possible. You might even go from someone who rarely serves an ace to a player who piles up the aces in the course of a match. That could get you to where you want to be in that tournament coming up this weekend. Pronate to victory!

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What are the keys of tennis serve motion?

One of the aspects of tennis serve motion is the ability to generate extensive racket head speed at contact. The tennis serve is an explosive move that can only be made possible with the correct technique.

Watching professional tennis on television, makes it extremely obvious how players are able to generate a massive amount of racket speed on their serve, while remaining completely relaxed.

Different tennis serve motion on tour

The fact is that a solid foundation is key to generate a world class tennis serve. The fundamentals of the tennis serve must be firmly in place before a player can deviate towards more advanced tennis serve concepts.

At the pro level, the tennis serve motion of players vary from one player to the next. Not one professional player serves exactly the same way, but yet they all achieve maximum racket speed on impact. One of the things that makes this happen is the gracefulness of a world class serve motion.

I have researched tennis serve motion for years in attempts to discover the secrets of the serve. I studied slow motion tennis serve videos for hours on end, going frame by frame and pausing through key positions.

What I discovered was that there was no exact “right” or “wrong” when it came to the tennis serve. Rather, I soon saw that players had many different types of wind-ups for the serve that seemed to work for them. But what distinguished them from the club level players were the small commonalities in technique that separated them from the amateurs.

Fundamental Keys of Every World Class Tennis Serve Motion

When I studied the high speed video of the best tennis serves in the world, it wasn’t initially clear to me why the pros were able to serve with much more power and accuracy than club players. I thought, perhaps it’s a developmental process that requires “practice.”

At the same time, I was told that height and physical strength were solely responsible for why pros could hit their tennis serves that much harder. This popular notion of height and pure strength equating to a world class serve is prominent among the uninformed.

Even though I was told that height and natural born talent was the primary part of the equation, I did not take that for an answer. If that were the case, then very few individuals in the entire world would have a chance to develop a powerful serve. And if it that were the case, I might as well have hung my racket on the wall, since I did not have the towering height nor any exceptional strength.

As I continued to research footage of various different professional tennis serve motion on tour, I soon found out that not only were there distinct commonalities in technique, but they seemed to meet unique “phases” or “key positions” during the overall tennis serve wind-up up to contact. These unique phases were present in every top professional server in the world.

Fluidity and Rhythm a key part of any great tennis serve motion

What I observed was that even though the stances, timing, and racket and arm positions during the wind-up differed somewhat amongst professional players, they all achieved a remarkably fluid rhythm on their tennis serve motion.

The backswing and wind-up style among 90% of the top pro tennis serve motions I observed had a very relaxed, and flowing rhythm that traced some form of a semi-circle. The semi-circle pattern varied in different degrees, but their hitting arm seemed to shape some form of a “C” motion.

Take a look at this short clip of the tennis serve motion of Roger Federer and Ivan Ljubicic for example. Ivan Ljubicic brings his feet up together in a pinpoint stance with a quicker backswing timing. Roger Federer’s serve on the other hand, seems to have a slower and more pronounced circular rhythm. He uses a “both feet back” stance and takes a larger wind-up than Ivan Ljubicic. Clearly, these two players have different looking serves and timing. But watch how seamless both players transition from the start of the serve, into the wind-up and forward into the court after contact.

If you watch carefully, both players trace a semi-circular motion, but Ivan Ljubicic traces more of an abbreviated “C” or semi circle. The end result is both players achieve a world class serve, which was a product of their smooth delivery.

Abbreviated Tennis Serve Motion

In today’s modern tennis, the abbreviated tennis serve is increasing in popularity due to servers like Andy Roddick, Gael Monfils and Rafael Nadal. These players have arrived on tour with a new breed of players that use a more abbreviated tennis serve motion. Rather than create a smooth rhytym, these players skip the majority of the wind-up phase and instead immediately gravitate toward the trophy pose. In this serve, the loading phase happens much quicker, since the racket has a smaller path during the wind-up. The abbreviated tennis serve requires good timing, and in my opinion it is a difficult tennis serve motion to emulate without first learning a more classical wind-up a la Roger Federer and Pete Sampras.

The reason why the abbreviated tennis serve is increasing in popularity in the eyes of the recreational and club players is due to the explosiveness generated by the abbreviated tennis serve motion. We have all seen Andy Roddick’s infamous tennis serve, how he starts and immediately powers up a 140 MPH serve ace almost instantaneously.

The problem with the abbreviated tennis serve motion is that it requires not only solid fundamentals, but a keen understanding of the mechanics behind the serve as well as the flawless timing. Not only that, but it requires that the player have a deep competency in throwing mechanics.

Recreational and club players that attempt to model the Andy Roddick or Rafael Nadal Tennis serve motion usually end in ruins, as they discover months later that replicating the abbreviated tennis serve is not as simple as watching a few slow motion videos and then copying that into their own tennis serve motion.

From what I’ve found, the abbreviated tennis serve motion is a demanding stroke that is usually only mastered by years of coaching and competitive playing experience under a high performance tennis training environment. This is among the reasons why the odds are stacked for recreational tennis players attempting to model this type of tennis serve motion.

Finding your Own Tennis Serve Motion

As we saw from the previous example, the tennis serve motion on tour can vary from player to player. This makes it difficult for recreational players to find an ideal model for their own tennis serve motion development.

One of the keys to find a good tennis serve motion to follow is to seek a player with a simple backswing with the least moving parts. The more efficient the overall tennis serve motion, the less wasted energy there will be and the result will be a more powerful, effective and accurate tennis serve.

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What part of a tennis serve lesson can be beneficial in helping player’s improve their game?

And what can we learn from tennis serve biomechanics?

The Most Powerful Tennis Serve Lesson

The tennis serve is a complex motion that requires a player to link the various moving parts in the kinetic chain properly. If we watch the tennis serve of the pros in slow motion, there is a sync of movements that link together to produce a world class tennis serve. The tennis serve is more than just an arm motion, but instead a whole body movement. Players must possess proper timing on the serve, this timing of the kinetic chain is a crucial part of an elite serve.

What We Can Learn From a Tennis Serve Lesson

In today’s modern tennis game, the serve is the hallmark of all professional players. Professional players are generating incredible speed and spin, this velocity is often unmatched by club and recreational players. The difference being inside the tennis serve biomechanics. When discussing the biomechanics of a tennis serve, most players immediately think this is a science. That is what I thought too, until I realized that a world class tennis serve should actually be a natural stroke, rather than a rigid and forced stroke.

Commonalities of Creating a World Class Tennis Serve

The first of our tennis serve lesson is on the biomechanics. I studied tennis serve biomechanics in great depth, by spending hours researching scientific studies and reports on the tennis serve by pioneer tennis serve researchers. These guys are like the scientists of tennis. These tennis serve biomechanics reports included in-depth detail such as specific angles, joint rotators, body positions, muscle movements involved in a tennis serve motion and so on. But, I am a competitive tennis player, not a scientific researcher.

I realized I wanted to dissect these complicated reports from these tennis serve biomechanics experts to try to gain an edge over my competition. Still, all of the raw data was intriguing and very concerting, but I had a hard time understanding what all of this data on the biomechanics of a tennis serve meant.

This became my ultimate tennis serve lesson, as I tried to implement these unusual and highly scientific pieces of data into my own tennis serve. The result did not show up into several months into my own personal fascination with this complicated data on the tennis serve biomechanics.

Separating a Science from a Tennis Serve Lesson

While the various reports on the biomechanics of a tennis serve were both intriguing and fascinating, I soon found out that it had little practicality when it came to my own tennis serve development. Clearly, the tennis serve lesson was being taught to me indirectly. Since I did not tell anyone about my unique experience with making my tennis game a mad scientist experiment, I was left to experience the results on my own.

The result was the ultimate tennis serve lesson, that learning the serve technique had to be a natural learning process, with the only emphasis being on learning the key body positions of tennis technique. Clearly, trying to mimic certain angles during specific phases of the tennis serve was not only detrimental, it was causing my tennis serve to be too mechanical.

Tennis serve lesson on the commonalities of a world class serve

A few years later, when I reflect on my whole experience as a player trying to dissect these intricate pieces of data, believing there was a magic pill behind the tennis serve did little to help my tennis serve. In fact, the most beneficial tennis serve lesson was likely my personal study of these tennis serve biomechanics.

Through researching slow motion video and collaborating with a few former professional tennis players and USTA High Performance Coaches, I learned that developing the tennis serve was not pure science, but rather it is an art.

While science was not a part of any of their tennis serve lessons, they agreed that the pros possess certain key body positions in their technique that allows them to produce better results. They also explained that there are commonalities in every world class tennis serve on tour, which explains why the pros are able to hit 100 MPH serves on a consistent basis time and time again.

They key is to emulate these “key body positions” of tennis serve technique, while letting the player also develop his or her own unique tennis serve motion. Since, no two players on tour have the same exact tennis serve motion. What they did share in common is certain similar key phases of the tennis serve motion.

Biomechanics of the tennis serve and it’s application

For tennis players at the club level, perhaps the tennis serve is just one part of their game that requires improvement. Any tennis serve lesson designed for this group should be focused on the fundamentals of sound serving technique, rather than on advanced tennis serve biomechanics.

Likely, it is the natural learning process that enables professional players to develop sublime technique that allows them to maximize the power, spin and depth they generate. But certainly, any tennis serve lesson that they did receive was a conscious learning effort.

Tennis Serve Lesson offers more commonalities

Perhaps the reason why key body positions hold the secrets behind serving technique is the similarities between a serve and a baseball pitch. Watch closely as you’ll notice that both the tennis serve and the baseball pitch are similar.

There must be a reason why professional players choose certain body positions which produce powerful results. If technique did not matter, then world class servers who serve over 100 MPH would not share commonalities between elite professional baseball pitchers.

Somewhere, consciously or subconsciously, the serve technique that produces world class results was ingrained or tapped into by these players aspiring to be professionals. Whether they were coached on these key body positions, or they were naturally developed, somehow and somewhere they developed these body positions to produce a powerful and explosive result.

Tennis Serve Lesson on Improvement

This is the same principle for club players seeking to improve the tennis serve. It is generally understood that club players taking up the game of tennis at an older age will be less inclined to learn tennis concepts naturally. Therefore, it is essential to learn these key body positions of the tennis serve.

The notion of tennis being 100% a natural game is demystified. It may be a 100% natural game for players starting when they were young children, but it is certainly not the case of a club player who has been struggling with his or her technique for many years, or for someone who has stayed at the same level for a long period of time.

Many tennis coaches downplay the importance of tennis serve technique. For many players at the club level, the coaches do not include much technique in their tennis serve lesson. The reason being is that most coaches know that learning key body positions in technique is a difficult learning process, and they would rather teach players how to start playing a friendly game of tennis than force the club players into a daunting learning process.

Instead, most coaches completely remove any part of the biomechanics of a tennis serve from their lessons and introduce strategy instead. However, the learning process should be a key part of any tennis serve lesson for players seeking to improve the tennis serve.

What we can learn from a tennis serve lesson

Clearly, the fundamentals of a tennis serve must be ingrained for tennis players, as a solid foundation is the first level of the pyramid to success. A gradual progression towards improving the tennis serve may involve learning the proper biomechanics of a tennis serve is a more simplified form by first learning the fundamentals and then by incorporating the key body positions of a world class tennis serve into your own technique.

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However, practicing the perfect serving technique should be complimented by strength and power training workouts in order to get your muscles and joints in better condition for hitting lots of hard serves.

This will help protect your body from injuries and make your motion more bio-mechanically efficient. Muscle strength is not enough to develop a powerful serve because strength is merely the ability or capacity to lift a certain weight.

In order to have a fast motion, the muscles have to be trained such that weights can be lifted quickly while still maintaining proper form.

This ability to lift a weight quickly is called power, which is the component of strength that is more useful for producing big serves.

A total tennis fitness program must therefore include tennis serve exercises that promote the development of muscular power.

The service motion in tennis involves almost all the major muscle groups from the ground up. The ideal motion makes use of a kinetic chain that is a series of motions starting from the feet up to the legs, hips, trunk, shoulders, arm, forearm, wrist and finally the racket, which is considered an extension of the hand.

Tennis Serve Exercises to Develop the Critical Muscle Groups

Tennis serve exercises should help in developing all the muscle groups along this kinetic chain. Starting from the top going down, the following are some valuable exercises for the serve.

Beginning with the wrists, exercises include grips, dumbbell wrist curls and pronations. A tennis ball or a stress ball can be used in the place of proper grips. Dumbbell curls should make use of just light weights and performed in 3 sets of 15 reps each.

Tennis Serve Exercises #1: Pronation and Supination Exercises

Pronation/supination exercises make use of a racket made heavier with a head cover or a dumbbell with a light weight attached at only one end. With your palm facing up, grab the handle of the racket or the free end of the dumbbell with the heavy end away from your thumb. Do pronation and supination movements back and forth.

Tennis Serve Exercises #2: Shoulder and Arm Exercises

Tennis serve exercises for the arm include bicep curls and tricep extensions for basic strength. There are many ways to perform the tricep extension but for the serve, it is best to do this with the elbow pointing upward as you extend and lift the dumbbell up in the air.

For the shoulder, overhead presses and lateral raises are done, while internal rotations and external rotations specifically target the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff is one of the most vulnerable yet important shoulder muscle groups used in tennis.

For the chest, bench presses and push ups are the best exercises. Machine presses and cable pulls can be used as alternative exercises. Like other exercises, 3 sets of 15 reps are usually recommended.

Tennis Serve Exercises #3: Resistance Bands

Aside from free weights, strength can be increased by using machines, like the cable machine. Resistance bands are also useful and are recommended as alternatives to free weights. Working out with free weights can also be done on a stability ball instead of an ordinary bench.

The advantage of the stability ball is that it more actively engages the core muscles and develops balance. To really benefit from a workout program, it is said that you have to change up your routine every so often to keep your muscles from getting too comfortable with a particular exercise. If you allow this to happen, your progress will stagnate.

Tennis Serve Exercises #4: Throwing Exercises

After having worked out the upper body for strength, you can now do exercises for power. To add power, medicine ball throwing exercises are done. Overhead throws are best for mimicking the motion of the serve.

Side throws are also done and are helpful for developing powerful ground strokes aside from the serve. Use only a light medicine ball at first before moving to heavier balls as you gain more strength and power. Using a heavy ball right away will only lead to injury.

Tennis Serve Exercises #5: Core Strengthening for the Serve

There are actually no specific tennis serve exercises for the core muscle group which includes the abdominals, obliques and lower back because exercises for this area are useful for all tennis strokes including the serve.

These exercises include crunches, oblique crunches, standing medicine ball (or Russian) twists, front raises (or good mornings) and the Superman exercise for the lower back.

One particular core exercise for facilitating development of power is the plank exercise which develops balance and stability. To keep the kinetic chain smooth, the stabilizing muscles of the legs, hips and core should be engaged as well.

Tennis Serve Exercises #6: Lower Body Training

For the hips and legs, basic strength is built up by doing squats, calf raises and knee extensions. Basic squats can be alternated with machine leg presses, split squats and lunges. 3 sets of 12-15 reps are usually performed.

Afterward, to add power, squat jumps can be done. This tennis serve exercise is performed just like a squat but instead of simply straightening up to stand, you jump up high and land on bent knees, and then jump up again immediately. 3 sets of 8 reps are usually good for this exercise.

Once again, like the core exercises, these aren’t really specific for the serve. But since the serve is the one shot that always requires you to launch yourself upward these leg power exercises can be considered to be most useful for the serve.

Tennis Serve Exercise #7: Barbell Weight Lifting Exercises

When you are sufficiently fit and strong enough, you can add even more difficult tennis serve exercises to increase power. The power clean is a barbell power lifting exercise. Hold a barbell in front of you then bend at the knees as you lift the barbell upward to your chest, shifting your grip so that you support the bar upward.

The clean and press is just like the power clean but adds an overhead press of the bar after you bring it to your chest. The explosive upward lifting movement of both exercises makes great use of the legs as well as the arms. The abdominals should also be engaged throughout to provide stability. Proper form should be maintained despite the quickness of the movements in order to prevent injuries. 5 sets of 5 reps should be performed.

Tennis Serve Exercises #8: Flexibility

Tennis serve exercises should not just be all about strength and power but also about flexibility. Therefore, stretching exercises are also just as important. Do dynamic stretching exercises before lifting weights.

Specific stretches that benefit the serve include stretches for the wrists with wrist circles, the arms and shoulders with arm circles and the core muscles with trunk twists. For the lower back, toe touching exercises can be performed. The legs and calves should also be properly warmed up with high knee steps, high kicks, rear kicks and ankle raises.

Tennis Serve Exercises #9: Mental Visualization Exercises

Mental exercises with visualization techniques should also be done to improve the serve. There are some players who can serve very well in practice and obviously do all the right exercises for increasing the power of the serve. But once they get on the court, their technique falls apart. The serve, more than any other shot, is a confidence shot.

If you are confident, you can serve well and the rest of your game can follow. But if you aren’t confident, chances are that your serve will suffer and bring down the rest of your game along with it.

You must learn to love your serve. Visualize hitting the corners with great speed. See yourself hitting extremely heavily spinning serves that curve far away from your opponent or curve into his body and jam his return. If that is too unrealistic, then just keep imagining the best serves you hit in practice and see yourself hitting these serves time and time again in your matches.

Unlike all other shots in tennis, the serve is entirely all up to you. If you know deep inside that you have done all you can to make it as good as possible, you will be giving yourself the greatest chance to play to the best of your abilities.

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A weak tennis serve will most definitely be a liability on a tennis player’s own service games. At the pro levels, holding serve is taken for granted – but at the recreational and club levels this is often not so. This is because professional tennis players normally always have strong serves, and this is due to no other than having technically sound tennis technique.

Tennis Serve Technique Qualities

The tennis serve technique may be one of the most complex motions to master, second only to the forehand. It involves many variables and no one tennis player has exactly the same swing. It’s key to remember that even though the swing shape on the tennis serve for most tennis player will be different, one must adhere to certain commonalities in tennis serve technique in order to achieve the maximum power and efficiency that tennis players are looking for at all levels of the game.

What are the commonalities of proper tennis serve technique?

The grip on the tennis serve is primarily the continental grip. This places the hand and racket at a optimal position for the serve and allows a player to properly hit up and pronate. Any other tennis serve grip would only be detrimental. technique.

Second, having a small ritual prior to the serve is beneficial to set the stance and intiate the serve motion itself. Some players such as in Andy Roddick’s serve may begin the serve with only one or two bounces on the court, while others like Novak Djokovic may bounce the ball five or six or ten times prior to beginning the serve. This is a matter of personal preference.

Third, the weight transfer on the tennis serve is important. Tennis serve technique involves having the player stand on the baseline, with the weight evenly spread amongst the feet, or in some cases slightly forward or backwards. As the motion begins, all the players usually shift their weight forward into the court.

Fourth, the serve tennis technique is hallmarked by having a fluid, relaxed motion. Rushing or any tension in the tennis technique will only result in a poor and weak serve.

Common problems in tennis serve technique

A common tennis serve technique problem among club players is having an inadequate racket drop on the serve. This is called external rotation.

A pitcher, or a quarterback or in any other throwing sports understand that – – the arm must flex backwards and down prior to the release of the ball or in this case the tennis serve.

Notice the similarities between the players in both sports. The baseball pitcher must cock his hand and arm back into the loaded position which is similar to how Pete Sampras and the majority of top professional servers. From this position, it allows the tennis player to achieve maximum power and spin. This is just one of the elements of the tennis serve technique.

A common problem among some tennis players is the issue of having a “waiter’s tray” serve where the racket simply doesn’t drop beneath to achieve the maximum stretch, due to faulty tennis technique, improper grip or lack of shoulder and arm strength.

Learn the Tennis Serve Technique

The racket drop position is key to achieving a maximum drive upwards toward the ball. Think of it as making space for the racket to accelerate.

The tennis serve can be a difficult motion to master, but if a tennis player spends time learning the proper technique in the tennis serve, learning to serve properly will be less of an issue and you may even be on the path to achieving your ideal tennis serve technique.

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In a tennis game, the higher your first and second serve accuracy is will correlate to the percentage of your chances in winning the match.

The first serve is characterized by its speed and power while the second serve is characterized by its slower speed (compared to the first serve) and accuracy. Great tennis players learn to employ the kick serve as their main type of serve on the second serve. The tennis kick serve is employed by players depending on the games circumstances. However, a kick serve is commonly used in professional tennis. Below are some of the strategies and tactics on how to execute the tennis kick serve.

Kick Serve Basics

Before you try to master your kick serve in a tennis match, it is necessary for you to know the basic fundamentals of the tennis serve. You have to know where to stand in the court, proper foot position or orientation, proper body and arms orientation towards the net and ball toss height.

Your position in the court when you serve should be just behind the baseline and near the center line. When you are already standing in the right place in the court, you should position your feet in such a way that one foot is slightly behind the other. If you are right handed, your right foot should be the one behind the left foot. The distance between them should only be a couple of inches apart but it can also depend on how comfortable you are. You have to make sure that you are positioned sideways to the net. If you are right handed, your left side should be the one facing the net.

What does a tennis kick serve do that makes it very popular for tennis players especially at the professional level? The kick serve should bounce high and “kick” up to the returner if executed correctly. This serve is frequently placed to the returner’s backhand in order for the kick serve to bounce away from the opponent.

The Serve Grip

Generally, the continental grip is always associated with the kick serve. The eastern backhand grip is also an acceptable variation for this serve.

Add power on your Tennis Kick Serve

The power on the tennis kick serve comes from utilizing the kinetic chain in a way that allows for the optimal body position heading up towards contact. The kick serve should be hit like a normal serve, the only difference being the type of spin imparted on the ball which is a product of the correct technique.

Since the goal of the kick serve in tennis is to increase the topspin, it is necessary to orientate the body in a way that permit’s a player to achieve the “heavy ball.” There are specific body mechanics involved in the kick serve that contribute to the amount of spin that a player can generate.

At the pro level, we see players hit kick serves with relative ease. This is largely due to the fact that the pros have flawless tennis serve technique, which allows them to produce the heavy topspin needed for the proper kick serve.

For players at the club level, it is important to develop the kick serve with a strong foundation. The kick serve is a serve that requires optimal usage of the body such as the legs, hips, torso, shoulders, wrist and racket. All of these elements must work together in a fluid manner and each of the larger muscles contribute a great deal of power and spin on the kick serve.

Body Orientation for the Tennis Kick Serve

A kick serve in tennis that is properly hit gives the advantage to the server. This is because, once the ball lands into the opponent’s court, the ball kicks up and then moves forward and goes to the left side of the receiver. This will force the receiver to play a high backhand which is a difficult shot for most tennis players.

The proper way to execute the kick serve in tennis is to bend the knees and jump up using the legs. You should keep a slight bend in your hitting arm elbow (the elbow of the hand with the racket) as you swing.

It can be helpful to visualize making a brushing effect using the racket face on the ball with a direction from left to right and across.

Shoulder Turn

The tennis kick serve requires optimal usage of all the available larger muscle groups. This serve requires a strong shoulder turn to assist with the loading phase.

By turning the shoulders, more power is being loaded into the core in order to be released into the serve, producing a massive amount of racket speed at contact.

Shoulder Alignment for the Kick Serve

Watch Sampras in slow motion and notice how Sampras’s tossing arm is fully extended, this along with the torque created by the shoulder turn contributes a large amount of power and topspin for the kick serve.

Toss height

The toss height for the kick serve can vary depending on the player’s own preference and height. Generally, the kick serve is hit when the ball is descending downwards allowing for a natural topspin brushing motion to occur. The key is to brush the back of the ball, and this visualization should help a player hit a heavier tennis kick serve.

One question in the tennis topspin serve is how high should the ball toss be to generate the perfect topspin? The answer is the higher the better as long as the height is comfortable for you. Your body should be at full reach when you reach the contact point. The higher the contact (contact between the ball and the racket head) the higher is the impact.

In a tennis kick serve, the ball toss matters a lot. To execute the perfect ball toss, you have to avoid flicking it out of the hand. You can simply toss the ball by releasing it from your open fingers after you have fully extended.

Swing Path up to Contact

The kick serve is different from that of the flat and slice serve in the type of spin imparted on the tennis ball.

A cOmmon mistake among club players trying to execute the kick serve is hitting the serve downwards or hitting the ball with the strings leading first. This causes one of two things: a flat serve or a waiter’s tray serve.

The kick serve is a serve that requires acceleration combined with the proper angle of attack. It will require good technique, form and posture in order for the serve to become a formidable shot.

Follow through

The follow through for the kick serve should happen naturally on it’s own accord if a smooth and technically sound serve motion took place prior to contact.

Tennis Kick Serve Placement

Placement is an essential part of the kick serve. Once the body mechanics of the tennis kick serve are ingrained, it is important to be able to place the serve accordingly. Hitting a kick serve with precise placement will require excellent technique and practice. A kick serve should generally be hit to the opponent’s backhand. A serve directed to the opponent’s forehand is a big mistake, as it is often a strength and it will be frequently punished.

Does the type of racket matter?

It might sound like a silly question because if your serving skill is really poor, no matter how good or expensive your racket is, it won’t make you the best tennis server in the world. However, if you analyze it deeply, yes it is true; the type of racket does make a difference. The reason for this is the fact that if you hit the ball near the tip of the racket the ball moves faster than when it hits in the other part of the racket. Therefore, if you hit the ball with the tip of the racket your serve should have more speed than when you hit the ball with the center part of the racket.

This scenario urges the tennis racket manufacturers to develop rackets with elongated spots extending up to the tip of the racket. However, you always have to remember that skills and proper technique in executing the kick serve are more important than the type of racket you use.

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Tennis Serve Grip

Some players choose to begin with the Eastern forehand grip when first learning how to serve in tennis. To achieve the Eastern forehand grip, place your hand flat on the racket strings, and then slide your hand down to the handle. Wrap your fingers around the racket. Your first finger should be forward slightly.

It’s important to keep all tensions out of your fingers — this may be hard to remember as you first learn how to serve in tennis. The eastern forehand grip is often called the “shake hands” grip by those who have just begun to learn how to serve in tennis, because, in essence, you are shaking hands with the racket.

With the Eastern forehand grip, you are more likely to hit the ball flat, that is, without spin; and, unlike serves with topspin, flat serves do not have as much clearance over the net. For that reason, some beginning players can opt to use the more proper serving grip, which is the continental grip, which naturally provides topspin and sidespin, or slice.

To achieve the Continental grip, place your palm on the upper right slant bevel — this is 45 degrees counterclockwise from the Eastern forehand grip. With the Continental grip, the racket face will tilt slightly upward. It is possible to hit flat with the Continental, but to do so you must make contact with the ball farther back than usual.

When choosing a grip as a novice player, keep in mind that spin is much less important in the beginning than many other factors.

Tennis Serve Motion

When first learning how to serve in tennis, a wind-up is not necessary. Try a wind-up if you wish, however; you’ll eventually need one — and for some players, learning how to serve in tennis is easier, more comfortable, with a wind-up.

Begin with your elbow up and your racket down. Hold the ball in your fingertips, not your hand, toss it just in front of your right leg. If you release the ball farther forward as some players do, you’ll create a curved toss path, which makes tossing it too far forward or too far backward a possibility.

Tennis Serve Toss

Learning how to serve in tennis requires that when you toss, you imagine a straight line from your starting point to the point where you want to make contact with the ball; toss the ball along that line. Remember, also, that the higher your hand is when you release the tennis ball, the shorter the distance to the point where you’ll make contact — thus, the ball has less time to stray off course.

You’ll want to release the ball with as high a reach as possible, definitely from at least above your head. Release all of your fingers from the ball at once; this, plus holding your wrist in a static position, will ensure the ball stays on course.

At this point, we need to address your hitting arm. While tossing with your non-dominant hand, your hitting arm should swing backward to begin the striking motion. And, as soon as you have released the tennis ball, begin bending both your knees and your elbow. (As you progress in your learning of how to serve in tennis, you will begin to bend your knees more, and your legs will provide more power.) You’ll best know how to serve in tennis if you remember to keep your elbow fully bent, your wrist relaxed, and your racket hanging down behind you; these are the key features that allow you to get the most power with the least effort — and, you won’t suffer shoulder injuries, an injury you certainly want to avoid.

Utilizing the lower body

Make sure to straighten your legs, as your approach the contact point. This begins a kinetic chain within your body that will eventually end up energizing the wrist upward and forward to create speed in the racket head, which delivers power to the tennis ball.

Here’s how it works: as your legs finish straightening, your elbow should be straightening as well. The energy from your legs and parts of your arm is now transferred to your wrist, which remains at a ninety-degree angle to your forearm. All of that energy then whips the wrist forward, creating racket head speed. (Another energy source delivered to the tennis ball comes from turning your body from sideways at the beginning of the wind-up to facing the net.)

In learning how to serve in tennis, you needn’t think about this linked sequence of energy transfers — just keep your elbow up, your racket down, and your arm relaxed and it will happen! Remember — don’t snap your wrist (a mistake many beginners make when learning how to serve in tennis); let it whip forward naturally without any deliberate effort on your part, otherwise you’ll damage your serve — and possibly your arm.

Contact Point

Also, keep your arm relaxed and reach up to full extension; your forearm will then pronate, the strings facing much more forward. With little effort, your weight will now transfer forward as well, your dominant foot barely touching the ground at this point.

To know how to serve in tennis well, you also need to know how to make contact with the ball in the right spot. To hit a fairly flat serve, you should hit the ball at full upwards extension, approximately ten to twelve inches farther forward than your head, and ten to twelve inches to the dominant side of your head. You should attempt to see your racket hit the ball; continue looking at the contact point for a second afterwards, particularly when you’re just learning how to serve in tennis.

Serve Follow through

Once you’ve hit the tennis ball, your dominant foot will likely come forward into the court — this is not a problem; you can step over, or on, the baseline once you’ve struck the ball. Also, as you’re learning how to serve in tennis, you may find that during your follow-through you occasionally hit yourself in the legs with your racket; with practice, you’ll learn to always bypass your legs on the follow-through.

You may struggle at first as you learn how to serve in tennis. But it needn’t be difficult if you dissect the serve into smaller components, as we have in the instructions for how to serve in tennis; and master each component until you have a respectable serve, dependable and eventually powerful serve; that is, until you’ve learned how to serve in tennis.

It takes practice — and, time and patience — to learn how to serve in tennis, but once you do learn how to serve in tennis, you’ll enjoy the game on an entirely new level; and, you’ll have a big advantage, dictating points on your service games. (Advanced players develop different serves for different occasions, but for beginners learning how to serve in tennis, the above tips will serve you well.)

A drill for players learning how to serve in tennis

Finally, here’s a practice drill to help you — it’s a particularly good drill for when you’re at the stage in learning to how to serve in tennis when you’re ready to practice your aim. Go to an empty court and set up pyramids of ball as a target; place them close to the corners to begin. Practice serving, keeping your aim in mind and, as you advance, how much slice you want on your serve.

Practice again and again; that’s the key. Experiment with wide shots and down the middle shots, and with flat serves and slice serves. You now know how to serve in tennis with an intention to do more than just get the ball over the net.

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