The Secret Behind The Sampras Serve

Sampras’s serve followed a more classic approach. He utilized a more circular windup, taking the time to deliver himself the powerful bomb at contact. Throughout his motion, Sampras is completely relaxed. There is little to no tension as can be seen by the fluidity of his serve. His serve contains no hitches, no pauses and no extra motion often seen in lower level servers.

Notice how the motion appears “slow” and relaxed, and sampras takes time before starting his motion.

Loaded and coil like a spring

Sampras generated phenomenal racket head speed at contact. His serves included enourmous power and spin. One of the reasons for this is because he coiled his body like a spring before unleashing all the stored potential energy right at the moment of contact.

Notice the torso angle and hip position of Pete. His upperbody is fully loaded, and his hips are turned towards the backfence, it’s as if he is nearly showing his torso to the backfence.

Pete’s lower body is fully coiled as well. Notice the deep bend in the knee in his stance. But all of this loading is done so he can get maximum loading or “coil” so when it comes time to swing he will have massive amounts of different torques working in his favor to generate his trademark serve.

Notice also how Pete’s shoulders and tossing arm is completely sideways. He does not prematurely drop his tossing arm until he is ready to launch upwards. Many lower level players make the mistake of not keeping their shoulders and left arm in the “loaded” position, which in turns robs some of the potential power on this motion.

Pete Sampras Serve – A Genius at work

Pete Sampras’s Serve is beauty at work. It requires a great deal of athleticism to pull off the serve motion that he has, and because of his extreme lower body coil, his more than evident knee bend and his excellent use of the kinetic chain to coil and uncoil, pete sampras’s serve is simply amazing when you consider every factor at work – and how pete sampras uses every available inch of his body to load his serve, this no doubt accounts for why Pete Sampras’s serve is one of the best tennis serve motions in history of tennis.

The Pete Sampras Tennis Serve – What you Should try at Home

Perhaps it’s too difficult to expect that you can model your serve exactly with Pete Sampras’s serve motion. What you can try at home, however; is the basic fundamentals in his serve.

• Relaxed fluid wind-up – Pete Sampras’s serve begins with a very smooth ryhtmical wind-up. He takes his time to really drop down and trace a circular path with the racket. Essentially, Pete sampras is completely relaxed on his tennis serve delivery – just as a baseball pitcher would be as the initial wind-up begins.
• Trophy position – Pete sampras reaches a pronounced position, a kin to what is often called the trophy position in tennis. Pete sampras’s smooth and almost delibrately slow takeback delivers him to this position, a key position that is present in all professional servers.
• Hand and Arm pronation – Most of us who have followed Pete Sampras’s tennis serve remember him for his smooth delivery, and of course the pronation of his serve, where his racket and arm literally turn counter-clockwise on his followthrough of the serve. While this is something mostly a consequence of his world class tennis serve, it’s interesting to note that most of his pronation comes from the wind-up and serve motion leading up to contact.

Pete Sampras Tennis Serve Technique – Conclusion

So I’ve given a couple of things you can try at home with regards of trying to model your own tennis serve motion with that of Pete Sampras’s serve. While it may be difficult to incorporate some of Pete Sampras’s more extreme elements on his tennis serve, it’s still possible to focus on some of the basic fundamentals of Sampras’s tennis technique.

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The Federer serve is deceptively placed with smart placement and accuracy. Since Roger Federer uses very little variation in between different serve placements, this makes his serve incredibly difficult to read. His serve motion is relatively the same regardless of where Federer serves.

Federer’s Serve Grip

Federer uses some version of Continental grip for the serve. This is the basic tennis serve grip and most widely accepted. This standard grip permits the pronation and allows for maximum potential for power and spin. It’s the traditional grip that allows the best results. Federer’s grip is relatively the same for first and second serves.

Tossing Arm on the Serve

Federer gets full extension of his left tossing arm on the tennis serve. A fully extended arm allows for maximum coil as well as for a consistent tennis serve toss. As Federer begins his serve, the tossing arm is relaxed and rhythmic. As Federer raises his tossing arm, he begins with a fairly straight arm and the release happens when the tossing hand reaches around eye level. This permits for maximum “lift” and for greatest consistency. The release of Federer’s tossing arm is not a flick of the wrist, but rather a slow and deliberate opening of the hand.

Roger Federer’s tossing arm for the serve is a smooth and relaxed action. Initially, Federer holds the tennis ball with his left hand (close to the throat of his racket) as he prepares to serve. As soon as the serve motion begins, his tossing hand comes back inside close to his left hip. This helps with gathering the right momentum for the tossing action as well as toss consistency.

The location of Federer’s toss for the tennis serve is slightly in front of his body and just slightly to the right of his head. For the first serve, the toss is normally further in front than on the second serve. For Federer’s second serve, the toss location may be slightly more to the left, but still in front of the body. This helps with additional spin, which Federer is good at.

Federer Serve is known for his great usage of similar tosses no matter which serve placement he chooses. This is similar to Pete Sampras’s in depth toss deception. Pete Sampras had a very uniform tossing location and was able to execute multiple serve placements with similar tosses. This made it even more difficult to read.

The Federer Serve – Swing Shape

Federer Serve consists of a classical wind-up for the tennis serve. It is an elongated, “C” motion and traces a circular loop. Roger Federer’s serve is a slow gradual wind-up that builds power as the coil occurs. Since the wind-up is fairly large, it takes a respectable amount of time before Federer reaches the top of his motion (the power position)

This slow gradual wind-up makes it easier to sync all of the body parts and kinetic chain into the serve. There is a smooth, exclusive and almost deliberate “slowness” associated with the timing in the Roger Federer Serve. On TV, we see how Roger Federer’s serve is a calm and collected tennis serve that takes a gradual approach to the windup. Typically, Federer’s biggest tennis serves are only used on the most important phases of the tennis match. Most of the time, Federer opts to use more of a serve that neutralizes his opponents returns either through a well placed tennis serve or sharp angled spin serve.

Slow Gradual Wind-Up to the Power Position

At the same time, Federer loads and coils the lower body with a deep knee bend. The momentum of the serve is slowly building up and his center of gravity is preparing to move forward into the tennis court. Meanwhile, the tossing arm is completely extended upwards toward the sky and Federer’s torso and upper body is still fully turned. All of these factors, such as the knee bend, upper body turned (coiled) and the shoulders loaded will help maximize the amount of power and spin available to be generated.As Roger Federer goes through his wind-up he is completely relaxed and is slowly building the racket up to speed as he brings the racket up into the power position. Federer will meet a point at the tip top of his serve, and still at this point he is moving the racket very slowly. It is not a pause, but rather a well-timed movement that slows and then rapidly accelerates producing great racket head speed at contact.

As Federer’s serve nears the top of his wind-up, he reaches the trophy position. This “power position” on the serve is a fundamental key in the amount of power he is able to generate later on in the late phases prior to contact. This is a commonality amongst all elite tennis servers, the power position is an important area in the tennis serve technique.

Finish & Follow through

Federer reaches his contact point in front of his body, and then the follow through begins. Roger Federer’s serve is noted for having pronation similar to the rest of the top servers on tour. Pronation is an important biomechanical consequence that assists in the deceleration of the racket in the follow through. Good pronation on the serve is a sign that everything in the windup and contact point went well. The sign of good pronation is the distinct internal rotation of the arm, where the arm is turned during the follow through. The key aspect of Roger Federer’s serve is that his pronation is a direct consequence and result of his service motion rather than a manual artificially created action.

The Roger Federer Serve – A good Model?

A common question for tennis players looking to improve is which pro players are good models to emulate on the tennis serve. Roger Federer’s Serve is a classical and traditional motion that can be a good model for tennis players at all levels. This is because the tennis serve motion itself is very fluid and adaptable. Tennis players learning the game and wanting to master the elements of the tennis serve should examine the keys of the Roger Federer Serve.

Before a tennis player can successfully accommodate more advanced tennis serve technique into their game, they must master the fundamentals and develop a serve motion that is technically sound. By modeling the Roger Federer Serve, tennis players can develop a smooth and flowing serve into their repertoire before they consider adapting more advanced tennis serve elements into their serve.

A classical “C” shaped circular wind-up is also the most commonly taught serve by tennis coaches at the club and recreational level. This is because this is the traditional windup and this classical serve has been the hallmark of professional tennis of champions that preceded them. This can be positive, because the traditional circular windup can be easier for tennis beginners or intermediate players to learn at first, before they advance into the more trendy modern tennis concepts of pro players today.

The Roger Federer Serve is an ideal model for tennis players at all levels wanting to improve tennis serve.

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When viewed in slow motion video, Rafael Nadal’s serve has changed considerably in terms of technique as well as the technical motion. This article will discuss the Nadal serve technique as well as point out areas of a proper tennis serve that ordinary tennis players can adapt into their own tennis serve motion.

The Making of the Nadal Serve

When Spain’s Rafael Nadal wraps up his tennis career in the future, he will go down in history as one of the greatest ever to play the game. In the beginning, it seemed like he would just be another one of his country’s numerous clay court specialists. Indeed it was on clay where he made his first breakthrough. Rafael Nadal led his nation’s Davis Cup team to a win in 2004 at home on clay.

Then in the spring of 2005, he swept through the clay court season, winning masters titles in Monte Carlo and Rome. It culminated in him winning his first grand slam title on the clay courts of the French Open, where he beat the smooth and stylish Swiss player Roger Federer along the way. These two players would establish one of the most extensive rivalries of all time.

But after winning the French Open, Nadal fell in the second round of Wimbledon; while his rival went on to win the title. Federer also dominated all the other events except those on clay. Nadal quickly realized that to be truly great, he needed to improve on other surfaces as well. Although he was good enough to win a few hard court titles, he wasn’t posting consistent results on the faster courts. So he went back and studied how to improve his game. One shot that needed vast improvement stood out. It happened to be the most important shot in the game.

The Improvement of the Rafael Nadal Serve

From 2003-2005 the Rafael Nadal serve was simply a means to begin the point. The fact that he was left handed made it more difficult to return than other players who similarly had mediocre serves. But as far as the ability to provide free points through aces and service winners, it was not a shot that he could rely on. His main focus was to get a high percentage of first serves. He hit it with a lot of spin and not much pace.

Nadal usually looked to make the opponent step back or out wide in order for him to dictate the point with the next shot, usually his forehand, which was, and still is, his main weapon.

Nadal’s motion featured a short take back similar to Andy Roddick’s. But while Roddick generated extreme torque on his motion due to his exaggerated coil and ultra-fast motion, Nadal let his racket face remain too parallel to the ground on the take back, robbing him of fluidity.

Above all, he simply did not throw himself upward and forward enough. Most of the power and spin came from the action of his arm and wrist. At least this provided great control

Nadal Serve: The Challenge to Win Different Grand Slam Surfaces

As one of the truly great competitors any sport has ever seen, Nadal relished the challenge of trying to win Wimbledon, the tournament many people believed would be impossible for him to claim. One year after losing in the second round, he surprised everyone by reaching the final where he lost a relatively one-sided match to Federer.

Rafael Nadal did however win one set and it was the only set that Roger lost throughout the entire tournament. The following year, he reached the final again, losing this time in five sets. He had chances in the fifth set but couldn’t convert his break points. He surrendered his serve twice and lost. Throughout this period, Nadal had been tinkering with his service motion, looking for ways to turn into more of a weapon. The changes were happening gradually.

The first objective for the Nadal serve was the addition of extra power. To succeed on faster courts, he knew he had to have the ability to serve aces and just generally make it more difficult to return. He also knew that a player with a big serve could also put more pressure on his opponent. He modified his technique.

The Changes to Rafael Nadal’s Serve Technique

The changes that were seen on the Nadal serve included an exaggeratedly higher take back, greater lift and more weight transfer. The higher take back took the racket way above his head with his elbow above the height of his shoulder. This provided an increase in the distance that the racket head travelled allowing him to build up more speed. It slightly compromised his accuracy but the added momentum yielded greater power. He was able to add about 15 miles per hour to his average serve speed.

He used this newfound serving power to finally win Wimbledon in 2008, beating Federer in one of the greatest matches of all-time. He capped his year by grabbing the Olympic gold medal in singles and gaining the number one ranking for the first time.

Nadal now set out to conquer the hard court slams. He succeeded when he again beat Federer to win the 2009 Australian Open, reducing his great rival to tears. But the US Open remained elusive. The courts there were faster and slicker than in Australia, where the ball bounced higher, complementing his topspin.

The US Open required even more first-strike tennis. Nadal had never even reached the final there and in that same year, he was blown away in the semi-finals by eventual champion Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina. It was one of his worst losses in a grand slam event. Injuries had also threatened to ruin his career. His grinding style was too stressful for even his powerfully built and seemingly sturdy physique.

Nadal’s Serve Motion: Technical Changes

It was now imperative that Nadal learns how to win points more efficiently, otherwise, he would be putting too much stress on his body by continuing to play his grinding style, especially on hard courts. There was no way to win points more quickly than to serve even more aces.

To produce more aces, the Nadal serve had to be even faster but still remain as accurate as possible. He went back to using a service motion that more closely resembled the one he used earlier in 2005. He took the racket up but not beyond shoulder level. His wrist was still slightly bent while moving up on the take back but he was doing a better job of straightening it at the top of the take back.

This ensured that he could cock the wrist more before impact and impart more speed and spin. He also changed his grip very slightly. He also used the continental grip before but he now made a minor adjustment on the way his fingers are spaced on the handle. He now tossed the ball higher and really launched up to hit it at its highest point at full extension. There was also a consequent further improvement in his forward weight transfer.

The whole result was an additional 5 miles per hour coupled with greater accuracy. This resulted in more aces, service winners and unreturnables. There were easier put-aways earlier in the rallies. And ultimately, there was the 2010 US Open trophy. The Nadal serve was now truly a major weapon.

Breaking Down the Rafael Nadal Serve

The Nadal serve has become a serve motion that is more technically sound, and unsurprisingly his serve now shares many of the same commonalities of the top pro servers on tour. The following is a brief breakdown of the Nadal serve:

• Rafael Nadal uses the pinpoint stance, where the back foot moves close to the leading foot during the take back of the racket. Federer, in comparison, uses the platform stance, where the feet remain apart.
• For a flat serve, Nadal’s serve involves a different serve where the toss of the ball is higher and more forward. The height of his toss is optimized to allow him to hit the ball at maximum extension.
• The take back is at an ideal height that his elbow doesn’t rise above the level of his shoulder.

• Nadal coils his torso and tilts his shoulders, just as he bends his knees and gets ready to jump up and into the court later.
• Nadal jumps up, uncoils the torso and unleashes the upper body to hit the ball.

• Nadal fully pronates and uses the power of his arm to generate additional racket head speed. It is now a natural consequence of the correct mechanics he has adapted from ground up, instead of a muscling kind of effort which he used before.
• Nadal follows through completely and recovers quickly just like any other great server in the history of the game.

The Nadal serve has truly come a long way. It is an inspiring testament to what goal-oriented hard work can do for your game.

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Recently, Djokovic’s serve has seen a major improvement due to the changes in the technical motion. Just a few years ago, commentators and fans were quick to point out the problems with Novak’s game and in particular, his serve.

Apparently, Novak Djokovic’s serve is now a weapon as he has recently amassed much better tournament and playing results. In closer observation, Djokovic has made a few significant changes to his serve, resulting in a much more accurate and powerful serve.

Let’s dive in to the analysis of Novak Djokovic’s serve:

Novak Djokovic’s Serve: The Background

Novak Djokovic is the best player on the planet. Just a year ago, such a statement would have been deemed sheer blasphemy by all but his most ardent supporters. For the past six years, the men’s game had been thoroughly dominated by the duo of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. In 2008, Djokovic seemed poised to make the big 2 into a big 3 with his win at the Australian Open. But instead of progressing, he stalled.

It was puzzling because he seemed to have such a complete package as a player. He moved and covered the court no worse than Nadal. He hit aggressive shots and played smart tennis like Federer. But he didn’t possess the Swiss man’s variety and effortless grace nor the Spaniard’s brute physicality and warrior-like persona. There were missing elements in his game that prevented him from taking over as the next dominant player.

The first thing he needed was to improve his fitness. He often got tired in long matches and quit when the conditions were too harsh for him to endure. He needed to be mentally stronger and not spend so much energy by being overly dramatic on the court. Technically, the Djokovic serve also needed some tweaking.

Learning Novak Djokovic’s Serve Technique

The serve is the most important shot in tennis. Even with today’s slower surfaces and more baseline oriented styles, the serve remains the cornerstone of every great player’s game. The top players of today hit less aces the top players from about 15 years ago when Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic and Richard Krajicek rained them down, especially on the fast courts.

But today’s players rely heavily on the serve to set up their next shots. Nadal couldn’t complete his own career grand slam had it not been for the improvements he made with his serve. The Djokovic serve was by no means weak or vulnerable. But it was not the weapon he needed it to be.

Djokovic is blessed with a 6’2’’ frame that is lithe, flexible and deceptively powerful. He has an elastic quality about him that recalls Ivanisevic. To improve his serve, he didn’t need to build more strength or flexibility. He just needed to modify his technique a little.

Novak Djokovic Serve Technique

The Djokovic serve begins with the line-up at the baseline. His left foot is about 45 degrees to the baseline and the right foot is almost parallel. The feet are about body width apart, but since he has a slim build, they are not too far apart. He holds the racket in a continental grip or turns it a little over to the eastern backhand grip if he’s going to hit a kick serve.

Novak Djokovic then bounces the ball… over and over and over again, depending on the importance of the point. The bigger the point, the more times he bounces the ball. This somehow calms him and helps him concentrate. Only then does he commence the wind up.

The Djokovic serve has similarities to the Pete Sampras serve at this point because they both point the toes of their leading foot up. Weight is loaded on the back leg. The toss is dependent on the type of spin he wants to impart. For a kick serve, he will toss more to the left and over his head, while for a flat or slice serve, he tosses more out in front and a little more to the right. The tossing arm leads the hitting arm, which begins to wind up the racket.

Novak Djokovic Serve: Wind Up

This wind up is a classic motion. He takes the racket back in a full, circular loop. He coils his hips and shoulders, almost showing his back. His legs relax and begin to push down on the ground. The take back brings the racket into the trophy position. This is one part of his serve that has changed for the better.

Novak Djokovic Serve Technique: The Big Change

In the past, his elbow was too low in this trophy position. This increased the distance his racket head had to travel to get to the contact point, theoretically allowing him to build up more speed. But it wasn’t biomechanically efficient. It required too much effort. It also compromised the consistency of the swing and therefore the accuracy of the resulting shot.

The 2011 version of the Djokovic serve has his elbow in a slightly higher position on the take back. His arm and shoulder are now in better alignment with his tossing shoulder and arm. At the end of the take back, his knees are bent more deeply.

Novak Djokovic Serve: Uncoiling to the Upwards Swing

The next phase of the Djokovic serve is the uncoiling of the body as he launches up to hit the ball. The feet push off as the knees begin to extend up and propel him to the ball. The hips uncoil, and this is another part of his motion that has improved. He used to remain a little sideways on throughout the stroke. This broke the kinetic chain that was supposed to lead all the way up to the racket whipping through the ball. Instead, he had to rely on his shoulders and arm more to generate power.

Today, he uncoils from the hips more resulting in an overall increase in the fluidity of the stroke. He still doesn’t uncoil as much as someone like Roger Federer, so maybe there is still more room for improvement with regards to this stroke. After the hips, the shoulders uncoil and the elbow goes up while the wrist remains cocked and ready to whip at the ball.

Novak Djokovic Serve: Contact Point

When the ball is in striking distance, Djokovic extends his elbow and starts to pronate the wrist. On a flat serve, he will hit right through the ball. On the slice, he will come around the right side of the ball while still going through it. Kick serves are hit from 8 o’clock to 2 o’clock position – exactly as any tennis instructional material would say. In any case, his arm is fully extended at the point of contact.

The follow through also depends on the type of spin he has put. However, there is less of a pronounced difference between his follow through on the kicker compared to the flat or slice serve. Other players follow through their kick serves on the same side of the body. Djokovic follows through ahead of him because he hits more through the ball even on this kind of serve. In the past, this relatively flatter way of hitting the kick serve resulted in a number of crucial double faults.

Novak Djokovic Serve Technique: Recovery Position

The last part of the Djokovic serve is the finish and recovery. He lands well inside the court with his chest almost parallel to the ground and the right leg extended almost fully behind him for proper balance. His quickness and rubber-like snap back to the ready position means he can handle any kind of return. Two of his biggest rivals, Nadal and Andy Murray, count their returns as some of their best shots. To date, he has won all of his matches against these two players this year.

Djokovic Serve Potential in the Future

The vast improvement of the Djokovic serve, along with the exponential increase in his fitness level and confidence has resulted in an almost unbeaten 2011 season. He has won the Australian Open and Wimbledon crowns to cement himself as the new number one ranked player. He has compiled a 49-1 win-loss record, the lone loss coming against Federer at the French Open.

The US Open is the next big tournament coming, and chances are, he will walk away with his third grand slam title of the year. He was runner up there last year to Nadal, and he was still using his old service motion. Nadal’s win was keyed also by improvements to his own serve. It seems like history is destined to repeat itself – not because Nadal will win again, but because a player with a new and improved serve will again lift the championship trophy in New York.

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Unfortunately, over a period of several years, she began to modify her serve motion into more of an abbreviated motion which threw off the natural timing of the stroke. This article will discuss the Maria Sharapova serve technique and it’s evolution.

Maria Sharapova Serve: Her Current Technique

Erratic. Unpredictable. Unreliable. These are words that describe a person with bipolar disorder. These people have wild mood swings that make them extremely happy, angry or dramatic, or sad, unenergetic or apathetic. When they swing over to the manic phase, they have the potential to be very productive.

But then they cycle over to the depressive phase and fail to get anything done. Patients suffering from this condition usually weren’t always this way. There was a stressor in their lives that triggered a tendency for them to develop the disease.

How is this related to the Maria Sharapova serve?

Sharapova, as you will recall, was a highly talented prodigy who came from Siberia to the United States to train at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. She showed a tremendous attitude toward competing and practicing. She worked very hard to develop powerful strokes that would enable her to play the most aggressive kind of game.

She was also blessed with great height and long limbs. This gave her great leverage and allowed her to develop a powerful serve. The big serve propelled her to three grand slam titles by the age of 21. But then, a nasty shoulder injury wrecked her serve. As it was the foundation of her game, the rest of her game deteriorated along with it. Her confidence suffered and her results plummeted.

Rebuilding Sharapova’s Serve

With hard work and determination, Sharapova kept trying to retool her game by rebuilding her serve. But the damage had already been done. As hard as she tried, it was just not the shot it once was. Because she practiced so hard and never stopped fighting, there have been periods of brilliance. Recently, she re-entered the top 10 by reaching the French Open semi-finals and the Wimbledon finals. But in both matches, the serve deserted her again. She committed double faults and was just not able to pressure her opponent right away. She could get away with a poor serving day against a lesser opponent, but in the late rounds of a grand slam, there was no such thing. The Sharapova serve continues to suffer from bipolar disorder.

Maria Sharapova’s Serve in 2004

When Sharapova claimed her first grand slam title at Wimbledon in 2004, she was only 17 years old. Even more impressively, the players she faced in the final two rounds were Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams. Both had won Wimbledon before and both were known for their extreme groundstroke power and serving supremacy. Somehow, Sharapova was able to match them and beat them. She relied heavily on her serve to earn free points and dictate a lot of the rallies.

The Sharapova serve is preceded by a very elaborate and consistent ritual. She turns her back to her opponent and adjusts her strings. Then she walks up to the baseline, asks for the ball and takes a few skips. She chooses the ball she wants to serve with and puts the other one in her pocket. She dribbles the ball a few times with her racket and then catches it with her left hand. She looks at where she wants to put the ball and then tucks her hair behind her ears.

Then she adapts her service stance and bounces the ball two or three times from about head height. After all this, she finally commences her service motion. You would think that with such a consistent ritual there would be some semblance of reliability with her serve. In the past there definitely was. But presently, despite all of this, her serve is as moody as ever.

Sharapova Serve Technique

When it was a reliable weapon, commentators were effusive in their praise for the technique of the Sharapova serve. Like all great strokes, it begins with the proper grip. She uses the continental grip and holds the ball with her left hand, which at the same time supports the throat of her racket. Her feet are spaced body-width apart and her weight is on her back foot which is parallel to the baseline. The front foot is pointing toward the right net post.

She begins the motion by taking the racket back in a circular loop as she turns her shoulders and tosses the ball. The way she took her racket back is the most often modified part of her swing. When she first developed her injury, she abbreviated her take back and lifted the racket almost straight up to the trophy position.

Maria Sharapova’s Attempt to Model the Abbreviated Serve

This is a technique that Andy Roddick uses. But Sharapova lacks the whippy and snappy quality or Roddick’s motion. She does not have the power to coil and uncoil very quickly. She is better off generating momentum by taking a long swing. In short, this technique robbed her of power. She has since gone back to the fuller circular motion but she also experimented with variations in between. Her present circular take back is still not quite as full as her earlier pre-injury days.

Sharapova tosses the ball and transfers weight onto the front foot. The toss is quite high, since she is tall and has long arms. Still, it could be just a little lower to help her with consistency. This is one part of her serve which she never changed. When she used the shorter take back, she had to wait longer for the ball to drop to hitting height, stalling her momentum and inhibiting her power.

Another aspect of the toss that could be improved is that the tossing arm extends more out to the front than to the side. This is good in the sense that it will ensure the ball being tossed in front of her body. But it also prevents her torso from coiling more fully.

Sharapova Serve: Knee Bend & Coil

The next phase of the Sharapova serve sees her knees bend and shoulders tilt. The shoulders rotate further than the hips. With her weight now on her front foot, her left hip moves forward. The forward swing then commences. She drives her legs upward and her racket is taken to the back scratch position. Her hips begin to uncoil. Her arm exaggerates the external rotation of the shoulder and this may have been one factor in the development of her injury. She rotates shoulder over shoulder as she drives upward to the ball.

Her racket is still pointing downward because her wrist is cocked back and her elbow bent. As she hits the ball, her hips and trunk rotate forward while her elbow extends. The forearm then pronates quickly to snap the racket head at the ball. Her ‘default’ service motion makes her hit the ball flat. If she had a more natural tendency to hit with spin, she wouldn’t double fault as much. Her shoulder injury has limited her ability to come around the side of the ball and slice it.

Sharapova Serve: Follow Through Phase

She has now decided to hit more kick serves but it is also not a natural shot for her. Her toss isn’t ideal and she isn’t flexible enough in the trunk to coil and uncoil for a really strong kick serve. She has to rely more on her arm motion to generate the spin. It doesn’t generate enough so her margin is still not as good as it should be.

The final phase of the Sharapova serve sees her follow through by pronating all the way and decelerating the racket. She lands well inside the baseline on her left foot in an arabesque position.

Sharapova Serve: Recovery Position

The flaw here is that she seems to be teetering on the verge of losing balance. Because she is so tall, it is difficult for her to recover to the ready position. At Wimbledon 2011, Petra Kvitova rifled her return so fast that after serving, Sharapova was forced to hit a lot of shots defensively and off balance.

From her history, we know that Sharapova is a woman who will never quit. She will keep working on her serve in order to cure it from the bipolar disease it has suffered for several years now. So for her fans, her recent results should provide encouragement that her future will still possibly be as bright as her past.

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Rather than simply admire that number, we all need to figure out what we can learn from the record-breaking Ivo Karlovic serve. Here’s a brief look at the technique that has broken all records.

Winner of four ATP singles titles, the Croatian sensation is the tallest man ever to play on the men’s tour. He tops out at 6’10″—it’s no wonder that he lists basketball as his favorite hobby. While it is true that men and women of average height will never match the leverage of Karlovic on his serve, it’s not true that his serve is not worth breaking down bit by bit. Karlovic does not serve aces by simply casually throwing the ball in the air and smacking it.

How To Produce an Ivo Karlovic Serve

Ivo Karlovic’s serve is made up of a very refined technique that obviously is a product of hours and hours of hard work. It’s that technique that will be discussed here. Will you reach 156 mph if you imitate it? No. But you might add a few precious mph to your serve and improve its consistency by learning from the Ivo Karlovic serve. Let’s progress movement by movement through Karlovic’s serve:

Karlovic’s serve motion begins in a fairly conventional stance. His left hand holds the ball underneath the racquet at his waist. The ball is actually touching the racquet at this point. Many players like to have a few element of their serve repeated every time, especially at the starting point. Karlovic obviously likes to feel the ball on racquet as a starting point.

If you do not have a consistent starting point, a check point when you can say, “Now, I’m ready to start,” this might be a good one: hands together. Karlovic also has another very important characteristic to his ready position: his left foot rests on its heel, the toes in the air.

Weight Transfer and Ball Toss In the Karlovic Serve

Karlovic is ready to transfer all of his body weight from back to front to generate maximum power. The Ivo Karlovic serve is not based solely on arms and shoulders. His entire body is involved and that primed left foot gives a hint at what is to come.

As Karlovic tosses the ball quite high (he has to toss it high at 6’10″!), he gets all body parts engaged and moving in the same direction. After a brief movement back with his torso arched, he has placed the toes of his left foot down now, drawing the rest of his body forward. The movements of any great serve are apparent: the bent back, the flexed legs, the entire body moving strongly forward.

And don’t forget this point— Karlovic’s eyes are squarely on the ball, even after thousands of hours of practice. He is keeping his head up and on the ball, not on the opponent or the spectators or anyone or anything else. Another fine point that stands out with the Ivo Karlovic serve: after the toss, his hand is extremely loose and pointed palm up towards the sky, revealing that Karlovic’s toss was executed with all muscles relaxed.

Looseness and Relaxation – Another Key of the Ivo Karlovic Serve

What’s even more interesting is that the fingers on Karlovic’s racquet hand are also extremely loose, with several flaring off as the ball is tossed, further proving the extreme relaxation of both arms as the serve is begun. This is the opposite of how many club players serve, with everything in the body tense as you hope beyond hope that your first serve will be powerful and land in.

Once you’ve practiced your serve to a point where muscle memory has been achieved, you can relax both hands and arms and save your power for contact. In addition, Karlovc’s arm is cocked in a classic reverse “L” position, at about a 90-degreee angle.

Using Groundforce Reaction to Push Off the Ground – Present in Karlovic’s serve.

Karlovic is ready to make contact with the ball now. In his effort to reach the ball, he actually leaves both feet. He has created so much momentum in moving forward that a jump is almost inevitable. The high toss and his desire to hit the ball at his maximum out-stretch has forced him to leave his feet. Let’s consider just how high of a point the ball is coming from as we think about being on the receiving end of this missile.

How High He Get Off the Ground in the Karlovic Serve?

Add Karlovic’s nearly 7-foot frame to his nearly 3-foot arms and add a jump of several inches.

It is safe to say that the ball is being struck at least 10 feet from the ground, a trajectory that tour players rarely see.

This is part of the key of the Ivo Karlovic serve that you cannot duplicate, unless you are near his height. The rest is certainly up for imitation: left toes up, rock back, rock forward, high toss, eye on the ball, small jump, contact at ball’s highest point possible.

Pronation is Another Part of the Ivo Karlovic Serve

A careful look at Ivo Karlovic’s serve motion also reveals that he has used pronation, the turning down of his palm to hit the ball. Karlovic has used an Eastern grip and turned his wrist counter-clockwise to hit the ball flatly with some momentum. Thus, Karlovic is generating energy even with his wrist, as if his 6’10″ frame were not enough.

Watch Slow Motion Videos of the Karlovic Serve

If you look at a video of the Ivo Karlovic serve, you will see his follow-through revealing a definite use of pronation as his racquet face is turned away from his body after hitting the ball. Pronation is used by almost all top professional and amateur players. You will need many hours of practice to master this technique.

Karlovic lands well into the court after his little leap. How much forward momentum was created by his movements? Enough to propel him nearly a yard into the playing area. That bodes well for a serve-and-volleyer like Karlovic. You don’t have to follow your serve to the net, but if you generate as much forward momentum as Karlovic does, it’s worth a try now and then because you will feel like you’re halfway there anyway.

Karlovic’s Serve – Keeping the Head Still

Karlovic’s head is still following the ball. All of the height in the world is useless if the eyes stray. Karlovic knows exactly where his serve is headed because he is carefully tracking it. As he finishes his follow through, his eyes are looking straight ahead to see where the serve lands and what his opponent will do.

As he takes that first giant step towards the net, Karlovic’s body is flexed and focused. His right foot hits the ground and his left leg is well up in the air, ready to take another large step towards the net. His racquet is at waist height and his left hand is even with it as he readies himself for a volley. Where is your racquet after the serve? Down? Up? In ready position?

Getting Ready For the Next Shot

Karlovic does not assume for an instant that his opponent will miss the serve. He is ready for a rocket return and is already in volley position as he advances towards the net. Don’t think he didn’t practice this movement for hours, either.

He did. He knows that the quicker he gets into ready position, the fewer movements he has to make as he moves toward the net. He can simply stay in the same position with each step and he will be perfectly ready to pick off an easy volley.

Ivo Karlovic has a nice frame from which to launch a powerful serve, but his technique is also impeccable.

If you want a serve near the level of the Ivo Karlovic serve, you, too, will need to master the fundamentals as he has.

The distinct features of the Karlovic serve, apart from its point of contact 10 feet from the ground, are: his extreme relaxation, little leap and use of pronation.

He also finishes very well, moving toward the net in a ready position. All of those features were added through many hours on the practice court. That’s where you’ll need to go, too, to imitate the Ivo Karlovic serve, famous the world over.

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Most club players, junior players and college players would dream of being able to hit an astounding serve similar to the andy roddick serve.

In this article we will discuss the andy roddick tennis serve technique and the elements behind what makes up a world class serve. A lot of the discussion behind Andy Roddick’s serve is based on biomechanical principles of the tennis serve, but few players have the athletic ability to execute this type of serve motion. Nonetheless, we will examine some of the critical factors and explain what and any commonalities shared with other top pro servers on tour.

In 2000, when Andy Roddick first made waves on the professional tour, he lit up the world of tennis with his incredible enthusiasm, athleticism and extreme power.

Like any young, hyped player, he was exciting to watch and seemed to be just as excited himself to be playing against the men he grew up watching on TV, like Pete Sampras. Sampras predicated his game around his god-like serve, a stroke that has been one of the most studied and analyzed in the whole history of the game. But when Roddick came on the scene, people were startled: this kid’s serve had power quite like never before, and they started thinking if he’d be the one to continue the Sampras legacy.

The Background Behind Roddick’s Serve

Nonetheless, the power of the Andy Roddick serve also made people nervous. His motion was radically different from Pete’s. He has a very abbreviated take back and an exaggerated snap through contact. He was also not at all graceful. Whereas Sampras had smooth and efficient mechanics, Roddick was jerky and snappy. Also, he was using a bigger, lighter and stiffer racket than what Pete used. All this made people believe, at that time, that he would be prone to eventually injure his shoulder, elbow, wrist or all of these; jeopardizing his chances of fulfilling his future as the great American hope.

Fast forward to the present and things have turned out pretty okay for Andy Roddick. The Roddick serve is still one of the most dangerous on tour. Andy Roddick’s serve has already set the world record for the fastest serve ever at 155 mph. He fulfilled the hope of his countrymen by winning the US Open and getting to number one in the world. He just didn’t achieve as much as Sampras because Roger Federer happened (and then Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and some more, but that’s a whole different story). Nevertheless, his serve is still producing aces and unreturnables. Perhaps more significantly, his shoulder, elbow and wrist have all throughout been fine, thank you.

Andy Roddick Serve Technique

The Andy Roddick serve is simply a ball of tremendous kinetic energy. From slow motion camera studies using ultra high frame rates, certain things come into view. The balls that he hits average a speed of 130 mph and 2400 rpm. No one else comes close to putting that combined amount of speed and spin on the ball. That translates into one ultra-heavy ball. Sampras, who used to be the standard, averaged 118 mph and 2500 rpm

Studies also reveal exactly why the Andy Roddick serve is such a lethal shot in terms of biomechanics. The best way to analyse it is to look closely from the ground up. His stance is a narrow one, with his front foot at a slight angle from the baseline and the back foot virtually parallel. As he tosses the ball and his knees start to bend, the front foot moves very slightly backward, narrowing the stance even more.

The Andy Roddick Serve: Coiling of the Lower Body

One of the elements that distinguishes roddick’s serve is his ability to create a strong loading and coiling of the lower body through a pinpoint stance. Andy Roddick goes into a deep knee bend very quickly, and this is what gives the motion its jerky quality. At the end of the knee bend, his weight is almost equally distributed to the balls of both feet. As he begins to launch up into the serve, he is pushing off both feet and getting a very powerful leg drive into the shot.

Other players who use a wider stance push off mainly with just the front foot. Still others who also may use a narrow stance like Roddick do not get the same leg drive from both legs because their back foot takes off a little before the front foot. In other words, this is one of the truly unique traits of the Andy Roddick serve.

The torso is the next thing that should be analyzed. According to textbooks, in order for the serve to be as powerful as possible, the body has to rotate as much as possible to store maximum potential energy which will be transferred into the shot. It is as if the torso was a coil that you twist and then release. Roddick has a very good amount of trunk rotation as he winds up to hit – for a player with such a narrow stance, that is.

Andy Roddick’s Serve Versus Pete Sampras’s Upper Body Coil

Biomechanically, it is very difficult to rotate like Pete Sampras if the stance you use is a narrow one. Sampras uses a wider stance so he is able to rotate more fully. Roddick make up for this minor limitation by being faster in his movements. This is another factor that makes him look snappy and ungraceful. When analysed in super slow motion, he isn’t really ungraceful per se; it’s just that he’s too quick to be seen as graceful. Roddick’s toss isn’t as very high so he has to move quite quickly. He goes into a full coil and uncoils more quickly than other players, including Sampras.

Roddick Serve: Arm Action & Swing Technique

Perhaps the most obvious and studied part of the Andy Roddick serve is the action of the arm from the shoulders to the racket head. This is the part that made people nervous that he’d get injured using such a violent service motion. Holding the racket in the continental grip, Roddick takes it up with an abbreviated backswing. This means that he makes the racket go up at the same time as the tossing arm.

The advantage of this motion is that it is less difficult to time, especially when you factor in things like the wind affecting the ball toss or something like that. The right shoulder drops below the level of the left, as with any good server, as he readies to launch up to the ball. Overall, his shoulders don’t rotate as much as Sampras, again because of the limitation in overall torso rotation discussed above.

The next thing to look at is the tossing arm or left arm (obviously, since Roddick is right handed). All great servers have a very consistent toss. The left hand holds the ball near but not exactly at the tips of the fingers.

Although holding the ball at the tips of the fingers is recommended for greater consistency, Roddick makes up for this by bending his left arm slightly and then going straight up to toss the ball. His fingers open up to release the ball. The wrist is locked into position at the top of the tossing action, fully extended. This further gives it the consistency and reliability. Additionally, his head looks up to the ball with the chin up, not just the eyes.

The Andy Roddick Serve Technique & Use of the Kinetic Chain

All great shots take advantage of the biomechanical concept known as the kinetic chain. The serve is no exception. The kinetic chain in the serve starts from the legs launching up from a deep knee bend, into the torso uncoiling, into the right shoulder going up and over the left shoulder, into the elbow, straightening from a 90-degree bend at the “racket drop” position, to the wrist pronating and snapping the racket through the ball.

We’ve already established that the Andy Roddick serve is made up of motions that are all included in this kinetic chain. At the same time, each motion is considerably quicker than most other players. But there are no weak links or “disconnected” elements in his kinetic chain. In other words, there are no hitches in his motion, despite the fact that overall, it looks jerky. This is one of the reasons why Andy has never had any major injuries related to his serving motion. Let’s continue analysing the action of his hitting arm.

Andy Roddick Serve During the Swing to Contact

As Andy launches up into the ball, the wrist of the hitting arm drops the racket head behind his head at the same time as the elbow going up and bending 90 degrees. At this moment, he is completely off the ground with his legs already having straightened out, propelling him upward to the ball.

The torso is also midway in its uncoiling action. Then, the elbow begins to straighten out but the wrist remains cocked back at first. The wrist only straightens as the elbow approaches full extension. The racket head is approaching the ball sideways but there will be a very quick pronation to make the racket head strike the ball squarely at contact. At contact, he is fully extended, from feet to hitting wrist. The wrist continues pronating, bringing the racket head up and across the ball for topspin and sidespin.

Roddick Serve Follow through

The Andy Roddick serve ends with the follow through. His arm starts going down on the right side of his body, but the rotational action from his torso to his shoulders eventually brings it over more to the left side. The tremendous upward leg thrust has carried over the baseline and into the court, allowing him to dictate the point onward. He lands, split-steps and recovers for his next shot.

Everything in this shot happens so quickly that the result is a shot with sheer speed and vicious spin unlike any other. Because the serve is considered the most important shot in the game, coaches have begun to recommend the Roddick serve to their students. So in a sense, he did continue the Sampras tradition of having his serve technique analyzed, copied and taught.

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Andy Murray’s Serve: Background

World number four Andy Murray has been a solid top five player for almost four years now. He first gained notice at Wimbledon in 2005 when he reached the third round. He has steadily improved his results there since.

In his past three appearances, he has lost in the semi-finals. You can expect that next year, all of Great Britain will continue to fervently pin their hopes upon him to become the first British champion since 1977 and their first male champion since 1936. Murray has also reached the final of the Australian Open twice and the US Open once. Unfortunately, he lost each time in straight sets and has been criticized for not putting up a better effort.

Andy Murray’s Serve: Setting Up The Point

Murray is an intelligent and crafty player. He has shown a steep learning curve since his early days on tour and is beginning to fashion out a more aggressive approach to winning points. His usual style is defensive and counterpunching. He lets the point develop and waits patiently for the opponent to make an error or a short ball by varying his shots.

Once he gets the short ball, he puts it away. He also likes to bring opponents who are not comfortable volleying up to the net with drop shots. Once they are there, he will hit precise passing shots or lobs.With his height, reach and build, the Andy Murray serve is a formidable shot. However, he has not maximized its effect by playing a more proactive style of winning points. Still, this shot provides him with the proper foundation upon which to build a more aggressive style.

Andy Murray Serve Technique

The Andy Murray serve begins with him lining up at a 45 degree angle to the baseline. His legs are a little more than body width apart with the left foot about 30 degrees off the line. This stance means that he will be using a big turn of the whole body to assist in providing some of the power to his serve. His arms are extended out in front. His left hand holds the ball and supports the racket at the shoulder of the frame. The right hand grips the racket in a continental grip.

The actual motion of the Andy Murray serve begins as he tosses the ball. He loads up his weight on the back foot and his tossing arm starts to go up but it is almost parallel to the baseline. For him, this assists in the coil of the shoulders. The hips and torso begin to wind up. The racket is taken back in a semi-circular motion up to the trophy position. It is a more compact way of taking the racket up but not as abbreviated as someone like Andy Roddick, who takes the racket straight up.

Andy Murray Serve: Trophy Position

At the trophy pose, he brings his feet close together as he bends his knees. This is called the pinpoint stance. Other players like Roger Federer keep their feet apart. His weight is now more concentrated on his left leg but since the feet are close together, both legs will be used to provide propulsion into the shot.

Also, this motion will result in a greater overall forward motion on the serve. Murray will be pushing off the ground and launching up to the ball later in the sequence. The only drawback of moving the back foot up close to the front foot is that it partially inhibits the fluidity of the coiling action. Therefore, the torso and upper body have a greater responsibility of providing the power of the shot.

Andy Murray Serve: Head Position

His head really looks up to the ball, which he has now tossed up. The toss itself is a little high but well placed and forward. The height of the toss ensures that he will be fully extended at contact. The position of the toss also means that he will be hitting the ball upward and forward. This is ideal for maximum power and control. His tossing arm is now extended up and outward.

Andy Murray Serve: Upward Swing

The forward swing phase of the Andy Murray serve sees his racket taken back into the back scratch position as he starts to push off the ground with both feet. His legs extend and his hips begin to uncoil. As this motion continues, the torso and the shoulders follow, bringing the elbow up.

The right shoulder is now higher than the left shoulder and the non-dominant arm is now lowered. The wrist remains cocked back. The elbow then extends before the forearm starts to pronate and the wrist straightens out.

Andy Murray Serve: Contact Point

The contact point of the Andy Murray serve is at the peak of the toss. His feet have left the ground and his torso continues uncoiling. At contact, his chest is facing the net. The forearm pronates and whips the racket face through the ball. Murray has the versatility to hit different kinds of spin serves including the kick and slice serves. His follow through will be different depending on the type of serve he has hit.

On a flat serve, he hits the ball squarely behind it and finishes forward and a little bit to the left side of the body. On the slice serve, his carves through the ball on its right side with the resulting follow through going more across his body.

The kick serve sees him brush the ball upward and forward from 8 o’clock to 2 o’clock and finish high, forward and on the same side of his hitting arm. He lands inside the baseline on his left foot. He does not finish with his body and right leg parallel to the ground. Instead, he is more at a 30-45 degree angle. Regardless, he has transferred his full weight into the shot.

Murray’s Serve: A Set Up Shot

Also, this method of finishing the stroke will enable him to recover more quickly for the next shot. After landing both feet, he reverts back quickly to the ready position.

The Andy Murray serve is used more as a set-up shot. As previously mentioned, with his ability to hit great serves, he should be looking immediately to attack after the serve. When he is serving well, his first serve is very difficult to return. But his passive mind set makes it much easier for his rivals.

When opponents see that he is not going after the point offensively, they are under less pressure to return well and ironically start to return better. Murray then has to rely more on his return to try to control the points. He actually has developed an excellent return off both sides.

Like Andre Agassi, he has the ability to take the return very early and fire back a shot that puts the opponent immediately in trouble. But as with his serve, he usually prefers to get a rally going and work the point from there. More often, he will just absorb the pace of the serve and send it back deep. The drawback to this approach is that he is at the mercy of a player who is serving the lights out.

The serve and return are the two most important shots in the game. Murray is outstanding in both departments, but he has largely failed to capitalize on these strengths on the biggest occasions. A major part of the problem is psychological.

Andy Murray Serve: Dealing With Pressure

Andy Murray somehow must do a better job of handling the pressure. But this problem also stems from his natural tendency to play defensively. At the last two Australian Opens, where Murray was runner up first to Federer and then this year to Novak Djokovic, he played too passively and meekly while his opponent was really taking it to him. If he had been more assertive, especially in his service games, he would have been far more competitive. Maximizing strengths and bravely going for the big shots pays off with big rewards. The sooner he realizes this, the sooner he will win his first grand slam title.

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