how do I serve like a professional?

Question

everyone knows to hit the ball at the apex, but professionals do something special with their feet and body. What is it?

Answer 1

ZZTOPSPIN, if you want to serve like a profesional, then you should find yourself a coach because it's really the best way to do it. But with that in mind, I'll try to help you the best that I can.

As a tennis instructor, we teach the serve in steps. The first things we work on are the toss and the contact. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart (and with your non-dominant foot forward) and place your racket on the ground with the strings about six inches from your front-most foot. Toss the ball so that it goes up about a foot and a half from your outstretched hand and lands on the racquet. Keep doing this until you can hit your racquet consistently. You may be thinking, "This is so stupid!" But how often do you see professional players toss the ball, and then have to take steps sideways to get themselves in position to hit their poorly performed toss? NEVER! And how many times do you see recreational players do it? ALWAYS! And so, I repeat, the toss is a key to a professional's serve.

Also, when you toss the ball, hold the ball with the tips of your fingers. This is because you want to release your toss such that the ball DOES NOT spin in the air. If you hold the ball in your palm, the ball will end up rolling up fingers, will spin in the air, and will respond differently every time. We want consistency here.

Now that you've got your toss down consistently, you're going to want to work on your contact. Before we do that, we want to address your grip. Changing your grip is a good way to change the kind of spin that you put on the ball, but it usually isn't the way that pros do it. Spin comes later. Don't worry about that now. Hold your racquet with the "V" of your thumb and pointer finger on the middle bevel found by following the side edge of your racqued down to your grip. Start with your racquet in "back scratch position", or with the side of your racquet touching the middle of your back. Toss the ball, and extend up to contact and swing through the ball. Keep doing this until you gain comfort with the motion and consistent placement.

Congratulations, you've made it past the first step. There are dozens of different drills that you could do to work on these different aspects of the first step. I've only mentioned two. You should really contact an instructor to help you if you struggle making it through this first step.

Step Two: Now you're going to add the loopy motion that is typical of professional serves. This motion ends up being different for everyone. Pete Sampras, as was mentioned earlier, has a serve that is considered the perfect serve. Theoretically, it maximized momentum and power, however, Andy Roddick badly violates many of the principles of the Sampras serve and still manages to hit his serve harder than anyone ever before. And so, I can't tell you that there is ONE way to do things. All that I can suggest is that you start with your weight on your front foot, and that you transfer that weight to your back foot as you move through to your backscratch position. That way, you can spring out of backscratch and into the ball.

For you, do whatever you have to do to go from the resting position, to the back scratch position. Some players serve from a pinpoint stance (meaning their feet move together before springing into their serve) while others maintain the shoulder width distance. This is all up to you. The key is to explode up to the ball from the backscratch position. You already mentioned making contact at the highest point, you also want to try to "hit up" on the ball. You may think that you're going to send the ball into the next time zone, but if you tossed the ball at the correct height and make contact at the apex, "hitting up" on the ball will give you the explosion that you need to really power through the ball.

Another thing, is that you're going to want your serve to lead you into the court. This means tossing far enough in front of you to get some forward momentum into your serve.

Snapping your wrist does give you added power, but it's pretty advanced, and unless you're at least a 4.5 player it's probably not worth trying. Plus, you could hurt yourself if your wrist isn't strong enough/used to that kind of movement.

As you can tell, I was able to give nice detailed information for the beginning stage, but after that your serve will really begin to take its own personality. You should really consult a professional to have him/her help guide you along the way. I also recommend buying a ball hopper and filling it up and spending an hour every day serving. You'll get better.

In my sources I've included the website for the U.S. Professional Tennis Associatioin. They're the group that grades and allows a tennis instructor to be referred to as a "tennis pro". They have a link to find an instructor in your area. You may want to look at that. Also, the USTA link will also help guide you to a coach.

The key to a good serve is hours of practice and instruction. As a 15/16 year old kid, my serve was big enough to break through the plastic lawn chairs I used as targets. I was a skinny 6 foot, 120 lb kid, but I had practiced enough to gain real power on my serve. If I could serve like that as a kid then anyone else can with enough practice and instruction. Check out the links, find a professional, and get out on the court. That's the best way!

I hope that helps.

Answer 2

Ok first off u have to realize why ur missing and where is ur toss have ur toss a little to the right and out in front then turn ur shoulders and bend ur knees and swing up like ur gonna hit the sun with ur racket and make sure u go forward and don't snap ur wrist use your wrist trust me and just keep doing it and the faster u swing up to the sky the more topspin it's gonna have then once u see there all going in u can start hitting it harder and place the ball a foot from where u wanna hit and if u miss ur first serve do the same way Asa first except add more spin but if u want a serve the has kick with side spin the confuse ur opponent the toss the ball to ur left and swing up and to the right like ur swing from 7:00 to 3:00 ask ur coach about this and if u don't. Have a coach go to YouTube or a tennis site to see how it's done hope this helped and gl ;)

Answer 3

Watch film of Pete Sampras serving. His technique is perfect and the execution of his serves was devastating. Best serve ever.

Start by standing sideways parallel to the baseline then have your left foot pointed towards the right-side net post (assuming you are right handed).
Once in the ready position have both arms go down together and up together. Ensure your left arm is straight at all times to ensure the ball goes up straight and that you maintain balance.
As the ball is being released your racquet should be close to scratching your back.
Your knees must be bent.
Then when you see that the ball is at the right height for you to hit it, simply accelerate the racquet head through the ball.
In the follow through it is important that your head stays steady and straight. IE don't let your head drop as your arm follows through.

PS the way in which you snap your wrist forward will have an impact on what kind of spin you impart. However don't experiment with this until you have all the basics down pat.

Answer 4

To serve like a professional, take lessons from a professional... a professional tennis instructor that is.

Sure, if you're extremely talented, you might be able to learn a professional serve on your own. However, even if you do, it'll take you far longer than if you took lessons from a qualified tennis instructor who has a professional serve and keen teaching skills.

So, if you're sincerely interested in learning a professional serve, do yourself a favor and take lessons from a Pro. You won't regret it.

Answer 5

I had trouble serving today and i think i know why. I never planted my feet and i didn't standed sideways. They stand in the middle or inside to make a chance at returning there opponents return. they also throw the ball straight up in the air and at the climax they hit in a twisting motion to create power and spin. Well ill do better tomorrow hope I help.

Answer 6

Len has much of it right. I would add that imparting spin to the balls flight is what separates the best from the rest. Hitting up on the ball while giving it a glancing brush that makes it spin both downward and to the right or left. This brushing action puts spin on the ball much as a baseball pitcher throws curve balls at the batter. The height of the net prevents the ball from landing in the front box if it has been struck with a great deal of power. To counter this use spin to curve downward and side to side to keep your opponent guessing.

Answer 7

The key is balance...you bring your feet together and balance, then bend your knees, drop your racket behind you all the way down your back and then hit the ball with all you've got. It doesnt really take years of practice, i have that serve minus the power and it only took me one year of all season practice. and im no Serena Williams!!

Answer 8

That takes years of practice... Power from feet, bend your waise slightly backwards, throwing ball up high and straight, transfering the power from feet, stretch your serving arm, and snapping your wrist.

Answer 9

They raise the Ball up very high and jump into it like you're throwing something hard in front of you.

Answer 10

They plant their feet firmly and use their body like a power spring to transmit the power from their feet to their hand and then to the ball. They also practise, practise, practise.