A particular serve, and how to practice serving?

Question

I forgot to specifically mention this in my previous question....One of the areas I want to focus on excelling in first is my serve. Bare in mind, I am only going to play my first real game tomorrow since the courts here have been covered in snow. (We finished shoveling them off today, which mind you was a LOT of work.)

I've been practicing, but I have no idea if what I am doing is correct. I'll try to explain what I've been doing:

I start with my feet sideways, toss the ball up in front of me. I allow it to roll off my fingers and spin towards my target. I dip below it and bring my racket around and arc it up behind me, trying to whip the ball by using my wrist. All I have really been able to do so far is smack it like that, and I'm not very accurate...

I know that's probably not correct at all, since I just started DOING it because it felt natural.

So, what can I do to make my serve like a precisely guided SCUD missle and strike fear into my opponent? = P Haha.

I can't believe I forgot to add this: I am left handed.

Answer 1

True, shoveling off the courts is no fun.

Dont use your wrist. The power comes from the legs. You might want to point your front foot to the left net post (because youre left handed). It feels more comfortable.

The mechanics of the serve are really basic. Toss, "back scratch," contact. The problem I have is in the ball toss. Its goes off in all crazy directions.

Answer 2

Your wrist sounds like your problem. I think you're trying to use your wrist to generate power which would account for the inconsistancy.

It's like this....let's say you put a quarter on a table and tried to hit it with a normal pencil...not too hard right?

Now try hitting it with a really long gummy worm. That worm wont follow the path of your arm like the pencil did.

The pencil followed your arms path, the gummy worm flails.

Your shoulder/arm are the pencil, your wrist is the gummy worm. Yes, your wrist should snap at the top but thats a natural motion. You shouldn't be thinking "SNAP WRIST" as you server. Make sure you get a good shoulder turn and catch the ball high, that will change your server dramatically.

You also said your toss is in front of you, throw it a little to the right. It's a more natural racquet path for your shoulder (and the racquet) to follow. I'm assuming you are right handed.

Trust me, catching the ball as high up as you can reach will make a BIG difference in serve percentage and power.

Answer 3

One big thing to know id that developing a good flay first serve is very much like pitching a baseball without the leg kick. You really want to think that you are actually throwing tour racket at the ball. Your grip should be eastern or continental . Google them to see a picture of where your knuckles line up on the grip , it is easier to visualize rather then explain in words, Standing sideways is good and is called a closed stance. Being left handed on the deuce and add side your left foot is pointed at the right net post. You want to get it so that as you start your motion your right hand is holding the ball against your strings pointed at the box you are serving at, Your weight is on your right foot leaning towards the net , As your motion begins you drop your raquet tn a semi circle motion so that i is almost scraping the court. Now the key thing to a fluid motion is to have your Lefty arm and your right hand with the ball move up in unison, your left arm will bend in a throwing motion as you make your toss. make the toss high, you may have to play around with the height a bit depending on the wind. You wind as the ball that you tossed is on the way down, you really accelerate your left arm after the bend, everything is relaxed until that point as far as the speed of your motion goes. The easiest way to start working on your placement is be aware of where your follow through is going, if you want to hit y up the middle you follow through more towards that point if you want to go out wide your follow through goes more across your body towards the spot out wide. The good news is that you can practice your placement and serve on your own the bad news is tout going to have to hit a lot of serves, as you advance with the stroke you will start learning to snap your wrist for more power and you snap it up at the ball so it just does not go into the bottom of the net. The wrist snap being a lefty will go out towards your right for more power again needs a lot of practice, Now for tomorrow if your serve is going long make the toss out towards the net a bit more and if it is going into the net toss more into your body, this should give you some immediate results. So if it is going out toss it out if it is going in(to the net) toss it more in (towards your body, You will have to learn to shift your weight, As I mentioned earlier you start with your weight on your front foot ,when you bring your racket down and back towards the fence it shifts to your back foot in your case being a lefty that would be your right foot , as you bend and start your swing your weight again transfers forward towards your right leg again falling into the court. The serve and pretty much all your stokes need to have a pro look at it. Like every other sport the fundamentals are the key . You need to make sure you have the right grips and such. A good pro will be able to dissect what is going on fairly quickly and then you just practice. You do not want to overload yourself with to many things at once two or three major aspects should be the most to concentrate on at one period of time. The good news is that if you train hard and practice enough the things you are working on become muscle memory and you can move on to the next step to get to the next level. Anyway, I hope some of this will help you out and i am sure you have heard a lot of this before, but those are the basic fundamentals to getting a bit more pace on your first serve. The second serve is key , you really are only as good as your second serve, but I do not think you want to start learning how to kick it right now , you have enough on your plate. Really be aware of what you are doing so that when you hit it well you are able to duplicate it on the next one. Good luck and i hope you have a great season.

Answer 4

add top spin and jump.