Control Your Service Toss

Start with your weight on your back foot and you'll put the toss in the right spot.

PROBLEM

(see pic above)

Your service toss is hard to control and tends to drift behind your head. This prevents you from getting forward momentum into your swing and makes it difficult to hit the serve with pace and control.

SOLUTION
(see pic below)
When you’re in the set position before you serve, start with your weight on your back foot. As your tossing arm goes up, shift your weight forward onto your front leg. This will help you get your toss in front of your body. It will also get you leaning into the serve and your body moving into the court as you swing through the ball. With the ball in front of you, rather than behind your head, you can hit a stronger flat or slice serve. Initially you may feel like you’re falling forward, but with some practice this momentum will add even more power to your serve.

Returning a Strong serve

One of the rules of the playground is that you should always stand up to a bully. Show weakness and you’re just asking to be pushed around. You can’t allow yourself to be intimidated on the tennis court, either. If your opponent smells fear coming from your side of the court, his confidence and play will usually soar. One of the more common tormentors in tennis circles is the big-serving bully. This is a player who relies on a powerful first serve to win a lot of free points, which lets him take more chances on his other shots. If you have trouble returning his serve, it’s a style that can put a lot of pressure on you. But if you neutralize his weapon, he’s nothing to be scared of.

Here’s how:
Stand a few steps back: Many power servers favor pace over placement. They simply try to overwhelm you with the speed of the serve because they don’t possess the precision to aim for the lines. So give yourself a little extra time to return it by starting farther back in the court (try a couple of feet behind the baseline) than you usually stand. Unless your opponent is following the serve to net, there’s really no benefit in contacting the ball any earlier. You’re better off forcing him to volley rather than piling up errors.

Shorten your take back: You don’t have a lot of time to set up for the return of a big serve. Luckily, since your opponent is giving you so much pace, you don’t need to take a big swing. Simply making solid contact out in front of your body is all that’s necessary for an effective return. Your backswing should essentially be limited to your shoulder turn.

Hit from an open stance: Again, you’re being rushed, so footwork is at a premium. Rather than taking several steps to position yourself, the most efficient way to make the return is to the line up the incoming ball with your outside, or back, leg and lean into the shot. The coil of your upper body and the pace of the serve will supply the power. This will not only help you put more serves in play, it will allow you to move more effectively for the next shot.

How to Serve

Andy Murray’s Serve

Nineteen-year-old rising star Andy Murray of Scotland has assaulted the rankings in the last two years, moving nearly 500 spots to his current position inside the Top 40. Solid in every aspect of his game, Murray uses his serve to dictate play right from the get-go. And with a few minor changes, he could make it even better.

1. This is a typical stance for most players. It has no significance as far as racquet acceleration and power— each player simply has his or her own way of beginning to focus on the serve. One note: When my partner, Dr. Gideon Ariel, and I analyzed subjects who used this stance, with the racquet extended, there was an increase in the activity in their trapezius (neck and shoulder) muscles. Some players actually got a little stiff using this method. That’s why baseball pitchers shrug their shoulders and exhale to relax the muscles before throwing.

2. Notice that Murray’s tossing hand is nearly parallel to the baseline rather than extended toward his opponent. This causes his body to coil, and it’s the uncoiling of the body in a particular sequence from the ground up that generates racquet speed. That sequence is called the “kinetic chain.” Notice also that Murray’s dominant arm is extended backward. Many players think they should look like the classic serving trophy, with the hitting elbow tucked way down behind them. But that trophy designer must have had a pitiful serve.

3. At this point, Murray brings his back foot up toward his front, which momentarily stops him from uncoiling his body. He relies on loading the muscles in his upper body rather than generating a complete kinetic chain. His knees are bent to activate a forward and upward movement. While the knee bend is an initiator of the kinetic chain, in our research we found that the knee bend alone was not a huge factor in serve speed and generated less than 10 m.p.h. for most subjects.

4. Here is where Murray fails to maximize his racquet-head speed. His body isn’t going as forward and upward as it could be. He tosses the ball farther back than, say, Andy Roddick does. In our research center, we found that the greatest racquet speed was produced when the player’s upper arm was going up and forward toward the net, as in a baseball pitch. Murray’s upper arm is traveling more upward than forward, which will limit his speed.

5. Murray makes contact with the ball at the peak of the toss, which has major advantages in serving percentages. One or two inches in height can often mean the difference between an ace or a ball that hits the tape. Andy continues to uncoil his body, which helps to increase racquet-head speed. Note that Murray’s feet have left the ground. If you jump to hit the ball before the upper arm has achieved maximum speed, you’ll lose power. This is not true if the ball is tossed out front and the server is pulled off the ground when he reaches for it.

6. Murray has one foot behind the baseline when he lands. (Roddick lands more than 2 feet inside the baseline.) It’s important to get the toss as far out in front as you can. As Murray’s game continues to improve, I think you’ll see him tossing the ball farther out toward the net to maximize racquet-head speed, while remaining properly balanced to attack the net or play the point out from the baseline.

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Serve

A serve (or, more formally, a service) in tennis is a shot to start a point. The serve is usually initiated by tossing the ball into the air and hitting it (usually near the apex of its trajectory) into the diagonally opposite service box without touching the net. It may be performed underhand or overhead. The serve is the only shot where a player can take his time to set up, instead of having to react to an opponent's shot.

The serve is one of the more difficult shots for a novice, but once mastered it can be a considerable advantage. Advanced players can hit the serve in many different ways and often use it as an offensive weapon to gain an advantage in the point or to win it outright. Because of this, professional players win most of their service games, and breaking serve plays a crucial role in a match.

coming soon : more on Serving

Supercharge Your Practice

Have you ever felt that you could really improve if only you could find better practice partners, yet the reality is that you’re stuck hitting against the same couple of players all the time? You’re not alone. But there’s an easy way to take your practice to another level even if you can’t bring in new blood: Play two on one.

This was a staple of the Australian Davis Cup team back in the 1950s and 1960s when the Harry Hopman-trained squad was dominating the rest of the world. Two-on-one hitting supercharges your practice because it simulates playing against a stronger opponent. Balls that one player might not reach are easily handled by two, and rallies tend to last longer and be more intense.

In fact, one hour of two-on-one drilling, with each player taking two 10-minute turns on the solo side, can be more intense than two hours of regular hitting. The next time you’re looking for a serious on-court workout, or can’t line up a fourth for doubles, consider hitting two-against-one.

The Backhand Shot

SHOULDERS » Safin accompanies his racquet take-back with a significant shoulder turn. His front shoulder is even with his chin, and you can see a good portion of his back. This will get a great deal of upper-body rotation into the shot and help him generate huge power when he wants it.

ARMS » As he prepares his racquet, Safin’s elbows are bent and they hug his body. This is going to create a longer and more powerful swing than if his arms were completely straight. In today’s game, the bent elbow is a widely used style, and in my opinion a good option.

LEGS » Safin closes off his stance to hit this particular backhand, but he can hit this stroke with his feet in any alignment. Again, the key for a potent two-hander is good shoulder rotation, and Safin can do that whether his stance is open, or, as in this case, closed.

RACQUET HEAD » Although Safin’s racquet is not much farther away from the ball than Connors’, look how much higher it is. Yet Safin will still have time to drop the racquet below the ball and brush up. This makes for a longer and faster swing that will produce pace as well as spin for safety.

WRISTS » Along with a bend in the elbows, Safin also has some flex in his wrists. This will allow him to drop the head of the racquet below the level of the ball and snap up from low to high, creating significant topspin. Safin can still hit with power and control but can also create sharper angles than if he were to hit primarily flat.

Open Stance Forehand

PREPRATION

RACQUET: Moya brings his racquet back above head level. Starting his swing from this point will enable him to generate plenty of racquethead speed. In order to take such a large swing you need time to measure the
ball.

GRIP: Like many claycourt players, Moya uses an extreme Western grip on his forehand. This closes the racquet face, which allows a player to drop the frame below the ball and brush up for heavy topspin.

RIGHT ARM: Moya’s hitting arm is almost completely straight and extended away from his body. This is good for power but problematic unless you have superb timing. The average player would be wise to bend the arm a little, keeping the elbow closer to the body.

LEFT ARM: What you do with your nonhitting arm is important on a forehand. Here you see Moya bringing it over to the hitting side, which naturally rotates his upper body (his chin is over his left shoulder) and counterbalances his racquet arm.

RIGHT LEG: By loading up and hitting off his back leg, Moya is using open-stance footwork. He has started to flex his right knee and will probably bend it a little more to further load his weight onto that leg and explode up and through the shot.

RIGHT FOOT: The toes on Moya’s right foot are pointing to the side, which facilitates his hip turn. If the plant foot is more perpendicular to the net, it’s much more difficult to get that rotation.

CONTACT

HEAD: A trademark of a top-notch ball striker is the ability to keep the head still at impact. Here Moya’s face is relaxed and expressionless. If your head is jerking around when you swing, it can affect your balance and your ability to make solid contact.

RACQUET: This is a splitsecond after contact and the racquet head is already above the ball. Moya definitely came from below the ball and brushed up the bottom part of it to get some serious topspin.

RIGHT WRIST: Notice how the wrist is laid back and the hitting elbow is tucked in close to the body. That’s the perfect leverage position from which to rock the ball on the forehand.
HIPS: After coiling his body so well in the previous photo, Moya really unwinds into the shot. This rotation creates tremendous power and helps get the racquet, which Moya brought so far back, to contact on time.

RIGHT LEG: Even though he is hitting from an open stance, Moya still has plenty of forward momentum. He takes all of the weight he loaded onto his right leg in the first photo and launches himself up (he’s off the ground) and into (his right foot is now pointed forward) the shot.

Measuring Your Correct Grip Size

The right grip size makes a huge difference in how a racquet performs. If you're not sure of your grip size, here are two simple ways to measure:

Holding an eastern forehand grip (the palm is placed against the same bevel as the string face), you should be able to fit the index finger of your non-hitting hand in the space between your ring finger and palm. If there isn't enough room for your index finger, the grip is too small. If there is space between your finger and palm, the grip is too big. A too-small grip requires more muscle strength to keep the racquet from twisting in your hand. Prolonged use of a grip that's too small can contribute to tennis elbow problems. A grip that's too large inhibits wrist snap on serves, makes changing grips more difficult and also requires more muscle strength. Prolonged use of a grip that's too big can also contribute to tennis elbow problems.

If you don't have a racquet handy, you can also measure your grip size using a ruler. With your hand open and fingers extended close together, align the ruler with the bottom lateral crease of your palm and measure to the tip of your ring finger.

Keep in mind, it's easier to increase handle size on most racquets. In fact, the majority of today's lightweight racquets' handles cannot be reduced in size. If you're between grip sizes, go with the smaller size and add an overgrip to arrive at the ideal fit. A typical overgrip will increase a grip by 1/16 inch. You can also increase grip size using a heat-shrink sleeve. One heat shrink sleeve will increase grip size by 1/8 inch. Both methods will increase overall racquet weight slightly (7-16 grams) but the benefits of a correct grip size far "outweigh" the disadvantages of this added mass.

We also recommend you replace your grip regularly. A fresh, properly wrapped grip provides you with better racquet control and increased confidence.

Coming soon : " Open Stance Forehand"

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