4 Serve Rituals

enjoy ppl my first video tut (not mine but only posted here by me)

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Put It on a Dime

By Nick Saviano Photos By Lara Tomlin All the speed and spin in the world won’t matter if you can’t place the serve where you want it. The ability to control the direction of the serve is a critical component to its overall success. Hitting an ace is great. But not everybody can consistently crank the speed needed to blow a ball by an opponent. What’s more important is to set up the point tactically. The advantage of being the server is that it gives you a chance to dictate the point from the start. With good control you can choose to do things such as serve your opponent out wide or play to his weaker side. Here are some things to keep in mind if you want to have total control over your serve. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR FRONT FOOT To manipulate the placement of your serve, you must first have control over your balance. Many players blame a bad toss for problems with their service accuracy, but I think you should look at the feet first. If your front foot is moving around to accommodate an errant toss, you’re going to hit from an unstable base. It’s fine to drag your back foot up during your service motion, but that front foot, apart from turning slightly to assist your upper-body rotation, should stay where it is. In fact, most of the time your toss should be in line with your front big toe, give or take an inch or two. If you can consistently put the toss in that location, you’ll have a better opportunity to control your serve. The big mistake players make is changing the toss to help hit to a target. Obviously, if you’re hitting a kick serve, the toss will have to move more behind your head, but on your basic power first serve the toss needs to be more in line with your front foot, no matter what direction you’re aiming the ball in. USE GOOD SHOULDER ROTATION Not only does turning your shoulders add power to your shot, but it aids in accuracy as well. Too often recreational players simply face the net. This forces more of the power burden to fall on the serving arm, which can cause a loss of accuracy. The players who hit their locations most frequently generally have a healthy shoulder turn. This also provides good disguise during the preparation phase of the serve and will give your opponent trouble when he’s trying to read where you’re aiming. PRACTICE HITTING TARGETS There are three primary locations you are going to serve to—out wide, into your opponent’s body, and down the middle. While there are variations depending on the amount and type of spin you use, these are the crucial spots. The best way to practice hitting these locations is to set up targets that cover a decent-sized area. Don’t limit yourself to a space the size of a tennis ball, because that’s unrealistic and would become too frustrating to try to hit. And avoid trying to crush the ball. Rather, focus on good rhythm, timing, toss, and location. Attempt to hit the same target no more than three to five times in a row. This will prevent you from altering your toss or service action in order to hit that spot. A fourth target to consider is a shorter angle on a wide slice serve. You can place it a couple of inches from the singles sideline and several feet up from the service line. This serve is great for pulling your opponent outside of the court and out of position. MOVE THE RETURNER AROUND There are two locations to be concerned with on the serve—the spot where the ball lands, and, perhaps more important, where the opponent makes his return. For example, say you’re a right-handed player trying to hit the ball down the T in the deuce court. If you hit a serve with some slice (which curves from right to left), the ball may land near the T, but it will curve toward your opponent. It may still be a good shot, but a flatter serve that lands in the same spot will stay farther away from your opponent and potentially be a more difficult return. On the other hand, if you’re a righty and serving from the deuce side, that same slice serve placed out wide will curve away from your opponent more than a flat serve hit to the same location will. So you have to experiment with your serves and spins to figure out the spots you need to hit to stretch or jam your opponents. Depending on the flight path of your serve you may have to start the ball directly at the target or slightly to one side to achieve the desired effect. That’s why placement and spin are just as important as pace when it comes to the success of your serve. PS : The shoes this girl is wearing in the pic is same as mine [:P]

Returning Soft Shots

Q. I consider myself a solid 3.0 player. I love competing against other 3.0 and 3.5 level players and I do quite well. But when playing against what I would consider 2.5 level players, I usually end up losing the match. My problem is that I cannot seem to speed up their short slow balls. I return anything that comes my way slow with the same intensity that it comes in. If I take a good swing at it, all my shots go long. This has been going on for about six months! What is the best way to handle this situation? Obviously, I can push the ball back over the net all match long, but this does not change the pace, which is the outcome that I am looking for. —John Kelly, Boston A. Creating pace is difficult for many players because it requires polished technique to do it consistently. And it’s especially tricky to hit forcefully off really soft shots. You don’t say anything about your technique so I’ll address your situation in general terms. First, here’s what not to do. Don’t try to hit too hard. Just as you don’t take your car from first gear right to fourth, you shouldn’t attempt to take your opponent’s soft shots and send them back twice as hard as they came to you. Instead, whenever your opponent gives you a soft shot send it back with a little more pace than it came with. This may not feel as satisfying as you’d like but it’s a mental adjustment that you have to make if you want to successfully handle these soft, short balls. Get started by having a practice partner simulate the shots that give you trouble. There’s no substitute for hitting dozens of balls in a controlled environment. As you practice work on getting in position and preparing well. A full shoulder turn is critical if you want to create pace. (To ensure you’re turning your shoulders enough try this. Assuming you’re right-handed, if you’re hitting a forehand turn your upper body so that your left shoulder comes to your chin. For backhands your chin would rest on your right shoulder.) Since you say the balls you’re having trouble with are short and you have a tendency to hit long, you need to place a special emphasis on using extra topspin to keep the ball in the court. In fact, spin should be emphasized over power. Therefore, make sure you get your racquet below the intended point of impact as you’re swinging forward. That may mean using your legs to get lower than you normally do. Finally, focus on placement. Sure it feels good to hit the ball hard, but winning shots are more about putting the ball in the right place than they are about being struck with great force. Generally, aim the ball toward your opponent’s weaker side and go for depth. If it lands closer to the baseline than to the service line you’re doing good. —Tony Lance, Instruction Editor, TENNIS Magazine

Tag-team tennis

By Pat Whitworth The best doubles teams play as if they’re a tag-team wresting duo that tries whenever possible to turn points into two-on-one contests. The idea is to isolate and work over one of your opponents until you get the right ball to finish the point. This does three things for you: 1) Allows you to hold your position on the court instead of following the ball around as you would if you hit to both of your opponents। 2) Gives your opponents fewer gaps to exploit, since your position doesn’t change much। 3) Reduces your errors, since many errors occur when you try to change the direction of the ball too early in a point। Pat Whitworth is a USPTA Master Pro in Hamilton Mill, Dacula, Ga.

High backhand volleys made simple

High volleys should be easy, right? Then why do you miss so many on the backhand side? The problem is likely because of your backswing. Players miss volleys long because their backswing was too long and the ball got to their racquet before the racquet face got back forward. Players miss volleys into the net because their backswing was too long, they swung aggressively, and the racquet ended up too far forward. The good news is that it’s really hard to miss a routine volley—especially a high volley—if you don't take too big a backswing. How do you know if your backswing’s not too big? If, when you take your racquet back, you can still see the back of your strings (the side the ball's not on) it's almost impossible to make a mistake on the volley. All you have to do is line your racquet face up with the ball and push forward on impact. from the "tennis" mag.

Body Blow

If your opponent is still catching his breath after a long point, consider aiming your next serve directly at his body. A winded receiver will often play the return without taking adjustment steps, which are necessary for returning a body serve. Aiming the ball at your opponent in this situation will often result in a weak reply that allows you to play an aggressive shot on the next ball. Kirk Anderson, USPTA & PTR Master Pro, New Fairfield, Conn.

Tag-team tennis

By Pat Whitworth The best doubles teams play as if they’re a tag-team wresting duo that tries whenever possible to turn points into two-on-one contests. The idea is to isolate and work over one of your opponents until you get the right ball to finish the point. This does three things for you: 1) Allows you to hold your position on the court instead of following the ball around as you would if you hit to both of your opponents। 2) Gives your opponents fewer gaps to exploit, since your position doesn’t change much। 3) Reduces your errors, since many errors occur when you try to change the direction of the ball too early in a point। Pat Whitworth is a USPTA Master Pro in Hamilton Mill, Dacula, Ga.

Two-Handed Backhand of Novak Djokovic

Extensive hip rotation and a composed upper body make this shot a dependable asset. The great thing about Novak Djokovic’s game is how complete it is. He can do pretty much anything. And while his forehand is a punishing stroke, his backhand might be the more solid of the two shots. Djokovic can hit the ball crosscourt or open up the court with a shot down the line. It’s a big part of his constantly improving game. 1. This is a classic preparatory position for a two-handed backhand. Djokovic is looking over his dominant shoulder to track the ball and has excellent balance and posture. His hands are slightly higher than his waist, with the racquet head above his wrists and pointed back and up at 2 o’clock. He’s behind the baseline, but Djokovic is giving himself ample opportunity to step into the shot. 2. Djokovic takes his racquet back by employing a full shoulder turn. It’s a fairly straight backswing with the racquet head up. It appears as though Djokovic is making a loop, but the position of his frame is a result of his full upper-body rotation. At this point, Djokovic plants his left foot and loads all his weight on it. He’s ready to start his forward swing. 3. Djokovic’s hands get more involved in the stroke as he raises them and increases his shoulder turn. He’s beginning to transfer his weight by stepping forward with his right foot, which is parallel to the baseline. (Ideally his foot would be at a 45-degree angle with the baseline to allow him to open up faster.) The thing to appreciate is the position of Djokovic’s hips. They’re fully rotated and coiled, and as the sequence continues he does a great job of releasing them into the shot. 4. As he gets ready to unleash on the ball, Djokovic points the butt cap of his racquet toward the other side of the net. He’s starting to drop his racquet head, but he’ll only get under the ball enough to give it a little bit of topspin. Djokovic is also pushing off the toes of his back foot and starting to open up his hips. 5. Djokovic makes contact in front of his body and at waist level. Notice how his hands are moving away from his torso and working together; neither is dominating the other. His legs are straightening to lift his body up into the shot, and his hips and shoulders are opening up. Djokovic’s shoulders are more uneven than usual, but that could be a slight improvisation to compensate for the ball’s height and position. 6. There’s so much momentum created by his racquet acceleration, trunk rotation, and the weight shift in his legs that Djokovic is off the court when he follows through. Even though he’s in full swing, his head and body remain composed. Djokovic’s arms extend through the hitting zone as his hips open up. His belly button, which was pointing to the side in his backswing, now faces the net. 7. Both of Djokovic’s elbows are pointing away from his body as he follows through. All his weight is now on his front foot, and his left leg is starting to come around to aid in his recovery. Djokovic has kept his head down throughout the stroke; only now is he tracking his shot. Judging the ball’s flight path and his opponent’s reaction will give Djokovic a better idea of where to position himself for his next shot. 8. The ball has left the frame, but Djokovic is still completing his long follow-through. This is a great lesson for rec players—finish the swing first, then recover. Djokovic’s left leg is swinging out so he can plant it and move back toward the center of the court. He’s low to the ground, with his balance still perfect. That will help him explode to wherever the next ball goes.