Adam Keene
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Hey Herman how are you? I really appreciate your last review and suggestions. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to play any actual tennis recently (weather, courts, work, travel issues). But I did work on those high/low elbow exercises as well as swing no racquet, on edge, and grip drills. Mainly this had to be indoors so I could rarely even swing fully with a racquet.
I am sending you videos from the one time I could get outside to try serving, although this wasn’t on a court so I don’t know what the results would have been. I was thinking through my serve and I think that I start my tossing arm too late which is one reason I have that ugly double pause in my take back. I am trying to start it earlier and do see some improvements. I think my left shoulder is lower when I release the ball now. Also it seems like I’m getting a bit closer to a full motion (butt of racquet facing almost 90 degrees up when I start my swing). But when I look at my serve with and without an actual ball toss it still look so much better without. The takeback is much smoother and I get an even fuller/looser swing overall. If you compare the two videos I think you will see that. I think this might still be a timing thing and that if I start my toss even earlier maybe I’ll lose that pause in my takeback all together and have overall a more smooth and complete swing. Not sure what you think about that. I’m not at all aware of the pause in my takeback and I’m having trouble breaking that habit. I
I am not sure if any of this makes sense to you. I have been told that my ball toss is never high enough and think that may be why I started tossing so late (to make sure I can catch up to the ball and hit it with a straight arm). It took me a long time to develop a ball toss that was relatively predictable, and whenever I try to toss it higher it again becomes very erratic. But maybe the height of my ball toss is fine and I should just focus on starting it early and swinging smoothly; that pause in my takeback seems to guarantee that I won’t be loose enough to let the racquet head fall all the way down and the follow through to be complete. I am pretty sure the relaxed swing on my no ball swing is way faster than that of my actual serve.
In terms of the grip, you are right that I start with a continental grip, but often (not always) switch to more of a forehand grip mid serve. For some reason sometimes it feels like I am going to shank the ball if I don’t change grips. During my practice session I did focus on keeping my racquet on edge for as long as possible and I never shanked it. I would be interested in whether you think I keep my racquet on edge long enough and my grip continental in this video.
Hopefully I’ll have the chance to practice more on an actual tennis court next week and will let you know how it goes. In the meantime any comments/suggestions are much appreciated.
Thanks
Adam
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Hi Herman how are you? I wish I had more time to practice serving. I played twice this week, and each time found about 20 minutes to work on my serve. The half serve drill is definitely challenging for me. It might have to do with limited thoracic mobility, or maybe that I’ve never really ever coiled properly when throwing or serving. Anyhow, I found that I felt very stiff and rushed during it, and had trouble doing my full swing motion. Despite that, I could see that there was a lot of additional power to be gained with just a little bit of coil.
The full serve continued to be better than usual while playing. I’m not sure if this is because I was keeping my arm down a little longer like you suggested, or keeping my left heel further back in my start position that made it possible for me to stay closed more fully for longer. Interested to know your thoughts.
Thanks Again
Adam
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Thanks again Herman! Really helpful. I’ll probably understand better when I do the drills. It seems like your critiques focus on my takeback which is what I have been trying to work on. But the main exercise you want me to do is the half serve which has no takeback. If you could explain I would much appreciate. In any case I am looking forward to getting time to work on it (next chance Friday).
Thanks
Adam
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Hi Herman how are you? I want to thank you again for your review of my serve from last week. I did try the exercises you suggested. I mainly have been focused on getting rid of the “up together” situation. I had never heard this critique before. I am working on keeping the racquet and shoulder lower during my first move/take back. I can see how it adds a lot more potential for acceleration. I noticed when I tried to do this that I naturally began to “lean back” during my first move. It ended up feeling pretty good and my serve has somehow been much better recently. I still think my takeback looks really ugly overall. I seem to end up a leaning to the right at the end a little bit less at the end which I’m happy with. I attached a video of myself serving without the ball as well. For whatever reason my serve always looks so much better when I do it without the toss/ball (although my arm did go too high too soon during that particular swing). I think there is that stuttering timing mechanism that I do after I toss the ball that looks really bad. I actually don’t even realize that I’m doing it. Very open to whatever you think I should try from here. Thanks!!!!
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