Hey I'm Andy with tennis warehouse and
today we're going to learn how to hit a
serve. The service arguably the most
important stroke and tennis it starts
every point and when used correctly it
can give you a tactical advantage in the
point. I'm going to highlight the five
key elements that every high-level serve
should have. FIRST it's very important
that you're serving with a continental
grip. Many people when they start out
playing tennis use their forehand grip
to serve. This is called the frying pan
grip and a pancake grip and people can
produce some pretty effective serves
with it but it's going to limit how good
and consistent your serve can be. If you
watch the pros every player is serving
with a continental grip. The easiest way
to find your continental grip is to take
the racket in your opposite hand like so
Take the V of your dominant hand and
work it down the beam of the racket all
the way down to the grip and that should
be your continental grip. This should be
the way that you would hold a hammer and
the V of your hand should rest on the
left bevel of the grip. This is the most
universally used Griffin tennis. Next the
tempo of your serve is very important
you always want to think slow to fast.So
when I'm starting my serve
I want to start very calm and balanced
and you want to start with a ritual that
you can repeat every single time you
serve and what that's going to do is
help you get focused and balance before
every server. For example I like to
bounce the ball seven times before my
first serve and three times before my
second serve and I want to do so with my
feet lined up so that. If I were to draw
a line from my back foot and some to my
front foot it would point at the net
post in front of me. So remember think
slow to fast come still and balanced at
the beginning and fast and explosive up
into your contact.
NEXT I want to get to the most important
aspect of the serve which is the toss a
consistent toss will lead to a
consistent serve while an inconsistent
toss will lead to an inconsistent serve.
Start with your arms straight doesn't
have to be locked out like that, but just
nice and comfortable there with the ball
in the tips of your fingers and what
you're going to want to do.
You just place the ball up above you.
Instead of flinging it out of your hands
You don't want that ball to spin as
you're tossing. Toss location is also
extremely important for your servant may
vary slightly from Player to Player also
depending on what type of server that
you're hitting. But a general rule of
thumb if you picture me and the position
of the toss is like a clock you want to
be tossing right at twelve o'clock
position directly above you.
Some people may move their serves their
toss slightly to the right for a flat or
a slice serve or slightly to the left
for a kick serve but generally you want
to be right around that twelve o'clock
range. Your toss height should be not too
high but not too low. Your top should be
high enough to allow you to not have to
rush your motion and get fully extended
for your contact position yet you don't
want it too high to where the ball is
falling more than a foot or two from the
apex of the toss and be higher than that
when the ball drops a few feet from its
Highest point your toss may be too high
After you toss the ball you're going to
want to move yourself into a loading
position getting ready to explode up
into the ball and it's important here
that we remember our slow to fast tempo
we want our energy to build during our
motion as you do so your left arm should
still be fully extended from your toss
that's going to help keep your left side
of your body up and your knees should be
bent ready to explode up into the ball
with your legs they can they can be one
of two ways here to do it either way is
right or wrong they're both widely used
on the Pro Tour you've got guys like
Roger Federer are Pete Sampras that use
a platform stance where their feet are
still apart their weight is evenly
balanced between their two feet and
they're going to jump up into the ball
without moving their feet. Other guys
like John Isner, Rafa Nadal, myself
actually use more of a step-up stand so.
I may start a little bit wider at first
and then step up into my loading
position now my feet are together my
knees are together once again my weight
is balanced evenly between the two legs
and I'm ready to explode up into the
ball so your knees are nice and bent
you're ready to explode up into the ball
Your left arm is extended and now the
position of your racket is extremely
crucial here
so with that let
storm up you want your racket to be
really close to your face right here and
what that's going to do you want to get
your kind of in a position where you
would throw a baseball or football. If
you didn't have a racket in your hand
kind of right by your face there and
when that's going to allow you to do is
really generate lots of racket head
speed up into the ball.The most commonly
taught mistake here is to get into that
loading position with your racket
scratching. Your back okay and you'll
eventually get to that point but you
don't want to load to there because now
you've got no momentum up into the ball
and you can't generate racket head speed
you want that racket right here so that
as you explode up you're going to drop
the racket and generate racket head
speed up into your contact FINALLY we're
ready to explode up into the ball for
contact your in your loading position
and now this is going to be the fastest
part of your motion as you go up into
the ball
Your arms are going to exchange
positions now so your left arm will drop
into your chest your right arm should be
loose and explosive your wrist should be
very loose and right at your contact
point at the top. You're going to want to
get a nice wrist snap down into the
court one thing that's also extremely
important.
You want to make sure your eyes are up
at contact and you want to try to see
the ball actually make contact with the
strings. As you're at full extension with
your arms there to reach up at contact
your legs should explode up into the
ball and into the court that's very
important.
You want to get your body going into the
court as opposed to behind you. When you
do so you're going to explode up land on
that front leg there and your back leg
will kick up behind you and that's going
to kind of counterbalance you make sure
I'm really balance from that point
you're going to want to recover quickly
and get back into your ready position as
quick as you can for your next shot and
that's the basics of the serve. Be sure
to check out our youtube channel for
more tennis Warehouse Academy videos for
more helpful tips. Thanks for watching.