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.