nice advice. it annoys me when coaches insist the serve is the same to both sides - it categorically is not the same challenge. If you looked from above - placed played in middle of baseline and deleted every line on the court except for the Net and target service box - you would quickly see that that the shape of the Target box and its location relative to server IS very Different on Deuce vs Ad side. Even if you turn your body alignment about - you cannot make the setups the same. on Deuce side - Most of the target is to your left and on AD most of it is to your right. Folk who deny this are somehow blind to the adjustments they are making to compensate for this in their serve mechanics. And yes i know the racket face at contact is the main factor in serve direction - but flight path and target shape plus the varying height of the net and relative position fo returners forehand / backhand just make the two different shots. It is not an illusion.
There is a very simple solution to this issue. The secret is where to toss the ball relative to your stance as opposed to relative to the baseline. When I am serving on the deuce court I still toss the ball the same way that I would toss it if I am standing on the ad court. So let's say I am standing in the ad court and my left foot is parallel to the baseline. I will toss the ball in the direction that my left foot is pointed and try to make the ball come back towards me but on my left side. Then I will swing and choose a portion of the ball to hit to either hit slice, kick and also placement. One toss for all serves. If I am in the DEUCE court and my foot happens to be at say a 45 degree angle I will toss the exact same way as I did in the Ad court. In the direction of my left foot, try to make it and come back towards me and stay on the LEFT SIDE of my body. My swing path and the portion of the ball that I hit will dictate spin power and placement. I totally ignore the court and only think about what position my left foot is facing and then go from there. I rarely double fault and have a very good serve for a non-world class tennis player. I use continental and sometimes backhand grip depending on what I want the ball to do. But my goal is to always toss the ball the same way and disguise my intent.
Here is a teaching aid that I use with my students to convince them to ignore the court and simply toss and swing at a ball. I take a yard stick and have them place it next to their left foot while serving from the ad court. Then when they toss the ball I have them take note of their toss relative to the stick and their left foot. Then after they serve a few, I have them set up in the AD COURT but use a deuce court stance. I have them place the stick next to the left foot. That is their new AD COURT BASELINE. So of course they are no longer set up to hit a ball in to the ad court. I then have them toss the exact same way they tossed before we shifted the stance. I I then say" We are going to serve to the imaginary deuce court" . I then have them serve. The ball goes to the imaginary court and out side the doubles ally. We do this about 10 times. I then have them move to the deuce court and have them set up with their deuce court stance. I then place the stick next to their left foot which is the reference line that we had in the ad court. I tell them toss the exact same way you tossed when we served to the imaginary deuce court. The optical illusion is then defeated. They realize that all they have to do is toss relative to an imaginary line that they create on the deuce court, and toss the same way when they were serving from the ad court. The reason that so many people have this issue is because they have a reference point called the baseline on the AD COURT to use as a guide post helping them toss the ball. But that reference point is no longer available when we serve from the deuce court, at least not relative to our feet the same way we had it when we stood in the ad court. The problem that many students tell me they have is they do not know where to toss when standing in the deuce court because there body position has changed relative to the baseline. The use of a line, next to their foot in the deuce court gives them reference. This takes some time, usually about 30 minutes or so but once I get them trained to understand that the ad court baseline can be "moved" to the deuce court, the problem is solved. .
i was always more confident one the deuce side, this is probably because the first serve i ever learned was the slice top spin. and that confidence transferred over to doing my regular flat serves
13 лет назад
Thanks for this good advice. I will (try to) do it next time I'll play tennis (this week-end I hope !). As always : simple but of great value. Have a very very nice christmas.
Very good video as this has always been a question for me. I feel very comfortable hitting top spin serves to the ad court. I feel I get underneath the ball better and stay sideways longer especially when trying to kick it out wide. I'm working hard to get the same feeling serving the deuce side. I will take your word on it that it is an "optical illusion" but it sure doesn't feel that way at the moment. Thanks for your videos. They are very helpful.
I think it all starts with a good ball toss location. Personally, I have trouble tossing from the deuce-side (for a flat serve). It's awkward as I'm facing to the right net post, as if I'm tossing the ball into the court yet behind me?
+FYProduction Ball toss location is obviously important, but just as vital is how you finish your tossing motion. Assuming you're a righty, tossing when you're serving to the deuce court still requires on a flat serve that you don't open your shoulders too early. Brent Here's the info video for my new course "How To Break The Peeking Habit", you know, how to stop looking up just prior to contact. ruclips.net/video/msMvNvVTWG8/видео.html
But being an emphasis on "Winning", as is the title of my book [all sports], you'd know 80% - 90% is mindset and psychology once you have basics and their training in order. Even 'club' players are mainly going to be losing through strategy and mindset deficiencies
The problem i have is on the second serve. I find that, on the ad side, by not turning my head into the court until later in the serve i get more height and spin. On the duece side i'm no confident doing that as it feels like im going to end up serving into the wrong box. Am i mad?
+SM Allan No question that for righties the deuce side doesn't have that same natural feel as you do when serving to the ad side. With plenty of practice you'll develop the same feel when you're serving to the deuce court. Brent webtennis.com for free access to all "WTRS?" episodes.
The slice body(jam) serve in the deuce court is one of the best but underated serves. Unfortunately, it hasn't come easy for me. Got any tips on this one Brent?
Funnily enough, I am more comfortable serving to the deuce. One major reason in games is because pressure is off the scoreline at deuce: when u serve at Ad, someone has backs to the wall at that point!
Dog Wott That's true, there can be more perceived pressure when serving to the ad side. But alignment wise, the ad side is a hair more natural for righties and vice versa for lefties.
nice advice. it annoys me when coaches insist the serve is the same to both sides - it categorically is not the same challenge. If you looked from above - placed played in middle of baseline and deleted every line on the court except for the Net and target service box - you would quickly see that that the shape of the Target box and its location relative to server IS very Different on Deuce vs Ad side. Even if you turn your body alignment about - you cannot make the setups the same. on Deuce side - Most of the target is to your left and on AD most of it is to your right. Folk who deny this are somehow blind to the adjustments they are making to compensate for this in their serve mechanics. And yes i know the racket face at contact is the main factor in serve direction - but flight path and target shape plus the varying height of the net and relative position fo returners forehand / backhand just make the two different shots. It is not an illusion.
Nailed it. Thanks.
There is a very simple solution to this issue. The secret is where to toss the ball relative to your stance as opposed to relative to the baseline. When I am serving on the deuce court I still toss the ball the same way that I would toss it if I am standing on the ad court. So let's say I am standing in the ad court and my left foot is parallel to the baseline. I will toss the ball in the direction that my left foot is pointed and try to make the ball come back towards me but on my left side. Then I will swing and choose a portion of the ball to hit to either hit slice, kick and also placement. One toss for all serves. If I am in the DEUCE court and my foot happens to be at say a 45 degree angle I will toss the exact same way as I did in the Ad court. In the direction of my left foot, try to make it and come back towards me and stay on the LEFT SIDE of my body. My swing path and the portion of the ball that I hit will dictate spin power and placement. I totally ignore the court and only think about what position my left foot is facing and then go from there. I rarely double fault and have a very good serve for a non-world class tennis player. I use continental and sometimes backhand grip depending on what I want the ball to do. But my goal is to always toss the ball the same way and disguise my intent.
Hey Marc. Thanks for your feedback. Doesn't sound so simple though ;-)
Here is a teaching aid that I use with my students to convince them to ignore the court and simply toss and swing at a ball.
I take a yard stick and have them place it next to their left foot while serving from the ad court. Then when they toss the ball I have them take note of their toss relative to the stick and their left foot.
Then after they serve a few, I have them set up in the AD COURT but use a deuce court stance.
I have them place the stick next to the left foot. That is their new AD COURT BASELINE. So of course they are no longer set up to hit a ball in to the ad court.
I then have them toss the exact same way they tossed before we shifted the stance. I I then say" We are going to serve to the imaginary deuce court" .
I then have them serve. The ball goes to the imaginary court and out side the doubles ally. We do this about 10 times.
I then have them move to the deuce court and have them set up with their deuce court stance. I then place the stick next to their left foot which is the reference line that we had in the ad court. I tell them toss the exact same way you tossed when we served to the imaginary deuce court.
The optical illusion is then defeated. They realize that all they have to do is toss relative to an imaginary line that they create on the deuce court, and toss the same way when they were serving from the ad court.
The reason that so many people have this issue is because they have a reference point called the baseline on the AD COURT to use as a guide post helping them toss the ball.
But that reference point is no longer available when we serve from the deuce court, at least not relative to our feet the same way we had it when we stood in the ad court.
The problem that many students tell me they have is they do not know where to toss when standing in the deuce court because there body position has changed relative to the baseline.
The use of a line, next to their foot in the deuce court gives them reference.
This takes some time, usually about 30 minutes or so but once I get them trained to understand that the ad court baseline can be "moved" to the deuce court, the problem is solved.
.
Great tip. Serving on the deuce side really gets into my mind some times.
@dewijones92 No problem. Glad you liked this tip. Brent
i was always more confident one the deuce side, this is probably because the first serve i ever learned was the slice top spin. and that confidence transferred over to doing my regular flat serves
Thanks for this good advice. I will (try to) do it next time I'll play tennis (this week-end I hope !). As always : simple but of great value. Have a very very nice christmas.
Very good video as this has always been a question for me. I feel very comfortable hitting top spin serves to the ad court. I feel I get underneath the ball better and stay sideways longer especially when trying to kick it out wide. I'm working hard to get the same feeling serving the deuce side. I will take your word on it that it is an "optical illusion" but it sure doesn't feel that way at the moment. Thanks for your videos. They are very helpful.
+Jeff De Vincentis Hey Jeff. Glad you liked this video. Keep workin on it and you'll build more confidence. Brent
nice video
I think it all starts with a good ball toss location. Personally, I have trouble tossing from the deuce-side (for a flat serve). It's awkward as I'm facing to the right net post, as if I'm tossing the ball into the court yet behind me?
+FYProduction Ball toss location is obviously important, but just as vital is how you finish your tossing motion. Assuming you're a righty, tossing when you're serving to the deuce court still requires on a flat serve that you don't open your shoulders too early. Brent
Here's the info video for my new course "How To Break The Peeking Habit", you know, how to stop looking up just prior to contact. ruclips.net/video/msMvNvVTWG8/видео.html
But being an emphasis on "Winning", as is the title of my book [all sports], you'd know 80% - 90% is mindset and psychology once you have basics and their training in order.
Even 'club' players are mainly going to be losing through strategy and mindset deficiencies
The problem i have is on the second serve. I find that, on the ad side, by not turning my head into the court until later in the serve i get more height and spin. On the duece side i'm no confident doing that as it feels like im going to end up serving into the wrong box. Am i mad?
+SM Allan No question that for righties the deuce side doesn't have that same natural feel as you do when serving to the ad side. With plenty of practice you'll develop the same feel when you're serving to the deuce court. Brent
webtennis.com for free access to all "WTRS?" episodes.
The slice body(jam) serve in the deuce court is one of the best but underated serves. Unfortunately, it hasn't come easy for me. Got any tips on this one Brent?
I am not native speaker, did he say "ad" court and deuce court? How do you spell it? Thanks in advance.
guys what the heck was that told us the problem what the solution
we lefties have the problem, but on ad side !
That's right Jack. But you Leftys seem to know how to swing us Rightys way out wide on that ad side ;-)
Funnily enough, I am more comfortable serving to the deuce. One major reason in games is because pressure is off the scoreline at deuce: when u serve at Ad, someone has backs to the wall at that point!
Dog Wott That's true, there can be more perceived pressure when serving to the ad side. But alignment wise, the ad side is a hair more natural for righties and vice versa for lefties.