Good job. One minor nit. Landing distance into the court given reasonable leg strength is primarily determined by how far into the court the toss is. Roger doesn’t usually land far into the court because he has a more vertical toss than most, yet he probably has or had the best “hops” on tour.
In case you're wondering what I think....Yes - both women AND men can learn from Serena's service motion. She's about as fundamentally sound as they come!
+Essential Tennis - Lessons and Instruction for Passionate Players from 2:45 i don't understand how it's possible to make such racket drop. i think i can break my arm... my limit is 15 degrees.
Great tips as always. I feel the part at 3:01 is very difficult for amateur players to do. Serena Williams is such an incredible athlete as are the top pros. It looks very dangerous attempting to drop your arm into that 90 degree angle as your whole body is torquing in another direction to your arm. With the weight of the racket and your shoulder going the other. This can cause horrible pains when serving, as you go deep into matches. You are leaving yourself vulnerable to a shoulder dislocation or ripping out your rotator cuff. I actually make a conscious effort to bend at the elbow (towards the sky) and then pronate up into the ball. For comfort reason, it may take some edge of the serve but feels more relaxed. I am amazed that the pros can do this and not sustain injury.
the reason she is able to get her back turned away from the target is because she has her lead hip in the court at trophy, and the reason she is able to do that is because her front foot is pointing away from the target. if you don’t get the front foot oriented away from target slightly, you can’t load the hips fully, and you can’t rotate the back fully. front foot orientation at trophy is EVERYTHING
Thanks. Fastest server ever. Look at what Sam Groth does with his front foot as he moves into trophy, and look at what that allows him to do with his hips. Amazing.
Thank you for a fabulously explicit description of Serena's serve. I do understand that there are also the feet and body preparation that you could talk about, but what you have given us here is very revealing. Thank you very much. Please tell me where exactly do I click to get the PDF mentioned in the video, if it is still available.
Here's my theory: I think the larger myth is in loading of the legs. The two largest sources of power are trunk rotation and the triceps, the muscles which straighten the arm at the elbow. They are the last large muscles to impart energy into the throw/serve. The radial/ulner involvement is an artifact of the looseness required to better mimic a whip action with the human body. Its essential to complete a fast throw/serve but its not a power source. If you watch closely and trace her elbow you will see that what the thrower/server is actually trying to do is throw the tip of their elbow at the contact point. The hand and/or racquet will follow through. She/they will use the large muscles of the triceps, which are as coiled as they can get, to accelerate her/their very loose forearm/hand. The myth about the legs being required is debunked by the numerous players on tour with serves regularly in the 120s who barely leave the ground. Where legs are an undeniable advantage is in the height of contact. Hence, many of the best servers do get off the ground. So, I'm not denying that its involved in generating the best, most effective serve the human body can produce, I'm only saying the legs are not a primary source of -power-.
@@marktace1 Most scientific studies are actually wrong. Hiding behind declarations of such things is lazy, shallow, dogmatic and not scientific. Most scientific discovery is achieved by undermining "consensus" or popularly established "science".' Your comment is dismissive and, again, lazy: please address my hypothesis's point(s) rather than dismiss them. Prove it. Put up or shut up. I put mine out there, if you actually know what you're talking about and not merely hiding behind authority, then explain it. I've been playing the game for ~30 years and have achieved a top 10 national seeding/ranking. How about you? Secondly, to repeat: "I'm not denying that its involved in generating the best, most effective serve the human body can produce, I'm only saying the legs are not a primary source of power." How "wrong" can I actually be? Do better.
@@itry2brational Very wrong. The serve speeds that wheelchair players can achieve vs. those that non wheelchair players can achieve bear out the differences, if you understand the basic physics well enough to understand the relationship between speed and energy. You are pretty typical of those who dismiss scientific studies because they don’t match your preconceptions. I’ve got a bigger serve than #1 in the world in my age group. I played D1 tennis and majored in Engineering Mechanics.
@@marktace1 You are typical of a lazy, dismissive "smart" person who lacks nuanced thought processes and attention to detail. You haven't addressed a single thing I said so logically you can't say its wrong. You think declaring something is a proof. Its not. You're not only very wrong, you're making my point for me because you haven't done any research or homework or paid attention. Wheel chair players lack trunk rotation and a great deal of height. Refresh yourself on my comment: "height of contact" is a key. The fastest wheel chair player can achieve 111 mph - without the height and legs and entire lower body. Debunking your own preconception, proving it/you wrong. More debunking for you: Sam Groth, world record in the serve. Has MASSIVE trunk rotation, only gets 3-4 inches off the ground. Proof: ruclips.net/user/shorts2CNfzfNqfDY You can jump higher and higher but you won't serve any faster and certainly not faster than Groth. Another example: Stan Wawrinka - Regularly over 120, barely leaves the ground, barely uses his legs. ruclips.net/user/shortsBLSFn33Z4IE You can't explain Stan without making yourself look more silly than you already have. But go ahead and try. Make Stan's serve make sense. Here's an entire video explaining the concept: ruclips.net/video/lvGqWT8mjVc/видео.html I'm not the only one who understands this. You obviously don't understand biomechanics, either: the human arm during the point of acceleration in a serve or baseball throw goes from bent to straight. The muscles which make that happen are the triceps. Also, on the baseball throwing mechanics: the best pitchers have a hip lead, engaging their core for rotation. Every pro pitcher's arm leads with the elbow, arm bent, then extended out to the target. They are not the exact same motion but involve many similar concepts. Most of the energy both impart comes from the core/hips, a coiling and rotation. And its simple biomechanics that the tricep muscles fire. Thousands of videos on throwing, proving me right and you wrong. Pro pitchers are not known for having strong legs. They don't need them to achieve a fast throwing motion. Strong arms, yep. Engineering mechanics won't give you any authority on this topic. Note: not a single person claiming to represent "science" has presented any. There's a popular tactic of just using the word "science" as a dismissive cudgel in a cheap, intellectually dishonest and lazy attempt to win a debate. However, "What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence." -Christopher Hitchens
Very good tip I could see how she opens his racquet very fast after on edge position so it's a fluid and continuous movement. I made the mistake of doing the pronation at the last moment which prevented me to get a good timing and therefore my service had little power.
You explain things so well. Ian, you are genius. You deserve to be rich! Much thanks for the lesson and pdf. Serena's sister also has a mighty serve although her frame is smaller. Interesting, huh?
Hello Ian, I have a question for you,but i'm not very good at English,so hope you can understand me.. The question is : which foot should land the ground first after serving if I was a right-hander?Does this matter?Since I always land my right foot first, and some of my friends think that is weard....
anybody hear the struggle of his brain to find the "upper leg"? Mine had to shift through a good five words to get to that one. Great video though, thanks for sharing
Are the McEnroe & Beckers serves the two most extreme serves as Boris is almost face-on and perpendicular to the court while McEnroe was virtually side on and parallel🎾
I have seen one or two articles that say the she uses an Eastern grip for a power serve. This would surprise me since this would be the same grip that beginners use for the frying pan or pancake serve. looking at the slow motion she does seem to have less pronation than one would get from a continental grip and her follow through does not have the classic bent arm at the elbow, but rather straight and finishes by her left side. All of this would be more natural were one to be using an eastern grip. She can get away with it all because of her solid fundamentals in every other part of the serve. I would wager that she learned with a continental grip and then tinkered around with other grips for more power after learning the fundamentals.
Hey Ian, I'm trying to download the pdf of Serena's serve but Its not going. I've downloaded It and I've waited for a few hours I wrote my email but I did'nt got anything send. What must I do? Thank you! Bye
Sorry, I wasn't sure, haha. Starting off no need to go crazy trying to transfer forward and "jump" into the court, the upper body motion is much more important as a beginner. Once you start to master that leading yourself into the court and driving powerfully up and towards the net is absolutely a big source of power and "weight" to the serve. Every professional player drives into the court on their serve at least a little bit! -Ian
One of the best slow motion and video analysis/commentaries on RUclips!
I appreciate that, Aaron.
Good job. One minor nit. Landing distance into the court given reasonable leg strength is primarily determined by how far into the court the toss is. Roger doesn’t usually land far into the court because he has a more vertical toss than most, yet he probably has or had the best “hops” on tour.
In case you're wondering what I think....Yes - both women AND men can learn from Serena's service motion. She's about as fundamentally sound as they come!
+Essential Tennis - Lessons and Instruction for Passionate Players from 2:45 i don't understand how it's possible to make such racket drop. i think i can break my arm... my limit is 15 degrees.
Great tips as always. I feel the part at 3:01 is very difficult for amateur players to do. Serena Williams is such an incredible athlete as are the top pros. It looks very dangerous attempting to drop your arm into that 90 degree angle as your whole body is torquing in another direction to your arm. With the weight of the racket and your shoulder going the other. This can cause horrible pains when serving, as you go deep into matches. You are leaving yourself vulnerable to a shoulder dislocation or ripping out your rotator cuff.
I actually make a conscious effort to bend at the elbow (towards the sky) and then pronate up into the ball. For comfort reason, it may take some edge of the serve but feels more relaxed. I am amazed that the pros can do this and not sustain injury.
the reason she is able to get her back turned away from the target is because she has her lead hip in the court at trophy, and the reason she is able to do that is because her front foot is pointing away from the target. if you don’t get the front foot oriented away from target slightly, you can’t load the hips fully, and you can’t rotate the back fully. front foot orientation at trophy is EVERYTHING
Great observations, Bruce!
Thanks. Fastest server ever. Look at what Sam Groth does with his front foot as he moves into trophy, and look at what that allows him to do with his hips. Amazing.
please do a similar detailed sampras serve analysis
Thank you for a fabulously explicit description of Serena's serve. I do understand that there are also the feet and body preparation that you could talk about, but what you have given us here is very revealing. Thank you very much. Please tell me where exactly do I click to get the PDF mentioned in the video, if it is still available.
Love the detailed ins and outs! Great vid!!
Thanks, Will. Glad you enjoyed it. More on the way.
Here's my theory: I think the larger myth is in loading of the legs. The two largest sources of power are trunk rotation and the triceps, the muscles which straighten the arm at the elbow. They are the last large muscles to impart energy into the throw/serve. The radial/ulner involvement is an artifact of the looseness required to better mimic a whip action with the human body. Its essential to complete a fast throw/serve but its not a power source. If you watch closely and trace her elbow you will see that what the thrower/server is actually trying to do is throw the tip of their elbow at the contact point. The hand and/or racquet will follow through. She/they will use the large muscles of the triceps, which are as coiled as they can get, to accelerate her/their very loose forearm/hand.
The myth about the legs being required is debunked by the numerous players on tour with serves regularly in the 120s who barely leave the ground. Where legs are an undeniable advantage is in the height of contact. Hence, many of the best servers do get off the ground. So, I'm not denying that its involved in generating the best, most effective serve the human body can produce, I'm only saying the legs are not a primary source of -power-.
Serena herself said she can finally use her legs to serve after long bugging injury in 2019 interview
According to scientific studies the legs provide 40 to 50% of the energy for the serve. Your hypothesis, not theory, is wrong.
@@marktace1 Most scientific studies are actually wrong. Hiding behind declarations of such things is lazy, shallow, dogmatic and not scientific. Most scientific discovery is achieved by undermining "consensus" or popularly established "science".' Your comment is dismissive and, again, lazy: please address my hypothesis's point(s) rather than dismiss them. Prove it. Put up or shut up. I put mine out there, if you actually know what you're talking about and not merely hiding behind authority, then explain it. I've been playing the game for ~30 years and have achieved a top 10 national seeding/ranking. How about you?
Secondly, to repeat: "I'm not denying that its involved in generating the best, most effective serve the human body can produce, I'm only saying the legs are not a primary source of power."
How "wrong" can I actually be? Do better.
@@itry2brational Very wrong. The serve speeds that wheelchair players can achieve vs. those that non wheelchair players can achieve bear out the differences, if you understand the basic physics well enough to understand the relationship between speed and energy. You are pretty typical of those who dismiss scientific studies because they don’t match your preconceptions. I’ve got a bigger serve than #1 in the world in my age group. I played D1 tennis and majored in Engineering Mechanics.
@@marktace1 You are typical of a lazy, dismissive "smart" person who lacks nuanced thought processes and attention to detail. You haven't addressed a single thing I said so logically you can't say its wrong. You think declaring something is a proof. Its not.
You're not only very wrong, you're making my point for me because you haven't done any research or homework or paid attention. Wheel chair players lack trunk rotation and a great deal of height. Refresh yourself on my comment: "height of contact" is a key. The fastest wheel chair player can achieve 111 mph - without the height and legs and entire lower body. Debunking your own preconception, proving it/you wrong.
More debunking for you: Sam Groth, world record in the serve. Has MASSIVE trunk rotation, only gets 3-4 inches off the ground. Proof: ruclips.net/user/shorts2CNfzfNqfDY
You can jump higher and higher but you won't serve any faster and certainly not faster than Groth. Another example: Stan Wawrinka - Regularly over 120, barely leaves the ground, barely uses his legs. ruclips.net/user/shortsBLSFn33Z4IE
You can't explain Stan without making yourself look more silly than you already have. But go ahead and try. Make Stan's serve make sense.
Here's an entire video explaining the concept: ruclips.net/video/lvGqWT8mjVc/видео.html
I'm not the only one who understands this.
You obviously don't understand biomechanics, either: the human arm during the point of acceleration in a serve or baseball throw goes from bent to straight. The muscles which make that happen are the triceps. Also, on the baseball throwing mechanics: the best pitchers have a hip lead, engaging their core for rotation. Every pro pitcher's arm leads with the elbow, arm bent, then extended out to the target. They are not the exact same motion but involve many similar concepts. Most of the energy both impart comes from the core/hips, a coiling and rotation. And its simple biomechanics that the tricep muscles fire. Thousands of videos on throwing, proving me right and you wrong. Pro pitchers are not known for having strong legs. They don't need them to achieve a fast throwing motion. Strong arms, yep.
Engineering mechanics won't give you any authority on this topic.
Note: not a single person claiming to represent "science" has presented any. There's a popular tactic of just using the word "science" as a dismissive cudgel in a cheap, intellectually dishonest and lazy attempt to win a debate. However, "What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence." -Christopher Hitchens
The Williams serve! I was looking for this, thank hoh!
*you
Nicely analysed, thanks for this, can u little elaborate how she twists her wrist for pronation
So nice!!
Very good tip I could see how she opens his racquet very fast after on edge position so it's a fluid and continuous movement. I made the mistake of doing the pronation at the last moment which prevented me to get a good timing and therefore my service had little power.
Really common mistake, Claudio! -Ian
You explain things so well. Ian, you are genius. You deserve to be rich! Much thanks for the lesson and pdf.
Serena's sister also has a mighty serve although her frame is smaller. Interesting, huh?
Appreciate your support so much, David!
Hello Ian, I have a question for you,but i'm not very good at English,so hope you can understand me..
The question is : which foot should land the ground first after serving if I was a right-hander?Does this matter?Since
I always land my right foot first, and some of my friends think that is weard....
It does matter....your left foot should be touching down first!
Hi,
I was wondering what the differences are for more of a platform stance Vs Serena's pinpoint stance?
Cheers
Chris
Fantastic video on a amazing service motion
Thanks, George!
her raquet down her ... a. .. upper leg😂
Hahaha....yup, totally got me there.
hmmm looked like a slice serve wide ...
anybody hear the struggle of his brain to find the "upper leg"? Mine had to shift through a good five words to get to that one. Great video though, thanks for sharing
Are the McEnroe & Beckers serves the two most extreme serves as Boris is almost face-on and perpendicular to the court while McEnroe was virtually side on and parallel🎾
Great video
thanks a lot
What an exemple the Serena's serve
You're very welcome, Colas!
Great video! I can’t find the free PDF download though.
Wow, great video- so useful! Would you be able to do something like this for a kick serve? Thanks
That's a great idea, Evie. Hopefully we'll get to it soon.
Make Radwanska's Drop Shot Secrets :D
Thank you sir 😊😊☺
What grip is she using to hold to serve? Eastern? Continental? Thank you so much 😊
I have seen one or two articles that say the she uses an Eastern grip for a power serve. This would surprise me since this would be the same grip that beginners use for the frying pan or pancake serve.
looking at the slow motion she does seem to have less pronation than one would get from a continental grip and her follow through does not have the classic bent arm at the elbow, but rather straight and finishes by her left side. All of this would be more natural were one to be using an eastern grip.
She can get away with it all because of her solid fundamentals in every other part of the serve. I would wager that she learned with a continental grip and then tinkered around with other grips for more power after learning the fundamentals.
Where is the link to the PDF shown in the video?
Could you make the next pdf about Wawrinka's backhand?
(Yes I Know you have a video, but I would love a pdf so I can bring it to my practice)
Great request....I'll add it to the list.
Can not find the PDF file with Serena's serve step-by-step technic. Is it still available?
...but, can’t find the attached free pdf, is it still there?
Serena is great
Nice!😀
Hey Ian, I'm trying to download the pdf of Serena's serve but Its not going. I've downloaded It and I've waited for a few hours I wrote my email but I did'nt got anything send. What must I do?
Thank you! Bye
Where is the free download pdf?
Awesome
this video would be much better if it included a full non-slowmo clip of her serve
How can u use this footage legally? What’s the regulation?
We got permission to shoot it from the tournament, and then shot it. Was years ago, they don't allow it anymore unfortunately.
Wait, I'm supposed to go forward? Launch into the serve? I always kept back because Ii thought I wasn't supposed to lean forward
....is this sarcastic? haha
NO. I always thought I was supposed to stay in one place lol
Sorry, I wasn't sure, haha. Starting off no need to go crazy trying to transfer forward and "jump" into the court, the upper body motion is much more important as a beginner. Once you start to master that leading yourself into the court and driving powerfully up and towards the net is absolutely a big source of power and "weight" to the serve. Every professional player drives into the court on their serve at least a little bit! -Ian
tyy!
You're very welcome!
Follow Ian's instructions and repeat 25,000 times.
😆