How to Play tennis: The Serve

the tennisforall
Tennis Stroke Techniques and coaching manual
by evvy

The first of two sample chapters from The Serve, which is Part 3 of an ongoing digital tennis book.
If knowledge is power and technical communication an art form, then this is the tennis book no tennis coach will want you to read... for it could put them out of a job.
Want to teach yourself, your pupils or your kids how to serve?
Whether you are just starting to learn tennis, or you want a fuller understanding of the advanced stuff that you do on court every day and take for granted, read on. Technical tennis has rarely been so thoughtfully communicated and artistically presented.
rollover letter e to start moving the pictures.

Part 3 The Serve

Chapter Two

A Smashing Serve + Grips
As much as it pains my artistic temperament to use one of the most overused clichés in tennis, it is nevertheless true that when serving, your are throwing your racket head at the ball. Actually, no. To say that you are throwing your racket head at the ball isn't precise enough: when serving, you should be throwing your racket head at a perfect contact, provided by your non-throwing. If you don't make a perfect contact, and the ball is in the wrong place when you connect, the service will be deeply flawed.
'Even if I hit a thumping ace?'
Yes. Even if it's an ace. If the ball thundered down the service line, but you got it to do so by a foul rather than a fair contact, it's merely a fluke.
Flukes, an occasional series of fortunate events and improvisation are no foundations on which to build tennis technique.
I've said it before and will do so again: good tennis strokes cannot be built on bad foundations and a perfect contact is the cornerstone of every stroke.
It's truly that simple.
I therefore make no apologies for brainwashing you with the finer details of perfection. The 3 constants that make a perfect contact on a flat first serve are:
1, a fully extended body, arm and racket,
2, connecting the strings to a ball forward of the body and,
3, a touch to the right of your head.
If you're struggling to picture it in your mind's eye, roll your mouse over button s and you'll see Pete Sampras giving a perfectly good demonstration of a perfect contact.
'But he's inside the baseline, so this ain't a serve, stoopid! How can you teach the serve by using an animation of...of...'
An overhead smash? Easy. I want readers to concentrate on the throwing action for a while. In technical sports like golf and tennis, technique is digested more easily when the full stroke is chopped up into the various components (which combine smoothly to make the whole stroke). And at this point I am not trying to improve your service action. Rather, I want to improve your knowledge of what makes a successful tennis serve stage-by-stage, and on this page we're looking at how a master of the game throws his racket head at the ball. This is a beautiful example of a throwing action, which is silky smooth, as comfortable and fluent in it's language as Shakespeare still is in his, and Pete's efforts clearly follow a linear path (a straight line!), in the intended direction of the hit.
As such, it's a simplified example of how to apply your efforts to a perfect contact, on a flat, spin-free serve.
That's why I'm using it as an example.
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These first 3 frames aren't really relevant for a serve. But while we've got them on screen, we may as well take a first look at how one of the game's greats shapes up for a smash, and uses his legs to set himself up underneath this lob, making fine adjustments that guarantee a perfect contact.
When serving, you guide the ball into it's proper place with your non-paying hand:
When smashing, you guide the body into it's proper place with your legs.

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This is the part that concerns us here. Roll your mouse over these four buttons and you'll get a clear demonstration of a throwing action. In ni Pete simultaneously drops the racket head down his back as his racket head is lead into the throw by the elbow. We'll look at this elbow surge in more detail as we progress.
Now run isf and see how Sampras extends fully, to meet the ball in his perfect contact zone.
Pete's contact here could barely be faulted if it were a flat first service.

Whipping the tip
The throwing action is a gradual build up of racket head speed prior to contact, and in my coaching days, the final stage of this throw is something I often described as whipping the tip or the tip whip.
Basically, in throwing the racket head at the ball you are attempting to whip as much speed into the tip of the racket as you can, without losing control of the stroke. The force from your throw sort of thrashes its way up, along a loose arm, and out through the tip of the racket, which reaches it's speediest point at contact.
This action reminds me of the towel fights we used to have after school sports lessons, after we'd had a shower. Boys will be boys and we used our wet towels as playful weapons, loosely whiplashing them and trying to catch each other on the butt with the very tip of the wet towel. The key was in the loose whiplashing of the arm and towel and catching you with the whipped tip. Rather like cracking a whip.
All of Pete's efforts have peaked at this one point, and from here-on-in, the force is allowed to run it's course in the direction of the hit.

Throwing Side-on
In tennisforall.com, we can also see that Pete has thrown his payload towards this perfect contact from an initial side-on to the ball position. As well as allowing Pete to get his efforts shifting forward and into the forward contact, this sideways turn also puts some distance between the throwing arm and the ball, over which Pete can smoothly build up some throw-and-whip.
In contrast, if Pete had started his wind-up facing the net, the best he could hope for would be a restricted throw, or a kind of full-on slap. Think of a javelin thrower, or simply throwing a ball. Could you throw them as well if you started face on to your intended target?

Delivery Line
There are many lines and curves to be found in tennis stroke play, and this is the first of many. Run your mouse over nisfor and watch how a perfect contact not only allows Pete to whip the tip from a high vantage point, but all 3 aspects of the contact provide the perfect platform for him to deliver power along a chosen path.
Height allows him to throw the tip upwards,
Forward lets him whip forcefully through, along the intended line, and
To the Right of his head also allows Pete to extend fully, hit cleanly through and follow the ball along the required line.
I've highlighted this line in r, where you'll see Sampras has left a little of himself behind in every frame, as his efforts follow along the general line of the hit. This accurate set-up and the line give direction to the tip whip, and produce a clean, flat, spinless overhead.

Betwixt Racket and Target
Pete’s accurate set-up (with his feet) places the ball between his racket head and the place he wants to hit the ball to which, if you like, provides the dots for the line. Pete then joins up the dots by executing a throwing action and a shift of his efforts along that very line.
Keeping this in mind, roll the sequence again and ponder these questions:
How would Pete's efforts be restricted if the ball were placed another 12 inches to the left (as we look), or where would his efforts end up if the ball were placed half a meter to the right?
What would happen if the ball were behind his body at contact, rather than forward of it?
What effect would a ball that falls half a meter lower have on Pete's throwing action and arm?
The answers to all of these questions will lead you right back to the single most important aspect of a tennis stroke and the need to get it right. The tip whip, a powerful connect and a clean delivery line would not have been possible without a perfect contact.

Grips
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the serve to grasp, especially for youngsters and beginners, is the grip. At club level, the only people who use a correct service grip are those who've been taught to, and who've spent time putting it into practice.
Like many grips in tennis, the best one for the job of serving seems the least logical for casual and social players. It is also difficult to master, especially if a player has developed untutored habits on public courts.

Wrong Grip
Before we take a look at some top-level grips, I want you to go back to the section on forehand grips and pick one. Roddick's extreme forehand grip would be the best example of what not to use, but Michael Chang's will do. Any but Mandlikova's, in fact, which is a passable service-type grip.
Now then, whilst holding your racket with a forehand grip (the more extreme the better...or worse!), I want you go to a safe place, with no expensive ornaments, overhead light bulbs or chandeliers, and slowly-and-gently mimic Pete's throwing action in isf.
From a similar sideways position, can you do these things with an extreme forehand grip:
1, drop the racket loosely down your back?
Yes, I'm sure you can.
2, throw the racket (gently) up to a perfect contact?
Yes. This too you can do.
3, allow the tip to accelerate ahead of the rest of your arm?
Mmm. This could be tricky.

The last move of the 3, whipping the tip through contact and powering it on ahead of the arm, is the most difficult of all with a forehand grip. In fact if you've tried it with an extreme forehand grip like Roddick's, it's damn near impossible, because the butt of the racket handle blocks any such move.
If a forehand grip on a serve can block one of the most important aspects of a successful service, then we must find another grip; one which will encourage this acceleration of (both hand and) racket head.

Hip Tip Whip Grip
You now have to click on these buttons to change them. Click on letter a and you can get a close up of Pete's grip. This is close to being a backhand grip, with the thumb behind the racket grip on the backhand side, or, as we look at it here, to the front of the racket.
Is it a serve grip?
Is it a smash grip?
It's both.
This is the Hip Tip Whip Grip.
Well, it's not hip and trendy yet. But I'll do my best to make it so, and if I fail, at least you'll remember the name of the hip tip whip grip and what it can be used for (it's pretty much a net game grip, too, but that's another story...which doesn't rhyme).
You should already understand some of the benefits of a tip whip.
Dear Chip,
to appreciate the benefits of the hip grip that encourages more of the tip whip, I first want you to look at your right arm.
Locate the bone running down the top of your thumb and run your finger down this bone, and along the bone in your forearm that continues on from it. I want you to concentrate on the forearm for a moment. Cast your eyes back to the i image and note where this imaginary line along Pete's forearm is facing.
Would you agree that this forearm line, or bone, is pointing roughly at the court surface, behind his back?
Now continue to s and you'll see that the thumb and forearm have rolled, or rotated, outward (towards us) slightly and the forearm is now 'facing' off to the right of the picture as we look.
The important bit here is that there's enough outward rotation of the forearm to allow Pete to make contact with the ball flat, rather than throwing the edge of the racket at the ball and connecting with the frame-edge.
And in f? The forearm has been rotated further, which has allowed Pete to whip the tip through with his hand.
Don't worry if this doesn't make much sense at the first reading. We've covered quite a lot of stuff in this chapter (using pictures of a smash!) and some of it will be difficult to digest, especially if you have no prior knowledge of tennis technique. I'll simplify everything and find different ways to explain this stuff as we progress. Difficult techniques will make a lot more sense when we look at the full service actions of many of the top players.
But don't go skipping anything. The next bit is essential reading for anyone wanting to master good serve technique.

Essential Grips
The chief benefit of bringing your thumb to the front of the racket, like Pete in a, is that you free up your potential to whip the racket head through with the hand.
But when beginners try this grip, all they get is an angled racket face, which, when they throw it at the ball, often results in them hitting the ball with the edge of the racket frame, or they get lots of spin on the ball, which they don’t understand and cannot control.
The main obstacle isn’t the grip. No, the chief stumbling block is the essential outward rotation of the forearm. This is the move that allows a player to whip the tip.
To reap the benefits of the grip, and get rid of the unwanted angle it initially places on the racket head/face, you must roll the forearm into your throwing action.
Easy as that... in theory, at least!
Click on a and look again. Pete is using a thumb-to-the-front grip. But what really makes this grip usable is the fact that, as he throws the racket head at the ball, he incorporates an outward roll of the forearm into his throw, and the thumb 'rotates' to the front.
'I still don't get it?'
Then roll your mouse over the a image and you'll find Lleyton Hewitt lurking underneath. In this image we see the natural angle provided by a thumb to the front grip and it looks as if Lleyton is about to smack the ball with the side-edge of the frame. In fact this is what many players do when first attempting this grip, especially if they previously hit their serves with a forehand grip: they hit the ball with the edge of the frame.
But here, Lleyton is about to roll, or rotate, the forearm. By the time he makes contact, his racket face will be facing the net, just like Sampras'. Roll your mouse quickly on and off the a image, alternating between Pete and Lleyton, and you'll see this rotation of the forearm take place.
This outward rolling forearm requires a coaches supervision, and has to be fully absorbed into a smooth, full throwing action. More about it later.

Three Grips
There are of course variations on this grip. But, unlike the groundsrtoke grips, the variations are very slight.
‘ Why?’
Because, to successfully whip the tip, you need to snap the hand. And you only have the freedom to do this tip-whipping hand-snap properly when your thumb is some way to the front of the racket (which then puts the unwanted angle on the racket head, which you need to rotate out in mid-throw...phew!).
What follows are 3 variations on a service grip that pretty much cover the full spectrum

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Becker
The first grip belongs to Boris Becker and is the least extreme of the three grips here. If you roll your mouse over the image, you can see that Boris' thumb is some way towards the front of an edge-to-the-ground racket and the V between thumb and forefinger is centrally placed on the handle.
This is a moderate (almost a Mandlikova forehand) serve grip, which is best suited to flat first serves and Boris' personal style of first serve technique.
It's also a good half-way grip, to get beginners moving in the direction of the next two 'thumb-to-the-front' tip-whip grips.
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Ivanisevich
The further your thumb is to the front of the grip, the greater the potential to whip the tip.
This grip is perhaps the most widely used at professional level. However, due to both ignorance of good technique and the difficulty of getting rid of the 'edge-on' angle that this grip naturally puts on the racket head/face, you won't see it very often at club level, especially in Britain.
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Edberg
The more extreme the grip, the greater the potential for rotation and tip whip...and how extreme is this grip?!
Roll your mouse on and off the image of Stefan Edberg and you'll see he's hitting the serve with an extreme backhand grip. This is about as far to the front as a player can go (with the thumb) when serving and is an advanced and difficult grip to master for the majority.
Stefan's extreme grip encourages incredible whipping of the racket head, both prior to and through contact.
The downside of having your thumb so far round to the front of the racket handle is that you need more forearm 'roll' to bring the racket face-on to the net (at contact), which is difficult for lesser players to master and make a clean contact.
The upside is that the more extreme the grip, the greater the distance for rotation, the more your potential for whip. It certainly made Edberg’s spin serves a real force.

It serves no long-term purpose to develop a serve with a forehand grip, and even juniors should try to master a specialist serve grip from the beginning.
Before we move on to look at ways of getting the ball into the air and getting the serve in motion, I want you to click back and forth between o and m. The serve grips of Becker and Edberg are like a pair of technical book-ends, which contain between them all the usable variations on a serve grip. Anything outside these two parameters is going to be of little use for either a flat serve or spin.
'Hey, Chip. Flip the hip tip-whip grip with your bottom lip, whydoncha?!'

THE FOREHAND
3 Sample Chapters (of the full 12)

THE FOREHAND Chapter One

THE FOREHAND Chapter Two

THE FOREHAND Chapter Three

THE SERVE
Two sample Chapters (of the full 12)

THE SERVE Chapter One

THE SERVE Chapter Two

Tennis for All?

A Lancashire County Tennis Odyssey

Anabel Croft

Andy Roddick

Elena Dementieva

Gabriela Sabatini

Tim Henman

Jimmy Connors

Venus and Serena Williams

Serena Forehand

Mary Joe Fernandez

How to hit a backhand: Part 1

How to hit a backhand: Part 2

How to hit a backhand: Part 3

How to hit a backhand: Part 4

How to hit a backhand: Part 5