These differences include planes of motion, the nondominant arm tossing the tennis ball, the trajectory of forces produced and released, the tennis racket (which alters the lever arm), the technical components of the serve, and the variety of placements and goals of the motion (spin, speed, angle, direction, etc). January 2016 Calf & Achilles tendon. Yours A good serve allows the player serving to assert some control over how the point unfolds. I consider myself a student of the game and in the last 30 years I gathered extensive library of books, videos and DVDs from the best couches including Vic Braden, Van de Meer, Bolittieri and many others, I also have a membership in tennisone.com since 1996, and buy courses offered on line. This has improved my confidence tremendously, which has had a positive knock-on effect on the rest of my game. Differently, it has nothing to do with a specific part of the technique or motion in this case. Below features the muscle groups in order that they are used in tennis action, starting with the lower muscles and then utilising the upper body and arms in the hitting of the ball action. April 2016 My wife and I tried tennis about 33 years ago but gave it up. Therefore, you shouldnt try to do the parts of the serve that just happen. Figure 2a shows this with the front foot flat on the ground and the heels of the back foot slightly elevated. For the pronation, why do you advise to have the strings pointing to the back fence and not to the right side fence ? What shall I do then, except for changing my coach? With the amount of force required to generate power from the ground up, it is truly a movement that requires the full kinetic chain. . At that moment, the momentum built in the body is then transferred to the arm. I have a flexible shoulder but I rush the serve which ends up with the waiter tray. consistently. Movement #2: Pronation of Racket-Arms Elbow. The second noticeable movement that takes place during this second transition of the tennis serve is pronation of the racket-arms elbow. the one with the player in yellow polo (i do not recall the title of the specific lesson) the follow-through is more large and at the end of the run, the edge of the racket finishes more parallel to the net. Free access to premium services like Tuneln, Mubi and more. The SlideShare family just got bigger. Without the movement of the lower body, a shot would end up anywhere but the back of the net. They provide a wide range of motion and flexibility. The platform serve stance is where the feet remain in the same position throughout the whole service motion. Which is the second motion of a tennis racket? This also starts the coiling phase from which you will generate a lot of power once you start uncoiling. Thanks. The principle of stretching your body and allowing it to snap back generates much more racquet head speed than the principle of tense muscles and thinking you want to be strong as you hit your serve. The tricky thing here is that the tossing arm is much more stiff as its lifting the ball accurately up towards the contact point while the serving arm has to be very relaxed. This is also the stage where Id like to clarify the follow-through on the serve. I believe that this publication is the most significant one on the tennis . What changes have to be made regarding foot position, ball toss and racquet path when serving from the deuce side? November 2018 The tennis serve begins with flexion of the knee joint caused by the hamstrings. I think we can all get here without over analyziing this. Im rediscovering much technique, but one thing surprises me: I have a natural tendency to pronate a small degree clockwise beyond racquet face parallel to the net, such that the serve swings to the right, the opposite to a slice serve (I am a right hander). Recently, we bought new rackets and gave it a try. So what exactly is internal shoulder rotation? Thanks understanding how to integrate the toss into your service motion and how to troubleshoot it. Internal shoulder rotation is the rotation of the upper arm in the shoulder joint that accelerates the racket forward. Therefore, imagine swinging towards the ball at a 45 degree angle leading with the edge of the racquet and following the first row of balls. The Tennis Serve consists of three main phases: 1) the backswing, 2) the forward swing and 3) the follow through. This results in maximum external rotation of the racket arm at the shoulder joint seen in Figure 3d, and this external rotation is caused by the action of the Teres Minor and Infraspinatus muscles. At least I was never aware how important this is for a good stroke but was astonished to feel the difference. Thank you so much for such a great video! Balls in two rows give you a proper guidance on your serve swing paths. They say that the tennis serve supports the kinetic chain concept mostly, but that the internal shoulder rotation and pronation are exceptions ('missing links'). I tried out for the varsity team with no High-performance tennis players need to train off the court regularly, and its not just so that they can get better at the game. This is not natural to our body as it tends to tense or relax both arms in a similar manner. What technical correction would you do if you missed the basket by 20 cm on the left side of the ring? Pin point vs platform stance (Images credit: tennisserver.com). During this transition, three noticeable movements take place at the same time: Generally speaking, both arms drop together as seen in Figure 2b, above, and then rise up together as seen in Figure 2d. He developed the speed training method that uses resistance bands with an isometric training strategy to help athletes run faster starting way back in 1996. Lets take a more in-depth look at each muscle region to learn how they can affect your performance on the court. Thats another topic best answered by a fitness expert, not me. It was hypothesized that players with shoulder pain presented a decreased upward rotation at the end of the cocking phase. The reason I dont want to move the wrist is because it changes the rackets angle. However, with some practice, you will surely master it and gain many more benefits from having enough time for your whole serving motion and more power from having more torque in your body. We initiate the body turn through our hips and then use our trunk and shoulders to rotate forwards while we let the racquet lag or trail behind. A slice serve is used in order to gain an advantage via the unpredictability of a spinning balls bounce. This is the principle of force summation where all body parts are used in sequence starting from large muscles first like quads and then sequencing the muscle groups down to smaller muscles like wrist extensors. Over my last three semesters in college I have taken tennis for my required sports classes. And the danger in this hitting part of the serve is that we initiate the swing up from a static position which in the long term might become a part of our whole serve technique. Swinging the ServeMaster helps you re-establish the natural flow of the body. Squats and related activities are ideal as they target the gluteal muscles specifically. I signed up for Serve Unlocked about a year ago and have followed and practised all the lessons you have in there. Nevertheless, training off the court is crucial for maintaining balance, strength, and speed on the court, and it is advisable to at least warm up thoroughly before and after every match. Just login again into the course and youll see a new menu item called Technique under which are all the extended clips. Yes, the shoulder can hurt when serving, it is under stress. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. All these movements must be present also when you just focus on your toss hence, I consider backswing & toss as one step in this serving progression tutorial. Now if we continue on with the motion of the racket arm, we end up in a position called the L position (Figure 2d) because the racket arm and forearm end up making the shape of the letter L and this position is necessary to allow you to swing the racket correctly later on in the serve. What are different time concepts for Chinese and Westerners? May 2013 After logging in you can close it and return to this page. By whitelisting SlideShare on your ad-blocker, you are supporting our community of content creators. Synovial joints are freely movable and allow for motion at the location where bones meet. First, let me tell you that your videos have improved my tennis tremendously. Most tennis players make the mistake of tensing their muscles in this phase of the serve thinking that strong muscles will help them hit a strong serve. The one Ill use makes it easy to check if your grip is really a continental grip. As such, theres not much time left for you to complete your whole serve up until contact. We have only been playing a few weeks, so I have a lot to learn. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Enjoy access to millions of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more from Scribd. Yes, the stomach and torso, the legs, lats, the triceps, the forearm, and even some muscles in the hand are all active in the serve - they have to be otherwise you wouldnt be able to hold your racquet or move your arm. Denys. Take The 9-Minute Running Speed Challenge! document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Hi Tomaz! September 2016 I started playing tennis in high school. Referring to Figure 1, below, notice the front foot is directly behind the baseline angled diagonally into the court. We stopped moving our body fluidly, making our movements now very mechanical. September 2012 Joints, actions, and muscles used during the post-propulsion phase of the tennis serve Important Muscles Some of the primary muscles used during these three phases are the deltoid anterior, biceps femoris, tibialis anterior, semitendinosus, and the triceps brachii. July 2016 Eureka moment on seeing the two angles separated by 45 degrees in the hitting section. whats can I do to correct it? Search The upper extremities are linked to the shaft by means of the shoulder girdle. Its a slight exaggeration at first, which helps the player learn to pronate and to understand that the hitting part of the serve is not one single swing through the ball with the whole arm. mass: 39.05 6.34 kg) were volunteered to participate inthis study. If a player does swing through on this type of volley it is very difficult to control and will more often than not go out of the court. Im still a beginner, two years in the game now and loving it! You need to strengthen the shoulder area, upper body and core muscles to properly handle the strain of serving. Golfers Elbow, aka medial epicondylitis, is a pain or tenderness on the front side of your elbow. There are smaller parts of the hitting part: The loose drop before the swing up is achieved by bouncing or dangling the racquet behind you. October 2013 For example, should I start by practicing only flat serves first until I can do a full motion strong first serve, and during this time if I ever play a match my 2nd serve is just a cautious version of 1st serve? It should point to the top left edge on the racquet handle. I currently have been If you do something incorrectly, it will hurt a lot. What would you suggest doing to increase consistency? and the hitting arm reaches the trophy position. But worry not, I have an interesting course in the works, hope to release it in a couple of months! Good to hear youre on the right track now! From the stance position in Figure 2a, above, the racket arm drops down (Figure 2b) and is then abducted out to the side of the body with the palm of the hand facing downward (Figure 2c). My question is when I go from the trofy position to the contact of hiting. Cant wait to get on the tennis court to try this out. If I were to play points I would serve at speeds where I dont feel pain, thats probably around 70% of my max speed. Tap here to review the details. (1986). The serve is a real tricky stroke, much more than any other in tennis, and so one needs to be patient in learning all the little nuances of the serve that eventually unlock it and make it a weapon. Rotation - this is where the limb moves in a circular movement. Thank you very much, Ken, I really appreciate it. Simply playing tennis is not enough to strengthen those muscles. Since the arm is much lighter than the body and momentum has to be maintained, the arm has to accelerate. Thats what Im doing right now. Only on very easy balls in the mid-court I would release the wrist a bit. This stretching of the internal rotators during the racket-drop is the last group of muscles to undergo an elastic stretch, and it is necessary to complete the loading of the shoulder joint and enable it to deliver maximum speed and power during the serve. Occurs when tendons in the elbow are overworked. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. From there, your weight rocks back on to your back foot and then the toes of your front foot come up off the ground (Figure 2b). From the minute 20:32 of this video, you show the end of the follow-through that finishes is run on the lateral side of your left leg (toward the net in this case because of your face your shoulders at the net). The muscles that allow for this internal rotation of the shoulder from the racket drop position to the contact point of the tennis serve are the Subscapularis, Latissimus Dorsi, Teres Major and Pectoralis Major muscles. In this phase, the athlete will be performing the . Two synchronised 200 Hz video cameras were used to record the service action of 20 male and female players at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Durability: The longest-lasting of the tennis court surfaces. Follow through Other than the preparation, all three phases consist of important biomechanical principles which strongly influence both the speed and accuracy of the tennis serve. The swing up and pronation parts are best imagined and learned by placing two rows of balls on the ground. February 2014 Exercises: There are many more terms and concepts in throwing a baseball then the wind-up, cocking, acceleration, and the follow through. Its time to say thank you for all your good advice. Thanks! the Website for Martin Smith Creations Limited . Also, strong glutes can contribute to adequate knee extension as well. I know this appears an extreme simplification of the mental process but.does it approximately depict what you mean? 18. Every article has at least one gem. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Besides that, training frequently makes muscles accustomed to strenuous movement, so it reduces the risk of sustaining injuries on the court. Ultimate Tennis Serve Lesson - How To Serve In Tennis. Rehabilitation of shoulder and elbow injuries in tennis players. The other one is keep on watching the ball as the racket hits it, which allows me to keep longer on a 45 degree angle and stops of from turning the body towards the net too early. I have continued to play tennis outside of class and can now play at a rather average level A lot of people told me that learning to play tennis at an advanced level within a year was impossible, but I payed them no heed and went to the park every day to practice.