Question on Andre Agassi serve...

[tennis_chiro]

That's a wonderful shot. Almost better than the classic Sampras shot at the top of his service motion just after contact. But it really wasn't that well understood. And, in fact, Mike had Pancho right there in Caesar's Palace setting an example for young Andre, but he never figured this part out. For a guy with his size (5' 10 or 5' 11), strength (working with Gil Reyes) and explosiveness, he should have been able to hit serves well into the 130's on a regular basis. As JY said, he left something on the table.

don

[gzhpcu]

Well, yes don, but they did have pretty good photography even in the 60's. Look at Richard Gonzalez here...



Surely one can figure it out...

[tennis_chiro]

Thanks John. It is just that they all have coaches and access to high speed video surely, why don't they do something about it?

Well, probably because they are not tennisplayer.net members...

Phil, you have to remember anything above 30 fps was very rare until the Casio camera came out in 2008. I got mine in 2009. Certainly, Mike Agassi didn't have access to such technology when Andre was just a boy developing his habits.

On the other hand, now when there is so much more access to high speed video, coaches are still making the same mistakes to a large extent.

don

[gzhpcu]

Thanks John. It is just that they all have coaches and access to high speed video surely, why don't they do something about it?

Well, probably because they are not tennisplayer.net members...

[John Yandell]

The turn of the upper arm in the upward swing is a critical contributor. The "pronation" is the indication of the extent of this acceleration. But players like AA or Sharapova or Murray turn less and probably are leaving speed on the table. But the ability to do this can also be related to ball toss position. And these guys all are toward the right.

[gzhpcu]

Looking at his serve:

https://www.tennisplayer.net/tp_player/andre-agassi/

His arm does not pronate much after impact and his racket does not make a downward angle with his forearm like most good servers, yet his serve was still good. Wonder why?

Murray's serve is somewhat similar, little pronation after impact...