Serve: hitting arm after impact

[gzhpcu]

I still don't quite understand why after impact some servers (Sampras, Becker, for example) have their elbow high and their forearm bent downwards, while others (Agassi, Federer, for example) have their arm extended forward almost straight.

[BrianGordon]

post impact elbow bend

Phil-

The answer is a mechanism identified for baseball pitchers some years ago at the Indiana University Biomechanics lab - it holds here also - by combining upper arm arm internal rotation with a rapid elbow flexion immediately post contact, the extreme bone on bone force encountered at the end of the strong elbow extension can be minimized - try it, it is very effective - perhaps if I'd had that knowledge in my competiton days I would not have broken off a large part of my olecranon process - for which the removal surgery was quite gruesome according to the Orthopod - in short, the extension/flexion mechanism is a sound safety factor required (but not necessarily used) for those who use extreme elbow extension on the serve (which should be everyone) - cheers - Brian

[gzhpcu]

Thank you Brian. Do I understand you correctly that this has to be done consciously and does not follow automatically?

[BrianGordon]

post impact elbow bend

Phil,

The human body is very adept at producing motion that will minimize destructive mechanisms. To that extent, these motions will occur naturally unless neurally overridden toward some other end. In this case, training must be used to make sure severe damage does not occur - the correction must indeed be conscious - Brian