The Serve: Probation!

[arturohernandez]

That hesitation point is critical. To get the rollercoaster car up the hill with just enough inertia to get it over the top of the hill where it falls. It will almost hesitate you would swear. Does it actually? I don't think so but you sure as hell don't want to go rushing through that position. Once I looked Gustav's swing over going back and forth from "Probation" to the full motion I realised how fast he goes racing through that point. Excellent video. Excellent food for thought. Thanks for sharing! Did I already say that...well ok, thanks again.

The tricky part is to make sure that the racket grip and arm are loose at this point. It is so easy to force into this position and then try to muscle it in the box.

I tried a drill (I should have filmed it!) with my daughter. She throws one ball, one probation serve and one regular serve. This seems to really loosen up the arm and create a nice rhythm. There is one thing I found harder when I served using a probation method.I had a hard time hitting a kick serve.

Somehow it seemed flatter. Has anyone else found this to be true? That it is harder to hit a kick serve if we start at the trophy.

[don_budge]

The tricky part is to make sure that the racket grip and arm are loose at this point. It is so easy to force into this position and then try to muscle it in the box.

I tried a drill (I should have filmed it!) with my daughter. She throws one ball, one probation serve and one regular serve. This seems to really loosen up the arm and create a nice rhythm. There is one thing I found harder when I served using a probation method.I had a hard time hitting a kick serve.

Somehow it seemed flatter. Has anyone else found this to be true? That it is harder to hit a kick serve if we start at the trophy.

Absolutely key. No friction...absolutely not. Tension is friction. I think it was in an earlier video Brian makes this point about inertia. No muscling at this point or you just kill the motion. Watching Gustav hit from this position I noticed that he seemed to be hitting a flatter ball when he got the rhythm correct. I'm certain that you could learn to spin the ball from here...but it takes practice. Brian says you are on probation and you don't get off probation until you can prove to him that the move is synched correctly.

Another important point is creating width in the backswing and not racing through the hesitation point. You don't want the racquet tied up behind your ear. Pete Sampras created tremendous width into his backswing.

[klacr]

The complexity of the service motion is very high. Natural talents like Gonzales, Sampras, Federer are to be envied.

You forgot LaCroix. Just kidding!

In all seriousness, when I first learned thatBrian was doing a serve series on video I was very excited and knew it would be great. It has exceeded my expectations. The learning and discussion it provokes is highly beneficial for all subscribers.

You rock Brian! Keep it up.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Video is better than text. As John has said with his “Visual Tennis” book.

[bottle]

Video is better than text. As John has said with his “Visual Tennis” book.

don_budge is a better tennis player than bottle. That doesn't mean we both don't have our virtues.

[gzhpcu]

Some people are more visual, others more verbal. I have always been more visual, which is also why my,posts are usually short.

[bottle]

The Man in Black?

This poem may be a great one (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poe...dreadful-night). But does it describe either Brian Gordon or Johnny Cash? I don't think so. Well, maybe Cash a little more at his blackest. He did come close to the edge, right? I think his daughter Roseanne has said something along those lines.

[gzhpcu]

Brian, after the probation point, when you initiate the racket drop, does it occur naturally, or should you help it by supinating the forearm? Thanks

[bottle]

Some people are more visual, others more verbal. I have always been more visual, which is also why my,posts are usually short.

What I like and sometimes can only aspire to is language that is full of visual imagery.

[bottle]

Brian, after the probation point, when you initiate the racket drop, does it occur naturally, or should you help it by supinating the forearm? Thanks

I'm just trying to learn this meself but if it came from the shoulder shouldn't the term be ESR?

One thing about the upper arm: if it's twisting it's either doing ESR or ISR no matter where this happens in the service cycle. Humerus me?

[don_budge]

Some people are more visual, others more verbal. I have always been more visual, which is also why my,posts are usually short.

I take it any way that I can get it. I might use all five of my senses...plus the sixth one. Especially the sixth one. The sixth sense is a feeling of the first five combined.

[don_budge]

Video is better than text. As John has said with his “Visual Tennis” book.

The video in this case is excellent. Sometimes the text helps to really stick it...make it stick.

[arturohernandez]

Video is better than text. As John has said with his “Visual Tennis” book.

I like the video embedded in an article personally. It takes so long to get through the words and listen to everything.

And what will I do if really want to remember everything he said.

Yes, write it down.

Video is better than text alone.

But video + text is the perfect sweet spot, in my opinion.

[gzhpcu]

I'm just trying to learn this meself but if it came from the shoulder shouldn't the term be ESR?

One thing about the upper arm: if it's twisting it's either doing ESR or ISR no matter where this happens in the service cycle. Humerus me?

Which begs the question: does supination exist without ISR?

[bottle]

Which begs the question: does supination exist without ISR?

It exists but no one invented a word for it? We're talking about what would load pronation, propination? proversenation? No, those terms are no good and I don't have the imagination right now to come up with another. But since pronation and its reverse are usually subordinate to humeral twist maybe a minimum of verbal identification should be assigned to them to keep them rightfully suppressed?

In the subject of whether to start twisting something before essential racket drop, though, any kind of distinction whether semantic or not could be huge?

The arm is right-angled, right? So if you twisted the forearm, one thing would happen, if you twisted the humerus, another? Which would best flow into racket drop and help the legs and bod going the other way? Or if both twisted, good luck?

No I don't want to take up another game.