Leg Action on the Federer Serve

[lukman41985]

See if you can spot the difference:

[marius hancu]

Glad to see you were able to post the .mov.

There are some diffs, not sure what do you have in mind:

- from deuce: less left toe lift; also probably serving to the outside
- from ad: more left toe lift; also, probably serving down the T

[lukman41985]

Marius,

Thanks so much for your help with the videos. Yes, you've seen what I saw. I want to ask you though: what makes you think Federer's toe lift, or lack thereof, correlates to his service location? I don't think you're wrong. I just have no idea.

I'm interested in the fact that as of late, Federer really never lifts that left toe much on his serve. I originally assumed that last year he lifted the toe and this year he stopped, but both of the videos I've posted (including the top video where he keeps the toe down) are from last year's Indian Wells tournament.

Maybe you're right about the fact that Federer's toe lift correlated to his service location; this would tip off his serve to his opponent--not good. Maybe this is why he's changed to keeping the left toe down full-time.

I don't have any ideas as of yet. I will study this more. I just want to generate discussion on this matter.

[marius hancu]

I am not saying that there's a direct relation between Federer executing or not the toe lift and the direction of his serving, though there might be one.

I think that an accented toe lift might be more of an indication of a more powerful serve to come, for which Federer prepares with a very energetic "rocking motion" (see in the following).

You wanted some differences between the two clips and I told you what I thought I observed, but I did not make a connection between the toe lift and the direction in which I thought Federer was serving (which I thought I detected based on where he was landing and where we was moving to).

I am considering the toe-lift as an integral part of the "rocking motion".

Check my posting in the Forum here at:
Tour Strokes
- The Sampras Serve: The Rocking Motion

[lukman41985]

I think that an accented toe lift might be more of an indication of a more powerful serve to come, for which Federer prepares with a very energetic "rocking motion".

This would make the most sense.

[marius hancu]

This would make the most sense.

I am not sure. I am trying to keep my mind open.

It might be that say when serving outside from deuce one needs more of a leg action (as the trajectory of the ball must be a little bit higher) than when serving down the T from the same spot.

I felt that need sometime, but will not try to generalize, as there are many factors that contribute to the success of a given shot.

[jctennis]

Looking at the video clips and a few more besides, I think what you are seeing are the (slight) differences in the way he sets up his stance in the duece and ad courts. He'smore open in the deuce. My guess is that this is the difference in the shot lines between the two courts. I also looked throught he Sampras clips--seems he does a more extreme version. In the duece court his foot is about parallel to baseline--but he actually turns the front foot back a bit in the ad court.

[marius hancu]

Looking at the video clips and a few more besides, I think what you are seeing are the (slight) differences in the way he sets up his stance in the duece and ad courts. He'smore open in the deuce. My guess is that this is the difference in the shot lines between the two courts. I also looked throught he Sampras clips--seems he does a more extreme version. In the duece court his foot is about parallel to baseline--but he actually turns the front foot back a bit in the ad court.

Yes, that is another piece in the puzzle:-)