Do you want a stronger and more consistent serve?
If you do this blog is for you.
In today’s blog we’re going to give you three important tips that are going to help you have a stronger serve and hopefully also help you become more consistent.
Tip #1 – Optimal Stance
The very first tip that we have for you for a stronger and more consistent serve is your stance. This is very important because this is the foundation of the serve.
If you were standing facing the net (both shoulders and feet facing the net) this would be considered an open stance.
A closed stance would be with your one shoulder facing the net. You’ll see a lot of players hit their forehands like this and other shots as well. Even their drives.
A semi-open (or aka semi-closed) would be kind of half way between the fully open and fully closed stance. Your feet will be somewhat staggered. You’ll have your front foot in kind of at a 45 degree angle and your back foot a little bit wider than your shoulder width.
This is the stance you should use when you’re serving.
You should not be all the way closed or all the way opened.
Stance is really important and the reason for that is that it’s just going to get you to develop a lot of good habits.
The foundation of your serve is your stance. You get a lot of power from your stance.
You should really bend your knees. You don’t have to bend them super low but if you stand straight up and your knees are locked you can’t get a lot of power and you can’t really push and get your whole core rotation and your legs going.
You’re going to use your legs and then you’re going to come through and then your core and all your other muscles are going to use the kinetic chain.
You need to load your legs because your serve is not going to just be your arm.
Your stance should be semi-closed or closed.
Tip#2 – Loose Grip
The second tip we have for you for a more powerful and consistent serve is having a loose grip. Not to loose though.
We’re talking about grip pressure.
If you grip is as tight as you can it’s like a 10 and if you just hold it very loose that’s a 1.
You should tend to have anywhere from a 3 to a 5. It kind of depends but mostly it’s in that range.
You’re not gripping it super tight but it’s on the low to medium end.
One thing that this really helps with is being relaxed. You want to have a smooth relaxed motion with the muscles in your arm and your body as well as your whole kinetic chain.
One thing that having a relaxed grip does is that it really helps you loosen all your muscles.
If you’re really tight and you have an abrupt swing them loosening up will help.
You’ll see the same thing with the pros grips. Those serves are strokes that they have hit many times and they’re not really tense.
For them to hit that ball really hard with pace it’s not like they’re muscling through the ball. They have a relaxed grip. Hopefully by loosening you grip you will relax the rest of your muscles and this will help relax your mind.
Tip #3- Low To High Motion & Relaxed Follow Through
The third tip that we have for you for a better serve is to have a low to high motion with a very relaxed and natural follow through.
One thing that we see some players do is that they’re really tense and then they either cut their follow through short or it’s just very awkward and they are not relaxed and letting their follow-through go.
Your swing path should be from low to high with a finish around your shoulder across your body.
You want it to be relaxed and natural.
We want you to envision throwing a ball. If you throw a ball and stop your follow through that would be a very jerky/abrupt movement.
You don’t see players throw balls like that. They’re letting their body go and using the kinetic chain in their arm and their core and their legs.
They’re just letting it go and it’s a natural follow-through.
It’s the same thing with the serve. You want to have a natural follow through. You don’t want to cut it short because that’s going to make your serving inconsistent and you’re not going to get the maximum amount of power out of it.
Those were the three tips to hopefully give you a good foundation for a better serve.
These are good fundamentals to have.
These are three tips that could really help you out to make sure that you stay relaxed, make sure you have a good foundation in your stance and make sure that your follow-through is natural and not abrupt. Remember you want to serve with a low to high motion up here finishing near your shoulder.
These tips will help you with your serve if you’re struggling and also if you just want to add more depth and add more power and pace on your serve.