Serving speeds

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Serving speeds

by Scott Mills
(Oxford, Great Britain)

Hi again everyone

I was timing my first serve speeds last night with a friend using the following device:

http://www.totalracquetsports.co.uk/product_info.php/cPath/168/products_id/1040

The club coach says it is 10 miles or so slower than the guns used at tournaments which makes my serve speed look a bit nicer ;-)

I was regularly hitting the first serve between 95 and 103 mph which according to the coach would be 105 - 113 mph. I'm not sure of the accuracy but hey ho.

At any rate that was with me trying to hit rather flat, which I normally would not do. I like to swerve\slice the ball a lot which I reckon takes about 10-15 mph off the pace for me.

The question is, are their some common areas where club players like me can get a few extra miles of pace whilst retaining accuracy.

I appreciate you would need to know my action to really say much, but do club players as a whole generally lose some miles because they don't do "specific" things?

I was going full out to get the speeds above which i would not normally do in a proper match.

Any thoughts?

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Mar 21, 2010
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What changed mine for the better...
by: Julian

In my experience the one thing that I can single out as contributing to generating more power (without compromising accuracy) was the realization that there was a lot of unnecessary tension in most of what I was doing.

For the most part, my serve felt tense, laborious, uncomfortable and generally speaking as if it required too much effort, certainly more than it should. The more power I wanted the more these symptoms seemed to increase too.

It's not that I had never come across anything stressing the fact that proper form includes -as one of its main ingredients- the aspect of relaxation. I was aware of it in theory but unaware of how little I was actually applying it in practice. So anyway, long story short, what started the positive change kind of happened by accident.

One day (I think in an act of frustration ;-)) I remember tossing the ball into the air with an attitude of total abandonment. Meaning without really trying the usual approach which -now I know- strived to be precise, accurate, loyal to all the "right" concerted motions, etc. Inadvertently I was much more relaxed than usual (indeed)... I hit the ball and I noticed how fast it seemed to come out from the string bed and how high it bounced off the ground on the other side of the net. This serve was -no doubt- not only effortless but much faster (powerful) than the ones I was hitting before.

Anyway, that was the beginning of a lot of aahhhs for me.... I'm not saying this "discovery" led to instant success, but it did set me on the right path to MUCH improvement (way more fun) and better serving today.

I'd say simplify your serve to the bare essentials, even if it is to the point of exaggerating. Experiment, make it a point to be very comfortable with all aspects of your service motion. Be very intent on eliminating all unnecessary tension from the body. Make sure you toss well (one foot or more) into the court for flat /topspin fast first serves.

Good Luck! I'm positive you'll see a difference on your serving. If not DO let me know ! ;-)

Sep 02, 2010
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Cheers Julian
by: Scott

Thanks Julian, you are definitely right there. sometimes i try to think of all the right mechanics to use, instead of realising that i probably do most of them anyway having played soo long. So, relaxing was a big part of improving. I'd say i'm far more consistent now and also less prone to injury. Speeds are roughly the same, but what has added 2-3 mph has been making sure I toss the ball further forward ;-). i still have a fairly low ball toss, not sure if i should change that because I have had shoulder cuff problems in the past and over-extending can bring that back.

Thanks though for the advice.

Tom

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Serving speeds

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