Topspin serve - work everything along the plane of the ball flight

by Michael
(Hong Kong)

Hi Tomaz,

I have recently discovered an easy way to improve my topspin serve. It is to work everything on the same plane, that is the plane of the ball flight.

Steps:

1. Pick my target.

2. Visualize the ball path. This the the plane I should work everything on.

3. Align my shoulders parallel with the plane.

4. With my arm holding the ball, align it with my shoulders in a perfect straight line, that is, "the plane"

5. With my weight on my back foot, raise my racket arm to the trophy position, and simultaneously, with my arm holding the ball fully extended, toss the ball in a vertical movement, again, along "the plane" (this is most important), and shift my weight to the front leg. All these happen simultaneously along the same plane.

Even when my toss is not perfect, the ball is always on the plane due to the movement of my tossing arm and my body. The only slight variations is only on how far it is into the court. I can compensate this variation easily with my leg drive.

At this time, my shoulders, my head, the ball, my racket, and the target are all lined-up on the same plane.

Under normal circumstances, the ball should be about half arm's length into the court, perfect for exercising my leg drive.

6. The rest of it is easy. I just have to jump up to the ball and rotate my shoulders 180 degree such that my racket shoulder is pointing at the target in the finishing position. The elbow, wrist pronation... etc just happen naturally.

This works very well for my topspin serve. If you would do me a favour, please let me know if this works for your students, too.

Best Regards,

Michael