How Body Height Impacts Serving in Tennis
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ค. 2023
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In today’s video, I discuss whether height matters on the tennis serve.
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90% Serve Power 👉 th-cam.com/video/_rTMLnN0ID0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-g1OVSu7Qrtx22jf
Ash Barty is 5 ft 5 but she was one of the ace leaders in WTA. Height shouldn't impede us from developing a good serve.
💯
Miss Ash...
But in WTA right?
If it was a 5'5 dude then it would be a different story.
4'9" on your knees, but remember, your arm length is still that of a person who is 6'5". You serving on your knees is more like a person around 5'2" or 5'3" serving.
As a guy who is 5’4” this video rocks!
Thanks for also using the metric system
Always 🤌
@@IntuitiveTennis I'm not sure to understand, I don't have the same numbers as you guys. 5'7 here is 173,7 cm. So, when you said 5'9 is 175 cm I was kinda surprised because for me it indicates 179,8 cm, almost 180 cm... I feel like that's quite a difference in measurement >_<
Here, according to google cm to foot conversion, 175 cm is 5'74. What gives ?
OMG - all these years I kept thinking I’m at a disadvantage in my serve due to not being super tall. That was all myth!! Thanks Nick for dispelling this! ❤
💯🙌🔥
Fantastic points and nice serving from your knees!!!
It's simple physics, hitting the ball at a higher point gives you higher margin of error, better angles etc. This doesn't mean being tall will make you a good server ... but it DOES HELP tremendously. Being shorter puts you at a physical disadvantage as a starting point. An interesting test would be to take someone under 5"6 and then have them wear lifts or something that gives them a few inches boost to gauge the impact.
Great video concept!!!! very informative! I've seen short women that don't jump serve HARD and FAST!
Great video and explanation. I have been fortunate to have watched some top level players since 1970. My first tournament we watched the great Rod Laver play Ken Rosewall. What I learned then and over the next 50 years was that placement, pace and spin all go into great serving. Maybe people don’t see it on TV but when you’re actually there and sitting behind the player that serve is spinning, breaking and jumping off the court. When I coach the serve I like to emphasize moving the placement around and consider the score. Evaluate what your opponent likes and what gives them trouble. You don’t have to be tall to serve smart. Think of it like chess. Plan your moves and out maneuver the returner. If you’re playing an opponent who is tall and you really need the next point try serving right into their body to jam them and throw them off. If you were to hit towards either side they are probably more comfortable and have great reach because of their height. They will also be able to take a bigger swing.
beautiful video
Thanks Nick! You just made my day 👍 Love the "That's a bomb right there" departing comment
Haha 🔥💣
Hey Nick, we'd love to some 5.0 coaching videos of one of your students, I feel coaching around that level would help so many of us Adv Rec players sharpen our game. Thanks Coach! 🌿🎾
Got more on the way 💯💯
I believe they said that roddick's shoulder had unusually high flexibility which is partially why he was able to generate so much power. so genetics still had a role to play, but this was a good reminder not to just give up and accept the state of my serve just because I'm short. if nothing else, there may be other genetic advantages that I have that I'm selling short because I'm tunneling on height. and obviously, I could always improve my technique and physique through practice and gym work respectively. I'm inspired to level up my serve once again watching this video, thank you.
You definitely doesn't have to be tall to serve well, but being tall definitely helps with serving - it allows you to serve with a higher level of fault tolerance than if you are short. I'm 5'8" on a good day, I can serve well and occasionally even manage an ace. But against someone who's even just a little taller, say 5'10", he can be a weaker serve mechanically, and still have an effective serve. There's no question that height can get you more margin of error - if you aren't hitting the apex, if your toss isn't perfect, it's OK. Whereas us shorter folks will need to shape the ball / arch it / kick it more, and need to be more precise with our toss / hitting at the apex. One more thing - shorter person have shorter arms... So if you kneel down you are still using your 6'+ arms :) Which is probably err, 30% longer than my limbs. And yes, shorter you are, every inch counts more. There difference between 6'1" and 6'2" is not the same as the difference between 5'8" and 5'9". At least, that's my experience.
That’s true with shorter limbs but at 5’8 you can serve well if you put in work 🔥
haha I am 5'8" and do feel like I have to have perfect mechanics to get a good serve - feelilike I have to practice five times as much as a taller player - but it does feel so good when I can nail a hard serve
Glad that you mentioned Del Potro
Always
Hey Nic, nice video as always! Talking about the serve and body height… could you make a video on the return of serve? This weekend I was playing against an opponent that was 6‘3 or above and had a crazy kick serve (LK 4 in Germany). I‘m 5‘10 and have a one-handed bh (LK 14). I couldn‘t figure out a way to really do anything on my opponents serve… contact point was most of the time above my head, poor backhand slice return ending up short. No time to react when standing closer, got aced when standing behind because of his strong placement and pace. I mean of course there was a huge gap in level but I had a lot of deuce games on my own serve and was kind of competing when getting into the rallies. However got double bagled 😂🤙🏼 still a cool game and fun experience
Got a return of serve lesson coming soon…
On your knees your 2 inches shorter then my mother was, I could literally look over her head when I stand next her, I am only 5’7. I use my legs on my serve and jump into my serve. I noticed that when I get my toss going in the right place, I can hit a kick serve that jumps at least 10 to 12 feet off the court. The fences on our courts is 10 feet high and I recently been able to hit the kick serve that has been jumping almost as high as the fence. I have been practicing this serve my entire life. Great job on the video my friend.
The very great advantage for tall players is the more natural consistency and the kick serve more effective. But you can rip off many winners and aces also if you aren't tall.
I am 5'6'', and I have a very good serve. I mean, I never double fault, I hit some aces every match, I can hit a good kick(not a monster kick but the ball jump), my slice serve is also a good shot.
I worked a lot on this fondamental because weren't natural for me, but I'm happy of my actual serve.
I was just struggling with a change to my kick serve to hit it more "up" and have more margin; spoiler alert, it didnt work. Really makes sense to me that you still hit down on the kicker, but naturally it will arc more than the flat one. Keep up the great work with your method :))
everyone is different, so I'll throw something out there and it may help or it may not, but I personally made a big improvement to my kick serve when I started thinking about swinging towards the right side of the court rather than swinging up. obviously, if I got top spin, then my racketface had to have came across the ball mostly upwards, but I've always found there is a difference between what you feel like you are doing, and what you are actually doing. based on video of myself, I think what's happening is that since after contact with the ball, the racket has to arc in a rainbow kinda way, and its easier for me to visualize and thinking about the top of the rainbow (the part going horizontally) than it is to think about the beginning of the rainbow, which is the part that goes upwards (and where contact with the ball is made). It's basically thinking more about the follow through than contact itself.
-
anyway, if this sounded like nonsense, then ignore me. I'm just sharing cuz it a big thing for me personally, and there's the off chance it might be a big thing for someone else too.
@@bonzwah1 yeah I get it, it's funny because my coaches always told me that and it never worked, for me the sideways drills have worked better because I naturally arc towards the outside. Thanks for the insight tho :))
I remember final in AO with Sharapova. MP and Serena made ace but it was out by umpire call. So she made another ace :D
Wawrinka is good example in ATP. But I think that for lower level is WTA more educative than too perfect ATP.
Besides the angle, there's another advantage to height. The higher the contact point, the higher the bounce. That's physics. So a significant difference in height can result in a significant difference in how high the kick is, assuming both servers have good kick serve. Suzuki, 5'9", has a very good kick, but there's no way he could kick as high as Opelka.
True
I don't think anyone would dispute Serena as one of the greatest servers in the WTA, but I would hardly consider her short (even for a tennis player). Justine Henin, on the other hand, at around 1.67 m/ 5 ft 5+1⁄2 in, was generally considered to pack quite a punch for her height ('short' for a tennis pro, but still average height for a woman in many European countries).
4:35 well, it will be slightly shorter than that as a short person's arms won't be that long, however, i get your point
You don’t need height for a serve but it’s a damn good down payment
Diego Schwartzman - 5'7" career high #8. An icon for the 'shorter statured gent' 😉
I am 5'5 166cm with 8'6 racquet reach and I can get up to 103mph for my flat serve. I can get faster speed but it will just always sail long. Having long reach definitely helps in serving bombs
You will always be at a serve disadvantage vs equally rated opponent , I think we ( i am 177 cm ) have only one option is to own opposition in neutral rallies and be stronger returner and stronger from the baseline , we can improve our serve but we cant serve like a 196cm guy
I love serving, best part of my game. But I tend to over rely on my serve
Build your game this way th-cam.com/video/C3LEbaEU_1g/w-d-xo.htmlsi=yutmYMNfCyrdpqSC
the higher contact point helps with consistency due to the angle, but its the arm length that gives the taller servers the power… examples - pete sampras wasn’t that tall (certainly not 6’1” I stood right beside him many times) but his arms are very long… serena also has long arms… its simple physics…
What if you are short with really long arms. Does arm length matter more?
Only 5’2-3 so hard to do any flat serve, although im still trying.
But is it true that you can always just jump more to compensate? Say an 180cm person jumping 15cm and would reach around the same as you would without getting off the ground
Would you recommend a larger Raquet head for a shorter player even if they aren’t a beginner and play competitive (non pro) tennis? Thanks.
Longer racquet can help
My daughter is 16 and only 4'11" and her first serve is 70 to 78 mph. I know she'll never get to 120mph, but she's the fastest female junior server in the district... many of which are almost 6ft. Tall. I think serve speed has more to do with innate genetic body dynamics combined with proper practice. I liken it to baseball pitchers.
A good idea is to just put a camera on your racket in the position of serving to let us know what the ball sees from there
I was hoping to see that too
💯
I was pretty surprised to find out not too long ago that even Pete Sampras is only 1.85m, I always thought he was pretty close to 2m just because of his serve and athleticism, but he's not even close to that.
He had arguably the best serve ever and was almost a whole foot shorter than Isner and Karlovic
But if the whole point of the kick serve is to hit high over the net how can you say that’s not an upward trajectory
Amaazzzing Nicolaisnervic !!
😂🔥
in my mind the best women serve is Justin hennin
Pliskova is only 4 inches taller than Serena
Not really sure what Serena means by "Pliskova is hitting shorter in the box".
I am six feet and my flat serves land deep near the service line. I noticed that many of the
shorter guys I play against actually hit shorter into the box. 🤔
Thanks coach for being "apologetic" to us short people in the context of a tennis serve, but we would rather be 6.5" serving bombs than be 5.9"-5.11" trying to serve bombs!...lol
Started hitting with a young lad (18) that serves absolute bombs… likely 120mph flat, he’s about 5’11. Myself as maybe a 3.5, just finishing my split step and the balls already gone past me 😂.. though I did manage to return like 3 out of the set today.. I get complacent when playing normal ppl so I’ll have the throat in my left hand but heck not with this guy.
Thanks for the video, as a physicist I have to say that all equal, higher point of contact is advantageous, in fact, it is a large advantage compared to lower contact height.
Tell me that you didn't watch the video without using those words 🤦
Alcaraz is "only" 5'11"
6'1" but he's an absolute menace and will break all records (barring a bad injury).
@@jasonterrell1563 He claims 6'1" but he's 5'11". There are plenty of pictures of him next to 6'1" Nadal and 6'2" Djokovic.
@@PaulWolfe1 More of a reason to root for him!
My main problem Nic is that I usually hit the top part of the net with my serves. How do I get more clearance?
Changes are you are throwing the ball to much into the court. Then, you wind up chasing the ball and make contact with too much of a downward trajectory. Or, you are not dropping the racket back enough and your stroke is too shallow. Video yourself from the side and the back. See if your racket drop is good and your toss is good. You can toss further back and see if that helps.
BTW, I know I'm not Nic, but those are usually the problems with hitting the top of the net.
Daniel, impossible to know without seeing but it’s often the toss (height, location)
@@IntuitiveTennis thanks coach
I think shorter players should be able to serve closer to the "T" area of the court, so that valid serve angles are similar to the ones available to taller players. It would help to make Tennis more inclusive!
With this change (and maybe others), even a 5'4'' guy or gal should win at the highest level of tennis tournaments, as long as he/she puts the hours of training and conditioning required.
Usually you are a lot more persuasive with your demos. But your kneeling serves were not very impressive. I have previously seen a demo of someone serving from a chair that did demonstrate some speed and kick. However, your point certainly stands as there have been many shorter, great, servers. Barty recently, and I think Carlitos may end up in that discussion as well.
Peds help to serve well
Thanks for an interesting clip. I just wonder if it’s not a great advantage to have a long arm(centrifugal force) which would correlate to your overall hight? Especially as you shown before that the majority of the power comes from the arm.
Personally, I have a baboon like body shape with short legs an long upper body. The serve is my best stroke by far, I thanked my long arms for it but perhaps that’s not correct.
It is advantageous no doubt, the point of the video, however, is the fact that shorter players can serve well (as well)
Agree that you can have great serves at shorter heights. But the video shows that when standing, you can hit flat and also hit it wide compared to the slice that was needed at the shorter heights (thus decreasing speed).
Height also just buys you more margin of error.
If you have good mechanics and you're tall, it is a weapon.
All true (and well presented by the way), however, it should be mentioned that shorter players tend to use predominately more of a slice (or even a kick) even on their first serve. Due to their decreased angle, from contact to target, the flat serve starts to become not a good option anymore, especially for recreational players which is probably the majority watching these videos.
And that's exactly what he was doing when kneeling...he was slicing. Geometrically nearly impossible to drow a straight line.
I am 5'8 and when i play against someone who is 6'+....their flat and kick serve bounces more after hitting ground and they can also hit great angles....height does give you advantage....only if u are 6+.....
That's pretty impressive that Nik contacts the ball at a point 10ft off the ground. I'm only 5'-6" tall but I have really worked on my vertical to allow me to get 4ft off the ground during my serve. This allows me to contact the ball at a point 13ft off the ground. It's really opened up some nice angles. I highly recommend box jumps. The only disadvantage is when my opponent has a great return as it can be difficult to get back down to earth and recover in time.
Brian Battistone, is that you?
Height makes a huge difference. What you should say maybe is that a shorter player, say, like Serena, can compensate by serving smarter and more accurately. Federer never tried to compete with Isner in MPH but he could in accuracy & placement.
So many stupid comments from people not understanding the point of the video and still perpetuating myths based on pseudoscience.
world is so unfair for shorter guy like me.. I have to practice 10x harder on technical.
I am 5’7 with a very decent serve but i am sure my entire game would be up a notch or two if i was just 3 inches taller.
And it would go up another notch or two if you were 3 inches taller than that.
You’re forgetting the disadvantage of being taller, which is that you don’t move as well. Taller = more body mass to control and move = slower
@@keeganandersson4281 actually i did consider that. Thats why base on my overall physique i believe my best height would be 5’10. I wouldnt want 5 inches taller or to be 6’2.
@@emp6 I really dont think so. Base on my physique and play style, 3 inches taller would be just nice. Likewise if i lose an inch, it probably wont hurt my game much but if i lost 3 inches, i think my serve especially and my reach will suffer significantly
@@keeganandersson4281 It's mostly the net game that suffers.
Also, surely smaller people must put more energy into the serve to generate the power - therefore in a stamina battle like tennis often is, taller players can achieve high level serves for a longer period as they need to put less energy into a decent serve (less need for use of leg drive for instance)?
That gets completely negated by the extra effort required to move around the court for taller people. Getting to low balls also requires more energy if you’re tall
@@keeganandersson4281 But getting to higher balls, which is most on Hard and Clay, would be easier for taller people than shorter people who must reach up and jump?
How important is weight? Surely power is generated by force which is speed x mass and taller people are generally larger therefore have more mass so have more upside potential of power?
bodyweight only helps on serve if you get forward momentum. otherwise, most important factor is racket velocity which mostly comes from shoulders
Can they swing as fast? Weight at the racket is also a factor- if they can wield a heavier racket at a similar speed then they should get more force.
I talk about weight and serving here:
th-cam.com/video/BQS2C2CR7s8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=esNO07nLNvr1cKdw
th-cam.com/video/31YrFVM4ozY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=hIyOtV--LpeZjdQr
So my take-away is, ultimately, taller people DO have an advantage. As someone who is 5'2" with t-rex arms & corgi legs, I can PROMISE you it takes more effort to get up & over the ball to get a good angle. It's exhausting. I hate that I love this game so much. Taller people are always at an advantage with their wingspan & all those legs.
I'm 5'3"...
5"9 is tall!
For women yes but for men it’s the global average height
I guess people can work on their legs more to compensate
Artificial height is given to you with a higher and more extended sweet spot , like you are using on your racquet for this video . Smaller headed racquets have a smaller sweet spot in the center . People are compensating for their perceived deficiencies , relative to others on the court for the advantage . Extended length racquets also help players on tbe serve and therefore used on tour . Generally , people are improvising in order to adapt to the game style and each other , out of their insecurities .
It doesn't help , that the industry does there best to hinder you . Forcing the slow down of the courts and ball and in turn , to feed their economic benefit vs the player . Racquet companies therefore would be colluding with the tour and media to continue to benefit themselves and the continuity of their industry through self intended manipulation and adaption . To the industry , the players truly serve them and not the reverse . The super tall player benefits the industry . Giants tend not to move very well , in an all court serve volley game .
2:22 Alexander Zverev (second serve)
Serena is 5'9 & I am 5'4 so can I???
Atleast watch the video before you comment
@manujohn99 Ash Barty at 5'5" had a first serve speed in line with some men in the top 100.
@@khalidadam1497 Why don't you watch a movie & then comment???
Personally as a rec player and traveling to different clubs and stuff ive never seen a taller person at club level with a shit serve. Bad backhand slice 24/7 yea but boy could they serve.
Ive also never seen a shorter player who was never not fast, speedy and who would not chase everything down. Sometimes your biology/physiology just influences how you play. Of course there are exceptions.
But its also why the best tennis players are not short or super tall and somewhere within a few cm of each other.
Do you have to use a car for travelling 50 miles?
If you want to be less drained and get there faster , then you do .
The taller you are, the easier to serve. Anyone can serve, though.
I am 5ft 3in 😂
I can't think of any current pro men's players under 6 ft tall who I would say have an outstanding serve. Usually the shorter the server, the less power, less directional angle, and less angle of bounce deflection off the court that is able to be achieved consistently. The combination of these serving traits along with the greater body mass and leverage of a longer limbed individual give them a significant serving advantage, assuming technique is equal. Each of these factors by themselves is an advantage but I would guess the increased angle of bounce deflection off the court may be the most important because it is much more difficult for the returner to time a steeper bouncing ball, that quickly gets out of the ideal hitting zone, to make solid contact than to do the same with a shallower bouncing served ball. This plus the ability to be more accurate hitting the shorter angles of the service box to spread the range the returner has to defend, could be what makes Isner and Karlovic serves so difficult to deal with, rather than just the speed of their serves.
If you’re in the Top 100, male or female, you have an outstanding serve lol. This video is addressing recreational players. Any recreational player would kill to have a serve of a Top 100 WTA player, many of whom are under 6ft.
@@anthonypeter8652 I believe my points are still relevant whether you are recreational or professional. Assuming an equal level of technique at whatever skill level you compete, a much shorter player is at a major serving disadvantage as compared to a taller player and cannot develop as offensive a serve due to the physical limitations of their size that don't allow them to achieve the same net clearance, short angles, and angle of bounce deflection and as much power leverage as their taller opponents. All things being equal, shorter players will be more challenged to hold serve and win free points, at all levels of competition. The only difference is that at the lower levels of recreational competition (vs higher levels) the shorter players' opponents may not have the ability to significantly take advantage of the shorter players serving handicap., especially if other parts of their game are better than their opponent.
@@ef10s but the existence of the pros negates your point. A 6ft tall 5.0 male can’t serve better than 5’7” Diego Schwartzmann. So it stands to reason that a recreational player (the audience to this video) will always have room to improve their serve technique. Lack of height shouldn’t be an excuse to serve worse than a taller opponent.
Only 6'2" 😂
Your arms are much longer than that of a short person
You’ve made some great videos - this isn’t one of them.
To cut to the quick you should simply say: all other things being equal, height is an advantage in serving. Everyone knows this.
Sebastian Baez served yesterday with 212km/h, he is only 170cm. But that also depends on string and racket developement, in the 90´s there were no serv-monsters under 185cm...
He had a 228kmh ace in Cordoba lol. problem is he cant sustain or consistently hitting that pace without gassing out
Not me here being 160cm and hearing 175cm is considers being short 🥲