Analyzing A Tennis Serve & Improving The Toss Height
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- www.feeltennis...
This week's video article shows you how to thoroughly analyze a tennis serve not only from the technical / mechanical point of view but also from the mental one.
Having an incorrect mental image of the stroke is many times the original cause of incorrect technique as players do not develop flawed strokes just by some coincidence.
There's always a reason and we have to dig deeper to uncover it.
I'd also like to thank Steven for allowing me to use the footage from our lessons for this article.
You'll see go deep you can go into figuring out the reasons for problems on the serve and how we then worked on the toss and the throwing motion with feel based drills.
You'll also see the reality of trying to change a certain movement and how you have to battle the old vs new programs in your practice sessions.
It's a completely normal learning process but if you're not aware of it it may frustrate you a lot.
The video runs for about 20 minutes - but took me around 20 hours to edit ;) - so make sure you set some time aside for this serve video analysis.
Links to clips used in this video (no copyright infringement intended):
Ivo Karlovic serve:
• Ivo Karlovic's amazing...
Alexander Dolgopolov serve:
• alexander dolgopolov s...
Highly insightful as always, Tomaz. Two quick things that I especially resonated with:
1) "The Battle" is so, so real but ignored by most which leads to a tremendous amount of frustration from players and coaches alike. Kudos to you for having the integrity to point it out when so many are pushing a "quick fix" or "secret".
2) There's a lot of coaching out there that suggests a low toss is ideal which I've always disagreed with. Your reasoning here is the best articulated I've heard for tossing significantly higher than the point of contact.
Thank you for your work! -Ian
Good to hear from you, Ian!
Well, I suggest an optimal height toss, let's put it that way. Certainly not Dolgopolov style and certainly not Del Potro style.
Feel Tennis Instruction I am a high toss fan.
Feel Tennis Instruction I’m sorry tomaz ! Del Potro serve is very good and actually tosses the ball high. You might want to watch his serve at Wimbledon and see how many quick easy points he gets
If I could offer my input as someone who continues to battle but has made significant gains, my focusing on tossing arm extension and higher toss really helped my hitting arm. Feeling the stretch along my intercostals along the side also aids in relaxing right before I go up after ball with my racquet. I then hope to feel another nice stretch on my opposite side when I hit, which indicates a nice loose throwing motion.
I follow the logic of the lower ball toss (slower ball movement as it’s near the apex of toss, less variation due to height, wind etc) however this video confirms why I always wound up with trouble with it because I always end up rushing my racquet arm compromising throwing motion.
Excellent!
Tomaz you are a true inspiration!! Your dedication and work ethic are really admirable, and without a doubt you inspire all your viewers!! You have been, for a while now 😊, and will remain to be a key component of my tennis journey. Thank you for the wisdom you impart on us all!!
Wow! I have exactly the same problem as your client! I can see now where I am going wrong. Low toss (mostly) but mainly the out of sync back swing. This is why I always feel that I am chasing the ball! Absolutely brilliant video!
Oh man, this is good stuff. Serving is the most difficult biomechanics in tennis. I understand the pain because I have been through this struggle. Thank you for the video.
There are so few people that are of your quality.
I have a nine year old kid who was torn apart by a trainer giving vague voice instructions like: "be faster", "hit stronger", "do less movements with the legs" etc.
I had a luck to find your videos and fixed her tennis fundamentals just by doing some of the drills you recommend, focusing on one thing at a time, explaining the mental images etc. This was done 10 minutes per day, at home in the living room, without using the ball.
She improved in every aspect of playing with consistency and that brought her back also one very important aspect of tennis and that is self confidence.
Thanks again, and to mention that if you have chosen to be a doctor you would be a great one too :)
Thanks for the kind feedback, Dragan, glad the videos helped! All the best in the future...
Your way of teaching is very analytical and you show correct comparisons, eventhough i am still a 9, biginner , because of your videos I improved a lot, because you explain it so I can understand the theory behind it. For example, people always look at the upperbody, one of your videos you show that the lower body is what the engine (power) drives the shot, which I try to incorporate and already have better results with. You are the best YT tennis coach. Keep it up!
You are a psychoanalyst among the tennis coaches, talking directly to the player inconscious rather than giving explicit directions. I really believe in the results of your teaching, and i wish other coach would follow your path
Excellent advice. I lately double faulted a lot in my matches despite regular practice and couldn't understand why. Today before the match I went to practice serves with a higher toss, and it fixed the problem. I didn't even realize that I had a shallow toss till I saw the video. The rhythm came back, and all serves were in during my match. Also I became so much more relaxed and confident on my service motion. Everything fell in its place. Thank you, Tomaz.
Thanks for the kudos! And I'm glad to know it's "the most difficult sport in the world" because that helps explain why it takes so much effort to get to the next level as a recreational player. I'm a fan of your work!
Tomasz you are a super coach!! Even you give us viewers appreciation and motivation just by finishing the whole video!!
This video is so good because it also gives the student an insight into what the coaches expect of them.. really excellent!
Superb instructional video. I know people have different views on what the height the toss ought to be, but the message I have taken from it is that it is better to be too high with the toss than too low. Also, the stretch at the front of the body is not something I've thought of before and it definitely has helped me. Just so good to see this kind of analysis.
Glad it was helpful!
You are without question the best tennis teacher anywhere. Great analysis and teaching. Thank you
wow! I'm totally a beginner of this lawn tennis sport. I just started my practice yesterday. I searched some tips here in youtube and found your videos and it's really a great and helpful tip! can't wait to apply my learning on your video later on my practice today! love this sport. though at first when I watched a lawn tennis game I thought it's easy, easy to look at, but it's actually hard when you do it. indeed Sir you got all the description about visualization and mental aspects. So I need to do more practice. thanks for sharing, it's great!
i mean you're right about the description about visualization and mental aspects..
This is exactly what I need. Thank you for outstanding analysis and corrections. Wow.
Wow, thanks soo much for this content Thomas !! You are really helping me learn this sport thanks to your videos. Amazing work man !
Tomaz, I like the fact you refer to one's own mental image and how the recorded image edits our perception. Through video I discovered I too was deliberately lagging the racquet arm, then having to hurry the rest of the movement just to meet the ball. Great work. Gordon
15:20 “toss the damn ball higher!” 😄
Charles Ekendahl loved that!
Hi Thomas! You are very very good at what you do. Congratulations my friend!!
This is really great way to show how to learn/correct serve . Congrats to both of you.
Very in depth. I love your "holistic" approach 👍🏼🙌🏻
I’ve struggled for years with exactly what your video shows. My toss is low and my right arm is way behind causing me to rush through my swing. No racquet drop at all. More of a push swing. Thank you so much. I have something to work on now. It’s been very frustrating for me since I have a good overhead which I’m happy with. Probably because my racquet is already up waiting for ball to come into hitting range.
Great way to teach tennis. I have been following your videos for quite some time. Bio mechanics , game cannot be taught by words but by drills ( feel it ). Keep up the great work tomaz. Your videos are inspiration not only to students but also to coaches . Understanding the physics ( physical motion) of game is really helping to understand the best way to execute the shot. Swing motion of left hand to generate momentum , high serve to load up the body , backwards racket movement to generate high angular momentum .
I have the exact same serve issues as this guy, this is humbling to watch, tried to fix for years.
Thank you for making definitely the best explained videos about tennis I ever watched. Eagerly awaiting every new video
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for showing the mistakes on areal exercise. Extremely helpful than words
Brilliant as usual ! particularly about the swaying/rocking motion prior to ball toss . A serve instruction can of course transform your entire game if successfully implemented. Many thanks ,
Another great training module for correcting service flaws. Also I noticed you stated that tennis is the most difficult sport to learn, absolutely agree.
I can't get enough of your great videos. THANK YOU!
Stunning insight into your coaching methods both physical, and mental. Thank you Tomaz. Gordon
This is real good for any recreational player like me. Thank you so much! for explaining in such proper/methodological way.
Thanks for pin pointing the mistakes during a real training session. Helped me great
Congratulations on reaching 100,000 subscribers!
Wow! This was very helpful! Thanks
Video Analysis is the future for training !
excellent video. Problem stems from 1) a waiter's tray serve- not the right motion and no elbow up and 2) very little legdrive and flexibility and 3) toss is too far back towards the baseline. I can see some similar problems on my serve except i don't have a waiter's tray.
He also needs to tell Steven to follow through with his whole body, and that means to swing his right side lower torso so that his serve bring his body past the end line and onto the court. I also serve this way, and in doing so I’m out of position and often not ready to defend against the oncoming return.
The way I helped my son coordinate his tossing and hitting arm was to ask him to touch his front leg with his tossing arm before he tosses. This gives the hitting arm some extra time to go back.
Great video Tomaz. This helped me a lot. Thanks a ton!
Tomaz, you are great coach. One question, how to change the habit to hit too flat to hit more topspin?
You are the Best Thomas. It would be such a great pleasure to work with you ! A french fan.
Thomas, you are Truly Great analytic. Thx a million!
Love the words that you use, "Battle"
Another great video. Tomaz, do you offer paid service for video form analysis?
This lesson made me feel sorry for tennis instructors everywhere, especially mine. One thing I've been slowly coming to realize is that to have really good form - killer form - and use it to great effect, to achieve great results, you must have PERFECT FUNDAMENTALS.
That, I think, is Federer's "secret", which is really no secret at all. Just about every website on the Internet uses him as the model of perfection. And they're right, his form is FLAWLESS. We talk about his incredible talent, but we ignore his incredible work ethic. To hammer away on the basics like that, until you become a walking textbook, must take unimaginably-hard work and quasi-pathological persistence. Like, if he didn't get results, he probably would have been taken to a psychiatrIc hospital.
Fortunately, for him and for us, he turned out to be pretty good. So, everybody, stop worrying about the windshield wiper and the buggy whip, start bending your knees and watch the ball.
Great video Thomas! Keep up the good work!
Greetings from Brazil
Very nice analysis as usual. However I noticed immediately the foot faults :) always insightful and entertaining lessons though...
Excellent lesson thank you 🙏
You are very welcome!
Hello Tomas, I really like your in-depth analysis of elements from the game. They've been helping me a lot along the way. I've been struggling to find a good source of information on how to develop your serve stance. I started playing tennis almost 3 years ago and as I go to more and more tournaments for amateur tennis I notice that even the best players that have very high overall skill have problems with their serve stances.
I currently use pin point stance and I feel like I have a lot of unwanted movement in my feet. I sometimes do a tiny step with my front leg after the ball toss, I drag my rear leg too much into the court , I am not sure if I am placing my rear leg correctly at the end of the motion and so on...
As some other users have mention in your example of serve you do a foot fault and I was wondering how do professional tennis players develop their serve stances as they are extremely consistent and they very rarely do foot faults.
Cheers,
Nikolay
P.S. I hate platform stance.
Thanks. I certainly don't do a foot fault after playing tennis 20 years on quite a high level. But surely when I demonstrate serve technique I don't look down at my feet whether I cross the line by one inch. I can't understand how nitpicky people can be and how they don't understand what is the point of each video I make. P.S. I hate pinpoint stance, it causes so many problems in teaching that you can't imagine.
:) Sorry for mentioning the foot fault, it wasn't the purpose of my comment to point it out. It just reminded me of my serve stance problems. And I don't actually hate the platform stance it just doesn't feel natural when I gave it a chance (I tried it for a couple of months)
Excellent video!!
Thank you Tomaž.👏🏼👏🏽💯
Great video, but I noticed on Tomaz's toss he threw it very high to the point where the ball was coming back down before he hit the ball? I thought this was a bad thing? Since the ball is coming back down and starts to speed up which makes the serve harder to hit?
excellent advice! Thank you!
Great graet
Do slow motions on Roger's backhand as well please
So helpful. Thanks Tomaz! Makes me want to get on a plane come visit you for privates.
Kudos to you sir.
Another great video maybe tracing a j shape would help him on his service toss.However really enoy your videos.
Great video!
Great analysis...considering many non technical factors..which is so unique in your style of teaching!
Wish you were closer here in California to get some lessons :-)
Which place is that? nice background...
Excellent. Again.
Would it be ok to even have the racket to travel further. If I toss using your racket position, I fight the wrist opening into the waiter's serve. High tosses also a real challege/battle
The doc's doin' ok.
Tomas your foot is on the baseline the whole time. That's not allowed right?
Thanks
i wish i could get tennis lessons with you but you are far from italy :(
Hi, let me have one comment. There is week tossing technique. Please pay attention to this and no need heavy ball. Good luck
good stuff !!
I feel this battle every day ;)
What determines the optimal toss height?
It depends on how long you need to put your racquet to meet the ball most efficiently in the sky. It is flexible. Different people have different rytheme.
You are a champ
07:10 foot fault 😉
Good office....
Probably should use your lapel mic indoors.. Too much echo indoors ☺
Foot fault!
Steven's belly isn't pronating.
Stop picking on Steven.
I think I'd rather see _how_ to do it, rather than how _not_ to do it.
Disagree. Both are extremely useful.
Elder abuse.
The teacher had a foot fault, student didn't.
who tf cares
@@notafanboy250 I do. May be a small detail, but if you're going to coach.. get it right.
Thx for posting but plz watch your feet....you stepped on the line before contact.👍