Really excellent self-analysis of your 'faults' and breakdown of how you took steps to improve. I'm very impressed and inspired to up my own game! Great video, thank you.
Excellent Cameron, nothing hits home better than actually observing yourself serve, I especially liked the 'shot put' exercise. Your technique looks very good now, here's hoping you go from strength to strength..
Thanks so much - really appreciate that. If you want more exercises like the ‘shot put’ one, I recommend researching Mark Kovacs as he has lots more exercises just like that.
This is so helpful, thank you. It's very helpful to see the process, the stages you went through, the time it took to develop muscle memory. I also liked how you show that the value of a low ball toss is that it enables more power because of the timing. I'd love to hear more about how you manage to do this kind of improvement while playing competition.
It’s so great to hear that you find this video useful. Thanks for taking the time to tell me what you liked about it! For sure I can go into more detail on managing improvements while continuing to compete. Stay tuned.
Important for people to understand that back leg loading doesn’t mean all the weight to the back leg..Mark Kovacs stipulates it’s roughly 60/40 back/front leg but I’ve seen quite a number of coaches on here stressing ‘Load all your weight on the back heel’…then they do a serve and it’s nothing like they’ve tried stressing lol, because it’s impossible. I actually chopped and changed as a junior between platform and pin point and ultimately stuck with pin point as I found I also could load better and get far more power. Big power sources to note that don’t get talked about much are tilt and thrust forward (like javelin throwing), I watched a few videos on this and also a comparison with Roddick and other big servers and the core thrust is a big part of it. Great videos btw👌👌
I started with platform serve and my front leg was getting all the weight and my knee was bending at an awkward position. I switched to pinpoint serve and now can feel weight distributed on both legs and no more awkward bend in my knee. I had to adjust my body positioning and the toss, but so far I’m loving the pinpoint.
The Wolfe & similarly Shelton serves are hugely dynamic and physically demanding due to the low toss and the speed at which the back foot moves into pinpoint and still remain BALANCED into knee bend, and until now have not really given their respective games the necessary control or consistency to go deep into tournaments, because it doesn't provide sufficient KICK. Look at Alcaraz instead, where the toss is more over the head allowing the racquet, like a hair brush to comb over your head so racquet is more horizontal on impact. His launch & consequent transfer is more, UP, wheras yours, is forward/out, and on occasions it almost looks like your hitting down.. His back foot comes forward to pinpoint, but still mirrors his starting position, pointing to the back corner of the court so the hip does not turn but remains side on, with a slightly higher toss. The 10/15 kms more that you might get with the Wolfe serve comes at a cost, which is inconsistency in my view. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I've not seen it done on a regular basis by anyone yet, way too volatile, insufficient control and kick. The Spanish evidently are in a league of their own.
Hey John, thanks for your comment - you made some super interesting observations here. I think having a great kick serve is definitely still possible with the Wolf style serve. Albeit my kick serve does have a slightly higher toss than the flat serves I was hitting in the video - but still close to the apex. I think you might be right about the serve being more physically demanding, I definitely found myself that once I got back into tournaments, it was tough to maintain the speed and power of the serve. Although, I can’t say for sure whether this is due to the technique or my lack of fitness due to the time I was out. Alcaraz definitely has an amazing serve and for sure hits all the check points in the different stages of the serve according to the Kovacs’ methodology. He has a great back leg load on his serve. The height of the ball toss is definitely more stylistic and as long as you’re not spending too much time waiting in your loading position that’s all that matters. It’s important to note that I’m not advising people to copy the Wolf style serve. I was more just sharing the errors within my serve and how I overcame them. The Wolf style was the last thing I did when it came to experimentation with timing and ball. And people should go for whatever works best for them with regards to the timing. It will be interesting to see if anyone with the Wolf/Shelton style serve can progress to the very top of the game and maintain the consistency with the power that you get from it.
Great video man! I have the exact same problems, no back leg load, find myself putting all the weight on my left leg, and no enough push of the back leg that when I am in the air my back leg is not even straight. Will try your drills! Besides, I also tend to drop the racquet with palm facing up, I got my elbow up though. is that a real problem? I see Sampras and Federer also tend to drop the racquet with racquet face up
Thanks! Glad you found the video useful. If you fix the back leg load, you will often find the other issues will sort themselves out over time. However, if they still remain an issue there may be other causes: grip, ball toss, etc.
This is insanely good. I also have hyper angulation from a lot of flexibility and emulating Sampras. Thing is if I don’t I end up with a super high elbow like Murray which I hate. Does this hitting side abbreviation drill sort this out over time? Even my half serve can float into hyper angulation. I used to box 🥊 so have massive flexibility in my shoulders. Really want a more tucked backswing though, it’s the bane of my game..
Thanks Harry. If I had to guess I would think the hyper angulation is coming from a lack of sink and twist into the back leg. I also have a lot of flexibility in my shoulder which is why I could get away with it for so long without pain. The Kovacs’ methodology is to work on the back leg sink and twist first and then over time your body will realise it doesn’t need to create the extra range with the shoulder as you’ll have it from the loading position.
I don’t get it. There is nothing bad, only good things to come - SPRING - out of the so caled hyperangulation of the upper arm in the loading position. I am implementing it iinto my forehand take-back position as well. Kovacs i methodology is too ”mechanical” to my liking: step-wise, atomic, reductive and it misses something essential.
Interesting, although you started from a much higher level than me. I'm on this journey too, two and half years in. It takes a lot of work if you've been playing a long time with totally the wrong technique (53 years for me!). It's progressions, frame buy frame analysis, back and side views. My one tip is to buy a foam tennis ball (Babolat sell them) and then you can set up at home without going to the court. I've done 95% of my reps off court.
Sounds like you’ve put in lots of work with your serve already - keep going with it. That’s a great time to improve your serve at home. You can definitely retrain the muscle memory that way. Keep it up.
@@camprice99 Thanks. Yeah, hundreds of videos and many sleepless nights as I had yet another insight, minor injuries from applying new motions. And all this time, playing matches and competitions using a progression based serve (which has worked out quite well). It's shocking how much time it takes if your fundamentals are wrong.
Great work bud, I found myself shifting to much weight onto the front foot too and man it’s a serve killer… like so inconsistent but as long as you put the reps in, and I mean ALOT of reps, you really can revolutionise your serve.
And I am trying to achieve just that hyper-angulation/horizontal abduction position on my upper arm/elbow in the trophy on regular basis.. Lol. Also trying to amplify the ”cart wheel” action and lessen the back tilt (not eliminating it but decreasing and delaying it to get the motion quicker and more efficient ). Actually I am trying to impement some of the key elements of Federer’s late career serve as it differs from his early serve at the start of the millennium.
lol, work on your abs and mobility first. i can hit 130 mph at 5'10 and im like 130 lbs. Also there is a lot of stuff you need to worry about besides the technique.
Great video Cameron! When you mentioned your tossing arm dropping early, as part of over rotating, did you feel this was solved by the drills that focused on getting you more side-on? That is, was it more of a symptom than a cause?
Great question! So, in my opinion, I don’t think it is a symptom. I think it was a contributing factor. But the biggest reason for the over rotation was the lack of back leg load and sink/twist. Although the exercises are focused on the loading position. In order to maintain staying side on the left arm will need to not drop early. So the exercises will help this. Although, I did find that after a while my left arm was still dropping early despite having an improved loading position. So I was still over rotating, just to less of an extent. Keeping that left arm up longer was really messing up my timing. And this was one of the reasons I started playing around with the lower ball toss. Through this I was able to spend less time in the loading position while keeping my left arm up for the same amount of time as before. This meant it was not dropping too early anymore and I didn’t need to change anything with the left arm itself. Staying side on longer is something I am still improving today.
Very helpful, Cameron! You showed me a lot of subtle things I never thought of!
Glad I could help!
Really excellent self-analysis of your 'faults' and breakdown of how you took steps to improve. I'm very impressed and inspired to up my own game! Great video, thank you.
Thanks so much. So glad you’re inspired to keep improving your game!
This is exactly what I'm looking for dude. I'm following you baby 👍👍👍👍
Excellent Cameron, nothing hits home better than actually observing yourself serve, I especially liked the 'shot put' exercise. Your technique looks very good now, here's hoping you go from strength to strength..
Thanks so much - really appreciate that. If you want more exercises like the ‘shot put’ one, I recommend researching Mark Kovacs as he has lots more exercises just like that.
This is really good very helpful thank you.
Really great video. Everyone should watch this video. Interested in your future development.
Thanks so much George! Glad to have you along for the journey.
This is so helpful, thank you. It's very helpful to see the process, the stages you went through, the time it took to develop muscle memory. I also liked how you show that the value of a low ball toss is that it enables more power because of the timing. I'd love to hear more about how you manage to do this kind of improvement while playing competition.
It’s so great to hear that you find this video useful. Thanks for taking the time to tell me what you liked about it! For sure I can go into more detail on managing improvements while continuing to compete. Stay tuned.
Important for people to understand that back leg loading doesn’t mean all the weight to the back leg..Mark Kovacs stipulates it’s roughly 60/40 back/front leg but I’ve seen quite a number of coaches on here stressing ‘Load all your weight on the back heel’…then they do a serve and it’s nothing like they’ve tried stressing lol, because it’s impossible. I actually chopped and changed as a junior between platform and pin point and ultimately stuck with pin point as I found I also could load better and get far more power. Big power sources to note that don’t get talked about much are tilt and thrust forward (like javelin throwing), I watched a few videos on this and also a comparison with Roddick and other big servers and the core thrust is a big part of it. Great videos btw👌👌
I started with platform serve and my front leg was getting all the weight and my knee was bending at an awkward position. I switched to pinpoint serve and now can feel weight distributed on both legs and no more awkward bend in my knee. I had to adjust my body positioning and the toss, but so far I’m loving the pinpoint.
That sounds pretty similar to me!
The Wolfe & similarly Shelton serves are hugely dynamic and physically demanding due to the low toss and the speed at which the back foot moves into pinpoint and still remain BALANCED into knee bend, and until now have not really given their respective games the necessary control or consistency to go deep into tournaments, because it doesn't provide sufficient KICK. Look at Alcaraz instead, where the toss is more over the head allowing the racquet, like a hair brush to comb over your head so racquet is more horizontal on impact. His launch & consequent transfer is more, UP, wheras yours, is forward/out, and on occasions it almost looks like your hitting down.. His back foot comes forward to pinpoint, but still mirrors his starting position, pointing to the back corner of the court so the hip does not turn but remains side on, with a slightly higher toss. The 10/15 kms more that you might get with the Wolfe serve comes at a cost, which is inconsistency in my view. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I've not seen it done on a regular basis by anyone yet, way too volatile, insufficient control and kick. The Spanish evidently are in a league of their own.
Hey John, thanks for your comment - you made some super interesting observations here.
I think having a great kick serve is definitely still possible with the Wolf style serve. Albeit my kick serve does have a slightly higher toss than the flat serves I was hitting in the video - but still close to the apex.
I think you might be right about the serve being more physically demanding, I definitely found myself that once I got back into tournaments, it was tough to maintain the speed and power of the serve. Although, I can’t say for sure whether this is due to the technique or my lack of fitness due to the time I was out.
Alcaraz definitely has an amazing serve and for sure hits all the check points in the different stages of the serve according to the Kovacs’ methodology. He has a great back leg load on his serve.
The height of the ball toss is definitely more stylistic and as long as you’re not spending too much time waiting in your loading position that’s all that matters.
It’s important to note that I’m not advising people to copy the Wolf style serve. I was more just sharing the errors within my serve and how I overcame them. The Wolf style was the last thing I did when it came to experimentation with timing and ball. And people should go for whatever works best for them with regards to the timing.
It will be interesting to see if anyone with the Wolf/Shelton style serve can progress to the very top of the game and maintain the consistency with the power that you get from it.
nicely done!!!! How many weeks/months did it take to ingrain the new muscle memory?
Great video man! I have the exact same problems, no back leg load, find myself putting all the weight on my left leg, and no enough push of the back leg that when I am in the air my back leg is not even straight. Will try your drills! Besides, I also tend to drop the racquet with palm facing up, I got my elbow up though. is that a real problem? I see Sampras and Federer also tend to drop the racquet with racquet face up
Thanks! Glad you found the video useful. If you fix the back leg load, you will often find the other issues will sort themselves out over time. However, if they still remain an issue there may be other causes: grip, ball toss, etc.
Great improvement for sure
Thanks 💪
This is insanely good. I also have hyper angulation from a lot of flexibility and emulating Sampras. Thing is if I don’t I end up with a super high elbow like Murray which I hate. Does this hitting side abbreviation drill sort this out over time? Even my half serve can float into hyper angulation. I used to box 🥊 so have massive flexibility in my shoulders. Really want a more tucked backswing though, it’s the bane of my game..
Thanks Harry. If I had to guess I would think the hyper angulation is coming from a lack of sink and twist into the back leg. I also have a lot of flexibility in my shoulder which is why I could get away with it for so long without pain. The Kovacs’ methodology is to work on the back leg sink and twist first and then over time your body will realise it doesn’t need to create the extra range with the shoulder as you’ll have it from the loading position.
@@camprice99
Thanks this is the most helpful comment I’ve read on it! Maybe best serve video too, cheers
I don’t get it. There is nothing bad, only good things to come - SPRING - out of the so caled hyperangulation of the upper arm in the loading position. I am implementing it iinto my forehand take-back position as well.
Kovacs i methodology is too ”mechanical” to my liking: step-wise, atomic, reductive and it misses something essential.
@@jackquinnes From my understanding, the main problem with (extreme) hyper angulation in the serve is that it poses an injury risk to the shoulder.
@@jackquinnes
Hyper angulation on the forehand is a real no no, in the men’s game anyway. You’ll be late on shots against faster hitters.
Interesting, although you started from a much higher level than me. I'm on this journey too, two and half years in. It takes a lot of work if you've been playing a long time with totally the wrong technique (53 years for me!). It's progressions, frame buy frame analysis, back and side views. My one tip is to buy a foam tennis ball (Babolat sell them) and then you can set up at home without going to the court. I've done 95% of my reps off court.
Sounds like you’ve put in lots of work with your serve already - keep going with it. That’s a great time to improve your serve at home. You can definitely retrain the muscle memory that way. Keep it up.
@@camprice99 Thanks. Yeah, hundreds of videos and many sleepless nights as I had yet another insight, minor injuries from applying new motions. And all this time, playing matches and competitions using a progression based serve (which has worked out quite well). It's shocking how much time it takes if your fundamentals are wrong.
great,will try this as i play 3 times a week,social tennis thanks
Great work bud, I found myself shifting to much weight onto the front foot too and man it’s a serve killer… like so inconsistent but as long as you put the reps in, and I mean ALOT of reps, you really can revolutionise your serve.
You’re 100% right, definitely takes time to get used to it and find your timing. But once you do, really is a game changer.
And I am trying to achieve just that hyper-angulation/horizontal abduction position on my upper arm/elbow in the trophy on regular basis.. Lol. Also trying to amplify the ”cart wheel” action and lessen the back tilt (not eliminating it but decreasing and delaying it to get the motion quicker and more efficient ). Actually I am trying to impement some of the key elements of Federer’s late career serve as it differs from his early serve at the start of the millennium.
Federer has such a fluid motion to his serve - one of my favourites to watch.
lol, work on your abs and mobility first. i can hit 130 mph at 5'10 and im like 130 lbs. Also there is a lot of stuff you need to worry about besides the technique.
Great video Cameron! When you mentioned your tossing arm dropping early, as part of over rotating, did you feel this was solved by the drills that focused on getting you more side-on? That is, was it more of a symptom than a cause?
Great question!
So, in my opinion, I don’t think it is a symptom. I think it was a contributing factor. But the biggest reason for the over rotation was the lack of back leg load and sink/twist.
Although the exercises are focused on the loading position. In order to maintain staying side on the left arm will need to not drop early. So the exercises will help this.
Although, I did find that after a while my left arm was still dropping early despite having an improved loading position. So I was still over rotating, just to less of an extent.
Keeping that left arm up longer was really messing up my timing. And this was one of the reasons I started playing around with the lower ball toss. Through this I was able to spend less time in the loading position while keeping my left arm up for the same amount of time as before. This meant it was not dropping too early anymore and I didn’t need to change anything with the left arm itself.
Staying side on longer is something I am still improving today.
@@camprice99 ah I see, thanks! Gonna give these drills a go this week, good stuff.
FASTER! STRONGER!