Hey Richard, I saw you on the court earlier this month and asked how your left handed serve was coming, and now I know. Great video, enjoyed your analysis of the serves of those top pros. I think you have made tremendous progress and I’m sure you will continue to improve!
😀 My serve has improved a lot just from working on my forehand because the timing of the hip drive with the racket drop is similar to the racket lag. So hopefully with some dedicated practice I'll be able to get my serve to a decent level.
Grip: Try to spread your fingers. The serve is upwards based throwing motion but you are holding the racquet with your hand thats hard to throw with. Right Arm: Reach up more and more actively Right Arm: Really Pull it in Your right arm is not really helping you a lot here, as it tends to flop around a lot and using it well will help with preventing over rotation and tidy up small and important parts of the serve, or at least not leave you in a technical dead end where you have to start over again in this area. Feet: Try them starting a bit closer together ala Andy Roddick, will help you create the verticality you are looking for When focusing on your back leg, remember to still use the right front foot to drive up at the ball, will also help with over rotation Lots of hip and shoulder mobility, to improve range of motion and strength at the end ranges of motion. If it was up to me this and the basic throwing motion would be the majority of peoples serve training for the 1st 6 months. I would also recommend a lot of upwards tennis ball throwing with a split finger grip on the ball just to improve your proprioception and kinaesthetic sense. The goal is not to throw the ball over the net, the goal is to throw the ball as high as possible as str4aight as possible from the centre mark along the centre lines. If it happens to go over the net or if it lands on your side of the court on the service line it doesn't matter. I strongly suspect the basic throwing motion is still awkward and difficult for you to do effortlessly, which until properly addressed will mean the serve will be difficult to improve. Your basic throwing motion is something I'd like to see a video of, with feedback as to how easy it feels for you when throwing for height or distance. That's enough for now, hope this helps Any questions please feel free to ask.
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment. My throwing is coming along slowly, it's just a case of body management and time. My shoulder and wrist can only handle so much load each week, so I have to choose where to prioritize it.
Great video, very interesting and admire what you have already achieved. Would going into a pin point stance work as a way of loading the left leg. If it gives a strong proprioceptive feeling of loading the leg maybe it will make loading it easier when you migrate back to a platform stance style. Be absolutely fine if you shoot me down in flames - I will still watch and like your content.
At the start I played around with a pinpoint stance, but that was when I was still really struggling with the ball toss so it was too early to tell. It's certainly worth testing out again though.
There is an option to upgrade to VIP. That enables you to join the challenge on zoom and also gives you an extra hour session each day after the regular session is finished. After you register it will explain how to upgrade.
I think you are underestimating the impact of your racquet position pointing up and kind of frozen there vs. pointing to the side fence when your off arm is extended. That extra motion into the racquet drop could help you get more shoulder external rotation. Of course you’re unlikely to get anywhere near the external rotation range that you had as a righty given that your body didn’t make that adaptation when you were young. You also need to beat the waiter tray like racquet drop, which will definitely increase your shoulder external rotation range a bit. That is a tough habit to break. Here’s Caroline Garcia in slo-mo. Her racquet is pointing up but it is out to her right so that she has some momentum going into the racquet drop. th-cam.com/users/shorts2Sv2_G2J1l0?si=f3NUKI5ok7n_x81i. Be patient, I left too much dead time up front.
My left shoulder external rotation is much less than my right side, so it wouldn’t matter what loading position i got into, the range wouldn’t change. I’ve improved it a lot over the last couple of years, but there is still a long way to go before I can serve optimally with it. I’ll be working on the position though in addition to the lower body 😀
have you learned to actually throw a baseball well with your left hand? can you stand on a pitcher found and throw strikes? i think the process is quite similar.
I can throw ok with my left now. Certainly much better than before I started the journey. I just have to be careful with managing the load on my arm. Forehands, serving and throwing all place similar stresses on it, so I have to choose what to focus on.
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Hey Richard, I saw you on the court earlier this month and asked how your left handed serve was coming, and now I know. Great video, enjoyed your analysis of the serves of those top pros. I think you have made tremendous progress and I’m sure you will continue to improve!
😀 My serve has improved a lot just from working on my forehand because the timing of the hip drive with the racket drop is similar to the racket lag. So hopefully with some dedicated practice I'll be able to get my serve to a decent level.
Grip: Try to spread your fingers. The serve is upwards based throwing motion but you are holding the racquet with your hand thats hard to throw with.
Right Arm: Reach up more and more actively
Right Arm: Really Pull it in
Your right arm is not really helping you a lot here, as it tends to flop around a lot and using it well will help with preventing over rotation and tidy up small and important parts of the serve, or at least not leave you in a technical dead end where you have to start over again in this area.
Feet: Try them starting a bit closer together ala Andy Roddick, will help you create the verticality you are looking for
When focusing on your back leg, remember to still use the right front foot to drive up at the ball, will also help with over rotation
Lots of hip and shoulder mobility, to improve range of motion and strength at the end ranges of motion. If it was up to me this and the basic throwing motion would be the majority of peoples serve training for the 1st 6 months.
I would also recommend a lot of upwards tennis ball throwing with a split finger grip on the ball just to improve your proprioception and kinaesthetic sense. The goal is not to throw the ball over the net, the goal is to throw the ball as high as possible as str4aight as possible from the centre mark along the centre lines. If it happens to go over the net or if it lands on your side of the court on the service line it doesn't matter.
I strongly suspect the basic throwing motion is still awkward and difficult for you to do effortlessly, which until properly addressed will mean the serve will be difficult to improve.
Your basic throwing motion is something I'd like to see a video of, with feedback as to how easy it feels for you when throwing for height or distance.
That's enough for now, hope this helps
Any questions please feel free to ask.
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment.
My throwing is coming along slowly, it's just a case of body management and time. My shoulder and wrist can only handle so much load each week, so I have to choose where to prioritize it.
Great video, very interesting and admire what you have already achieved. Would going into a pin point stance work as a way of loading the left leg. If it gives a strong proprioceptive feeling of loading the leg maybe it will make loading it easier when you migrate back to a platform stance style. Be absolutely fine if you shoot me down in flames - I will still watch and like your content.
At the start I played around with a pinpoint stance, but that was when I was still really struggling with the ball toss so it was too early to tell. It's certainly worth testing out again though.
Is there a way to participate in your workshop without being on Facebook? I do not use any Meta products, for a variety of reasons.
There is an option to upgrade to VIP. That enables you to join the challenge on zoom and also gives you an extra hour session each day after the regular session is finished.
After you register it will explain how to upgrade.
I think you are underestimating the impact of your racquet position pointing up and kind of frozen there vs. pointing to the side fence when your off arm is extended. That extra motion into the racquet drop could help you get more shoulder external rotation. Of course you’re unlikely to get anywhere near the external rotation range that you had as a righty given that your body didn’t make that adaptation when you were young. You also need to beat the waiter tray like racquet drop, which will definitely increase your shoulder external rotation range a bit. That is a tough habit to break. Here’s Caroline Garcia in slo-mo. Her racquet is pointing up but it is out to her right so that she has some momentum going into the racquet drop. th-cam.com/users/shorts2Sv2_G2J1l0?si=f3NUKI5ok7n_x81i. Be patient, I left too much dead time up front.
My left shoulder external rotation is much less than my right side, so it wouldn’t matter what loading position i got into, the range wouldn’t change.
I’ve improved it a lot over the last couple of years, but there is still a long way to go before I can serve optimally with it.
I’ll be working on the position though in addition to the lower body 😀
Has your left arm grown bigger after playing left handed for 3 years?
have you learned to actually throw a baseball well with your left hand?
can you stand on a pitcher found and throw strikes?
i think the process is quite similar.
I can throw ok with my left now. Certainly much better than before I started the journey. I just have to be careful with managing the load on my arm. Forehands, serving and throwing all place similar stresses on it, so I have to choose what to focus on.