The tossing hand at contact? Huh? What’s the big deal…?
If you really want to improve the spin on your 2nd serve, then staying sideways at contact is imperative.
Your tossing hand/arm can completely open up your tossing shoulder way too early to where you’re almost facing forward at the point of contact.
And guess what, if you’re facing too far forward at contact, your ability to impart real topspin goes down the drain.
That’s why the position of your tossing hand at contact is critical.
We have the honor again of having the great world class senior player Dick Johnson show us how it’s supposed to be done…
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Yes!! He certainly does straighten/extend the left arm
quite nicely and then tucks the arm to serve as a brake.
What I noticed clearly is that the gap between the rackethead and his back(hence so called “back scratch
postion”)is very large!!I`m a great proponent of this and advise all my pupils to keep this in mind when
practising their serve!!Many of your comments underline
many of things I try to help others with…..thanks
for the support. bye for now…….Andreas
Good observation Andreas…
There has to be plenty of room behind the back to be able to get a nice full free swing.
Brent – 2nd Serve Lesson
Very good clip of the tossing arm at, and slightly after, contact.
I am a 4.5 doubles player and USPTA pro that works with a lot of women at the intermediate level.
I see a lot of tossing arms drop immediately after the toss and the chest is facing the net long before contact.
I am going to attempt to forward this clip to some of the REAL BAD offenders.
Thanks for the clip.
JERRY O’HARA
Hi Jerry and it’s a real challenge to change that habit from facing forward at contact to getting the feel of how to impart spin while facing sideways to the net at contact.
However, with enough practice, there’s always that “ah ha” moment, so keep at it!
Brent – 2nd Serve Lesson
Brent, Too tired from working all day in the office to let you know how my lesson plan is going. But still seeing improvements. More obvious on the doubles court, than the singles court, at least at this time.
Wondering if you get out to Indian Wells. My Love, Debra and I, will be out there next month, March 11th and 12th, leaving the area the morning of the 13th.
Any chance I can buy you Lunch. Mark Shapson
My wife Mai and I are playing the USTA National Husband-Wife Grass Mar 9-12 at Mission Hills (if you come by, be sure to introduce yourself to us), and then I’m back at MH in mid April to try to defend my 2009 title in the USTA National 60s Hardcourt singles.
Brent – Tennis Lessons
Great analysis Brent. Very helpful.Thank you.I’m currently teaching one of those students who thought he got it all regarding serve, first and second. Actually he has a pretty good and powerful first serve(well,when it gets in because it’s flat…). I sent him the Dick Johnson video and he replied to me : “what is this, I can never do that !!” to which I replied : ” this is what a real second serve is dear student.You are gonna have to learn how to spin a ball if you want to get consistency in your second serve. Flat serves are too unreliable.” So we just started to work on slicing the ball first before we get into top spin serves. After hitting a couple of aces to me with lots of slice and little power he said: ” boy, this is a brand new world for me.” He is happy and after just a few lessons already feels much more confident about his serve,just with a slice one as a new weapon.Spin is the key to a reliable and consistent serve.
Cheers.
Patrick,
Hi Patrick and alays good to hera from you.
No question that once you get the “feel” for how to create spin on your serve, a whole new universe opens up to you.
Brent – The “3 Magic Moves Of The Serve” DVD Lesson from Brent
Dead right Brent, I remember getting this tip from Charlie Pasaral many years ago…tucking the arm into the tummy not falling to the side….
I often have ‘non-playing hand’ lessons…partly for fun but also to teach how important it is to balance etc.
cheers..nick
Hi Nick and I love the “non-playing Hand” lessons concept.
No question that what we do with that non racket hand can make or break execution of a shot, balance, court positioning, etc.
Brent – Brent’s Lessons
Thanks for the recent articles on the serve, I was in a serving-slump and your advice helped tremendously.
best
ian
Hi Ian. What specifically has helped the most?
Brent – http://www.webtennis.net/Tennis-Lessons.htm