Lag or Abbreviate the Tennis Serve Backswing feat WTA Pro

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In today's tennis lesson with aspiring WTA pro player Ema Burgic, we discuss serving with a lag or an abbreviated motion.
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[@IntuitiveTennis]

Ema Burgic is a former 7-time All-American D1 college player who reached a career-high WTA ranking of 145 (Doubles) and 466 (Singles). Her active time on tour was very short because she decided to focus on family life. A year ago, she decided to give it another go on tour. Episode 1: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIaoXqCKbKh-b8ksi=Q6vcHECzFDyBvFOZ Since then, Ema has not played professional tournaments and focused on training (not with me, except for the first few weeks). Now we are back training together, and she is playing her first professional tournament next week (W35 in Boca Raton). We will record some of our training sessions and keep you guys up to date with her progress. Subscribe to @intuitivetennis & @tenniswithema

[@josesabatel4804]

❤

[@dpadron]

Awesome coach Nik, I was missing Ema all this time. I had not seen her since she spanked Samir lol. On another note, was that an effect of the camera or Ema's legs got much stronger? Those thigs look strong!

[@cyberjonesy]

Goooooood job !b Everything that needed to be said, was said. Nice coaching Nick. Top notch, really. 👌 Good luck to Ema in her match and remember that what matters the most is the journey, not the destination. Make best of what you have, come on !

[@DanTuber]

I knew a girl who was ranked in the 400's and quit at 21 because she knew she wasn't going to make it on tour. It's going to be tough for emma.

[@5821blatherskythe]

@@DanTuberWas that because she didn’t have the tools or the incredibly difficult week in, week out lifestyle wasn’t for her? Both are valid reasons!

[@humanentity2214]

I like how clear she's about what she wants to correct and also direct and uninhibited communication with the coach.

[@90oidualc1]

I could stay there and listening Ema talking literally all day long... I love her voice!!!🥰

[@aaronp0324]

I really like your coaching. You find things i don't even see until you point them out. You've really helped my game in the last year. Thank you!

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Glad to hear it!

[@traviselliott533]

So glad you did a segmant on this. I was just thinking about my movement with my pinpoint serve and I was doing a lot of the same things in this video without realizing it. Can't wait to try it out

[@rsh8057]

I like her philosophy like she was saying on the forehand to keep it simple and the abbreviated motion of the serve w/out lag fits that mold. It sacrifices some power and fluidity but it is more repeatable and less prone to break down w/ nerves.

[@TennisObsessed]

Very useful insights, I struggle with trying to find the best serve takeback for me and haven't settled in on one motion yet.

[@bmanbusee3812]

Same. Getting tired..😂

[@peterstern1375]

Great analysis and advice! Perhaps what she could do after a period of adaptation to one serve motion (abbreviated, with her habitual short freeze at trophy pose) is to work on gradually lowering the position of the "freeze" just a little bit (with the racquet a bit more on the right side of the body, and a bit lower, strings a bit more facing down on court). So that there is no chance of getting into a "racket drop leak", which appears to sneak in slightly in the first couple of serves she showed, less so at the end. Keeping the "freeze" but little by little bringing it a bit lower, over the course of several months, with some periods of getting used to a gradually lower position, could bring to a situation where she does not freeze anymore in her habitual position, and therefore could then make use an acceleration trajectory that is a bit longer than the current one, where the leg drive can be more efficiently transformed into racket head speed. But it would have to be done step by step with minimal changes, since getting immediately considerably lower/right with the racket would inevitably preserve the "high freeze".

[@melfox215]

My overall game is improving so much over the last couple of years, but the serve is still a mess and keeps me from getting to a sort of 4.5 level while maybe there is potential for 5.0. Two weeks ago I lost 3:6 3:6 in state championships (in Germany) to a guy who then won the whole thing and is top 70 in the nation for 45+. I had never heard something about bending my hip. I still struggle with toss, balance, coiling my body too early and having only a shell of pronation. This video helps trying to improve my pinpoint stand a bit. Toss and follow through will keep being a huge challenge. Plus I don't have a kick or slice serve. It's a bad thing. I just recommend to all intermediate players (3.5 to 4.0) to take serve practice very serious if they want to have success in recreational tournaments.

[@kadivikram]

Great insights, her abberviated version once it starts going is one smooth motion with less racket drop leak as well i think

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Yes good observation, I cut the part of the lesson where we discussed pin point stance timing. Her old serve had no racquet drop leak. The new abbreviated lag has a leak and the up together one does not.

[@hansolsson3409]

Go Ema! 👍👍

[@IntuitiveTennis]

🙌🙌🔥💯

[@nordattack]

When I think of a non-lagging serve Roscoe Tanner comes to mind. One fluid, compact, continuous motion.

[@pencilcheck]

Go go go!!

[@user-lu5mi2of6c]

If she is looking to simplify her serve, would trying a platform stance be one less variable to achieve this goal? I think Carolline Garcia uses a narrow platform stance which could be a good compromise to the pinpoint position. It also looks to me that on her racquet take-back, her racquet face is just a little bit open which could make some of her serves go long. It did look like that simplified motion without the lag seemed more natural for Ema. Your videos are great!

[@willkittwk]

I've experimented with the narrow platform and it's basically a preset pinpoint. I don't think that extra little foot movement from the pinpoint has much use in terms of velocity. I think it's mostly a move that's been passed down the road through the years. It's a timing mechanism more than anything that once you do it since you're knee high to a grasshopper it's melded into your body memory. Probably get trashed slowly like the old wind up of old time baseball pitchers. When you study throwing / serving methods you can see a lot of excessive motion to create momentum has a negligible effect on power when you actually have to come to a pause and... regather your balance.. before launching whatever a tennis ball a baseball a football. You could say well Isner uses a pinpoint and look how fast he serves. Well okay for starters he's 6'10" and fluid but he'd serve just as fast if he started out with his feet pre-set and lit into the ball.

[@DragonFly525]

Emma hips do not lie! Great job guys!

[@IntuitiveTennis]

🙌

[@PrecisionPointTennis]

I wish you could help me too on my serve! Someday! Thanks for the video lesson. 🙏

[@IntuitiveTennis]

💯🙌

[@davidhale8034]

Great session Nik and Ema! 👏👏👏

[@IntuitiveTennis]

🙏

[@carlocarli6936]

Hi Nick, are you going to coach Ema when she will play her matches?

[@petershort936]

Technifibre TF X1…lot of pop

[@igo2054]

So what's the main goal here - better feel, placement? cause not the pace?

[@lidashevel5104]

Go, Ema, go! 🎉

[@IntuitiveTennis]

🔥💯🙌

[@dr.faustus9024]

So doesnt the freeze cost you speed? Why ever do a continuous movement (which is harder) if it doesnt advance anything?

[@giorgioc6765]

There's always the possibility to make something worse while trying to make it better...

[@dr.faustus9024]

Sure but because Nick said its only a matter of style. Then I wouldnt teach the continuous swing to anybody. Just complicates things and who cares about aesthetics it's not figure skating.

[@giorgioc6765]

@@dr.faustus9024 Nik also said the movement is so ingrained in her style it would be very difficult to change it. I guess his take here is, it's "good enough" like it is and she only needs to make it seamless. It reminds me of the interview in which Medvedev expresses his surprise on the improvement Sinner made on his serve, stating it's a very difficult task. If it is for a 22 yo top professional (i.e. a Martian), it must be next to impossible for a human being

[@coilinnunan4058]

@@giorgioc6765 Yes, I think that's right. Nik generally recommends serving with a lag and having a continuous movement without a pause. He has quite a few videos on this. However, in this case he clearly thinks that if Ema tries to get rid of her pause at this stage it would likely cause her to waste time and effort, and in her matches her pause would probably reappear anway because of all of her muscle memory.

[@IamnotJohnFord]

With a continuous motion you build momentum and power easier and with less effort. Anytime you stop you essentially are now back at zero. But, trying to remove an ingrained part of a serve requires tons of time, effort and frustration. So, you have to weigh the benefit vs the possible reward. In her case, her serve is already pretty good. Removing the pause would be good, maybe even great. But, the risk of messing it up completely is definitely there. I used to hit a pretty flat forehand with all arm. I ended up with tennis elbow and difficulty as I played better players. It took me a year to transform my forehand to a better and proper top spin forehand. The transition was brutal and I almost broke a ton of rackets over my head in frustration. I'm just a club player. So, I had time and my tennis doesn't feed my stomach.

[@JaFz77]

If I don’t make a huge lag I cannot toss, my ball goes behind me. I struggle with this for 3 years already. Any thoughts?

[@IntuitiveTennis]

👉 kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5qVXqp6orN6fLssi=JLnAgTwtrsEyIR_b

[@garyjones2878]

battle of boca lets go

[@ollie708]

No knee action

[@NickNeras]

Will be nice to see year after Emma against Shamir…🤔

[@br1729]

Tell it to Roscoe Tanner.

[@marcomonti9823]

Great, stop waiting and let see what's happening on court in the tournaments. I can imagine how excited and nervous she maybe in the first minute of her match,

[@marcomonti9823]

Ema wins 1st round qualy!

[@tienalan]

It’s better one year ago… more fluid…. Analysis later is spot on tho. It makes no difference when there is a pause anyway.

[@gintautask8516]

What racket she's playing?

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Technifibre TF X1 285 (customized)

[@gintautask8516]

@@IntuitiveTennis ❤️

[@binglee2228]

Tennis serve makes me mad

[@webbezzy]

Answer to Ema’s question: If you throw your balls very high, you need to wait for the balls to get to its maximum heights before moving the right hand. If you throw your balls not very high, you could say you can almost throw balls and move your right hand at the same time. You could do both when serving btw.

[@SeanJayachandran]

I wanna see Alec vs Ema. Alec is the better athlete because he is a dude but Ema has the technical skills. Make it happen Coach.

[@noturbo]

Go Ema W35 in Boca Raton thats so kool hope you have fun

[@IntuitiveTennis]

🔥🔥💯💯