The 2 Tips That Took My Serve From 90mph to 120mph

[@Playyourcourt]

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[@PaulVoorberg]

1:19 - Tip 1: Contact point above shoulder 2:48 - Tip 1: Demonstration 3:50 - Tip 2: Lowering the toss

[@sdfswords]

Having a smooth acceleration with no hitch is super important, as you pointed out. A racket is now so powerful, just let it do the work using clean contact and motion.

[@msf7291]

I appreciate the pointers here, thanks. As a 69 yr old who has an essentially self-taught serve, I find that "simple" things give me the most success. Keep the head and tossing arm up for just a moment longer and your contact point will be higher. I actually now try and toss the ball in front of my right shoulder and this occasionally helps me hit a more effective serve. Don't "muscle" the serve (or any shot), these will reduce the chances for injury.

[@Playyourcourt]

Happy to help my friend!

[@jgallagher1359]

that helps. i kind of couldn't follow the video. was a bit jargony. so is it just have the highest contact point you can with a lower toss?

[@PrecisionPointTennis]

Excellent. I’m on it! Thanks 🤗

[@michaelobell7032]

Thank you👍🎾 great instructions

[@Playyourcourt]

Glad it was helpful!

[@K4R3N]

Good lesson Nate

[@Playyourcourt]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[@yasim9435]

Good tip , thanks. I w deer what has your coach told you about keeping you head steady during contact and and not turning it from contact view like you did in this demo

[@mikedummett1457]

Great lesson..I'm stuck in the high 90s low 100s. 4.5 player trying to get to the next level on serve

[@Playyourcourt]

Stay with it my friend! ✊

[@GershonBenYitzhak]

Lower toss itself is not what helps - it's what it forces you to do. When you toss low, you don't rob yourself of power by holding a static trophy position. Instead you end up compacting and exploding without a pause. This also means you can have your racquet accelerating through the trophy pose, and allows you to use your legs more. Imagine if you had to jump as high as you can. One way, is you get into your jumping position, Knee bent, low to the ground. You hold that for a second, and jump from that point. Then try jumping by doing a single motion, down then up without stopping. You would jump much higher the second way. This is exactly what you are accomplishing with a shorter toss.

[@IKTGWIW]

Excellent, thank you!

[@Playyourcourt]

Thanks, happy to help!

[@healthfullivingify]

Excellent tips, thanks. You gained a new subscriber and fan.

[@Playyourcourt]

Love it...glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the support

[@sang-hyebsamlee5545]

Lower toss and toss above shoulder

[@opalpearl3051]

Nick Kyrios is the king of a lowered toss. And he is one of the best servers in the world. Thanks, great tips.

[@Playyourcourt]

No doubt!

[@hugo9547]

Is a lower toss on the first and a higher toss on the second good practical advice for a recreational/club player?

[@Whisper555]

The completely vertical racquet at contact is in fact losing you racquet head speed and thus power on your serve. Most of the good models we base serve coaching on will have the tip pointed to 10 or 11 o'clock. not 12 o'clock as demonstrated and actively sought after here. 🤷🏻‍♂

[@Playyourcourt]

ahhh but you have forgotten about the trunk tilt...At contact the trunk has an average tilt of approximately 48° above horizontal & the arm is abducted 101° thus the appearance of a different contact point. Just before making contact, the typical shoulder abduction measures approximately 100°, mirroring the angle of 100° ± 10° that optimizes both ball velocity and minimizes strain on the shoulder joint in baseball pitching. This suggests an optimal contact point for the tennis serve within the range of 110° ± 15°.

[@andersflodmark8724]

One curiosity here is about the contact point being almost directly above your hand, there is no clear "Power triangle". To me, this would mean there is a limitation to what power you are able to get from internal shoulder rotation, at the moment of contact. There is a "power triangle", but the the triangle's top angle is approaching 180 degrees. Would love your thoughts on that. To me, the power you can generate from shoulder (long axis) rotation is yuuuuge.

[@jakeheap7197]

Tip #2. Watch replays of Roscoe Tanner's serve. When you toss the ball to the point of contact, it hesitates prior to changing direction.A high toss is moving down at contact.

[@transklutz]

But where ON your racket you hit also affects the speed. The racquet speed is faster the farther from the throat you hit it. Also, don't be late and rush the serve, but get ready early, without pausing, and be almost completed with the swing before contacting the ball, giving you both higher speed with less effort, and being ready sooner for the next ball.

[@WikiPeoples]

Top point right here! Speed definitely improved by hitting farther from the throat.

[@Playyourcourt]

Absolutely 💯

[@WikiPeoples]

I wish someone would explain how 'tf to incorporate the jump/hop into the serve. I am 100% self taught and I play at around a 4 ... my serves are fast (never actually measured) but I don't actually jump... I sorta am pulled forward by the momentum of my arm which might sorta look like a hop, but its not the same.

[@Playyourcourt]

Hope this vido helps! kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIDEd2uoeatmnbcfeature=shared

[@leonardoleite1085]

You are trying to learn the how and not the why. If you learn the why, you will learn the how. The why, is that you can use hip, side abs and back to accelerate your torso sideways, that will contribute to the overall power of your stroke. It's kind of hard to tilt the body sideways without jumping.

[@robertoalvarez3178]

Exspecially

[@Johnnybgood76]

😂

[@Playyourcourt]

😂 Fair.....

[@ozanbas5791]

Nate, it appears like you're putting too much pressure on your Shoulder in these serves you showed in slow motion, the angle in between your shoulders and arm is about 45 degrees at contact, 20 degrees is ideal for Shoulder health, in long term that angle may cause problems

[@bosmanmac06]

What do u mean by this

[@ozanbas5791]

​@@bosmanmac06He is trying to show how to extend fully up the Ball, but extending fully up to the ball does not mean having an angle of almost 45 degrees in between Shoulder and arm at contact - thats causing too much pressure on the Shoulder. That 45 degrees angle is also causing him to have almost No angle in between racquet and the arm at contact, which is reducing the topspin of his Serve as well.

[@ppma88]

This comment is spot on. Hope many people see it. Going to the highest height for a contact point inevitably leads to a too high angle between the arm and the line connecting the shoulders. This is a common cause of shoulder tendon impingement, a condition that although is not very severe by itself, but can be quite limiting in daily life activities, and takes a while to heal. The appropriate way to reach higher is getting a sufficient shoulder tilt, meaning balancing your torso so that your hitting side shoulder is over your non hitting side one.

[@OkanShalli]

@@ppma88 Exactly, great explanation.

[@sooperman12]

This service technique is antiquated. Hitting the ball directly over your shoulders along the vertical puts a tremendous amount of torque about the shoulder which could precipitate shoulder injuries. Sport science has shown through many studies that there are better mechanics that improve power without sacrificing your shoulder. Many coaches have likened the service motion to a throw, especially a football throw. Coaches have changed the arm angle and and trajectory plane of the football throw for more acceleration, better power, without compromising the shoulder. Throwing with your hand positioned above the shoulder is done. In tennis the same is true even though a serve isn't technically exactly like a throw. But go look at Sampras' serve at contact. His hand isn't above his shoulder. He actually tilts his whole upper body such that the hand and arm are in line with the horizontal level of his shoulders. Essentially, extend your hands out to your sides, parallel with the ground. Now tilt your upper body until your hand is pointing to the contact point. That's the exact same changes made to the modern quarterback throwing motion to increase velocity and save shoulders. It's new science.

[@Playyourcourt]

Good points but you're discounting the trunk tilt...At contact the trunk has an average tilt of approximately 48° above horizontal & the arm is abducted 101° thus the appearance of a different contact point. Just before making contact, the typical shoulder abduction measures approximately 100°, mirroring the angle of 100° ± 10° that optimizes both ball velocity and minimizes strain on the shoulder joint in baseball pitching. This suggests an optimal contact point for the tennis serve within the range of 110° ± 15°.

[@sooperman12]

@@Playyourcourt no I'm saying that there should be trunk tilt which you aren't demonstrating or explaining in the video. That trunk tilt helps align the arm such that your arm isn't above the shoulder but more in line with the shoulder taking into account trunk tilt.

[@astonm.8173]

King of low toss is Roddick, but he had an extremely strong forearm and wrist to make that work, he almost swung it like a badminton racket for mechanics. Undoable.

[@brasileirosim5961]

Goran Ivanisevic’s toss was like this, not very high.

[@anthonyjamesgarner]

I like the tips. I hate that the video title is 90 mph and in the first few minutes you say these tips took you from 112 to 120😒

[@Playyourcourt]

Glad you enjoyed it! The tips were spread out over the course of multiple months. I was serving at roughly 90 and after focusing on the toss and alignment with the shoulder I hit the 110-112 mark. Unfortunately I hit another road block there until I focused on the second tip, ultimately helping me push past the 120 barrier. Sorry for the confusion...recall from 30 years ago is fuzzy at best 😉

[@bryant0smith]

That serve at 3:05, if it was filmed at 30 fps... Is around 137 mph (initial speed). I counted 10.5 frames from when the racquet hit to ball till it landed on the service line.... If I was to round up to 11 frames, it is around 131 mph.

[@JeffreyMarciano]

Wait how do you do that

[@bryant0smith]

@@JeffreyMarciano I have a formula from an old website that calculates the initial speed based on the recordings fps and the number of frames from contact till the ball hits the ground and the estimated distance between the two.

[@bryant0smith]

@@oatsgoats39 I recalibrated without adjusting the feet. Took two Djokovic serves from the 2023 US Open final from deuce side down the T. Both were about 11 frames, one was 123mph and the other was 126mph, while the website's javascript calculation has it at 131.6. So I averaged the two Djoker serves as 124.5mph. 124.5/131.6 = 94.6% 94.6% of 137 is 129.6mph. My original intent was not to be super accurate, but that serve looked over 120 to me, so I rushed it without checking against something accurate like a ATP radar gun. Also, I almost never adjust the feet in the air with T serves on the deuce side. Just guess 60 feet.

[@hsy2448]

From the bounce it looked like 110. I think Nate implied his peak was 120, but he’s a little past his prime playing days so I doubt he gets there.

[@bryant0smith]

@@hsy2448 My updated calculation is 129. I dunno if they use radar guns or not, but many are crap. And swingvision can be way off. Anyways, his serve is enviable.

[@AdvancedTennisFoundation-ph9zo]

Example of a little info is dangerous! Toss needs to be above your right shoulder, BUT also forward into the court in front of the hitting shoulder! Toss too high AND Too low are both hard to time.... Highest point is NOT good... your arm should not be straight up over your shoulder and that is begging for injury... are should be about 25-30 degrees to the side, then with the angle at the wrist getting the racket back towards the shoulder.... write back before you hurt yourself and others!

[@Playyourcourt]

Appreciate the feedback, but the arm only operates 25-30 degrees to the side due to the trunk tilt...At contact the trunk has an average tilt of approximately 48° above horizontal & the arm is abducted 101° thus the appearance of a different contact point. Agree, if a player was to serve with no corkscrewing of the body and simply extend out to contact with the arm above the shoulder an injury would be likely. This simply doesn't occur at higher levels in which the video was targeted.

[@AdvancedTennisFoundation-ph9zo]

@@Playyourcourt so you don't see how the racket is too vertical, arm is to high above the shoulder plane and the body is facing the target too early here?

[@AdvancedTennisFoundation-ph9zo]

☹

[@roastnut]

Foot Fault!😬😂

[@Playyourcourt]

😂 fair

[@Fungahhhh]

You say to keep the toss no higher than your arm and racket fully extended which is very bad advice in general as most rec players won't have time to go through the serve motions properly. Even on the ATP tour, very few players have such a short toss. And by looking at this video, neither do you. You clearly don't hit the ball at the apex but as the ball is falling, just like the vast majority of players. So I can't understand why you'd try to teach this to others?

[@ChrisShelby]

Lost me at baseball

[@kelleeb7823]

What was the 90 mph to 120 mph? A blatant lie for clicks? Honesty my friend, get some. 112 to 120 is not what you told us.

[@Playyourcourt]

Easy my man.... The tips i shared were from when I was junior and occurred over the course of multiple months of development. At the time I was serving at roughly 90 and after focusing on the toss and alignment with the shoulder I was able to hit the 110-112 mark. Unfortunately I hit another road block there until I focused on the second tip, ultimately helping me push past the 120 barrier. Sorry for the confusion..but the opening was simply conveying part of the story. Not being dishonest. As you where

[@ChunLiChiPower]

Theirs no way this is anywhere above 100. haha I serve way faster and their is soo much not correct about this instruction. I was hoping to learn something here, but please don't follow this, at worst you will injure your arm and stop any progress. It was good clickbait though, got me to watch! hahaha

[@Playyourcourt]

come on now, if you're gonna throw some shade you gotta at least provide some context on "what is not correct" smarty pants 😉 Thanks for watching though 😊

[@chrismanteris9093]

Absolutely no way In hell are these tips adding 30mph to anyone’s serve lol 😆

[@Playyourcourt]

To be fair these tips were presented to me when I was already an accomplished junior with solid serve mechanics. These tips assume the player already has sound fundamentals. Without them no single tip is going to improve the serve by such a margin.

[@TimTheMusicMan]

Tip 1. Buy the most up to date racket that provided the power. 2. String the racket with the most artificial strings that provide the power and control. 12 year olds today are serving over 100. It’s not unique. You don’t need any natural ability anymore. You can find the most un athletic person and with no effort they can serve fast.

[@Playyourcourt]

Sorry friend, this is not even remotely true. Although the racquets and string have helped serves reach new heights, the professional athletes that swing them are some of the best athletes in the world. I get being a baseball enthusiast but don't discount some of the more advanced biomechanics in all of sports.

[@jamesball5743]

Good info. But super boring. Google personality, energy, dynamism, charisma.

[@Playyourcourt]

dev.as.tat.ed 🤖

[@chasebethersonton5169]

I disagree. Not boring compared to lots of other KZbin tennis teaching.

[@TimTheMusicMan]

Please don’t compare a pitcher to a tennis serve. An actual sport where pure natural ability is required will allow someone to release a rock from their three fingers and reach 100 mph. Tennis uses artificial means, giant light rackets and artificial strings. And they use this on a rubber ball. There is no athletic ability required when you use the artificial elements in tennis. Tennis a great game. But there is no comparison. I mean none. Take a racket out of their hands and what do you have. The MLB and the QB are the most pure athletic endeavors in all sports anywhere. Tennis requires strategy brains and craftiness. There are millions of tennis players who do not possess any athletic ability and yet they play tennis well and can win using their heads. It’s a unique game tennis. But it’s not remotely like a pitcher. Two different worlds.

[@er1707]

Why are all these professional baseball players so overweight then? They only sprint for a few seconds at a time from base to base. In tennis you use the muscles in your whole body for hours at a time with the player exerting force and technique to get the ball into different angles of the court in order to make the point. It is you and your physical state against the other person. I get that a bat will be heavier than a racquet. But a racquet gets swung more than 3 times per player in a match😂.

[@TimTheMusicMan]

@@er1707 well if slim structures were your determinant for athleticism then all models and those with eating disorders would be athletes then ? There is no relation to weight and athletic ability. And sprinting is not an attribute of athletic ability. Sprinting is just a matter of conditioning.

[@er1707]

@@TimTheMusicMan Let's break down the serve myth: Sure, throwing a baseball is impressive, but it's one explosive motion. A tennis serve is like launching a rocket repeatedly. Tennis players generate similar arm speed to pitchers, but they add core strength and leg drive to create power. It's like comparing a powerful jump shot in basketball to a free throw - both require skill, but one is a full-body explosion. Now, the "artificial racket" argument. Those giant clubs with trampoline strings? They might make the game more forgiving, but they also transfer more power to the ball, meaning players need to be stronger to handle the recoil and generate even more force. Imagine trying to hit a homerun with a whiffle ball bat - easier to hit it far, but try doing it consistently with power. In regards to baseball, some focus on power hitting, baseball requires a surprising amount of agility and explosiveness for outfielders, base stealing, and diving catches. But here's the key difference: Tennis demands this level of athleticism for every single point, for potentially hours. Skinny doesn't equal weak. Look at marathons - runners are lean but incredibly strong. Tennis players need endurance to maintain peak performance throughout a match, but they also need the strength to hit winners consistently. It's a different type of physique, but no less impressive. Both baseball and tennis are fantastic sports, but tennis requires a more well-rounded athletic skillset. It's like the decathlon versus the hammer throw - both require immense talent, but one tests a wider range of abilities.

[@TimTheMusicMan]

@@er1707 there is no debate here. It’s apples and oranges. Throwing a baseball is pure ability using one’s body. A tennis serve is done using equipment that performs the task. A tennis serve is like that parent who takes their dog to the park and they place the rubber ball into a cup that is attached to a plastic arm and they fling the ball and it flies 50-60 yards with a flock of the wrist. And this is when mom who has no athletic skill brings her doggie to the park. There is no requirement of the person the process is completed with the device in her hand. Same exact thing in tennis. This is a perfect example.

[@er1707]

@@TimTheMusicMan Think of it this way, sure, anyone can use one of those contraptions at the dog park to fling a ball, but it takes a skilled individual to consistently hit a target with precision, power, and spin. Similarly, a tennis serve isn't just about swinging a racket; it's about timing, technique, and strategic placement. The player must consistently hit specific areas of the service box with precision to gain an advantage over their opponent. This level of control requires exceptional hand-eye coordination and timing, as even slight deviations can result in missed serves or easy points for the opponent. Tennis players aren't limited to one type of serve. They must master various types of serves, including flat, slice, kick, and topspin serves, each requiring different techniques and ball placements. Adapting to different serve styles adds complexity to the game and demands versatility from the player, showcasing their athletic adaptability. While baseball pitchers generate power primarily through their arm motion, tennis players must utilize their entire body to generate power during a serve. This includes explosive leg drive, core rotation, and coordinated arm motion. The combination of these movements requires superior strength, coordination, and athleticism to generate the speed and power necessary to hit effective serves consistently. Tennis serves are not isolated actions; they are repeated throughout a match, often hundreds of times. This places significant strain on the body, requiring endurance and stamina to maintain peak performance over the course of a match. Unlike pitching, which involves intermittent bursts of activity, serving in tennis demands sustained athleticism and focus throughout the match duration. Tennis serves are not just about hitting the ball hard; they are integral parts of a player's overall strategy. Players must assess their opponent's weaknesses, adapt their serve selection accordingly, and anticipate their opponent's responses. This strategic aspect adds another layer of complexity to serving in tennis, requiring athletes to think quickly and make split-second decisions under pressure. In summary, while both baseball pitching and tennis serving require athleticism, the use of a racquet in tennis introduces additional complexities and demands on the athlete. From precision and control to power generation and strategic thinking, serving in tennis showcases a unique blend of athleticism, skill, and mental acuity that sets it apart from pitching in baseball. So while baseball may test one's ability to throw a projectile with precision, tennis challenges athletes to combine power, agility, strategy, and finesse into every serve and every shot. It's not just about the equipment; it's about how it's wielded. So let's give credit where credit is due and recognize the athleticism and skill required to excel. Both baseball pitching and tennis serving are impressive feats that demand a unique blend of athleticism and skill. But a tennis serve arguably requires a more well-rounded set of abilities, making it a more demanding task overall. P.S your "racquet does everything for the player" argument is just as valid as saying that baseball gloves catch baseballs by themselves and not by the effort of the player