The Most Important Serve Exercise To Improve Your Timing and Power

This serve technique is something every player should practice. Staying grounded in the way demonstrated by Tom Allsopp makes it easier to work on specific elements of the serve. It is also a great exercise for improving the timing of your serve and making sure the kinetic chain works in the correct sequence.
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[@poulsen3030]

THIS is probably the best serve coordination and exercise video I have ever seen! - and I've seen quite a few :-) I watched it numerous times, and it really helped me to pin point the weak parts in my serve motion - and the exercise gives me a great tool to work on them one by one. Thanks a lot Tom, really good stuff!👌👍

[@henryallan9167]

Love the way you give us different approaches and the mechanics behind each approach. The flexible approach allows people to find a personal fit in 'testing' each suggestion.

[@indirajayaraman4758]

Thank you. Great coaching tips. I am a tennis coach too. I coach youngsters in my colony and will follow your methods. Lucky to have found your site.

[@ricklannon]

One reason that Rod Laver and players of his generation stepped trough on the serve was that until 1961 the rules of tennis dictated that one foot had to be on the ground when the racquet contacted the ball on the serve. In 1961 the rule changed to allow contact with both feet off the ground.

[@henryhoward855]

Correct!

[@TomAllsopp]

right... I should have known that. Thanks!

[@billydurham4143]

Good historical context.

[@osteouk]

Had to come back and comment on this one. Slinger Bag packed up (again) and so I used it as an expensive basket to practice serves. Remembered Tom's Laver comment ("if it's good for him, why not?") and had a go. Seriously - effortless power through my shoulder whacking the ball. What the hell? Let's see how shoulder feels tomorrow and I'll give it a go next week. Thanks mate.

[@nekobx2094]

YESSSSSS!!!! I TOTALLY have my student just stand and serve. It always instantly improves and corrects things

[@rds4629]

Nice observation about Laver picking up the leg.

[@samraj_subramaniam]

You are great. Your forehand and serve videos helped me to improve a lot. I understood through your videos how to use kinetic chain. Looking forward for more backhand videos. Thanks a lot for your videos.

[@remedypath5941]

not only are your videos fantastic but I can hear you clearly thanks to your microphone quality - thank you

[@predragpaovic2796]

Thank you for making these instructional videos and sharing your knowledge! I’m struggling with my serve and your approach and tips are helping me a lot. The best I found so far!

[@TomAllsopp]

Happy to help. Consider buying my serve coordination video guide. Comes with a free video analysis. Link in the description

[@fibo2459]

As a tennis coach, I really enjoy the perspective behind your tips. In regards to servers before 1961 such as Rod Laver, he played when the rules required one foot down during the serve. I understand that this rule changed in 1961, and I believe Arthur Ash was one of the first to begin jumping on his serve.

[@TomAllsopp]

oh yes... Thanks!

[@CJZM7777]

I think this is one of your best videos. I use the keeping the back foot back drill as a warm up or to get a good feel if things are going wrong. I use the phrase "pivot on the back toes" and have heard others use this too. I think the Laver serve is similar to the modern jump but the rules required the server to keep one foot on the ground. To me after watching Laver in slow mo, he pushes up to contact with the back leg but he keeps the foot back like a modern server would land on the front foot with the back leg back. Then Laver brings the back foot around to go to the net. I have heard some coaches call this a "step up" or "push up" serve as the back leg drives up to contact. I think the delay of rotation forward and bent knee position of Laver's leg is serving the same purpose as the "pivot" in your keep the back leg back drill, Older players like me should probably try the back leg back pivot or Laver style step up vs the modern jump. They make a nice progression too - serve a couple dozen pivot motions and then step up to contact but keep the leg driving up and not around, and then let it fall around as the final part of the follow through.

[@NStewF]

This is really good insight, especially for “mature” players. Thanks!

[@TomAllsopp]

@@NStewF I'm here for the average tennis player!

[@AlexanderMayorov]

Hi Tom! On the whole it is nice stuff with a lot of details for intermediate or advanced players. For me personally your videos about a butcap on the serve and serving in open stance possition are more valuable. But it is a nice class to watch and to analyze different approaches. Take care, Alex

[@sol029]

This channel really has some great advice players. Many thanks Coach. I tell my students not to jump but to throw that racquet up at the ball hard. If you end up in the air so be it. It's not volleyball where you jump then hit.

[@TomAllsopp]

Thank you! Yes, the jump should be a byproduct of energy.

[@andreliem]

Thanks for the excellent video, great breakdown and explanation of the movement and how it compares to other sports.

[@themrstroke]

Taylor Dent did that crunch move you referenced regarding Rod Laver, and he had an absolutely huge serve

[@TomAllsopp]

Yes good point

[@hcscuoteguazza]

Interesting video, especially the observation about Rod Laver! As a 72 year old player with 2 replaced knees I don't jump on my serve. However, my right leg often swings around and ends up on the baseline next to me. So I'm going to try your idea of either ending up with the right foot on its toes or the Rod Laver leg lift.

[@cliveburks]

Another good one lots to learn and put into practice thanks 🙏🏼

[@chinaski5]

Super insightful. Thank you coach Tom!

[@dctrex]

Thank you! This explains so much!👍👏👏

[@YSMiracle]

very helpful!!

[@jackspradlin4183]

can you do a video on leading with elbow as many struggle with this not just me. When I try to lead wirh elbow whith a real serve I lose momentum big time.

[@Fitness4London]

I think "low shoulder then high shoulder" as the sequence for the coil then up to the hit. I'm a right-handed player so I mean the right shoulder in my case. Getting that upward corkscrew motion of low shoulder to high shoulder helps me a lot, and the elbow tends to take care of itself. Javlin throwers and shot-put throwers use the same "low shoulder to high shoulder" technique. The "high shoulder" part encourages you to reach up to the ball dynamically, so you get a nice high contact point.

[@evenaicantfigurethisout]

Interesting that you should mention the crunch because I notice roger actually does that crunch albeit with both legs, in mid air, especially pronounced on the kick (before then donkey kicking back for the counterbalance)

[@KevinServe]

my favorite serve drill. you should have a link for the ball tube (or ax 😂) for the feel of the throwing kinetic chain.

[@SquirrelWhisper3r]

Guilty and wasn't even aware I was doing it until Tom showed me video of my serve.

[@mayabergom]

Yep, me too!

[@lethedan]

This great learning motion has the toss not to be in front too much - correct? I don’t feel weight transfer when I do this motion! Please advise. Thanks-

[@dwoo0418]

does UAH have a tennis program? will you be the new coach there????

[@luckyvinny]

Nope but Tom runs a lot of lessons and clinics if you’re interested in hopping in

[@applesforakbar]

Hey Tom if there's ever a chance you're around Ontario (Canada) one of these days, would love to pick your brain with some lessons.

[@TomAllsopp]

Sign up to my video analysis. I guarantee you'll get a lot out of it.

[@watcher687]

Tom, I have an interesting observation. Lower level rec players don’t have the back leg kick because they don’t toss into the court, so they land exactly where they take off. As soon as I started tossing well into the court my back leg started kicking back instantly. Interesting, eh?

[@jayrussell26]

Noticed that too

[@futarydary]

My toss was always into the court. When I discovered proper Sampras-esque kinetic chain, that kick started to happen naturally.

[@Dasato123]

I agree that a serve is a throwing motion, but it’s closer to throwing a ball almost straight up. The racket is basically a third arm segment that changes the mechanics from the actual throwing of a ball, although still very similar.

[@TomAllsopp]

The elbow should be thrown at a 45 degree angle. Throwing straight up isn’t how I would recommend people think about the serve

[@ATIL1304]

Thanks for the video Coach.Actually what I see is that Rod Laver is pulling his leg after he hits the ball and not simultaneously with the strike.

[@lethedan]

Should you mention more about the Hip Rotation? Thanks

[@TomAllsopp]

You don’t need any

[@lethedan]

@@TomAllsopp NO need to focus on HIP Loading? Thanks

[@NathanPlaysTennis]

I remember Kyrgios playing Wawrinka at Acapulco and for the last set Kyrgios didn't even jump while serving due to some injury. But still produced rockets. And still won the match.

[@TomAllsopp]

Is there footage of this?

[@s41magazine37]

Did I play you at Fullwood Tennis club, Sheffield in the 90's?

[@TomAllsopp]

Yes. Played for Beauchief

[@s41magazine37]

@@TomAllsopp I'm Simon Paterson. I beat you in a singles tournament at Fullwood over 30 years ago. Sadly, my mother died that same year and I didn't pick up a racket again until 2017! It's nice to be playing again. It seems you are doing very well. Grat to see, Tom 😎👍

[@hnayini]

Thx for the video. What app do you use for video analysis?

[@TomAllsopp]

tpatennis . com

[@hnayini]

@@TomAllsopp thank you, will check it out.

[@evenaicantfigurethisout]

Why did roger and Pete swing their back leg round during warm up if it's incorrect?

[@TomAllsopp]

Because they’re warming up, developing some rhythm and timing. They’re not using it as an intervention for having the correct movements when they jump.

[@weyman4317]

That left foot seems t be on the baseline all the time you are serving?

[@TomAllsopp]

Great takeaways from the session

[@trungtumai]

This is perfect for rec players who do not have good knees and stamina.

[@Bottle331]

Both Hoad and Rosewall bring up right leg and only pivot it on the thrust upward. Donald Budge, by contrast, starts with a narrower stance, pivots right leg as a result of upper bod throw, and fires the extensors before stepping through. Kinetic chain theory has prevented me from realizing a Donald Budge type serve. It can nevertheless still be very good.

[@Bottle331]

A few days later. Start on back foot. Set feet one foot apart with a huge splay of feet at 75 degrees. 75 degrees! Are you kidding? It's shown in Don Budge Fundamentals of Tennis, on the web, a 1944 movie. Brent Abel says Don Budge had his backhand but learned the rest from Tom Stow, one of the greatest tennis geniuses ever. I'm writing on a phone and just lost a bunch of prose. Next time I'll copy into this thread and won't miss. Before then I'll get in several more self-feed sessions and some hours of round robin doubles where I can try all service change quickly on a variety of players. Bye for now.

[@Bottle331]

When you haven't been holding serve, and then suddenly you do, maybe that's worth telling the world. That is, if you feel like maybe helping somebody.

[@Bottle331]

Did I say upper bod throw from the transverse stomach muscles can turn the hips and then both knees I'm serious. But feet need to be well braced to get most out of the gut. Think Ricky Fowler the golfer. He keeps feet flat for a long time to fully activate gut. Well in serving you need to glide hips to get up on toes first One move can do it if feet are parallel. Two moves can do it if the feet are splayed. In a Don Budge serve the front heel was up high then gets squashed down. I always thought it hit the court then energy welled up. Wrong! Heel stays slightly off the court so it can rotate slightly without breaking your ankle. There is resistance that helps firing of extensors upward but that no longer is first focus. My belief system is that shoulders fire the hips and both knees. Best if back foot stays put as Tom Allsopp teaches in this video.

[@Bottle331]

George Plimpton, the great literary person athlete from deep woods in Sharon, Massachusetts played tennis but had serious difficulty with tennis instruction. Being a language man, he took the words too literally. No pure tennis person would ever do that. Martina Navratilova, for instance, collaborated early in her career on a book about kinetic chain while maintaining that in actual play she never gave KC a single thought. So woe to an American literature major such as myself brought up on Vic Braden and therefore always trying to move feet to knees first, knees to hips second, upper bod third, and so on, with result of being late until I decided at age of 83 to reverse the order. Tom Allsopp here and elsewhere urges players to get the whole bod going in order to find natural throw. My recent idea is to combine this basic advice with the genius stay down serve that Coach Tom Stow gave to Don Budge. (See other posts here for more information.) To do it you need Don Budge video (Don Budge "'Fundamentals of Tennis" online). From unique stance with weight on back foot the bod tilts backward from hips glide onto front toes and sideward from similar glide onto rear toes. The rhythm of this is quick-quick. Throw from gut then is immediate, long and powerful, but freeze first, mentally, just to reflect on what you have created: a brace of severely splayed feet up on their toes against which the transverse stomach muscles freely fire. What I then see and wish to replicate is rear knee revolving fast and front knee then revolving slow as it resists. Obviously as front heel, having been driven from high to low but not touching court spins, resisting, the legs and core assisted arm flies up straight and pronates to a natural finish by left hip. Full weight, as Don Budge says in 1944 film goes into the ball. This happens from narrow stance. Triceptic extension and straight wrist pronation are important as ever but are replaced as central focus by full weight coming through.

[@Bottle331]

Total disaster that Tom Stow-Don Budge imitation serve. The same guys I'd been blanking killed it! So it's go backward, young man. Or perhaps go back foot front foot and throw, as Tom Allsopp recommends here.

[@andenrobinson3778]

Next generation of super star in the making

[@K1dgat37]

11:08

[@AcidexMax]

Boris Becker landed on the right leg as well and had plenty of power. What works for you works for you but that doesn't mean it works for the great majority of players. Like that Brian Battistone volleyball style serve. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZyonGOaqLmbfZI

[@geoffhess2267]

Yes! I was going to add a similar comment until I saw this one. Obviously, the differences in Sampras style and the Becker style both resulted in great power and ability to advance into the court for serve and volley. Tom, what are your thoughts on this difference as exhibited by two great players in the same era?

[@TomAllsopp]

It's easy to think this way but people benefit from understanding how to execute coordinated movements.

[@DonThomson-eg9qp]

Perhaps Pancho Gonzales’ serve would be a better example of that” feet on the ground” era..

[@barisay7244]

I don't get this lesson. Sampras and Federer do not perform a different serve when warming up; they're just doing a low power version of their real serve. So the same kinetic mechanism that cause their right leg kick back on their real serve, cause it to move forward in their warm up version. In fact Federer in his real serve crunches on impact similar to Laver.

[@TomAllsopp]

If they did this technique they wouldn’t get power. They do this to warm up. And different techniques to generate power. Not sure why you don’t get the lesson

[@barisay7244]

​@@TomAllsopp Please help me reconcile what you wrote above with what you say in the first minute of this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmjLqayLeK2iY8k "Once they start putting a little more energy into it, that naturally brings them off the floor. They're not trying to jump to get a better serve. The jump is a result of them putting a little more energy."

[@TomAllsopp]

Yes, I said that. What’s your point?

[@andrewpaige316]

You got this all backwards. When you serve and step into the court, that's a serve progression exercise, it helps you get the feeling and rhythm of the proper weight transfer your looking for, it also helps with internal rotation and correct follow through. I see what your saying but your not understanding the progression exercise your talking about.

[@TomAllsopp]

I understand it perfectly. Obviously I’ve done the serve you’re talking about over a thousand times. But I’m showing the progressions to move towards a better serve where the lower half and top half of you body moving in opposite directions.

[@andrewpaige316]

​@@TomAllsopp right I understand what your trying to say. The problem is your going away from the science. When we pitch a ball we throw our weight into it with internal rotation, it gives us the corect scientific form for maximum performance. It's about maximum performance. Theirs no need to eliminate the weight transfer into the court because that would go against the science that we know is correct and produces correct serve forms that result in maximum sports performance. You see?

[@TomAllsopp]

@@andrewpaige316 just saying science and maximum performance doesn’t give you a good argument. Baseball pitchers have their back leg going back. Quarterbacks don’t rotate their back leg around. As I pointed out… your weight going forward after the back leg has stayed back and after you’ve made contact is good, and very natural - this is not what people need help with. And it’s not the subject I’m covering.

[@andrewpaige316]

@@TomAllsopp Your arguing science facts man... look it, all I'm saying is your talking about a non jumping serve exercise. Your overthinking it.

[@TomAllsopp]

@@andrewpaige316 I deleted your other nonsense. See if you can respond to my last comment. So far you’ve offered nothing

[@PrecisionPointTennis]

It’s like you made this video for me! Thank you! I try to copy Roscoe Tanner on serve (see my unlisted video attached here) and your video has given me major inspiration! Any suggestions from you?!? Love your method of teaching!!! I’m 59 former pro and playing ITF Futures now : kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2Soq5eOo6h4r8Usi=7LhL3MpORcn9bS1p

[@harryherman5371]

Vote Harris and Walz if you don't want to spend $40 for a can of balls.

[@vincestout]

Too much talking just got to the point

[@TomAllsopp]

Nah

[@TomAllsopp]

Just stick to shorts or TikTok.

[@connyberg5665]

90% of players?? that´s exaggerating a bit..

[@evgeniyvodenicharov1281]

Nadal is warming up buddy you are lost in the space......

[@TomAllsopp]

And if it’s good enough for him warming up maybe there’s something important there for you to learn from. Or maybe not

[@drbonesshow1]

First, you need to learn how to throw.

[@TomAllsopp]

Lolz

[@evgeniyvodenicharov1281]

I wish you to start teaching real people not making videos here.

[@TomAllsopp]

Like this guy? kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6XWpomOqdt3b5Y

[@Ray_eddi]

Power is not produced from the legs...Biggest myth ever!

[@TomAllsopp]

Not sure if that means you agree or disagree with this video