Half-Fast

Why, When and Where to Serve Faster — and How!

Marcus Paul Cootsona

Speed Limits

Earlier this year, Milos Raonic clocked a 156 mph serve. It didn’t go in, but, hey, neither did the three I hit at that pace in practice today, (Yeah, right.) But it served warning to the tour. 150 is the new 140 (which was the new 130) and 160 is right around the corner. For some time, we have seen tour serve speeds occasionally break the 150 mph barrier, but Raonic breaks it routinely. Indeed, right now, somewhere in the tennis world, tanned, fit and sponsored pros are not only driving cars but also hitting serves at 120, 130, 140 and maybe 150 mph. Probably their first serves and likely their first cars. But with no speeding tickets on court, and only the laws of physics holding serve speeds down, how fast can they go?

There may be maximum velocity for the serve, but as Mr. Raonic showed, we haven’t reached it yet. There may also be a functional terminal velocity: a speed at which every serve is unreturnable. 180? 190? 200, perhaps? We haven’t reached that either. With ever taller and stronger athletes choosing tennis and yearly tour winnings now financially competitive with playing three or four NBA games, the maximum velocity of the serve may end up being limited only by Special Relativity.

Not only is there a speed at which every serve is un-returnable, there is definitely also a speed at which every serve is returnable. Probably anything 50 mph and below. Odds are good that your serve is somewhere between these two extremes. In other words, it’s not slow, it’s not fast, it’s (as that old saying goes) half-fast.

If your serve is closer to 50 mph than 150 mph, or just closer to 50 than you’d like, I'm sure you would like to own a faster one. You’re not alone. Everyone including Milos Raonic probably wants a faster serve. The question is, how fast is fast enough?

Rationale Player

You need to have a serve to start a point. You need to have a serve to play a match. If you win all your service games, you only need to break once or at the most twice or win a tie-breaker to win every set you play. The serve is important. Each serve doesn’t need to be an ace or an unreturnable winner (though that never hurts your chances), but it does need to put you on offense and in control of the court when you’re the server.

Does your serve do this?

If it does, you may be serving fast enough. If it doesn’t or if it doesn’t all the time, or if you just want to look more impressive on-court, then you may want a faster serve. But how much faster? It depends on what league you’re playing in.

• An average first serve speed on the ATP Tour is 120 mph.
• An average first serve speed for a top Men’s Division 1 college player is 91 mph.
  
• An average first serve speed for a top men’s 4.5 player is 75 mph.

What a range — 45 mph between the top and bottom averages. Obviously, averages include some faster serves and some slower ones. That’s why they’re averages. And even the stars touch down on asphalta firma now and then. At this year’s Sony Ericcson, Rafa tallied some second serves in the 80’s. This serve hurt him because it was much slower than the average.

This is why serving faster than average for your playing level could give you a competitive edge. Some pro player (name withheld because I can’t remember it) was once asked how pros manage to return 120 mph serves, and he replied, “You just need to see a lot of 120 mph serves and you get used to them.” The reason? That 120 mph serve is actually moving at 1/2 that velocity, or 60 mph, by the time it reaches the receiver’s racquet. The raw pace isn’t what makes it hard to return, the receiver’s reaction time does. If opponents react routinely to your serve speed, they can most often return your serve. But if the speed is significantly faster, they can’t.

Good news then. If you play 4.5 tennis, your serve doesn’t need to travel at 120 mph just to beat the average. In fact, if your serve currently averages 75 mph, increasing it to average 85 or 95 mph would not only give you a distinct and measurable advantage playing opponents used to returning the 75 mph variety, but it would also put you solidly in the company of top division 1 players: at least as far as the serve is concerned.

So how have the fastest servers done on tour? Not bad, especially considering the other (sometimes substantial) deficiencies in their games. Andy Roddick was #1 in the world and ranked in the top ten for ten consecutive years. John Isner, now the top-ranked American has wins this year over Djokovic and Federer. The afore-marvelled-at Milos Raonic has won on tour multiple times and Ivo Karlovic has enjoyed a solid career. Given good or even average strokes and movement, a harder than average serve can be a decided advantage in match play, even at the pro level. Although you still may not want to drive your car 160. If you have some inconsistencies in your strokes or movement, a juiced up serve may help you compensate. And if the rest of your game is already solid, boost your serve pace and say boy-prodigy-howdy to a new NTRP category!

Speed Bumps

So the next question is: how do we make it faster?

There are ways. But first you need to know how fast your serve is. To get started, commandeer a tennis court, some new tennis balls, a partner and a radar gun. Warm up, then clock a series of 20 first serves and find your average speed. And since you’re dying to know, write down your fastest serve speed too. There’s nothing like good science and this is something like it. Now you know how fast you’re serving. Time to make it better.

Sure you can do it the hard way, but there are a few methods to instantly increase serve speed:

• Have another player who serves really fast inhabit your body.
• Grow to be 6’9”
• Rewind time and take lessons from age two, concentrating on proper serve technique, while also developing exquisite strength, balance, and flexibility.
• Switch the radar gun from mph to kph.

Nice get if you can work it. But there really is no one magic move that makes a serve go 120. Being absurdly tall helps, but as they say, “You can’t coach height.” Fortunately, you can coach the essential mechanics that make a great serve and they are the same at any speed.

Toss

If you improved only one part of your serve, this would be it. The best service swing motion in the world won’t redline power without an accurate, consistent ball toss. Flat serves depend on the free rotation of the hitting arm shoulder for maximum velocity. A toss that does not put the ball in this natural swing line — one that’s too far right or left or low or high or back or forward — robs serving power.

For a pumped flat serve, the racquet head must move perpendicular to the travel direction. If the racquet face is not square to the ball and directing it to the target, the serve will lose power. Any “off” angles reduce power. Spin serves, based on “off” angles, travel slower than flat serves whacked with the same racquet velocity. For instance, slice serves travel 30% slower than flat serves hit with the same racquet velocity. But they spin more.

For maximum power and percentage, the ball toss must be consistently in the same location. To find it, mime your flat serve motion and stop when the racquet head is just starting to hinge forward and down. Your arm should be fully extended, paused just at the contact point. This is your ideal toss location. No higher, unless you want to wait, break up your swing and risk a Sharapova net strike and no lower, unless you want to minimize your height and hit slower. If your actual toss falls outside a one-foot circle surrounding this spot, you are losing power. This is the first fix.

Practicing your toss accuracy for five minutes a day is probably the most efficient way to improve your serve speed and percentage. Will you do it?

Rhythm

Rhythm and tempo are the essences of steadily-increasing, low effort power. and are co-dependent on good toss position. If your motion has hitches or pauses, breaks or sharp angles, smooth them out until your swing is fluid from beginning to end. Sure you can hit fast serves with herky-jerky technique (see: Roddick, Andy), but you risk injury, inconsistency and awkward moments during video analysis. The poster icon for low effort power from an even tempo, relaxed rhythm, perfect timing and a dependable toss is naturally, Roger Federer. Federer does not swing violently or muscularly to produce his power. His light grip pressure and loose wrist combine with a steady tempo to build momentum from the swing’s start to finish. This accounts for his high serving percentage, his lack of injury and his consistently high service speed and nice still photos.

Of course you do need to hit the ball harder to make it go faster, but hitting a serve harder depends to a great degree on a light grip and loose, wristy swinging, not on NFL Combine skills. Like the best jazz, a finely-constructed, powerful serve is loose and tight at the same time. Tight because the toss line and the swing path must be precise, economical and repeatable. Loose because light hand pressure on the grip allows your wrist to move more fluidly and create an ever-accelerating hinged swing action during the last part of the motion.

Grip loose to hit hard? At first, it seems counter-intuitive, but isn’t really. Tightly gripping the racquet handle tenses all the muscles in the hitting side arm and shortens its range of motion, elasticity and power. The hinging of the racquet at the top of the motion causes much of a serve’s force. A loose wrist allows this hinging to increase.

Strength

We’re trying to hit harder and faster, so why isn’t strength first on this list? Because without good technique, it doesn’t matter. But once you have good technique, it can really help. If you have a mind to get a stronger body, add lean muscle mass, not bulk. Show muscles are nice for between-set shirt changes and “Men-Of-The-Tour” calendar photos, but to actually make a serve go faster, you need strength in the shoulders, the core and the legs. Forget Rafa biceps and triceps and a Bowflex chest. These don’t really help here. If you’re going to build muscles, build ones the ones you actually use.

Legs

And while you’re at it, spend some quality time running legs. Strong, supple calves, quads and hamstrings allow you to use some knee bend and leg drive to send you and your racquet powerfully up to the ball. When all the other business of the well made serve is done, adding your legs will increase power. Just make sure all the other elements are in place first. Otherwise, you’ll have a faster serve that just goes out at higher velocities. No advantage there.

A Natural Advantage

But maybe weight and strength training aren’t you cup of Creatine. Maybe you’re more a mind-over-matter player. No matter. Never mind. Here’s an additional way to goose more force out of the serve and body you have today, today. How?

By exploiting physics, that’s how. Take advantage of nature for your own devious ends.

You see, besides accurate tossing, consistent swinging, and UFC muscles, serve power is really all about good physics, not so much good physiques. And here Angular Momentum is our boy. Here’s what that looks like: Force = Mass x Acceleration x Distance From The Pivot Point. And here’s what it all means:

• Mass = How heavy the racquet is.
• Acceleration = How fast the racquet head is moving when it hits the ball.
• Distance From The Pivot Point = How far the contact point is from where you’re holding the grip.

And here’s how it breaks down for a tennis swing:

Let’s go to Mass first. Swing a heavier racquet at the same speed and at the same distance from the pivot as a lighter racquet and you will develop more force. Lighter racquets are fine as long as the reduced weight allows you to increase the acceleration and you don’t get too much extra vibration in the bargain, but heavier racquets can produce more force with the same swing speed. Talk about taking the law into our own hands.

Acceleration is the speed the racquet head is moving when it contacts the ball. Given the same weight racquet and the same contact, if you swing that racquet faster you will produce more force. As long as you keep to the swing path, you’ll hit harder if you move the racquet faster.

Distance From The Pivot Point is an easy part of this equation to adjust. The pivot point is where your hand holds the grip. Moving your hand slightly lower on the grip will increase pivot distance and create more power; even if you use a racquet of the same mass and hit with the same swing speed.

Rejiggering any part of the angular momentum equation can produce more force and more feet per second. Increasing each component of the equation in some small measure is one way to accomplish this. Switching to a slightly heavier racquet, swinging slightly faster and gripping slightly lower for example. Changing just one of the variables will also produce more force, but the change will have to be more extreme to make as much difference as a change in all three. Your choice, of course, but don’t let the force not fully be with you.

Gear Heads

Increasing Angular Momentum strengthens the serve-power equation, but playing with the right racquet does too. A tennis racquet is made up two parts, both important for power: the frame and the strings. The frame determines how fast the ball travels. A larger head has a bigger hitting area and more power than a smaller head. A large racquet with a stiff hoop may have even more power. Switching to a larger racquet, will increase your speed and distance.

The string bed also affects power. Very broadly, looser strings create more power and tighter strings create more control. However, the range is narrow. String most any frame below 50 lbs. or above 80 lbs. and you will lose much of the response and resiliency. But choosing the right tension for your racquet and swing within this range can make a big difference in power. Remember, equipment won’t make you better, but it can make you worse. And serve slower.

But maybe I’m just blowing hypothetical gas. Maybe you are maximizing your angular momentum (I’ll bet not many people have said that to you before), playing with the correct equipment, and churning big velocity from your serve. So most of the easy fixes are exhausted, but not all of them. There are still more rocks to turn over in our path to big speed.

Without Changing Your Stroke

Here are some other avenues to the faster serve:

• Use light pressure on the grip — Imagine when you hold the grip that you’re watching a Warrior’s game. You’re interested in the outcome, but you’re not holding on too hard. When you start the serve, the racquet handle should just be resting in your hitting hand palm. On the famous 1 – 10 scale, with “1” being letting go of the racquet and “10” being steam rising off the grip, you want to grip at about a 2 – 3 with some pressure from the inside of your thumb across to your forefinger on contact. Grip as light as possible throughout and don’t grip harder when things start to go well and you get all excited.

• Keep your eyes on the strings making contact with the ball— You’ll hit any ball more solidly this way.

• Keep your head and shoulders up on contact— Players who drop their tossing arm early and let their head and shoulders fall forward early or players who toss the ball well above their contact zone (think: Maria Sharpova here) typically net the ball. Their body tips forward and over too soon and directs the ball down in a steeper angle. Posture helps net clearance, might, and poise.

• Make contact higher on the racquet face— Contact above the center of the string bed creates more power. The idea of a sweetspot is a convenient marketing concept, but for all but the very roundest oversized racquets, the area in the top third of the stringbed gives the most power for all strokes.

• Follow through— Make sure that you finish your motion. You will accelerate the swing and create more forceful contact.

• Stop moving your feet so much— There’s a lot of this going on out there, and not all of it is helping. Make sure that any foot movement is adding power and not adding imprecision. To find out, serve first serves with stationary feet and note any increase or decrease in power once you begin moving your feet again.

These are all adjustments you can make to your existing serve. However, if after doing all of these things and clocking your serve before and after on the radar gun, you still haven’t gained enough additional cheese to slake your match requirements or bag the occasional three-digit radar gun readout, you may need to think about more substantial corrections and changes. Here are some of the greatest hits in the album of possible corrections:

• Your hitting arm elbow is not high enough when you initiate the second half of your swing.

• Your stance and set up are too open to the court.

• The swing path itself has some wasted or extra motion that is robbing your serve of its rightful power.

• You are a human being and a tennis player, unique in your own way. Therefore, you may have your own unique corrections. Or just ones not mentioned here.

Changes designed to correct big stroke flaws are best done thoughtfully and cautiously under the supervision of a knowledgeable teaching pro. This is especially true if you have an advanced motion developed over a long playing career, or just some really bizarre hiccup in your motion. If not done appropriately, any major change can be disruptive and destructive. And really expensive and time-consuming, not to mention frustrating, ego-assaulting, and disorienting. So yes, think hard before proceeding, but also think how that 10 – 20 mph could help you in a match.

The Other Things

After your serve has become the faster weapon you hoped for, remember, there are still other ways to make it more effective besides just seismic, court-shattering, string-shredding pace. They are:

• Being able to hit all four corners of the service boxes on purpose.

• Hitting to the opponent’s weakness on purpose. The same speed serve will be more effective when not dished up to their crusher return. (See above item for details.)

• Mixing it up on purpose. Like good pitching. The fast ball works better if you can also throw a curve and something off-pace.

• Knowing when to hit harder.

• Knowing how many warm-up serves you typically need and getting them out of the way before the match. That said, you may still want to work your way into the match, increasing your average serve speed as you go.

AND so you don’t go all wiggy and assume it’s always all about you and your swing, don’t forget that there is also the shadow side of physics; the factors that negatively affect serve speed :

• Wind
• Cold and/or Cold/Damp air
• Injury
• Tightness
• Nervousness
• The Score
• Food and Drink Before The Match
• Food and Drink Last Night
• Too much food
• Too much drink
• No Food
• Only drink
• The Market
• Love Life
• Sleep
• Focus
• Abject Terror
• Moderate Terror
• A Herd of Terriers on the Court
• A Herd of Abject or even Moderate Terriers on the Court

If one or more of these shows up on match day, lighten your grip, lighten your mood, don’t worry about setting court speed serve records and remember it’s the same for your opponent too. Only now your technique is better.

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Marcus Paul Cootsona

Marcus Paul Cootsona is a teaching professional and author of Occam’s Racquet – 12 Simple Steps To Smarter Tennis. Contact him at: marcuscootsona.com.