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Andy Roddick – Ruminations on the Serve

by Jim McLennan

Toss way out in front - staying behind the ball - accelerating up and out.

Many observers question whether Andy Roddick will injure himself on the serve and more to the point whether his abrupt motion will be the culprit.

Interestingly there have been some big servers with similar motions in the old days, both Kevin Curren (Wimbledon finalist to Boris Becker) and Roscoe Tanner (Wimbledon finalist to Bjorn Borg) used a low toss and quick hitting action, and both appeared to minimize the slow rhythmic laborious windup more commonly seen with Henman, Sampras, or others who toss the ball higher than the ultimate point of contact.

So a few years ago, I spoke with Roddick's previous coach, Tarik Benhabiles at the Siebel Open in San Jose. As Roddick played James Blake, I prodded Tarik with as many questions as I thought he could stand, but most to the point I wanted insight into this incredible serve. Roddick had hit one 120 plus as he warmed up, and it is just so unusual so see the ball hit that hard as the pros warm-up. And now when he is cracking 150 mph, and Gilbert predicts Andy will crack 160, this is just so hard for me to fathom.

Roddick pushes off equally with both feet.

So I asked Tarik, “Where does this big serve come from?”

He placed his hands together, to indicate Roddick's feet, then moved them down and up to show how Roddick used his legs. Then he said, “Andy pushes (equally) with both feet.” Implying that other servers may use their legs but not be as equally balanced on both legs, and that they minimize the leg drive of they are not equally “weighted” as they begin their thrust.

Then he said that Roddick was the most limber man on the tour, more so than even Sampras, who I read could touch his elbows behind his back. He said Roddick worked on this loose and limber thing.

Years earlier the great Fred Earle (see a previous newsletter on confidence) had explained to me that the key to Sampras' serve was both his continuous rhythm, the looseness of the delivery, and the absence of tension in his arm throughout. I asked him to tell me more, and he explained that without tension there is increased range of motion, or increased racquet travel from the depths of the drop up to contact.

Spring tension - the racquet drops to its lowest point just after the leg thrust - note Blake (left), then Fish, and finally Roddick - compare the depth of the drop with the upward leg drive. Roddick achieves the greatest range of motion for the arm and racquet to travel up to the ball

I have found pictures where the tip of Sampras' racquet is actually below the hem of his tennis shorts as the racquet drops. And the deeper the drop, the greater the distance the racquet has to accumulate momentum as it snaps up to the hit.

Toss - crouch - thrust - snap.

At a USPTA conference in Northern California, 1991, I was having lunch with Vic Braden, someone walked by and asked for a tip on the serve, without looking up from his soup he replied, “Fire the extensors baby!” Well when Roddick goes into his deep knee bend he is poised to fire the quadriceps which will extend his legs and body up into the ball. And when he allows the racquet to drop impossibly low on the drop, he is poised to fire the tricep which will whip the racquet up and into the hit.

And more to the point, this explosive sequence extending first the quads and then the tricep, does in fact account for nearly all of the racquet speed at the hit. Certainly there is endorotation of the forearm, similar to what we saw with the Sampras hit and follow-through, but for this presentation it is about the legs and the loose and limber arm firing up and into the hit.

Absolutely nothing wrong with Roddick's style. Very hard to argue with 153 mph.

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