Women's Serving Woes

Doug King

During the telecast of a recent women’s tournament, I heard Pam Shriver and Mary Joe Fernandez lament on the woeful state of the serve in women’s professional tennis. They suggested that for all the increases in power in the women’s game, the serve has somehow not kept pace. The serve seems to be the Achilles heel of many of the top players, not to mention the lesser ranked players.

I think they raise a good point and one worth examining. Why is it that the women have been able to hit the daylights out of the groundstrokes and yet have found the serve relatively unsolvable? The serving trials and tribulations of top players like Dementieva, Ivanovic, and Capriati are well documented and now we can add a previous great server, Sharapova, to the list. What is it about the serve that is so difficult.

First, let me say that I think, in general, the serve in the women’s pro game has greatly improved over the last 30 years. You have only to look at the footage of the ‘79 U.S.Open between Austin and Evert to draw the same conclusion. Still, the number of double faults and critical service breakdowns is unprecedented. One reason is because the returners have gotten so good, it puts extra pressure on the server to come up with a delivery that won’t be crushed aside like some annoying gnat buzzing around your face on a warm summer evening.

Another reason, I believe, is because too many women take the same approach to the serve that they apply to groundstrokes – crush the ball! The problem is that the serve has some very specific conditions that make it different than groundstrokes and too forceful of an approach often leads to disaster. Let’s look at exactly what these conditions are and how you can learn to avoid the same mistakes that plague some of the top pros.

Serving Challenges

The first thing to understand is that the serve is an extremely difficult stroke to master. There are some very simple (and good) reasons why this is the case, namely, the contact point is just about as far out of your strike zone as you can possibly get without missing the ball entirely. You have only to imagine trying to return a groundstroke (forehand or backhand) from that same position to realize how weak and difficult it is to control or power a ball like that.

In baseball, players are told not to hit anything above the chest because it is essentially deemed “unhittable.” You see, as you reach away from the core of the body the arms start to swing wildly and it is very difficult to feel and control where your hand/racquet is. The result is that you cannot time the hit nor control the movements that are necessary to produce a proper snap and racquet speed.

Yet we are deliberately trying to hit the ball at a point in the air that is much higher than any baseball player would ever consider. This is because of the angle that this point of contact produces but certainly not because it is easier to do it this way. Still you may wonder how it is that one can overcome all of the inherent challenges that are associated with this delivery and be able to achieve any kind of consistency. The reason for this is that there is one feature that is totally unique to the serve that does not exist on any other shot in tennis and that is, you are tossing the ball up to yourself. You have total control over the stroke. That,is assuming you have total control over the toss of the ball (which is a big assumption). And, in my opinion (as we will see later), ball toss problems are closely related to the rest of the problems that plague the pro serve.

So why am I compelled to point out how difficult the serve is? (This “negative” approach is generally shunned in most teaching circles.) The reason is because I believe the misconception that the serve is a “power” stroke is at the heart of many of the problems facing players. And many of the women who have trouble with this stroke tend to attack the serve and they butcher the thing in the process. If you understand how fragile and delicate the service action actually is then you may approach the stroke with a different attitude and technique. If you watch the best woman server in the history of the game, Serena Williams, you will notice that she also has one of the most flowing and effortless service actions. This is true of the great male servers as well. Of course the languid flowing motion of Pete Sampras comes to mind, but also think of the great service actions of other top male players, like Ivo Karlovic and John Isner.

I realize you may be laughing at my observation, but if you stop to think about the service motions of these two towers, the thing that distinguishes them, beside the angle that they get from their extraordinary height, is the effortless flow of their deliveries. And, of course, it is probably because of their height that they can "relax" and let it flow. But the fact is, I have seen many tall players who "muscle" their serves or have other hindering issues. In the case of Isner and Karlovic, it is a combination of their height and their fluid motion that makes them so lethal.

The Truth and Lies Behind Force and Speed

The problem shorter players encounter (and especially women) is that they try to compensate for a lack of height (or strength) by trying to be overly forceful. This is where and when breakdowns start to occur. You simply cannot make up for rhythm and timing by being more forceful, especially on the serve, because it is such a delicate stroke.

Let me explain how this works. Essentially there are two types of power in every stroke; one is speed and the other is force. The speed in the stroke comes out of the smaller muscle groups, the hands and forearms, while the force is applied by the bigger muscle groups (what we typically refer to as our bodies). Depending upon the resistance of the object we are moving, we need various amounts of force. If we are moving a car, we need to use our entire bodies to push. This full body thrust is quite slow and it tends to “drive” (steer or guide) things because of the slower nature of the motion. The body thrusts tend to be more linear and are less timing sensitive sense they take longer to execute. Within the tennis stroke there are various jobs that need to be performed and various parts of the body are required to execute these roles. One of the jobs of the body is to provide "drive," this more steering, guiding form of power.

Speed, however, comes from the smaller muscle groups, the hands and arms, since they have shorter radii (or what I like to call, “shorter cycles”). Anytime I need to make a quick motion, like catching a fly, I need to use my hands. And even though the hands are never going to be strong or forceful enough to move a car, the fact is, a tennis racquet is actually heavier than a ball, so the light, quick actions of the hands (when holding the tennis racquet) are more than adequate to power the ball.

In reality, it is the non-forceful, light movements of the hands and arms that produce speed in the tennis stroke, while the forceful movements of the body are used more for control oriented movements, as well as initiating motion and for recovery motion. The body creates stability while the hands create speed. So we always want to meet the ball with the hands first, regardless of the stroke (as speed is required not only to deliver pace to the ball but also to adjust to the quickly moving ball, like when catching a fly). This is because the hands are extremely versatile and can do any number of things including absorbing power, adding power, aligning, reacting, and more. The body should always come into the ball from behind the hands, in order to apply the heavier guiding force that the body is designed to provide. . When the small muscle groups are timed properly they can be used to add a great deal of speed to the driving action of the body through contact. And when a great deal of speed is desired, like on the serve, the hands are very active in making this happen.

This is true for all sports like baseball and golf. One of the basic tenets in baseball hitting is to keep the weight back. This is to allow the hands to go out to meet the ball. The weight shift is saved to add a forceful thrust after the hands have connected the bat to the ball. The exact same thing is true in the golf swing, and as you may have guessed, in the tennis stroke as well.

Swing and Drive: Catch and Toss

All tennis strokes are a combination of body thrust and hand speed. The speed of the hands can often be thought of as the "swing" in the stroke, while the body can be thought of as the "drive" (or guiding force). Naturally the swing (or speed) is necessary coming into the ball (speed after contact does not affect the ball) while the "drive" comes in on, or just prior to contact (since you cannot guide something that you are not in contact with). Thus every stroke is combined of this delicate rhythm and timing of swing and drive.

Sometimes I like to refer to these two aspects as “catch” and “toss:” the catch being the swing while the toss is the guide. Now you may think that I have these aspects backwards (the catch should be the “guide” and the toss should be the swing) but when you look closely at the act of catching a ball, it can accurately be described as a very quick snapping action from the hand. It is like a trap springing closed on the ball. When this is done with the hand (or with a glove), the fingers wrap around the ball and secure it. But when this is done with a racquet in hand, then the “catch” turns into a “hit.”

The toss, on the other hand, is what I like to think of as the guiding part of the motion that occurs when the arms and body extend out to direct the ball towards the target. This "driving" segment is the time when the body is most engaged in the stroke and the only real time when the stroke is "forceful." As this drive occurs only when you are in contact with the ball, the reality is that only a tiny portion of the game actually needs to be forceful. The rest of the game is relatively light, flowing, and reactive.

When we want to put the most emphasis on guiding the ball (like on a volley) we don’t engage the hands, as the hands create speed (or swing). Instead we keep the hands very quiet and absorbent and we try to steer the ball with the body (step in and push). Conversely when we want speed in our stroke (like on the serve) we engage the hands actively and suggest that one “snap the wrist. When there is more speed, there is less guiding; still every stroke must have guiding elements, otherwise we are simply slapping at balls (all speed and no control).

This general misconception about speed and force is one of the fundamental breakdowns for people on the serve, even the pros. The misconception that forceful movements from the body will produce effective racquet speed is simply wrong. Thus you see many players, especially smaller and weaker players, attempting to compensate for a lack of height and strength by trying to add more force into their service motion. They end up throwing their bodies too vigorously at the ball rather than approaching the ball with a smooth fluid arm action and a full and properly timed wrist windup. Although not as common on the women's side, some players with excessive strength can make the same mistake by trying to over utilize their "strength" and they also end up muscling the ball. This is when your "strength" can work against you.

The Golf Swing Comparisons: Muscling the Ball and Pulling the Trigger

The drive in golf is a perfect study for the service action as these two motions are very similar. In golf, one of the most common flaws is that players are said to “hit from the top.” What this means is that golfers accelerate (or “hit”) at the ball from the point of the backswing when the body is the most coiled and tensed (the top of the backswing). The problem with this is that when players accelerate the body they tend to also accelerate the hands at the same time. This acceleration of the hands is where the maximum speed is but this release should not occur until the hands get right up to the ball. This is because the release of the hands (often called “pulling the trigger”) happens so fast that, if you do it a fraction too early, then you have lost the speed you are looking for. Since this release occurs so fast, it is very fragile to timing. This is why we say that timing is such a critical aspect to power.

Almost everyone is much too early in pulling the trigger on the serve. In the same way in which golfers “hit from the top,” tennis players “hit from the bottom” on the serve.” The “bottom of the serve” is the back-scratch position and this is where the body is most coiled. This is where most people think power comes from, but I would suggest that this leads to the common mistake of “muscling” the serve.

I always explain to my students that the important release of power (the arm and wrist action) does not come from the body in the backscratch position (which is behind the body and below the shoulder) but instead it comes from the hand above the shoulder and in front of the body. (Note: Serving from the knees is a great way to develop this proper arm action, accelerating from above the shoulder and in front of the body.)

Of course the body is still important in the serve (as it is in all strokes), but it will actually come in later, after the hand as come out to meet the ball. This is especially true because on the serve you have to fight against gravity. In the golf swing you wind in an upward lift and you simply let the arms and club drop and gravity does a good deal of work for you. The serve is similar to the golf swing but with one big difference, you have to swing upwards, above the shoulder and head, which is counter to gravity. Even though we utilize a "drop" in the backswing that is designed to take advantage of gravity, there is still an over-head reach that one must fight gravity to produce. For this reason you must work harder with the legs and lower body on the serve than on the golf swing and it is a muscular stroke. Nevertheless, the speed on the swing is a smooth relaxed arm action and excessive force from the body will only throw off the fluid action of the arm and rob the serve of power.

One of the common serving problems is swinging too forcefully out of the back-scratch position, and this is true among many of the women pros who struggle with their service action. They tend to throw their bodies at the ball and release the wrist much too early, creating a “forceful” serve but not a “fast” serve. If you look at the top servers, you will notice they come out of the backscratch position and bring the racquet up above the shoulder in a very fluid, continuous motion (what is referred to as a "rhythmic motion"). You will also see that they continue to fold and wind the wrist even as the hand has lifted above the shoulder.

Coincidentally, many of the tossing issues that plague some of the top pros (Ivanovic for example) is due to an inability to build the backswing slowly and smoothly and to manage a smooth transition out of the back-scratch position. This herky-jerky movement of the backswing will cause a jerky or incomplete action in the toss. The toss is really a reflexive (or balancing action) to the hitting side. The arms act in tandem to create balance in the movements and if the hitting side moves correctly it will help to insure a smooth delivery on the tossing side.

As a note, you should not feel either the ball or the racquet during the backswing actions as these are slow, big muscle group “steering” motions and the hands (both the racquet hand and the tossing hand) should not be engaged at an point during the execution of these stages; i.e. “guide” the ball up don’t “throw” it up.

Over-Snapping and Over-Swinging

Using the body in too aggressive a manner is not the only way the serve can become too forceful. Putting too much energy into the swing or the snap of the racquet can also make the service motion too “forceful.” We call this “over-swinging” and this can occur on any stroke, not just the serve. Over-swinging can either be swinging the arm too fast or putting too much force into the racquet snap itself.

In a proper service motion the entire arm (and body) must make a coordinated release of energy in a specific direction through a specific point. It is not just “swinging” the arm in a circular motion at top speed. It is more of a corkscrewing motion that involves both forward and backward motion in the arm and body, as well as an up and down motion. It is more like a snake coiling and striking as opposed to holding the snake by the end of the tail and simply swinging the thing around and around. When the snake strikes through coiling and straightening it is accurate and delivers it force in a single direction to a single point. Swinging around is random and unfocused.

When the snake strikes it is a “full body” event. In the same way the serve is a full body event, what I call a “full body uncoil.” In actuality, it is the hand that is the most passive action within the whole motion, even though it is the fastest. If the larger muscle groups of the arm (the shoulder and elbow) do the right things, then the wrist and hand will almost always naturally do the right thing. It is like trying to shake something off of the end of your finger (like a piece of gum). You would simply loosen you wrist and cock it back and then you would snap from your shoulder and elbow and simply let your hand respond to the action of those larger parts of the arm. In the same way the wrist action should never dominate the action of the larger parts of the arm. When you serve you should concentrate on smoothly rotating back the wrist as you approach the ball and then applying a forceful movement to the shoulder and elbow, in exactly the same way that you would snap the arm when you try to snap a piece of stuck gum off of your fingertips.

When you do it correctly you will achieve what is called a “live arm” and you will notice a significant amount of “backwards” action in the arm and shoulder in order to keep the arm from “over-swinging” or collapsing. If you do the “gum on the fingertip” action, you will notice the arm doesn’t swing forward but it rotates around. The shoulder rotates into the neck and the elbow starts by pointing forward and then rotates back and up to the sky. This is the “winding and unwinding” action of the snake as opposed to a swing. It is also the proper action of a swimming stroke (the Butterfly stroke with both arms and the Freestyle action with one arm).

When you simply swing forward at the ball (like Dementieva tends to do - although she has shown improvement) you will have great difficulty achieving speed and controlling the contact point. And speed is critical for both power and control because ultimately, spin is a huge component of control and racquet speed is necessary to achieve control.

Although it is predominantly an arm action (I have seen Serena banging out aces while standing flatfooted, looking as though she had a broken leg) the body is still very involved in order to build power correctly as well as to add control, and also to recover the energy.

When you coil and straighten it is important that everything works in a coordinated and rhythmic manner. Every part has a job to perform and every part is related to the other in a timing sequence. This is why I don’t particularly like the abbreviated motions that have become popularized by Andy Roddick’s service action. Although the abbreviated motion may help solve some problems encountered in the service motion (an errant toss), it creates other problems for most. Namely, it does not build the bigger parts of the serve (the back and shoulders) in a fluid and complete way. The result can be a tight wind up position and also a hesitation in the motion (a “hitch”). Both of these can prove to be vulnerabilities in the motion.

Golfers know the significance of a smooth and properly developed backswing and it is equally important in the serve motion in tennis. The golfers, however, do not have to toss the ball and hit it in one motion. The abbreviated take back on the serve is usually adopted to help gain control over an inconsistent toss, or in some cases to keep the arm from flying out in the take-back. Djokovic's arm position on the backswing looks dangerously far away from the body. He could bring his hand/racquet in a bit to achieve a more stable position. He is dangerously close to becoming too whippy.

Sharapova, on the other hand, has begun using the abbreviated motion after her return from shoulder surgery. Pre-surgery she had, what I considered to be, one of the best service motions in tennis. I really couldn’t imagine that her previous motion was really causing her shoulder to hurt. But now that she has changed her motion, her serve is definitely suffering. I still think she has one of the best serves, however, and that she will eventually find her rhythm.

Conclusion

Although I don’t subscribe to the notion that the serve has gotten “worse” in women’s tennis in the last 25 years, I would say that there are many top women pros who struggle with the service action. I believe this has to do with two fundamental flaws, the first is that players don’t fully grasp the challenges inherent in the serve. The serve is a very problematic, delicate and fragile motion. It must be approached with that kind of an attitude. It is not something you can bash or crush and you simply cannot overpower the serve.

Secondly, I think the lack of size and strength of some players naturally makes them want to compensate by trying to overpower the serve through forceful actions with both the body and the arm. They simply do not get the intricacies of a light and lively arm action. Ironically it is the most powerful and forceful of all the women players who has the most graceful and delicate service motion. This may be because she doesn't try to overpower it in the same way that the tall men players, Isner and Karlovic also don’t; try to overpower the serve. This same principle should be applied to smaller and weaker players in order to maximize their capabilities on the serve. Sebastian Grosjean, one of the most diminutive players on the men’s side (and smaller than most of the current crop of female players), had a beautiful fluid service motion and was often near the top of the service aces chart at Wimbledon.

The thing about the serve, like all strokes, is that there is really just one part that has to be perfect and that is the contact of the ball. The way we come into the ball is designed to get us correctly through the contact in the most consistent way possible and the follow through will reflect the way we came into and through the contact, so it should naturally show consistent patterns under consistent conditions. But what is especially critical is the contact itself so, if someone does one thing a little more this way or that way, some of these things can bear tolerances. A different stance or windup or a different follow through position are things we can identify but where there is no room for error is the contact itself.

Still there are techniques that can help to develop more control, consistency, and power, and developing a proper service motion is a combination of “doing the right thing” and “not doing the wrong thing.” The abbreviated service motion that Roddick uses is an example. It may not be technically advantageous, but if it corrects something that is much worse (a bad toss or a wild arm action), then overall, it measures out as a plus.

The serve is a very delicate coordination of many parts. It is important that the "body release" coming out of the "backscratch" position does not corrupt the fluid nature of the arm action causing a 'muscling of the service action, and conversely, it is critical that the wrist action on the top of the motion does not corrupt the structure of the elbow and shoulder on the follow-through, causing the arm and body structure (form) to collapse. 

Finally, there is the matter of practice. Many players, especially women, go out and practice hitting punishing groundstrokes all day long and then save little time for the serve. Perhaps the serve has not traditionally been considered to be in the pantheon of women's strokes as it is with the men and therefore, it is relegated to a less prominent place on the food chain. But the truth is, in present day the return of serve is so strong on the women's side that the serve must be developed simply in order to survive. Because the serve has so many inherent challenges built in, it is a stroke that requires constant and dedicated practice. Grab a basket of balls and take some of these ideas onto the practice court to see if you can't develop a new approach to your own service action.

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Doug King's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.

Doug King studied with legendary tennis coach Tom Stow and was a former California State Men's Singles Champion and the former number one men's player of Northern California.

Doug is one of the country's foremost tennis teaching innovators. Founder of Acceleration Tennis, a revolutionary teaching system, King is leading the way in reinterpreting the traditional tennis model.

Doug King is currently Director of Tennis at Meadowood Napa Valley ( www.meadowood.com ), a Relaix Chateau Resort in St. Helena , CA .

For more information on Acceleration Tennis please email Doug King at dking@meadowood.com.