TennisOne Lessons

Disguising the Serve

by Jim McLennan

The server works as does the pitcher in baseball, mixing up the deliveries - spin, flat, and kick. Varying the placement, to the corner, at the body, or swinging it out wide. Opening the court with the wide side spinning serve, or blasting the cannonball down the middle to the "T". Champions all have their distinctive service motions and characteristics. Borg served "arrows" as his coach Lennart Bergelin described, as in unerringly accurate to the target. When closing out matches in his heyday, Borg always held easily. McEnroe had the wide flat serve in the deuce court, and the extreme sidespin in the ad court. Sampras has developed so much spin his first and second serves are nearly identical, and indeed Sampras has as "unattackable" second serve as has ever been seen.

Pete Sampras begins his motion with his back turned away and the swing "hidden" from the receiver. The toss is placed slightly above the contact point so Sampras doesn't have to "wait" for the ball. The motion is rhythmic yet quick. Sampras' signature snap is apparent just after contact.

NASA researcher John Yandell has found that Sampras generates more rpm's on his spin serve than any player in the modern game. This spinning action increases Sampras' consistency - the serve curves down over the net with greater frequency than would the cannonball of the olden days. Sampras has what is almost universally acclaimed as the best second serve in the game, heavy, well placed, and completely offensive.

At the 1999 US Open, Mark Woodforde was served off the court in the first round by Goran Ivanisevic. At the press conference, Woodforde took a swipe (too little too late) at Ivanisevic, saying his game was boring because he could never really read the lefty's delivery. That comment struck me, so I have interviewed many coaches and players in the interim, trying to get a handle on what it means to "disguise" a serve.

On the surface, a disguised serve, is one where the receiver cannot pick the direction of the serve until it is too late to move to the ball. Often, such a disguised serve leaves the receiver flat footed. But on a deeper level, how are serves disguised, do all the professionals serve with equal disguise, what are the keys you might observe when watching the matches, or when practicing the serve yourself ?

The Grip

Pancho Gonzalez was the acknowledged maestro of the serve. In Tennis Begins at 40 - an excellent book by Pancho Gonzalez and Jeffrey Barstow he recommended using a backhand grip for all serves, and especially the slice serve. Placing your palm on top of the handle enables the wrist snap and as Pancho says, "An advantage of using one grip for all your serves is your stroke will be disguised until the very last moment." Observe players at your courts, and generally you will find the player with the most extreme grip in the backhand direction, generally has the most "action" on the serve.

I attended the USTA 3.0 Senior National tournament with our club team in 1998, and noticed the truly outstanding servers at the tournament (perhaps 4 or 5 guys) all used the backhand grip. And the players who faced these servers all had a devil of a time reading the ball and reacting to the spin and action of the serve.

The Mentality

Lou Hoad begins his motion with his back turned from the receiver, again the swing is "hidden" during windup. Hoad places his toss just to the point of contact, slightly lower than the Sampras' toss, and Hoad accelerates up and out with the racquet head as he strikes the ball.

Interestingly, Hoad rotates his forearm "out" as he prepares to swing at the ball (the receiver, were he to be able to see this delivery in slow or stop action, would actually see the back of Hoad's hand at this point) then quickly and powerfully rotates his forearm "in" as he strikes the ball.

So Heavy was Hoad's serve that Tom Carter, noted tennis journalist in the California Bay Area, remembers ball boying for Hoad when Tom was a junior. Carter recalled kneeling by the netpost, amazed at the heaviness of Hoad's serve, especially the thud he heard when some of Lew's serves caught the top of the net.

Frank Brennan, notoriously successful coach of the Stanford Womens Team, likens the servers mentality to that of a pitcher. Pitchers avoid falling into a pattern, mixing up the fast ball, curve, and change up. The batter does not know what to expect, and the slightest uncertainty gives the edge to the pitcher. Mixing it up well, as did John Newcombe, prevents the receiver from knowing what to expect. Remember Sampras' second serve ace at 7-all in the fifth set tiebreaker against Corretja, perhaps the greatest serve at the biggest moment in a grand slam match. Unexpected and gutsy, as Corretja moves to the center in the deuce court Sampras swings the ace out wide.

The Rhythm

Interviewing a number of former players and coaches revealed the following similarity of thinking. Vijay Armitraj told me Richard Krajicek and Goran Ivanisevic serve with the most disguised on the tour today. He said he could "read" the serves of many of the players while simply watching them on television. Vijay opined that many more players in his day (and this includes Kevin Curren) served with disguise than do today. John Whitlinger, former tour player and assistant coach of the Stanford Men's team acknowledged he had the most trouble reading Roscoe Tanner or Gene Mayer, but Stan Smith's delivery was easy to read as the motion gave him more time. This is in no means a knock on Smith's serve, just an observation on Smith's disguise as perceived by Whitlinger. Phil Cello, one of NorCal's premier coaches told me disguise had something to do with a "quicker" rhythm. Certainly, Tanner, Mayer, Curren, Ivanisevic, and Krajicek all have one thing in common, the knack for hitting the ball seemingly on the way up. Slow motion reveals they all actually contact the ball just as it reaches its peak, but to the "naked eye" of the receiver it appears as though they hit the ball on the way up.

Extreme grip, a pitchers knack for varying speed spin and placement, and a quick "swing, toss, hit" rhythm all contribute to a well disguised serve. Watch for it on television. Look for these elements in the best servers at your courts and experiment for yourself.

Last Updated 9/1/98. To contact us, please email to: webmaster@tennisone.com