發球基礎課程_摘自FYB

henrylin424

1.        The Stance
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The way you position you feet when you get ready to serve is called your stance. We teach the “party stance,” which is an easy-to-learn way of positioning your feet that lets you properly execute the rest of the mechanics necessary for a fundamentally sound serve. For more information on other serve stances, check out the Serve Advanced section of the website.
The first step of the serve is the stance. The video starts with a shot of me in my stance. Let’s begin by zooming in on my feet and seeing how I have positioned them. My front foot is directly behind the baseline angled diagonally into the court. My back foot is behind my front foot, about shoulder width apart, and parallel with the baseline (do I need to mention somehting about it being to the right of my front foot, from the camera’s perspective).
+ d0 R  M, e, l2 ?$ k: f9 Y! X* p$ CMoving back to the full body view at 25 seconds in the video above, I’m holding the tennis racket with a continental grip or something close to it. Any acceptable serving grip works fine. I’m pointing the tennis racket at the net and I’m holding the tennis ball against the throat of the racket.
This stance is commonly called the “party stance” because it’s how you might stand if you were talking to someone at a party. Roger Federer is one of the pros who uses this stance.
9 H. E+ {, `% M  HAt 0:45 in into the video we look at Tim Henman in his stance. Like Federer, he uses the party stance. First we’ll focus on Heman’s feet. He has his front foot angled diagonally into the tennis court and he has his back foot behind his front foot running parallel with the baseline.
5 c7 n* g) |' }& dFrom the front view of Heman in his stance, he’s holding the tennis racket with an acceptable serving grip and he’s pointing the racket at the net. Zooming in on his left hand, the hand that’s holding the tennis ball, he’s holding the ball against the racket and he’s also holding the ball in his fingers. This last point — holding the tennis ball in your fingers as opposed to your palm — is very important and we’ll get into more detail about that in the next video, which focuses on the toss.
2.        How to Toss the Tennis Ball

A properly placed, consistent toss is key to developing an effective serve. There’s a specific technique to use that will get you putting the tennis ball in the same spot every time, allowing you to both be more consistent and better disguise your serve.
: y+ ?& m5 u4 G! rThe second step of the serve is the toss. I mentioned in the previous video on the stance that you want to hold the tennis ball in your fingers and not your palm. That makes it easier to control the ball when you toss it. What you’re looking for when you toss the tennis ball is for there to be no spin on the ball. Holding the ball in your fingers makes this the easiest to do. If you were to, for example, roll the ball off your hands it wouldn’t be nearly as easy to control.
At 40 seconds into the video we watch me toss the tennis ball. To start the tossing motion, my arm drops down. Then it rises straight up. If you look at my arm, it’s pretty straight during this motion. There might be a slight bend in my elbow but not much of one. I release the tennis ball at about the top of my head. I do this by simply “opening my hand up.” My tossing arm continues to rise after I’ve released the ball until it’s pointed straight up. That’s another key to the toss: make sure your arm continues to rise after you’ve tossed the ball.
2 F5 q  Y# M( L, d. {! @& ^$ s% OYou want to toss the tennis ball about one to two feet above your contact point. That will give you enough time to execute the rest of your motion while the ball is in the air. From the side perspective at 1:15 in the video we’ll put a line at my contact height. You’ll see that my toss travels a foot or two above that line, giving me enough time to get through my service mechanics comfortably.
The location of your toss is also very important. For a first serve — a flat serve — you want to toss the ball so that you can hit it above your hitting-arm shoulder and a little bit out in front of your body. For example, if you are right handed you want to toss the ball so that you can hit it slightly in front of your right shoulder. At 1:40 in the video we watch Frank hitting a flat serve from above. It’s important to note that he’s hitting to the ad court. He tosses the ball so that, once he gets through his motion and gets to contact, the ball is above his hitting-arm shoulder — his right shoulder — and a little bit in front of his body.
! k1 e" j; C8 U0 tAt 2:23 in the video we look at some pros tossing the tennis ball. We start with Serena Williams. The first picture is of Serena right after she’s tossed the ball. She’s released the ball at about the top of her head by simply opening up her hand. In the next picture Serena is making contact with the tennis ball. She’s placed the toss so that she hits it a little bit in front of her body and over her hitting-arm shoulder — her right shoulder.
At 2:50 in the video we get in the FYB time machine and look at some pictures of John McEnroe serving. In the first picture McEnroe is tossing the tennis ball and releasing the ball at about the top of his head. In the subsequent picture he’s continued to raise his tossing arm after he’s released the ball. His arm is extended straight up into the sky. In the last picture McEnroe is making contact with the tennis ball above his left shoulder, because he’s left handed, and in front of his body.
Let’s recap the toss by using Oliver Akli’s serve from a three-quarters perspective. We start with Oliver in his stance. He’s holding the tennis ball in his fingers. To start his tossing motion his arm drops down and then begins to rise. His arm is pretty straight the entire time. He releases the ball at the top of his head by opening his hand up. After he releases the ball he continues to raise his tossing arm until it is pointed straight up at the sky. Oliver has placed the toss so that, fast-forwarding to his contact point, he’s hitting the ball above his hitting-arm shoulder and a little bit out in front of his body.
3.        The Backswing
" w& j8 E9 m& [/ \4 c7 BThe backswing gets your racket up above your shoulders in the L position, and puts your arm and the racket in position to swing up to the tennis ball correctly later in the motion. The key to this step is to raise the racket while keeping your palm facing the court as long as possible.
In this video we’re going to talk more about how the hitting arm moves from the racket drop position up to your contact point on the tennis serve. Behind me in the video I’m shadowing the racket drop position, and what happens first is that my arm swings up towards the tennis ball. I’m swinging up on edge, not with the strings already open to the ball. This is key. I’m also not pronating yet, or using any other part of my body; it’s just my arm.
As you continue to swing up on edge at the tennis ball, your arm and racket will form an L relationship about halfway up to contact. Again, at this point, you still aren’t really pronating. Just after hitting this L relationship is when you begin to pronate to get to your contact point.
! @3 @2 Z- b: a. h$ C# yAt 0:50 in the video above we have a shot of Frank Salazar hitting his tennis serve from above. I want to go through the various steps of the serve in slow motion to see how his arm moves. We’ll start Frank out in the racket drop position, with the tennis racket pointed straight down at the court. As he begins to swing up at the tennis ball you can see that he actually *supinates* his arm. Supination is the opposite of pronation. In effect, supinating early in the upward swing allows him to pronate further/harder because he now has further to “unwind” his arm by pronating. This is a very advanced-level service technique. A lot of tennis pros with big serves will use this technique, and Frank hit about 130mph when he played on tour.
$ c! l2 ^  b& c$ G7 gNow from this position, Frank starts to pronate and hits his L position. Again, we note that you pronate a little early if you’ve supinated earlier in the upward swing, but club level players should concentrate on hitting the L and then pronating immediately afterwards. He pronates and his wrist releases up, again because he is swinging up. This release is not something that you should focus on, it should happen naturally as you swing up at the tennis ball.
. l4 ^0 s, L) lI want to briefly mention one other thing, and that is to clarify a little bit about the pronation aspect of the upward swing from the racket drop. When I swing up, I reach the L position. But if I only pronate, you can see in the video at 2:20 what happens to the tennis racket. It rotates sideways above my head. Obviously, this isn’t how you should hit a tennis serve! You also have to reach up to the tennis ball to get your wrist to release naturally. Again though, this isn’t something you should ever have to focus on if you keep your arm relaxed. Focus on the pronation and the wrist release will take care of itself.
4.        Knee Bend and Weight Transfer

The weight transfer and knee bend allows you to get your body’s momentum and legs into your serve. The weight transfer and knee bend happen simultaneously with the backswing and toss, but we have separated them into different videos to make each component easier to learn.
2 I7 w8 h+ ]4 t) IThe fourth part of the serve is the knee bend. The previous two videos focused on what the upper body was doing during the preparation and in this video we will focus on the lower body. In the video we start with a shot of me in my stance. To begin my motion my weight rocks all onto my front foot and my back heel comes up. Then my weight rocks all onto my back foot and my front toes come up. From this position my weight is going to rock back forward and continue moving forward into the court over the course of my motion. As your weight rocks forward you will bend your knees. You want to time the knee bend so that you reach maximum knee bend when the weight is equally distributed on the balls of each foot.
5 D/ z9 J9 o- g: }At 46 seconds in the video we clip to the side view to see what it looks like from that perspective. From the stance my weight rocks forward and my back heel comes up, then it rocks back and my front toes come up. From here, I time my weight transfer back forward and knee bend so that I’m at maximum knee bend when my weight is equally distributed on the balls of each foot.
2 J, [6 t# [; gAt 1:12 in the video we watch Sacha Jones transfer her weight as she prepares to serve. From her stance, she rocks her weight forward onto her front foot and her back heel comes up slightly. Then she rocks her weight all onto her back foot and her front toes come up. From this position her weight will move forward into the court over the rest of her service motion. As this happens, Sasha times the her weight transfer and knee bend so that her knees are fully bent when she has the weight equally distributed on the balls of each foot.
' u2 ?9 r+ a! _At 1:50 in the video we look at some pictures of Tim Henman transferring his weight. Henman starts with all the weight on his front foot and his back heel up. In the next picture he’s rocked all of his weight onto his back foot and his front toes are up. In the following picture he has rocked his weight back forward, bent his knees fully, and centered his weight on the balls of each foot. Just like Tim, this is what you want to do. Rocking forward and rocking back should help you develop some rhythm. The key is to have your weight centered when you reach maximum knee bend.
4 L3 S+ [' r  `- ?' W- P1 _5.        The Trophy Pose
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6 k1 i# t, _* t/ R5 e& AWhen you toss the ball, complete your backswing, and bend your knees and begin transferring your weight forward, you will reach a position called the “trophy pose,” because this is the position you see embodied in nearly every tennis trophy. The trophy pose is the completion of your service preparation. From this position you are ready to begin your swing up to contact.
The fifth part of the serve is getting to the trophy pose. It’s the completion of your service preparation. The previous three videos focused on the toss, backswing, and knee bend. They are the three elements of the preparation you need to get to the trophy pose, which is the body position I am in to start the video. Starting from my stance at 27 seconds in the video, I do those three things all at the same time — and I complete them at the same time — to get to the trophy pose. To be clear:
  y+ \, T9 B' H! l+ T% Q' l% W$ `0 u5-1. My tossing arm is extended straight up into the air (completion of the toss)
5-2. My tennis racket and hitting arm are in the “L” position (completion of the backswing)
0 W; C% u/ Q2 J# h5-3. My knees are fully bent and the weight is equally distributed on the balls of each foot (completion of the knee bend)
5 Z0 s3 k* C8 C7 i5 k( tIt’s called the trophy pose because the body position I am in is similar to what many tennis tournament trophies looks like.
3 N. Z' h2 a2 f( q1 o$ pThe key to this step of the serve is timing each element of the preparation — the toss, the backswing, the knee bend — so that they all complete at the same time. At 1:30 in the video I demonstrate how to time everything. Starting in my stance, my weight rocks forward onto my front foot. My arms are still together at this point — they aren’t moved yet. As my weight begins to rock back, my arms separate and they drop down together. Once my weight is all on my back foot and I begin to rock my weight back forward and bend my knees, my arms begin to rise. I time it so that my toss, backswing, and knee bend complete at the same time, getting me to the trophy pose.
At 2 minutes in the video we focus on how my arms move during the preparation. Coaches often refer to how the arms move as “down together, up together.” This, of course, is because the arms move down together as a piece and up together as a piece. Knowing this should help you time your preparation as you try and get to the trophy pose. To reiterate, as your weight rocks forward arms stay together. As your weight rocks back the arms separate and drop down together, and as your weight rocks back forward the arms move up together, getting you to the trophy pose.
$ x2 w/ ~9 N) @5 q) uFrom this position — the trophy pose — your service preparation is complete and you are ready to swing forward and hit the tennis ball.
There is one final piece of timing your trophy pose that relates to your toss. You want to be hitting your trophy pose at the same instant the toss reaches it’s highest point. At 2:45 in the video we watch how I do that. When the tennis ball gets to it’s highest point I’m in the trophy pose. Doing this should help with the rhythm and timing of your service motion. If you, for example, toss the tennis ball really high, you could end up waiting in your trophy pose for a little while. This could make things awkward. Timing things like we have suggested, by hitting the trophy pose at the same moment the toss reaches it’s highest point, should give your service motion a nice, repeatable rhythm.
& U  a0 f/ @4 t' F6.        The Racket Drop
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; ^1 a9 s; }8 e1 nFrom the trophy pose, the racket drops down behind your back -before- it swings up to contact. The racket drop is a critical element of the serve, and every single pro gets to this position during their motions despite the fact that their preparations often look very different.
& W. c7 |; h9 b/ EThe sixth part of the serve is getting from the trophy pose to something called the “racket drop.” It’s the first part of your swing. In this video we only focus on what the upper body is doing.
/ B" g1 x3 M, e0 F1 U6 x* iThe video starts with me in the trophy pose. From the “L” position, I drop my tennis racket down behind my back so that it is pointed at the tennis court. Coaches sometimes refer to this position as “the scratch-back position” because it looks like I am trying to scratch my back with the tennis racket. Notice that my elbow comes up as I drop the racket down behind my back.
At 40 seconds in the video we now focus on my tossing arm. As i drop the tennis racket behind my back, I simply let my tossing arm fall straight down. Essentially, I let gravity do the work.
Finally, in the trophy pose my tossing shoulder is a little bit higher than my hitting-arm shoulder. However, when I get to the racket drop I want my shoulders to be about level. I always want my body sideways to the net. Another way to think about it is that I want my body to be facing the side fence.
6 G( b. e! V; m6 i- i: K" |At 1:15 in the video we look at some pictures of the pros transitioning from the trophy pose to the racket drop. We start with a picture of Serena Williams in her trophy pose. Her tossing arm is extended straight up in the air, her tennis racket and hitting arm are in an “L,” and her tossing shoulder is a little bit higher than her hitting-arm shoulder. In the next picture Serena is transitioning from the trophy pose to the racket drop. Serena is in the process of dropping the tennis racket down behind her back and, at the same time, she’s letting her tossing arm fall. That gets her to the racket drop in the subsequent picture. The tennis racket is pointed at the court behind her — kind of like she is scratching her back with the racket. Serena’s hitting-arm elbow has come up. Her tossing arm has continued to fall. Her shoulders have leveled out and her upper body is sideways to the net / facing the side fence.
At 2:12 in the video we see how John Isner transitions from the trophy pose to the racket drop. In the first picture Isner is in his trophy pose — tossing arm is extended straight up, tennis racket and hitting arm are in an “L,” and his tossing-arm shoulder is higher than his hitting-arm shoulder. In the next picture he is transitioning to the racket drop in the same way Serena was. The tennis racket is dropping behind his back and his tossing arm is coming down. That gets Isner to the racket drop, where the racket is pointed down at the court behind him, his elbow has come up, his tossing arm has continued to fall, his shoulders have leveled out, and his upper body is sideways to the net.
, l& p* e% D. t' Z2 P8 S3 C7.        Leg Push

9 e  l' n5 m0 `$ L$ o. ]At the same time you drop the racket behind your back, you need to push up and off with your legs so that you are just barely coming off the court at the exact moment your racket is pointed straight down behind you.
The seventh part of the serve is the leg push and it’s part of getting to the correct racket drop. We separated this video from the previous one to make getting to the racket drop easier to learn.
8 v" T/ ^: G! S8 RWe start the video with me in the trophy pose. My knees are fully bent and the weight is equally distributed on the balls of each foot. From this position, I push off my legs up and into the tennis court. The key — this is absolutely critical — is to be fully pushed off my legs at the same instant I have the tennis racket behind my back and pointed at the tennis court. My legs are completely straight and my tippy-toes are the only part of my feet still on the court. This entire body position — tennis racket pointed down at the court behind me and legs fully pushed off — is what is referred to as “the racket drop.”
At 58 seconds in the video we have a picture of Andy Roddick in his racket drop. He’s fully pushed off his legs — they are totally straight — he’s got the tennis racket pointed down behind his back, his tossing arm is in the process of falling down, his shoulders are level, and his body is sideways. This body position, the racket drop, is something that every single good server gets to. It doesn’t matter if it’s Andy Roddick, Serena Williams, or Pete Sampras. They all get to this exact same body position. This is despite the fact that pros often have differences in how they prepare to serve, or how they wind up. At 2:02 in the video we start to cycle through some pictures of the pros to demonstrate how they all get to the racket drop, and how their body positions are identical at this stage of the serve.
8.        Swing Up to Contact
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From the racket drop position, you swing up -on edge- to the tennis ball and form an L-shape with your arm and racket. Pronation, which is part of this step, is explained in more detail in the following video.
The eight part of the serve is to swing from the racket drop up to your contact point. We start the video with me in my racket drop. The tennis racket is pointed straight down at the court and I’ve fully pushed off my legs. I start by swinging up at the tennis ball with the edge of my frame. I kind of looks like I am trying to frame the ball — hit it with the side of my racket. At 15 seconds in the video we freeze it during my upward swing. Well into my swing the racket is still on edge. We, the viewer, can still see the strings of the tennis racket from this perspective. A key to the body position I’m in at this moment is that my tennis racket and hitting-arm form a “L” shape. Every good server gets to this position.
" p6 u4 {4 m6 @4 b5 fTo get to contact from the “L” shape that my tennis racket and hitting-arm form I’m going to “pronate.” I’m going to twist the tennis racket from on edge to opening the strings to the tennis ball. At 57 seconds in the video I get to contact by pronating. The next video focuses exclusively on pronation so we’re not going to spend too much time on it here.
If we go back to the racket drop at 1:10 in the video, as I swing up at the tennis ball my upper body rotates back toward the net. Remember, in the racket drop I’m sideways to the net. But at contact my upper body is more or less facing the net.
; C! u( z) Y1 \) H1 _To recap, from the racket drop I swing up on edge, rotate back toward the net, and at the very last second I pronate to make contact with the tennis ball.
At 1:40 in the video we watch some high-speed footage of Oliver Akli swinging from the racket drop up to contact. He starts by swinging up on edge at the tennis ball, like he is trying to frame it. Freezing the clip during his upward swing you’ll see his tennis racket and hitting arm for that “L” shape I talked about above. From here, he pronates so that he makes contact with the tennis ball with the strings of his racket. Let’s go back to Oliver in his racket drop to focus on the other element of his swing, the body rotation. In the racket drop Oliver is sideways to the net. As he swings up at the tennis ball, he rotates his body back toward the net so that, at contact, he is more or less facing the net.
7 }% w+ a$ x# PAt 2:36 in the video we jump in the FYB time machine and look at some pictures of John McEnroe swinging from the racket drop to contact. We start with a picture of McEnroe in his racket drop. In the next picture, McEnroe is in the process of swinging up at the tennis ball. His tennis racket is still on edge — it still looks like he trying to frame the ball — and his racket and hitting arm form an “L” shape. In the following picture McEnroe is at contact. He’s pronated to hit the tennis ball. He’s also rotated his body so that he is facing the net. At 3:15 in the video we split screen McEnroe’s racket drop and contact point to demonstrate how he has rotated back toward the net during the course of his swing up at the tennis ball.
* S! Q5 v/ F% E! N7 S7 |To sum up one more time, from the racket drop you need to swing up on edge, rotate your body back toward the net, and pronate to get to your contact point.
- ^* D5 d, t# t$ |( ?. v9.        How to Pronate on Your Service
Pronation can be a tough thing to learn, but it is the key to unlocking power and spin on your serve. Not one single high-level tennis player frying-pans the tennis ball when they serve — they swing up with the tennis racket on edge to the ball, then pronate their wrist to open the racket face to the ball at the last second.
Pronation is one of the most important, yet least understood motions in the tennis serve. Serve pronation is critically important technique that allows you to accelerate your racket head through the tennis ball, adding spin and power. Every high-level tennis player – whether in college or on the pro tour – uses pronation when he serves.
So what exactly is tennis pronation? If you take your hands and place them out in front of yourself with the palms facing each other, and then rotate at the forearm and the wrist together downwards, that is pronation. If you rotate your arm and wrist the opposite direction so that the palms of your hand face upwards, that is supination. So rotating down is pronation, and rotating up is supination.
8 v# l9 S" L/ H2 K$ SA different way to think about tennis pronation is using the karate chop analogy. If I karate chop towards the camera and then pronate, my palm will face the camera.
My favorite way to think about tennis pronation is to use the cellphone analogy. If I’m talking on the phone, and I want to show you who I am talking to, I have to pronate my wrist to show you the screen. If I want to look at the screen, I have to supinate my forearm and wrist back.
Let’s now look at me shadowing pronation on the tennis serve. What you see in the video is that I start my upward swing towards the tennis ball by swinging up on edge with the racket (like a karate chop), almost like I am trying to frame the ball. I then pronate with the forearm and the wrist to get my strings facing the tennis ball at contact on my serve. If we continue playing the video forward, you can see that I keep pronating through contact into my follow through.
+ d& r1 c8 N5 ]" iLet’s now take a look at tennis serve pronation from the back view at 2:20 in the video above. Again, you can see that I swing up on edge at the tennis ball, but then I pronate to open the strings up to the ball before contact. It almost looks like I’m high-fiving the tennis ball with my arm, wrist and racket. If we watch it again, you can see that I continue pronating on my serve through contact and into my follow through.
' n8 G+ r; Z! H# D. a: }0 G1 \How exactly does pronation add power and spin to your tennis serve? When I swing up on edge at the tennis ball and then pronate, I rotate the racket 90 degrees in a very short period of time. If I allowed that rotation to continue at that speed, you can see that the tennis racket spins on its axis quite quickly. That spin has a rotational energy associated with it, and with a serve at a high level, it’s quite a bit of energy. When I pronate and make contact with the ball, that rotational energy is transferred into the tennis ball, and that’s what adds power and spin to the tennis ball.
Now, I want to be clear, because the act of pronating itself doesn’t add spin to the tennis ball. Spin is added to the ball by brushing across the tennis ball, and we have already established that pronation makes the tennis racket move faster. If you can move the racket faster across the tennis ball faster, you will apply more spin to the ball, and more spin means more control.
Let’s now look at some high speed video of former ITF World #1 Junior Frank Salazar and see how he prontates just before he makes contact on his tennis serve. Let’s start him out in the racket drop position, and as he starts to swing up you can see that his tennis racket is on edge to the tennis ball. From this spot, he’s going to pronate to make contact with the tennis ball. Let’s rewind and watch how as he pronates, the tennis racket really starts to accelerate more than it had previously. After contact, Frank continues pronating into his follow through. Again, by adding pronation to your tennis serve motion, you will add that power and spin that is so important to the modern game.
10.        Folllow Through

  u3 G4 p" X0 _4 X' VThe follow through completes your service motion by smoothly decelerating the tennis racket and your body. Just as with all the other steps of the serve, there is a specific technique that will let you finish your motion and be on balance to prepare for your opponent’s return.
The tenth part of the serve is the follow through. From contact, I continue to pronate after I’ve hit the tennis ball. Also, I want to point the tennis racket down at the court, which I do at 10 seconds in the video. From this position, I bring the racket around to the other side of my body. This allows me to smoothly decelerate the tennis racket.
At 20 seconds in the video I focus on my feet during the follow through. Because I jumped when I served, I need to land on my front foot (which is my right foot because I’m left handed — it’s the opposite for all your right-handers out there). All the weight needs to be on my front foot. I’m kicking my back foot up, which allows me to stay balanced over the course of my follow through.
4 U& f; ~  e" W) g2 EAt 43 seconds in the video we look at some pictures of Andy Roddick following through. As he follows through he points the tennis racket down at the court. As he continues to follow through he’ll land on his front foot (with all of his weight on that foot), he’s got his back foot kicked up, and that’s going to help him stay balanced as he follows through. You’ll also notice that he’s begun to bring the tennis racket around to the other side of his body. In the final picture, taken from behind, Roddick has completed his follow through. His footwork remains the same and he’s brought the tennis racket all the way around to the other side of his body.