Who doesn't want to speed up their first serve. I know I do, and I bet you that if Pete Sampras could he would too! But you have to remember, consistency and placement are far more important than the speed of your serve. If you can not get the serve in and within a reasonable distance in where you aimed, then the speed of the serve is almost worthless. I say "almost" because the speed of the serve does account for something and can sometimes win you some easy points. However, I feel you need consistency with your first serve before you read this section. (A good percentage for first serves is anything above 70%) Here are some ways to speed up the serve!
Tossing out front: Tossing the tennis ball out in front of your body helps you to jump into the court when hitting the serve, thus bringing your body weight into the serve. If you are moving forward when hitting the serve this will increase the speed of your serve. Observe the Sampras video below and see how he is tossing the ball slightly in front of him and jumping into the serve.
Good rotation: Good rotation of the shoulders and the waist will give you added power to your serve. This allows your whole body to contribute to the power instead of just the brute force of your arm. The uncoiling is key, be sure to use your legs, shoulders, and waist.
Extension: Check out this Pete Sampras quick video... Look at the extension and his reach on his serve! With extension this good his torque is much greater allowing his to really hit the serve hard. Also notice how his wrist does not pronate, he keeps it firm through out the whole serve. Pronating, or snapping of the wrist does not always help to speed up your serve!
Hit less spin: Another way to juice up your serve would be to simply hit less spin. Hitting the ball flat creates a lot more pace because you hit the ball more solid. Hitting with spin puts more friction on the ball and does not allow you to swing straight through with all power.
Racquet Adjustments: Get a longer tennis racquet. Look what it did for Michael Chang! The longer the racquet the more power you will get out of your shots. You can also string your racquet with less tension, that will give you more power. But be aware, both of those options will give you more power, but will also give you less control.
Add weight to the head of your tennis racquet: Adding weight to your tennis racquet head helps to produce more force when hitting. It's like driving a bike and hitting a wall, or driving a semi-truck and hitting a wall. The semi truck definitely has more momentum and more force to hit with because it is heavier. I am not saying the difference will be that great of a change, but it will increase the speed of your serve, and other strokes for that matter. You can add weight to your racquet by simply applying sticker like lead strips to the head of your racquet. Make sure you do this evenly on both side of the racquet. Not many of these strips are needed to notice a difference in weight of your racquet, so do not over do it. Just try a little at a time to see if it works for your tennis game. To get the most out of lead tape, check out Alan Vinh's section on lead tape at the following URL. http://www.monumental.com/avinh/leadtape.html
Quick tip: Hitting the serve down the "T" (the down the middle of the court) will create a faster serve for two reasons. One reason is that it has less distance to travel and therefore encounters less air resistance to slow the ball down. The other reason is that the net is low, so it gives you more room for error to hit the big flat serve.
If you have any questions about this article or tennis in general please do not hesitate to contact me @ tennis4you@hotmail.com. Thank you!
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