How To Hit The Perfect Tennis Serve In 5 Simple Steps

How To Hit The Perfect Tennis Serve In 5 Simple Steps.
Top Tennis Training coach Simon Konov explains how to hit the perfect tennis serve in five simple steps.

Step One - Using the ideal grip which is the continental grip. This is the same grip you should use for your forehand volley and backhand volley, your tennis overhead smashes and your slice backhand. This grip allows you to use supination and pronation on your tennis serve. It also allows you to hit all the different types of serves and spin variations with the same grip, this includes the tennis slice serve, the tennis kick serves, the tennis flat serves and a mixture of all three.

Step Two - A consistent ball toss that goes no higher than six inches above your contact point. The higher you toss the ball, the faster it will be traveling downwards when you try to make contact making it harder to hit in the sweet spot. However, if you toss the ball just slightly higher or exactly to your ideal contact point, the ball will stop for a split second at the height of the toss so it's almost as if you are hitting a stationary object.
The other main reason to keep your ball toss just around the contact point height is that the higher you toss the ball, the more out of control it gets, it's much easier to consistently toss the ball is the same zone if you toss it lower.

Step Three - Reaching a good trophy position. A good trophy position is very similar to a good throwing position, the main difference is the tilt of the shoulders as are target is the contact point on the serve whereas with a throw it might be forwards.
The characteristics of good tennis serve trophy pose include the non-hitting hand pointing upwards to the ball to help balance the body, the hitting arm in about a 90-degree angle, and the tip of the racket pointing upwards towards the sky. If you can you will also have a good knee bend in this position,

Step Four - Using pronation during the contact zone.
By using the continental grip you allow the forearm, arm, and shoulder to supinate prior to contact and start pronating during contact and completely pronate after contact. This is the ideal way to accelerate the tennis racket head during the contact zone.

Step Five - Using a good follow-through and finish to complete the service motion. For right-handers a good indication would be the racket head finishing close to the left hip. This will allow the shoulder muscles to slow down in a natural relaxed way without stressing the shoulder or elbow joint.

Video Timeline:
00:00 - Intro
00:21 - The Grip (step one)
02:00 - Ball Toss (step two)
04:17 - Trophy Position (step three)
10:32 - Pronation (step four)
13:29 - The Follow Through and Finish (step five)

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#Tennis #TennisServe #ServeLesson

[TopTennisTrainingOfficial]

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[georgelackman]

oh my god. Simon just blew my mind with all the reasoning behind the ball toss. Mother of god. So many brilliant tips in such a short amount of time.

[twigagawizard]

Ahhhh my whole life nobody ever told me you don’t “throw” the ball. That helped so much.

[ttrdf]

excellent coaching, I would pay gladly for coaching like this, I feel fortunate to have come across the video and I have to thank you!

[architbhargava]

Omg, I've been "throwing" the ball all this time, and making a fool of myself by having the ball go way in front, behind, to the left, or to the right. "Placing the ball made so much of a difference! Thank you!!

[TopTennisTrainingOfficial]

Timeline for video tips:
00:21 - The serve grip
02:00 - The ball toss
04:17 - The trophy position
10:32 - Pronation on serve
13:29 - The follow through and finish

[Topspin]

Excellent video. I just watched this video 3 times in a row with a racquet and ball in my hand, miming the movements.
The ball toss explanations in this video and in the Federer serve analysis are mind blowing. The explanations on the importance of the knee bend, building momentum, dropping the shoulder, supination and pronation are the best I have ever come across. It’s all making sense now after so many years. Thank you Simon.

[Dachs]

What a great breakdown of the serve! I've recently started playing again after about 25 years without playing consistently and have been struggling with consistency in my serve. I was able to take this video and watch some video of my own serve frame-by-frame and see some things I need to improve on, and also see some things I'm doing well. Thank you for such a thorough and understandable breakdown of the hardest thing in tennis to master.

[john-boy]

Excellent tutorial. It's been so long since I won a tournament it was a good reminder of what the "trophy position" looks like. Good job my man

[glennespinoza]

To be honest this is the only channel I follow advice from. You teach what the top 1% of coaches are teaching. Thank you!

[tdhoyfj]

Excellent breakdown, Simon. I need to work on my toss: inconsistent location and it’s probably too high. I think both factors are contributing to me falling sideways rather than forward into the court. I tried the”J” toss but I think it just adds one more factor to an already complex motion. Next up, better knee bend. At 67 I have a lot strength, speed and endurance (years of squats, lunges, deadlifts, Tabata, etc.) Never too old to improve. Sorry for long winded comment. Cheers.

[MrChrisnaron]

I find your explanations and demonstrations a great help. I have been out of the game for three years due to injury and am now getting back into playing again. Thankfully, by following your advice, I am learning how to serve much more efficiently than I did before. (Maybe I should ask my old tennis coach to watch your videos, as he never taught me the specific mechanisms to the serve.) What I could do with a coach like you man.

[johannesschaller]

Just watched this video after having “lost” my serve. Thanks so much for the structured approach; in particular, the ball toss has been a real problem for me as I thought higher was better. Your advice makes so much sense - I’ll try it out tonight.

[lanier]

I've struggled with my toss for years. The idea of 'placing' the toss is brilliant and I believe will really help me. Thank you!

[paulelverstone]

At 51 I've decided to start tennis again after a near 30yr break (which meant junking my gorgeous Head Radial Twaron's!) and I've never even heard or thought to look for supination - pronation during the swing. Will be giving this a go. Many thanks and subscribed.... *thumbsup*

[dacomicgenius]

I have just gotten back into tennis after not playing for 10+ years. I have watched this video 4 times atleast while I have been at the courts. Truly helped man! fantastic teacher!

[TS-nnql]

As of 02/01/23, I've been throwing the ball. Now I know to place it. Thank you!

[fanzhang]

Pronation part really helps! Now I found my mistake and am eager to try your tips in the court.

[sergiofontana]

Nice. I would suggest to make a video abut fast movement serve. If I mean some player used to have a very fast arm movement when serving. Like Kevin Curren or Henry Leconte. They used to hit the ball on the rise of the toss. In so doing the opponent has very little time to precipice the direction of the ball. I tried to voluntarily speed the movement of the hitting arm and many opponent didn't have enough time to react.

[VanBastennMarco]

Perfect. Perfect. Ultimate explanation of serving.