(smashes tennis ball) — Whoo!
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In every complex system,
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there are things called leverage points.
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These are small tweaks you can make within the system
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that set off a chain reaction,
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that create big ripple effects throughout everything else.
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And when you find the leverage points on your serve,
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you’re able to simplify the technique.
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You’re able to stop overthinking or being confused
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or feeling overwhelmed when you step up to the line
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and instead have that feeling of confidence.
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Cool, calm, mastery, when you step up to the line,
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because you know that you can bomb serve
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whenever you want to, with power and control.
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And you’re going to learn exactly
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how to execute the ATP swing in three steps,
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let’s get into part one.
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(upbeat music)
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The first step is to get into what we like to call
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«The Pre-Throw Position.»
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It kind of looks like this.
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(smashes tennis ball)
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The way you get into this position
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is defined by three characteristics.
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First, your elbow needs to be elevated away from your body
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about 90 degrees and it’s done
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through the shoulder flexion motion.
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Number two, you’ve got to have 90 degrees
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of what’s called shoulder horizontal abduction.
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You could see this by the fact that when pros
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finish their windup, their elbow is going to be positioned
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away from their body and to the side
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when you view it from the back.
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And lastly, their elbow is going to bend in about 90 degrees
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until their palm is facing toward the court.
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Now, if you look at the top ATP servers,
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every single one of them is going to reach
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a similar position to this by executing
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the three motions that we’ve just covered.
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The reason why is because it sets up your arm to get into
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what we like to call «The Pro Drop.»
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Now, by getting your palm down toward the court,
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we do something really powerful.
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We set up your arm to be able to rotate back externally.
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You see with the palm down and your arm bent,
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you’re in what’s called internal shoulder rotation.
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And this is followed by a powerful external shoulder
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rotation that pros execute in the racquet drop.
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So again, it’s going to look something like this.
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Number one, my shoulder is raising away.
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I’m going to draw my arm back.
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I’m going to bend my arm in.
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Now from here, I’m ready to blast the ball.
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Now, if I take my racquet out of my hand,
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watch what happens.
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I get into a very similar position to what you’ll see
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in baseball pitchers and NFL quarterbacks.
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Well maybe not the NFL, I don’t look like that.
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By getting into this position, I’m setting my arm up
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to flip back and snap in.
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And that’s where all the fluid power comes from.
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Just like this.
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(projectile dropping sound)
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No, nah.
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Every single time.
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It’s like I can’t control it. (guy laughing)
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All right.
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Now this pre-throw position is so powerful
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because it allows you to utilize
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what’s called «The Stretch Shorten Cycle».
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The stretch shorten cycle happens when you lengthen
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or you stretch your muscle prior to contracting it.
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It’s kind of like when you stretch back a rubber band
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and then release it.
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The stretch creates the powerful snap.
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And when you’re able to get that same stretch
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and load on your serve, you’re able to create the same snap.
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Now, step number two is going to be all about
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the wrist here.
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You want to perform ulnar deviation
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so that you can absolutely smash the like button.
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Guys, (laughs) in order to help us grow the channel,
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we’d really appreciate it if you hit the like button.
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Second step is all about activating
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the stretch shorten cycle through
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the correct dynamic racquet drop action.
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It’s called The Pro Drop position because you’ll see
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that almost every single top ATP pro
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will reach this position prior to snapping into contact.
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But I rarely see it executed at the club or junior levels,
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but you’re going to learn exactly how to execute it today.
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As pros drive through the ground and they rotate their hip
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and torso into the net.
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This, combined with the inertia of your racquet
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is gonna cause the racquet to flip down
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and back behind your body.
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Now this force is what allows your arm
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to subsequently slip back into external rotation.
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As we talked about, your arm is up,
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drawn back and bent, ready to flip.
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And if you’ve executed step one correctly,
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and you’ve gotten into this pre throw position,
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then you’re able to create this nice
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left-to-right swing path with your racquet
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as you drive your legs through the ground.
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And you can feel this right away,
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simply by getting into your pre-throw
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and rotating your torso and driving your legs.
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Just feel the flip right there.
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If you have your racquet, you can do this with me.
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And when you feel comfortable,
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you can go here and snap that racquet in.
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Now pros are going to remain in
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this externally rotated position all the way
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until the last few milliseconds before contact.
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And this gives them the appearance of leading up
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with the edge of the racquet.
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As they go from their initial acceleration
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in this full flip to starting this elbow extension motion.
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As they start to straighten their arm out,
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it’s almost like they’re chopping the ball.
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And in fact, if you didn’t internally rotate your shoulder,
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you would in fact chop the ball.
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But, a few milliseconds before contact,
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they set their shoulder up to flip back in
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and rotate the racquet in as powerfully as possible.
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And in fact, according to Dr. Bruce Elliott’s studies,
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this internal rotation of your shoulder and forearm,
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which has turned the long axis rotation is responsible
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for over 50% of your rocketed speed at contact.
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So again, I’ve reached this full fluid
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racquet drop position.
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And as my shoulder propels up,
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I’m going to have this natural elbow extension motion.
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Then at the last second,
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they internally rotate their shoulder
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for tons of rocketed speed.
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It’s going to look like this here.
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Pre throw position, fluid racquet drop,
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snapping that racquet right into contact.
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Now, if you don’t have the Lamborghini of shoulders,
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don’t you worry, I’ve got you.
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For those of you out there who don’t feel
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like you have as much mobility or flexibility
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in the shoulder and you can’t reach those same deep
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athletic positions you see the top pros reaching.
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You could still utilize the same technique.
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You see, the same biomechanics apply.
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You just need to use a little bit less of an extreme version
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of the same motion.
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Here’s exactly how that works.
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Get into your same pre-throw slot.
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And from here, instead of getting your racquet
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all the way down here in this deep position,
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what you’re going to do instead
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is utilize more horizontal shoulder adduction.
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This is where your arm comes forward in front of your body.
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And you could see this done even at the pro level
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in some players like Federer.
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So compare Federer’s serve to Radek’s serve,
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and you’ll see that at the start of Federer’s acceleration,
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his arm will start going in front of his body
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faster than you’ll see on Radek’s serve.
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Now here’s how you do that, from this pre-throw position,
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simply think about pulling your elbow forward to the ball
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and feel your arm going forward in front of your body.
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And as you relax, and if you reach the correct
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pre-throw position at your start,
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you’re going to naturally get the same fluid motion.
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And as you could see,
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you could still get a good amount of power on your serve
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by utilizing the same technique,
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but just making it less extreme, just like this.
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(smashes tennis ball)
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Now, there is another way that you can add even more power
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to your serve and we’re going to cover that
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in the next part of this video series.
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So stay tuned, click the link below
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and until next time, athletes.
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I will see you in the next video.
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Oh, I should become a volleyball player.
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Volleyball, volleyball? I don’t know.
How To Generate EFFORTLESS POWER On The Tennis SERVE In 3 Steps
