What are the optimal movement stages within the tennis serve to increase velocity?

 

The serve is an essential part of tennis as it can set the tone for the point. The serve can contribute to a players score as a powerful serve can be difficult for an opponent to return consequently scoring a point. Weather the game is played on grass or clay, the serve still remains a crucial part of the game.

The serve is a closed skill and is one of the only strokes the player has complete control over (Elliott et al., 1986). The serve is complex as it requires multiple limbs to produce multifaceted patterns and rhythm to execute the serve. To begin the serve the athletes must use their upper limb to slowly push the ball in the air to an optimal hitting height while the other upper limb and the racket hit the ball with both power and control resulting in an accurate and effective serve (Elliott et al., 1986).

This blog will go through three of the most significant to of the serve including the preparation, acceleration and the follow through. With the understanding of the movement stages, using biomechanics, this blog will also make suggestion for improving the serve velocity for optimal performance and success. The images below provide a visual of the stages of the serve. 

Figure: 1 (Instructables, 2012). Break down stages of the tennis serve. Displaying the preparation, acceleration and follow through.