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What Grip Should I Use When I Serve?

This is a question usually asked by beginning tennis players, but there are a couple of dynamics that can change the answer to this question, so I'll start cheap Viagra the beginning - and if you stick around, you'll also get some sneaky 'bonus' tips that just may help you out with the more advanced serving techniques I teach my students.

First of all, the grip that most beginning tennis players use (unless taught properly when they start) is the 'frying pan' or 'fly swatter' (Full Western) grip. They hold the racket like they would a fly swatter and take whack at the tennis ball. This makes perfect sense to them, as they are yet unaware of the relationship between loading, twisting, unloading, acceleration, pronation and follow-through. They just tax attorney to hit the ball! As these players start to improve their technique through proper instruction, they are weaned off of the Full Western grip and toward the Continental grip. This is the primary grip used for the serve. There are two reasons we use this grip: Power and Spin. We'll get into those in a minute; but let's first take a closer look at the grip itself and how we actually make contact with the tennis ball using the Continental grip.

The Continental grip is achieved by 'shaking hands' with the racket grip, with the tennis racket being perpendicular to the ground. There is 'V' shape formed by your car insurance price when you 'shake hands' with the tennis racket. Picture an imaginary line running from the center of the 'V' formed by your hand, and extend that line up to the edge of the tennis racket. Now you are holding the tennis racket with a Continental grip. If a player were to swing the racket with a Continental grip the same way they did with a Full Western grip, they would hit the tennis ball with the edge of their racket. Great. Now what? Well, now this player must now learn the proper way to get the ball onto the strings of the racket while using the Continental grip. This is done through 'pronation'. Pronation is the act of turning the forearm and hand inward from a neutral position (think 'hand shake'), to a position where the inner forearm and palm are facing down. An easy way to demonstrate this to yourself is this:

Sit at a table

Extend your serving hand out onto the table as if you were offering a hand shake.

This is your hand and arm's 'neutral position.

Now turn your hand so that it's flat on the table.

You have now just pronated your forearm and wrist.

Here's another exercise that shows you how to pronate your forearm and wrist that you'll be more easily be able to relate to a tennis serving motion:

Place your serving hand flat against your ear. This is your 'start' position for this exercise.

Keeping your elbow in position, extend your hand up until your fingertips are pointing directly at the ceiling.

Still keeping your elbow in position, extend your forearm forward, while at the same time turning your palm toward the ground. Continue until your palm is facing down and your forearm in parallel to the ground.

Repeat this motion several times.

Now repeat the exercise with a tennis racket in your hand.

Instead of placing your serving hand against your ear, you will now be holding your tennis racket with a continental grip, so that your fingernails on your serving hand are right next to or touching your ear.

Again, keep your elbow in position and extend your arm and racket up unitl the racket is pointing straight up-and-down. (You should be imitating the Statue of Liberty at this point).

Continue extending your serving arm forward while turning your palm inward, until the face of the racket is parallel with the ground.

Repeat this motion several times, and really try to get a 'feel' for the swing.

Once you've done this a few times, head out to the courts and give'er a go. Don't worry about incorporating the swing into your entire service motion just yet, and don't 'over do it'. In the above mentioned exercises, you are going through the motion with your racket in hand, but propelling the racket using your arm only; if you 'go nuts' with this exercise, you could injure yourself by putting too much pressure on your rotator cuff (it's way deep down in your shoulder, folks, and something you won't want to injure). Just getting the 'feel' for the pronation of your forearm and wrist is what you're after at this point. By serving a few tennis balls with your racket while using the Continental grip, and eventually incorporating your entire service motion into the process, you will get the 'feel' of pronation, and at the same time you'll lessen the chances of using too much 'arm' and injuring yourself.

Now as for the sneaky 'bonus' section here, I offer this up only as a way for advanced players to get a little more 'pop' and extra spin on their second serves, and as a way for 'serve-and-volley' tennis players to get a strong, controlled first serve they can follow to the net. If you have not mastered the basics of serving, this is not something you should attempt. I know that even after having said that, some of you who are not ready will try it anyway; fair enough, that's human nature. But if you're not ready for this and try it, you just may think it's impossible; that' okay. Get your 2nd serve to the point where you can hit 20 serves in a row into the far right corner of the 'ad' court, using what I taught you above, and then come back here and read this.

Okay, so let's say you're a player who's got a pretty good first serve, and a reliable second serve that you can pretty much put wherever you want in your opponent's service box, deuce and ad court alike. But you want to be able to 'swing out', full force, and hit your second serve harder than you can right now, but you don't want to sacrifice accuracy either. That would be a pretty good deal, right? Well, here's how you do it:

Move your grip toward the Eastern Backhand side of the handle (about " to the 'left' of center from your continental grip if you are a right-handed player) and hit your normal second serve. What you will discover is that you have taken a car cheap insurance of speed off the the ball, and increased the spin. This gives you a higher flying ball that clears the net by a higher distance than normal, and drops faster into the court, thereby increasing your chance of actually having the ball land in your opponent's service box.

But what do you do about the loss of power? Simple: Just swing as hard as you would on your first serve, and pronate your forearm and wrist as fast and a 'far' as you can. This will impart not only massive spin to the ball, but will add power as well, the result of faster pronation and exaggerated follow through of the forearm and wrist.

If you find yourself hitting the ball short (into the net) or long (past the service line), simply adjust your toss to compensate, tossing closer to your body if you've been hitting the net, or slightly farther out in front of your body if you've been hitting long.

In summary, remember: the basics never change. Learning to serve properly with a Continental grip and executing the fundamentals will give you a firm foundation on which to build an outstanding serve. The advanced techniques shown in the second half of this article are just that; advanced techniques that, once you have built a solid serve, will help you get an 'edge' on the court - where it counts!

To Your Massive Tennis Success,

Coach Kyril

Kyril Popoff is a former NCAA Div1 All-Conference Tennis Player, Instructor, Coach and Author.

His books include THE TEN LAWS OF TENNIS SUCCESS and FOCUS & WIN: WHY YOUR TENNIS GAME ISN'T WHERE YOU WANT IT TO BE, & WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT!

You can sign up for Coach Kyril's Tennis Lessons, Tips & Tricks newsletter at: www.coachkyriltennis.comwww.coachkyriltennis.com

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