Lesson 6: The Kick Serve - Build A Kick Serve
If you want a big kick serve, you probably want to spend some time developing the motion off the court. Why? Because a kick serve requires, above all, proper body stretch and positioning and getting the racket and arm in the right position before launching UPWARD. You must stretch the proper muscles out off the court and get into the final racket position over and over again, getting the feel for this fully stretched position.
The mistake that almost everyone makes is they think it's all about racket head speed. All their focus is on the racket. That is incorrect. You can swing your racket as fast as you want, but if your racket and body don't get into the proper launch position, NOTHING else you do will matter. You must get into the launching position first. That has to precede everything else you do. I encourage you to set up a mirror behind you to make sure you are getting into this exact final position. Have a friend, or your coach stand behind you and help you find this EXACT POSITION.
Now for a little explanation. This player drives his elbow up high by rotating his shoulders upward and at the same time lets his arm fall down and supinate outward. You supinate by turning your forearm and hand inward (it's like twisting a light bulb into a socket - when you do this your inner forearm and the palm of your hand will rotate to face you).
Here are the reference points for this final crucial position. First, look at how there is an angle between his wrist and forearm. His wrist is actuall cocked back (helps supinate fully). Look at how high his elbow is from driving his shoulders up while supinating his racket back and down. And finally, see how the racket runs along the side of his body (not straight down towards the ground like 99% of servers I see)? That is the hallmark position of a great kicker, because now you can launch upwards and then come into the ball at an angle for the massive torque to the side. But that is Part II!
And one more thing. He is really tossing the ball to his left side. You can see the arc even though the video cuts off the full motion.
After achieving the proper launch position, the next move is to extend the arm upward by opening the elbow. There is absolutely NO RACKET MOVEMENT here. We call this "Saving the Hit", because you aren't using your hand and forearm yet. That comes in the next phase. So you need to hold back the desire to prontate hand and forearm. Hold back and "save the hit" by simply extending your arm through a straightening of the elbow.
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This arm extension upward with no movement in the racket ahead allows you to get under and to the left of the ball. This is what lets you pronate almost directly from left to right. If you comare the angle of entry for a kick serve to a flat serve, here is what you see. On the right is a flat serve because the edge of the racket is facing the ball. This lets you pronate flat into the ball. On the left is the kicker where the strings of the racket are almost facing the net directly.
Now you can see the actual "hit" of the shot. It has been saved up to this point. Now the true hit is actually a turning or twisting of the hand that twists the hand and forearm and torques the racket through the ball. Rather than brush over the ball, you are grabbing the ball with your strings and twisting it off to the side.
Watch Heuberger's hand. His hand is driving this motion. He is turning the racket up to the ball with his hand which causes the hand and forearm to prontate and turn over.
In the bottom image, look at the two side by side pictures. In the picture on the left, we can see Heuberger's knucles and the top of his forearm. In the second picture on the right, both his hand and forearm have twisted to the opposite side. Now we see the back of his hand and the underside of his forearm.
UPDATE:
I am a huge fan of Dave Smith's work. His philosophy mirrors mine very closely (we both believe that change in technique is the very achievable secret to rapid improvement) and I think he is one of the great "teachers" of the game. He writes for TennisOne and has a superb book called Tennis Mastery.
Dave pointed out to me that a big problem people have with the kick serve is that they rotate their shoulders through the shot. Let me quote Dave here:
"If the body rotates open too early, the player can't pronate and hit up and to the right. (Nearly impossible, anyway!) On the ad court, this results in the player having to hit only a flat serve (the only way they will be able to direct the serve into the court.)
You might want to point out the significant aspect of the kick serve and in your video clip, that Hueberger's upper body stays very sideways with the hitting elbow well back (relative to the center line of his body or his head for easier reference), and the significant 'pulling' action of the toss arm around the front of his body, pulling in to hold the upper body sideways and to prevent the toss shoulder from opening up.
Until players recognize this body position which allows the racquet to do all the things you covered in the tip, (namely hit up and out, up the inside of the ball or, as you said it in the tip, 'grabbing the ball and twisting it off to the side), they won't see the results that they are seeking."
Dave Smith, Senior Editor TennisOne
Author, TENNIS MASTERY
Wilson Premier Advisory Staff
Owner, St. George Tennis Academy
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