If you have followed any of our work from the Kovacs Institute over the past few years, you will have certainly heard us discuss some of the data that we have been collecting in our lab on professional players, high level collegiate and junior athletes as well as our competitive recreational adult and senior athletes. One of the biggest findings from our work in the lab, the research we have done along with many other colleagues around the world is how important it is to improve the use of the back leg when serving on serve speed (MPH/KMH) and spin (RPM). Most tennis players (at any level) do not optimize the use of the back leg to store energy effectively. If the energy that we are trying to store is in the wrong direction then it cannot be released in the most optimum manner possible. Here is one of our go to exercises that we use with our athletes (at all levels of the game) who are looking to have a more technically-proficient serve while usingthe lower body better, which quantitatively results in an increase in serve speed (MPH/KMH) and also in spin rate (RPM).
The exercise immediately below has the objective of serving just using your back leg. The video right below is showing a player performing the single leg back leg serve effectively with good rhythm and using the back leg to effectively store; and subsequently release energy up through the body and into the ball. From our lab we have seen that all good servers can serve within 5-7MPH as fast from the back leg as from two legs. This highlights how important the back leg is and also the need to train it.
Hopefully you have been able to try this serve and see how you do. If you are like many people, you may struggle to perform this effectively. Below is an example of the same serve performed INCORRECTLY (WRONG). Notice how the player’s knee collapses as he tries to load into the lower portion of the movement. As a result, this player has to fall backward slightly to regain balance and is unable to effectively then transfer energy up into the service motion. This is a very common problem we see with many players when they first try to hit this serve.
So what should you work on if you are struggling to hit this serve? You may have strength limitations in the back leg, you may have mobility limitations in your hip or ankle or you may may lack power in the back leg. Our suggestion is to always get screened to determine where your limitations are, and if you may have some physical limitations that may be impacting your technique.
Below is one exercise that is great for developing concentric strength and subsequently better power when you are trying to transition from Stage 3 (Loading) through Stages 4-7 of the service motion (if you are unfamiliar with the 8 Stages of the Serve, please click here for a great FREE course by Dr. Kovacs on the topic). This Single Leg Back Leg Squat and Hold Serve is challenging and is something that will very quickly tell you if you have an area to work on. If you struggle with this exercise and/or the single leg serve we talked about earlier then you would be rewarded if you work on some single leg stability and strength exercises.
Below are a couple of very beneficial and important single leg exercises that you will be rewarded if you incorporate these into your training program.
The Single Leg RDL with Racket Reach is a challenging movement and an exercise which is great to perform on both legs, but specifically to perform it on the back leg. This would be the right leg for a right handed server. The exercise is challenging throughout the movement, but it gets very challenging the closer you get to your end of range of motion. We recommend starting with 6 movements and try to progress to 12. Perform all on one leg and then shift to the opposing leg.
The second exercise provided is the Single Leg RDL with a single dumbbell. This is challenging as well, due to the weight being added to one side of the body. This requires you to be able to stabilize using your single leg that is contact with the ground. Perform this using the same repetition range (6-12 repetitions) and choose a dumbbell weight that makes it challenging, but not so heavy that you cannot maintain balance .
Every athlete can improve his or her serve. It comes down to better understanding your body, your technique and how to most efficiently and effectively work on the areas that truly matter to hitting a great serve. We know from decades of research that all the great tennis servers throughout history had the same fundamentals. They all had some style differences, and many of them had some very unique style differences (think Ivanisevic vs Sampras), but energy transfer and physics principles dictate the how and the why of hitting a great serve.
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There is a ATP player( French I think) who begins his motion in a similar squat, although he has weight evenly distributed between both feet. Maybe his style evolved from back leg thrust problems.
That is possibly true. Remember that fundamentals are consistent among all players and style is variable.
What exercises do you do for hips and glutes? Great stuff here! Helps squash the notion (in my school) that tennis players are not athletes and that football is “harder” blah blah blah…
So many good ones for the hips and glutes. If you use the search bar in the top corner of the Academy site you can enter the terms hips or glutes and you will see many of our favorites.