I'll let you in on a secret: I really don't like my own tennis serve. There is a technical flaw that I wish someone would have detected when I was playing on the WTA Tour!
In this video, I'm starting my "Meike fixes her own serve" experiment!
No fluff here - just straight-up advice and techniques that you can implement to get rid of the "step around".
I had a lot of fun making this video because I'm showing a lot more of the "behind the scenes" of making a technical change! You need tons of repetition and you will make loads of mistakes. Come along for the ride!
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This video is a hidden gem. It's not a trainer or "influencer" telling you how you need to serve, showing some drills and picking their best serve out of 20-30-40s executions as example (or even worse: using a pro's serve to show the final goal)... this is a former pro, now teaching other people how to play, going through the process of changing something that is part of her habit since decades and that was part of her technique to reach a professional level. This is a precious lesson: in this sport, even people who are/were pro's still can improve and it's all about being open to recognise an issue and then try to find a solution. The process and the way described, starting from "I need to feel" to the final comparison video to the "before / after" is something all tennis players should take and use as extremely powerful tool. I have been into using videos since some time now, but I never thought about the "feel" part, which I can also try to do at home and not necessary on the court, this video is eye opening! Thanks a lot! I am a new subscriber!
Thanks for your kind words!!!
Folks THIS is as real as it gets, (minus the editing), but the realness in her STRUGGLE to do the BIOMECHANICAL thing, which is foreign to what she learned on the tour. -BRILLIANT!! 👊🏾
Thank you so much! And it is a struggle!
Absolutely! Recording yourself struggling with your own technique is brilliant! I think this is one of the most (if not the most) authentic tennis videos I’ve seen. Including the great comment about not changing a serve only by watching a video, but through repetitions! Congrats!
I'm blown away by the honesty and authenticity in this video, breaking down an area you want to improve and showing the rusty parts of the relearning process. 👏
So effin' refreshing to see a pro working through it, and showing that trial and error, and sharing all of that with us! thanks
Wow, you're having the same issues as I do when I'm working on my serve...and I'm just a 3.5 player. Amazing! Working on one thing, then trying to do two "new" things at once and the earlier one slips away. I can SO relate!
This woman is a treasure ❤
Super timely for me. Thanks so much!
appreciate your honesty on last practice unlike some other YT where students improve in 15 minutes
For the love of the game 🎾 Great video thank you
I've been trying to fix EXACTLY THIS in my technique! Thank you!
This is so interesting. Will practice your drill. Thanks you
Exactly what I'm going through as of last week. I'm old school over 45 year of tennis and have no coil (this was was not taught in the wooden racket era (when I first started to learn). Makes a big difference with spin and consistency once the coil is incorporated properly in the service motion and mechanics. Hopefully you (and I can master this in the next few months).
Your are too good both technically and clear explaining. I love you ❤️ tennis.
Eres la mejor 🙌 Qué vídeo tan útil. Muchas gracias 💪🌺
Thx for such valuable move and fantastic tips. Regards form Poland
You’re very welcome
Outstanding video on a topic rarely discussed. One thing I have noticed among pros when they warm up, they will move their front foot about six inches forward before striking the serve. They cannot do this while actually playing because it is an obvious foot fault. I have seen platform servers like Roger Federer do it as well as pin point servers like John Isner. Do you believe this might help keep the back foot from coming around the front foot? Also, some pros like Nick Kyrgios will step back with their back foot and then slide their back foot perfectly forward into position. Kyrgios does this extremely well.
Great video! That's the exact issue I've had and I tend to open up too early, especially on my kick serve. I'm trying to move to a platform stance and put heavy ankle weight on my right leg to keep me from moving it around, but even with that it's so hard to break the habit. Now I'm doing it correctly about half the time, but when I'm tired or nervous I go back to my old technique
Excellent lesson!
Thank you!
“If you are not MEASURING, you are not managing.” -Scott Adams
I am working on this for over a year now. My initial motivation was actually to stop occasional foot faulting, I am getting it down now pretty consistently, but this is a long road...
I do! Thank you.
I am just learning the proper serve and rocking back on my left heel (I am right-handed) helps me load better.
Interesting video. I wonder if rather than trying to modify something you already have habituated (incorrect ending position on foot drag) it might not be easy to just do something new and learn to serve platform. Often easier to plough a new furrow (habit) in a different place than it is to take an existing furrow (habit) and modify it. Also, nothing wrong with platform as it works just great for a bunch of very good servers.
Thanks!
You bet! And thank you for your support!
Another GREAT video I play with a 4 yr college player and he opens up so early, his serve breaks to the right(he right handed) every serve. U do not even had to watch for the down the middle or wide on the ad side. Of course somehow Sorana Cristea and Mateo Berritenni serve well with their right foot to the right of their left foot when they hit ball??
I find that Kovac’s shot put drill is really good for establishing the feel on this. Tossing a bit more left helps me as I tend to chase the toss. It is a hard habit to break. I find myself sliding my front foot to the left a bit without knowing it. Personally, I feel it is important for placement, but doesn’t have that much impact on power as one can load against the step across although Venus seemed to get back some serve speed when she got rid of the step across.
Thank you, Meike! I have the same issue and i'm trying to fix it. I'll do these drills. How often would you do these exercises? I guess I can do everything up to shadow swings as much as I want, but should I practice serve with a ball just once or twice a week? Don't wanna over do it haha
Thanks for being honest about your issues. I also need to correct this. I watched Warinka last year at US open and saw he puts his drag foot right next to the front foot. Then I thought maybe it's ok. However my serves need more power so I want to fix this. I have a question on the back foot and foot faults - the guy who is top of my league at local club foot faults every single serve this way and we play 3.5-4.0. How do I handle this? Some guys dont bother, but I think its basic tennis 101.
You should start calling the foot faults out loud. Even though you continue to play the point, just make it audible so that he (and everyone around) starts to notice until he corrects it. Those are the rules, so if he is going to get away with it, at least it should be uncomfortable knowing you are not "properly" winning IMO
great video! If you try and make your back foots toe point to the fence, in other words make it parallel to the baseline you will find its harder to bring it around, this is what Alcahraz and Sinner do. I had the same problem and have been trying to fix it only lately.
This is extremely interesting. I'm going through the same thing right now, except my problem is the opposite - I don't rotate through the throwing motion properly. I stay mostly sideways and whip my arm. I'm able to serve about 125 this way, but my arm lasts about two days. I'm not using pronation to get this power, mostly just arm whip.. I'm really lost. I don't understand how someone like Medvedev ends up completely bent over and so far into the court. That is 100% foreign to me. My right leg rarely goes up like it's supposed to. Medvedev's right foot ends up higher than his head at a certain point which is baffling to me.
I have the same problem and slowly correcting but it’s taking a lot of efforts
Great lesson. Did you move from Denver? Website is same but the location looks different.
Yes, I moved to Spain actually
Your CG position in the prep is closer to front foot in primary stance, so loading to rear is too brief... and end up front foot balancing.
Gracias 🇪🇦🇪🇸
Nothing wrong with loading the front foot, in fact I think that's correct! Check out Nick's very complimentary video about Tallon Griekspoor's serve which has this style as well kzhead.info/sun/ldSRcpubp4aPaIk/bejne.html Good luck getting your serve where you want, tough to beat decades of muscle memory!
I’ll check it out. And yes, it’s gonna take some time!
Nick is not always correct. Talon might get a few more mph had him change his foot position
@@bournejason66when you look at all the Pros serve in slow motion, it looks like Nicks kinda correct, most Pros are leaning in and it appears that most weight is actually on the front foot…(I’d like to see pressure pads under their feet to see for certain) I know Mark Kovacs has done studies and says the weight distribution is roughly 60/40, (60%back foot)…I wonder who he studied that on or if it’s his biomechanical studies on the ‘optimum’ weight distribution..I think the biggest issue people have is misunderstanding ‘Loading the back leg’ thinking they need to put all their weight on the back foot, which even by Kovacs, it’s ‘roughly 60/40’, which is more evenly distributed than people are attempting…trying exactly what Mieka tries here, jumping solely off the back foot, it’s extremely difficult to get lift
Confused me, first you talk about shoulders alignment and ccoiling but then no coil is shown. Getting the righ foot work sounds quite challenging
You may try to exaggerate and push your… ghm… left glute into the court - like trying to sit on a chair which is inside the baseline. You maybe don’t want to exactly serve like that with that much twist/turn away, but as a transformation drill - it would help you because it’s impossible to step around with back foot while you push your b..ty over the line 😅 “Imitate Ben Shelton”
if you would have done that better!!! you played between 90 and 2000 where you had navratilova , steffi graf, lindsay davenport all nr 1 in the world doing that drag around foot( as you said a lot of them did it ) so it couldnt have been that big of a problem because even after you we still have big servers doing this like perez garcia ( 220km ) venus williams ( 208 km ) jorovic ( 207 km ) and platform didnt exist !!! what about sanchez , seles , hingis ??? all platform. also my trainer learned me how to serve but i could beat him 60 easely but he explained it very well and give me options DRAG around is NOT a problem not even for recreational nor for profesional players if you get the rhythm right but good for you that you still want to learn different ways and be aible to demonstrate different styles
You should suggest this to 1GA!!! She can do better with this tip.
My drag is killing my serve. 😭
It was definitely killing mine!
kzhead.info/sun/gs9-oJaEmJSth2g/bejne.htmlfeature=shared so me I need to correct this even as a rec player I love recording, at 52 years old I just started 5 years ago and just really wanted to improve my game. My service got bet better but footfaulting almost 80% lol