Back on topic please...

Here is the Brett's video about recovering from the Reverse Pendulum Backspin Serve:



Some very useful pointers here, applicable to recovery from any serve.

Yup, very useful indeed. I think I do the "elbow too close to the body" thing, I'll watch out for that next time I play.

I've been trying to figure out why people use the (assuming a right handed player) "right leg stretched behind" stance when serving. Most internationals seem to use it for forehand serves.

Iskandar

So that no one gets confused by mumbo jumbo from the faceless, here is a high level player discussing the topic in practical detail:

Hi Iskandar,

It makes you lower and the time isn't a big issue...you can still get into good position by the time the ball hits the opponent's side. Ai Fukuhara is tiny so she doesn't need to get lower.

Regards, Brett

Hi Iskandar,

It makes you lower and the time isn't a big issue...you can still get into good position by the time the ball hits the opponent's side. Ai Fukuhara is tiny so she doesn't need to get lower.

Regards, Brett

So by consistently taking a lower serving stance, I could make even my current backhand serves better? So just widen the legs when serving? (I am not sure how I would recover without straightening out given how I play though...)

YES!!! Keeping the elbow away from the body in the ready stance helps a LOT - I tried this yesterday. I didn't even realize I was holding the elbow up next to the body or that it was an issue until I watched that video. Thanks!!
Iskandar

One advantage of serving with the backhand is it can put you in playing position immediately, without having to perform the recovery explained in video PR 08. I would be trying to get into my best playing position and doing the serve from there. Leg's comfortably wide and bent and keep the head down and level during and after the serve. Straightening the legs after the serve isn't good. There are variations of course. See D. Ovtcharov for example. He is moving around, trying to create momentum in other ways.

Part of the magic of W. Henzell's Tomahawk serve is the incredible position it puts him in for his backhand oriented game. People make mistakes off his serve as they can see his amazing, early position in their peripheral. I once slowed down his regular Pendulum serve and he is later on the recovery than say V. Samsonov or a Chinese.

There are no absolutes in this game and there are exceptions everywhere. It's important to work things into the context of your own game, especially if you have specific limitations. For example, in Greg's recovery video above, he doesn't want to cross his legs for the wide forehand. Most top players are thrilled to cross for that wide forehand, so they take a more aggressive position. But for Greg, it doesn't fit into HIS game well, so he's had a good think about it and shared it with others. I found his video relaxing btw. I like his style.

YES!!! Keeping the elbow away from the body in the ready stance helps a LOT - I tried this yesterday. I didn't even realize I was holding the elbow up next to the body or that it was an issue until I watched that video. Thanks!!



Iskandar

> So maybe I don't need to stretch the leg out back to get low enough, I can easily serve from below table height (illegal, of course) if I wanted to by bending forwards somewhat. Hmmm....

You get better sight and control when the serve is near your chest like T-rex rather than off to the side or low.

I'm not a fan of rigid forms like elbow, hands, knee angle in this position or that. Compared to a loose natural stance it will be worse unless maybe the form is always transfixed to the correct start position, since you'll have to loosen anyway to move any significant distance for the ball quickly. Though I guess a more correct fixed starting position is better than a wrong rigid starting position.

If you carefully observe & contrast typical (over)coached adults and those considered "natural" at the sport by far the greatest difference is the effortless grace of movement compared to the robotic result of trying to adhere to numerous guidelines. The typical argument is that this supposed natural talent isn't something which can be learned but I can attest that it could with the right motivation. It just takes some introspection & methodology outside the typical "stand here, swing there" curriculum, and tends to open a lot of doors to naturally good form sans rote drilling.