GRACEFULNESS SERVE DRILL
Some pros look more graceful than others, though all professionals look
pretty damn good. Is it due to years of practice, genetics,
athleticism? Who knows, but let me share what I learned that
may have helped along the way.
Gracefulness how-to. Like dancers, this is performed in
front of a mirror so you get feedback in order to reinforce the body movement required.
Objective: to reinforce weight shift for the bow and toss arm
lift, 1-2-3 Go!; to eliminate your self-consciousness; to familiarize yourself with
how your body's working; to recognize the rhythm, speed, timing, and
spacing of these elements.
Method: no racket needed. Stand in front of a mirror
and while looking directly at the mirror begin to move your waistline
to reflect the archer's bow while dropping the arms together and raising
them together for their different objectives. The toss arm is as
straight up as it can be, the racket arm up half-way and bent, the hand
up to simulate holding a racket. Look at yourself in the
mirror while doing this to reinforce the bowing of the body, the upward
arm. Return to a starting position and repeat, many times. Practice
as often as possible, forever.
The special tip to add here is dancers wear either very tight clothing
or clothing that reveals more than it conceals in order to get the feedback
they want from the mirror and their body. Tennis players need to practice
their serve motion's gracefulness in exactly the same manner dancers practice their
moves. The idea is to both explode your self-consciousness and notice how the
individual parts of your body move (groin, hips, toss arm), when each moves, and by how
much during the weight shift and bow. Once imprinted the speed and sequence to how the
groin moves, the hip sways, and the arms lift can you transfer this when on the court
and think only about hitting the ball.
Serve main page.
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