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THE TENNIS SERVE IN HISTORYLast time I spoke of the service toss and I mentioned that it is easiest to hit the ball when the toss has come down 1-10 inches (2½ - 25 cm).
An example of a player who did this is Ellsworth Vines. You can find some fantastic footage of this champion from the 1920's on http://perso.club-internet.fr/bmarcore/tennis/champions/Vines/vines.html. Another great player 'Big' Bill Tilden took the ball on the rise. There's a little movie on this page: http://perso.club-internet.fr/bmarcore/tennis/champions/Tilden/bigbill.html. Another great image, where you'll see an athletic Jean Borotra play doubles with René Lacoste can be found here: http://perso.club-internet.fr/bmarcore/tennis/champions/Borotra/Borotra.html. The site is in French as you may have expected, but if you don't speak French don't despair, the images speak for themselves. Talking about your 'golden oldies'! Keep the windows open when you have clicked on these links, because I will refer back to them in this week's tennis tip. Today I want to talk to you about the development of the serve in tennis.At first, in the early days of tennis, the ball was served by a butler. He would gently throw the ball on to the court and into play. I'm not 100% sure this is accurate, but HEY it makes a great story, doesn't it?
After this there was a time where the ball was 'put into play' using an underhand serve. After a while these underhand serves were struck with more and more rotation; wicked side spins etc. Then the men moved on to a sort of overhead, but the women were still supposed to hit an underhand serve. To hit an overhead was considered 'unbecoming and un-ladylike'. It is said that Tim Henman's grandmother was actually the first female player to hit an overhead serve at Wimbledon. I guess the Henman family name is destined to be linked to that of the famous British Open Championships.
In the mean time the guys were hitting a serve that Ellsworth Vines (the player portrayed on the French website above) described as 'hitting a nail into the wall with a hammer'!
This means you will have to hit the ball at 'head-height' facing the net. This hammering movement is a rather short movement which has the advantage that you will hardly ever miss and the disadvantage that you can't generate very much speed. To get some more speed on the serve a sort of 'sky-hook' motion was then used.
Then, to get even more speed, a movement was introduced where the racket 'dips' behind the back.
[ This illustration is taken from the excellent tennisserver.com website]Okay, let's get more PRACTICAL and come to some tennis serve advice you can use in your play!
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