I remember both Federer and Roddick were asked (separate interviews) what is the most important aspect of the serve. They both said, the toss and leg drive. Roddick has a video somewhere on youtube where he serves just using arm strength and then serves mostly using his legs and less arm strength. The latter was so much more powerful. Federer did say that the harder the leg drive the more powerful the serve.
I have hit a goldmine. I have been looking for a video which shows exactly what you have done in this presentation. These are the steps and drills I was ardently seeking for to improve my serve. Thank you very much
Love your content! My serve (and other shots and skills) has really improved using your breakdowns and drills. I share often with friends as well. Thanks for all you do!
Excellent!!!as a 4.0 I recently moved to this technique and it works(I.e. provides more power and enables greater spin). You are a very good instructor Ms. B! Thank you
Dear Meike Babel, thank you so very much for your fabulous videos on teaching tennis! You are wonderful! It is more than obvious that you speak and demonstrate from profound knowledge, experience and wisdom. Super clear. All the Best!
Hi Meike... thank you for your honest and clear lessons. Your no come-on hype is so refreshing. My question is, you are teaching loading on the back leg (right leg for a right-handed player). All the instructions I've seen and all my private lessons state a right-handed player loads on the left leg and comes back down on the left leg. I want to believe that you're right and they're wrong, so could you add some words to convince me? Thank you.
Great lesson, again 👌, very helpful how you describe the technique in detail. One question on this video, what exactly do you mean by 'the lowest drop of my elbow should coincide with the lowest drop of my kneebend'?
Thank you for such a clear and comprehensive explanation, Coach Meike. I have experimented with loading my back leg, and when watching Federer serve, he seems to lift his heels off the ground and push off from the balls of his feet. Is that correct technique for amateurs?
Hi, wonderful video. Too much rain to hit for more than twenty minutes today, but learning to load in my living room! (That might be better to groove in the movement without the distraction of a ball. ) 🙂
Hi Mieke what an awesome video! Quick question. When you load your back hip and load through your back leg/heel, do you still end up on your toes or do you keep the rear foot flat on the floor? Thanks!
@@MeikeBabelTennis ok cool! So just to confirm...You load your back hip down through your heel, then transfer the energy up by going onto your toes? Thanks!
Interesting to note that Dan Evans probably has the best back leg/hip load out of all of the male players and he loads through his back heal and doesn't actually use his toes to push off on his back leg.
Hi Meike, greetings from Singapore. I have been following and watching your videos. Really like them. I am right handed and I have a bad right knee. Any suggestion on how to compensate if I find difficulty in "loading" on my right leg? Thanks.
Thanks Meike. That point about (a right-hander) not stretching the left-hip over the baseline makes a lot of sense in the mechanics of the shot, when loading on the back foot. One well-know American UA-cam tennis coach is still teaching that (not Ryan Reidy!) and I followed his advice for a while, not with good results.
One easy drill that I did to add power. Throw tennis ball upwards from baseline and try to hit the back fence located 21 feet behind the opposite baseline. At first, my throw was landing a few feet short of the fence. After a few months I was able to consistently throw 5 feet up the fence. Occasionally I could throw over the 10 foot back fence. This improvement in throwing distance directly translated into more power on the serve. There is a very close correlation between throwing distance and serve power. It is true. And I am just a poor to average thrower, so if I can do it anyone can do it... If you watch some of the pros throw balls into the crowd it is scary how far they can throw... I am curious if you tried this and whether you can throw tennis ball to the back fence? If not, I can say I did something a Top 30 Pro couldnt do. 😆
Meike, rather than rocking back and down to load the back hip, is it ok to start in a position close to that and launch up from there? I find the rocking back and down to the back heel a bit difficult physically. Old age mainly!
Great lesson but give wrong impression to beginners that the Serve is Upward motion! It’s a really Forward action. Then when bending, the Foward action becomes Forward-and-Upward! Players should be taught with Forward throwing action (from back to front) before talking about Up-and-Out. Agree? Thanks
I would like to hear the opinion of a specialist in pinpoint serve. I believe this is all great explanation of a platform serve. The two techniques are significantly different and I don't think you can use this lesson for the pinpoint serve. Sharapova served with great power but was loading her left foot(help from the right-but secondary), hip in the court, and following into the court: ua-cam.com/video/m4wt5jmpk3U/v-deo.html
I remember both Federer and Roddick were asked (separate interviews) what is the most important aspect of the serve. They both said, the toss and leg drive. Roddick has a video somewhere on youtube where he serves just using arm strength and then serves mostly using his legs and less arm strength. The latter was so much more powerful. Federer did say that the harder the leg drive the more powerful the serve.
Yes, both are timing all the elements of the serve so well and use the legs/ hip so efficiently! Roger looks so smooth and Andy is just exploding!
ua-cam.com/video/PoTkeye5IbQ/v-deo.html
This is the most detailed breakdown of the leg bend on UA-cam.
I have hit a goldmine. I have been looking for a video which shows exactly what you have done in this presentation. These are the steps and drills I was ardently seeking for to improve my serve. Thank you very much
Not many coaches talk about back hip on the serve. Excellent job!
Yes, there is a lot of misinformation out there -still.
7:52 - thanks for breaking it down - helpful.
You are a Dr Mark Kovacs disciple. Wonderful.
Yup, if you have access to great teaching, use it 🙂
This was timely! I can work on some of these drills while I'm house bound with Covid. Thanks, Meike!
Hope you're better!
@@MeikeBabelTennis Thanks Meike, I'm great! I'm out of isolation, played 2 hours with my doubles gang Thursday and last two days I practiced serving.
Love your content! My serve (and other shots and skills) has really improved using your breakdowns and drills. I share often with friends as well. Thanks for all you do!
That is awesome! I'm so happy to hear that. That's exactly why I'm doing my videos!
Thank you, this helped me understand the kinetic chain much better.
You're welcome!
Thank you for this-this is the best explanation I’ve seen for the serve.
Excellent!!!as a 4.0 I recently moved to this technique and it works(I.e. provides more power and enables greater spin). You are a very good instructor Ms. B! Thank you
Thank yoU!
Dear Meike Babel, thank you so very much for your fabulous videos on teaching tennis! You are wonderful! It is more than obvious that you speak and demonstrate from profound knowledge, experience and wisdom. Super clear. All the Best!
Thank you! That is very kind of you to say!
Thanks for all you do 🙏 wonderful lesson and teaching!
Great tips, Meike. Thank you 👍
You're welcome!
Good detail explanation of loading
Glad you liked it
Thank you for this lesson in serve progressions. Very clearly explained. Looking forward to trying…
Let me know how it goes.
Great progression drills🎾🎾
Glad you like them!
Thank you for all this free content, Meike ! 👌👌👍👍
Sure thing!
Excellent thx. Will try this tomorrow.
How did it go?
Such a great explanation and demonstration of proper mechanics - I shall be taking these drills into my serve practice every week. Thanks Meike!!
Glad it was helpful! Let me know if you notice any changes in quality of your serve
Thanks for great lesson!!
Glad you liked it!
U nailed it (serve mechanics) !!
Hi Meike... thank you for your honest and clear lessons. Your no come-on hype is so refreshing. My question is, you are teaching loading on the back leg (right leg for a right-handed player). All the instructions I've seen and all my private lessons state a right-handed player loads on the left leg and comes back down on the left leg. I want to believe that you're right and they're wrong, so could you add some words to convince me? Thank you.
Best video ever Meike!! I can’t hardly wait to put it into practice!!
Sorry that it took me so long to respond. How did it go?
@@MeikeBabelTennis I’m glad you asked! Better than I expected!! My opponents didn’t like it much!! Rsrs
But I generously gave them the source!
@@joseraposo1494 I appreciate that :-)
Great tips & teaching points to help with the key power attributes in serve technique. Thanks much for the post!
You're very welcome!
Great information Coach Meike I will also have to strengthen my legs in the gymnasium as well. Thank you 🙏
Great video with detailed step by step tips Meike. Thx a lot. Keep them coming.
Will do!
Such a great explanation! Thank you so much !
Simply outstanding!!!
Great lesson, again 👌, very helpful how you describe the technique in detail. One question on this video, what exactly do you mean by 'the lowest drop of my elbow should coincide with the lowest drop of my kneebend'?
Brilliant video once again Meike!
Thank you!
Thank you
Wow! Pure knowledge!
Thank you for your instruction.
You're EXCELLENT. Are you in California, Florida or somewhere else? There are about 5 great coaches on UA-cam and you are one of them.
Thank you for such a clear and comprehensive explanation, Coach Meike. I have experimented with loading my back leg, and when watching Federer serve, he seems to lift his heels off the ground and push off from the balls of his feet. Is that correct technique for amateurs?
Yes, that works
Hi, wonderful video. Too much rain to hit for more than twenty minutes today, but learning to load in my living room! (That might be better to groove in the movement without the distraction of a ball. ) 🙂
Any practice at all is always better than nothing!
Fantastic video! Thanks!
Very welcome!
Thank you big help keep the good work
Thanks, will do!
Hi Mieke what an awesome video! Quick question. When you load your back hip and load through your back leg/heel, do you still end up on your toes or do you keep the rear foot flat on the floor?
Thanks!
You'll still be up on your toes, front part of the foot.
@@MeikeBabelTennis ok cool! So just to confirm...You load your back hip down through your heel, then transfer the energy up by going onto your toes?
Thanks!
Interesting to note that Dan Evans probably has the best back leg/hip load out of all of the male players and he loads through his back heal and doesn't actually use his toes to push off on his back leg.
Hi Meike, greetings from Singapore. I have been following and watching your videos. Really like them. I am right handed and I have a bad right knee. Any suggestion on how to compensate if I find difficulty in "loading" on my right leg? Thanks.
That's difficult to be honest. I'd say instead of going for power really work on excellent placement and varying the different spins.
Gracias Meike 👍🏾👍🏽🇪🇦🇪🇸
Thank you for your help MEIKE ❤️🙃 15000 subscribers and up 💪🏻 congratulations 🌹
20K here I come!
@@MeikeBabelTennis 😀, IM WATCHING PABLO BUSTA AGAINST DANIEL EVANS , MONTREAL OPEN , SEMIS , LETS SEE WHO WINS .. HAVE A NICE WEEKEND MEIKE!!
Thanks Meike. That point about (a right-hander) not stretching the left-hip over the baseline makes a lot of sense in the mechanics of the shot, when loading on the back foot. One well-know American UA-cam tennis coach is still teaching that (not Ryan Reidy!) and I followed his advice for a while, not with good results.
I know :( goes against biomechanics
found a really good pro, where are you located?
In Spain actually
How do you get your toss forward at the same time you're loading the back leg?
I want to improve my game to next level.any drills which I can practice at home. Please help. Thank you
One easy drill that I did to add power. Throw tennis ball upwards from baseline and try to hit the back fence located 21 feet behind the opposite baseline. At first, my throw was landing a few feet short of the fence. After a few months I was able to consistently throw 5 feet up the fence. Occasionally I could throw over the 10 foot back fence. This improvement in throwing distance directly translated into more power on the serve. There is a very close correlation between throwing distance and serve power. It is true. And I am just a poor to average thrower, so if I can do it anyone can do it... If you watch some of the pros throw balls into the crowd it is scary how far they can throw... I am curious if you tried this and whether you can throw tennis ball to the back fence? If not, I can say I did something a Top 30 Pro couldnt do. 😆
Great!
Thank you Meike
That’s for me ( I’m ice cream serve specialist 🤔🤣)
Haha, I know a few of those :-)
Mike,
"Up and out" is actually up and forward or up and froward 45 degrees or ?
Thank you..
Meike, rather than rocking back and down to load the back hip, is it ok to start in a position close to that and launch up from there? I find the rocking back and down to the back heel a bit difficult physically. Old age mainly!
That is absolutely ok. Work with what you have!
@@MeikeBabelTennis Thanks, Meike. I’m on it!
My point of interest:
4:44 - How to load your hip properly
Great lesson but give wrong impression to beginners that the Serve is Upward motion! It’s a really Forward action. Then when bending, the Foward action becomes Forward-and-Upward! Players should be taught with Forward throwing action (from back to front) before talking about Up-and-Out. Agree? Thanks
"This is how low i get these day" 😆😆
Getting old :-)
I would like to hear the opinion of a specialist in pinpoint serve. I believe this is all great explanation of a platform serve. The two techniques are significantly different and I don't think you can use this lesson for the pinpoint serve. Sharapova served with great power but was loading her left foot(help from the right-but secondary), hip in the court, and following into the court: ua-cam.com/video/m4wt5jmpk3U/v-deo.html
Thank you
You're welcome