There's nothing wrong with this serve. What may look here or there is just mannerisms...they don't matter. Your serve is super... placement, spin, pace, consistency... it's got it all.
Serves are so highly personal, everyone has their own set up and execution to an extent. I feel the only way to truly judge if there is something wrong with a serve is to base it on its effectiveness and its ability to maintain and preserve body health.
I like tennis and play a bit but not a super fan. I also watch a ton of UA-cam on different topics and I think you are my favourite UA-camr in general. I watch every one of your videos and there's something super nice and chill about you, Thanks for every video Nick!!
Nick is not bending his knees as he's tossing the ball, and as he's pronating upon strike point, his lower body is moving into the ball at impact, resulting in natural power at strike, if you recall Becker's serve. But Nick's serve is pretty good.
You totally fu*n had me at 6:45 😂.. As a 33yo tennis noob, I’m currently at about 6h of serve practice alone and about 4h of point play…. I feel like Ana 😂 I wish I’d taken it up sooner but I love seeing improvement, the satisfaction of learning the proper grip, pronation and the serves landing in with more pace, your videos keep me going to the court so thanks Nik
I’m 55. My knees are shot and they don’t bend very much on my serve now. I’ve had to make some adjustments due to age. When I take lessons, coaches don’t seem to understand my physical limitations now so it’s been frustrating trying to find someone to help me.
Hi Carlo. I am in the same boat as you. I am 58 and been serving with both feet landing the same time since my junior days. I tried to change to this method but gave up because of my left knee cannot stand the strain. However, I can return servers who are within my NTRP who are using this method. Frankly, it will not make much major change on my serve. More injuries probably.
Interesting comment on the serve getting better as you age. For amateurs that would be true as there are so many aspects we can improve on. I would have thought for pros, their serves are maximized and there is little room for further progress. One big caveat is injury which can unfortunately end any serving aspirations.
there is no need to push something to the limit. You should enjoy tennis, socialize, get to know each other! Professional tennis is something else, a lot of sacrifices and training... The serve is improved based on the human constitution, a top amateur trainer should know that. A 160 cm woman cannot serve the same as a 190 cm man. For the best shot, you need to adjust your style! A short player should give more rotation because he can do it much easier with his body, a tall player should use his height (a strong straight serve is usually the best...) Zanimljiv trener - porijeklom izgleda sa Balkana.... (An interesting coach - he seems to be from the Balkans...) Sada vidim iz Hrvatske nakon malo pregleda, ajde drago mi iako krivo koliko ljudi je preko bare u tom vampirskom kapitalizmu!
Nik, I know you are against showing video footage that aren't your own, but I wonder if your points would be far, far better illustrated if you did, your videos only ever contain footage of your own techniques, so I think it might be harder to convince people of your teachings if you can't show the pros doing those things. Other tennis youtubers like 2minutetennis get permission from channels like 12kgp-tennis who provide really good, high quality footage of pros hitting balls during practice sessions, I think you should consider doing the same, I know it would make your content far, far better
Nobody has permission to use these clips. It’s owned by USTA, ATP, WTA, ITF or whoever else. Yes the content would be better with pro clips, but I’m working on getting my own footage of pros for future videos.
@@arvzg let’s say you go to US Open and record players. USTA owns that footage. The only way to do 100% legally is to get professional players to your own site and record them there. That’s what I’m working on.
Nick is probably correct. At ticketed controlled entry sports events, the ticket and the entry point signs often have language about the rights to photo and video images. Usually guests are permitted to take pics for their own use and enjoyment but not permitted to copy or reproduce images for commercial uses. You’d have to read your ticket and event signage but seems likely patrons can take vid of tennis players but Nick etc cannot use those images in their businesses
Hi Nick in my opinion in terms of your upper body and throwing technique, it's pretty much perfect. It's fluid, you get a good drop and you pronate well. Nothing wrong with your serve technique. The only thing I disagree with you on is the leg drive and how to use the legs on the serve. But I think there are different views and techniques on this etc. As for back bending this is called thoracic extension where the mid back flexes and the chest points up. This increases range of motion on the serve and allows you to transfer energy more vertically on the serve but the movement of the mid back staightening does not contribute to power as it only increaes range in racket drop etc. Good content Nick, keep it up👍
Hi you have a great serve What is meant by using your inner coil from the shoulder? From from the sound of the first serve it looks like you hit on the top side of the string make it more in center and pronation earlier
I went from playing regularly at a decent level to 34yrs old to not picking up a racquet for 6 years and when I finally played again at 40 my flexibility on my serve was terrible, no coil, no back arch, no power in my legs and also my hitting shoulder felt literally rusty, terrible feeling 😅
Is it normal to see the back of the service box above the net mid serve? (yes, I am looking away too soon, I'm working on eliminating that, but I find it strange that I can see so much of the box mid serve)
I may be wrong, as the tennis stroke happen so quickly, but does Wawrinka have a similarish style in not having the reverse C (or full reverse c) bend?
I didn't answer the question because for the life of me I did not see ANYTHING wrong at all. Your serve is one of your best shots, if not the best. Also, what's that white racquet? Switched from the pure drive?
I wouldn't mind having your serve. Not at all. But you're bigger, and a lot younger, so there's no way I can emulate it. Good work! By the way, what do you think of Goran Ivanisovic's serve? It's one of my favorites.
@@IntuitiveTennis Could be. There are so many great ones. Goran's serve is in my top 5 at least. But he's a real big guy. Somebody more my size, from my era, who also had a great serve was John Newcombe, who I did try to emulate for a while, among others. Anyway, what I eventually evolved into, and the way I approach it as an elderly person, is to basically hit my serve sort of like how I would throw a baseball. A very simple, economical motion, relatively low toss but high enough that I can get almost a full extension, platform style -- just lean into it and let my arm do the work. For me, it works good. I have the hardest serve of anybody in my low level recreational tennis league C Division. hahahahaha Never had tennis elbow or any problems with the arm. But yeah, If I had the physical attributes to do it, I would definitely emulate Goran Ivanisovic's serve. From the stance to the fluid hitting motion. Was watching a UA-cam video of his Wimbledon match against Rafter recently.
How could there be no leg drive when Dolgopolov left the ground 6" to a foot? The Dog def. drove his legs. If a player has a deep knee bend they will probably drive their legs.
Dammmm that was along video but very informative, thank you! I am the same age as you and played D1 tennis back in the day. Due to flexibility issues I cannot get the loop correctly on my serve now but it's still all right.
Hey Nick, Thanks for the wonderful video. I have a question. Is C shape a must? Nick krgios and several other tall players don't really make a flexible C shape *correct me if I am wrong*. Also if we really have to work towards making a C shape/pointing your chest to the sky and let's say everyone on tour does it. In that case, won't you have to change the toss more above your head instead of inside the court? P. S: My serving style is pretty much like yours. Decent pace, toss in front of me and inside the court. Because of thaf, your opinion will really help if you could please answer the questions.
Great questions. Yes toss needs to be adjusted which is part of reason you don’t see it much on WTA. It’s not a deal breaker to serve with J load like the women. You can still serve well. Nick K has less bend than others it’s true. It’s about finding the optimal serve and it has to match players limitations. So bending backwards if you can’t bend backwards can make your serve worse
Great questions. Yes toss needs to be adjusted which is part of reason you don’t see it much on WTA. It’s not a deal breaker to serve with J load like the women. You can still serve well. Nick K has less bend than others it’s true. It’s about finding the optimal serve and it has to match players limitations. So bending backwards if you can’t bend backwards can make your serve worse
Not trying to be disrespectful but doesn’t mark Kovacs talk about loading the back leg a lot? I see that it’s definitely not a jump. And you don’t really need it to hit a great serve but it seems like one can get more power by loading the back leg better
Have you tried it? I had a friend 20 years ago tell me his coach was trying to get him to load off the back leg so I tried it, but it’s literally near impossible hence no one on tour does it
@@YehShano I actually used a course online that gave a drill of serving from one leg and I can hit basically my full speed serve standing only on my back leg and landing on my front. I found that it was awkward at first but then working on it I feel that I can do it. Idk have you seen mark Kovacs before? He’s like a scientist that studies mechanics of the serve. He always talks about the importance of the back leg and hip load on the serve. Heck he has a video correcting Pete freeman’s serve from crunch time coaching explaining that his back leg is not loaded enough. I know some pros don’t really load it. John isner doesn’t load his back leg but that’s cuz he doesn’t have to, he’s a giant. But It seems like some do
Aloha Nik! I'm the one to tell you what to do... I've learned a lot from you. Could it be a small adjustment in your grip? Things have changed since your father. I love everything you've doing and he has done. I asked about a toe drag with you... It seemed everyone was jumping,... I was told to drag toe. It seemed to work. Just went thru shoes.
With my serve, I feel that I have all the knowledge after watching all these videos. The problem is I can only think about 1 thing at a time when serving and there's so much wrong with my serve 😅
Just had a thought, Nick should get sponsored by a local watch company, watches are monster on YT, Nick should be sporting sport watches on the videos, then give a shout out to the Jeweler / watch maker, easy advertising, sales will boom, Nick get's a free Rolex or Omega. 'Today Gang, Anna will be serving with her new Rolex, while Nick returns with his Omega Seamaster, Anna with the crosscourt winner to the ad side, Nick frustrated, puts on his TAG Heuer Carrera, comes back on court, Anna, getting distracted by Nick's red watch band.....
Its not about coach heaters … criticism is where there is a reason. Serve I don’t comment as here what works is flexibility, fexibilty I can not criticize… forhend is much different.
Leg drive is dependable of the body weight. If you get a respectable belly over the years, your leg drive will decline. The leg drive is extremely important for the swing of the racquet. The more explosive the leg drive is, the faster the serve.
One thing that annoys me, when Nick walks out onto the court to demo something, he takes a ball cage, carries it with him, and there are maybe 8-10 balls in it. NICK, STOP THIS. Just have the large ball carrier, with 200 balls sitting on the center line when you walk out, I don't know who choreographed this but yell at them, unless it's Anna. And also there is no need for you to bend down to pick 2/3 balls out of the near empty cage, just walk over to the ball cart and pick out, less bending = more tennis in the 80's.
What is that... white racket??? Have you "painted" over your Pure Drive because Babolat would not sponsor you? If that's the case, I totally support you except... white???
I just like to point out that one of the greatest players of all time, Steffi Graf, has a huge pause at the trophy position. One of the best servers Boris Becker has somewhat a pause as well. I think for people who can deliver big serves on reasonably consistent basis, these small technical differences don't really matter. Todd Martin once tried to teach Djokovic how to do topspin serve using the kneeling on the ground drill, which seemed to be ridiculous. No, none of us can help you with your techniques. You have achieved a high level with what you have. Your techniques are just fine. ua-cam.com/video/1ywm916KQq8/v-deo.html
For extended versions (of this video) and more plus more in-depth discussions, go to
www.intuitivetennis.com/
thank you for discussing this!!!
There's nothing wrong with this serve. What may look here or there is just mannerisms...they don't matter. Your serve is super... placement, spin, pace, consistency... it's got it all.
I just started playing tennis 6 months ago. I'm so lucky and happy you were the first channel I came across. Thanks for the intel.
Appreciate the efforts you put into making these videos! Thanks for the shoutout @5:52 !
💯💯💪💪
Thanks!
Thank you Peter 🫶
Serves are so highly personal, everyone has their own set up and execution to an extent. I feel the only way to truly judge if there is something wrong with a serve is to base it on its effectiveness and its ability to maintain and preserve body health.
I like tennis and play a bit but not a super fan. I also watch a ton of UA-cam on different topics and I think you are my favourite UA-camr in general. I watch every one of your videos and there's something super nice and chill about you, Thanks for every video Nick!!
Thank you Jon
7;02 OMG I WAS TOTALLY TRICKED 🤣🤣🤣🤣 that’s hilarious 😂😂😂
Keep up the good work nick you have helped me alot with my tennis
Nick is not bending his knees as he's tossing the ball, and as he's pronating upon strike point, his lower body is moving into the ball at impact, resulting in natural power at strike, if you recall Becker's serve. But Nick's serve is pretty good.
Fun video Nick, and the serve training session at the end looks very promising! Thank you.
Thanks for the shout out Nik, I'm Ben.g_tennis_tt 👍🏻
💯💯💪💪
You totally fu*n had me at 6:45 😂.. As a 33yo tennis noob, I’m currently at about 6h of serve practice alone and about 4h of point play…. I feel like Ana 😂 I wish I’d taken it up sooner but I love seeing improvement, the satisfaction of learning the proper grip, pronation and the serves landing in with more pace, your videos keep me going to the court so thanks Nik
I’m 55. My knees are shot and they don’t bend very much on my serve now. I’ve had to make some adjustments due to age. When I take lessons, coaches don’t seem to understand my physical limitations now so it’s been frustrating trying to find someone to help me.
Hi Carlo. I am in the same boat as you. I am 58 and been serving with both feet landing the same time since my junior days. I tried to change to this method but gave up because of my left knee cannot stand the strain. However, I can return servers who are within my NTRP who are using this method. Frankly, it will not make much major change on my serve. More injuries probably.
Interesting comment on the serve getting better as you age. For amateurs that would be true as there are so many aspects we can improve on. I would have thought for pros, their serves are maximized and there is little room for further progress. One big caveat is injury which can unfortunately end any serving aspirations.
there is no need to push something to the limit. You should enjoy tennis, socialize, get to know each other! Professional tennis is something else, a lot of sacrifices and training...
The serve is improved based on the human constitution, a top amateur trainer should know that. A 160 cm woman cannot serve the same as a 190 cm man. For the best shot, you need to adjust your style!
A short player should give more rotation because he can do it much easier with his body, a tall player should use his height (a strong straight serve is usually the best...)
Zanimljiv trener - porijeklom izgleda sa Balkana.... (An interesting coach - he seems to be from the Balkans...) Sada vidim iz Hrvatske nakon malo pregleda, ajde drago mi iako krivo koliko ljudi je preko bare u tom vampirskom kapitalizmu!
Fascinating that you examine your technique in public. An excellent video .
What racket is that.
Great job! Very detailed analysis! Tons of stuff I can take home.
Love the shirt, cheers from argentina!
Love your humor! Lolol the pickleball thumbnails
😂💯
Nik, I know you are against showing video footage that aren't your own, but I wonder if your points would be far, far better illustrated if you did, your videos only ever contain footage of your own techniques, so I think it might be harder to convince people of your teachings if you can't show the pros doing those things. Other tennis youtubers like 2minutetennis get permission from channels like 12kgp-tennis who provide really good, high quality footage of pros hitting balls during practice sessions, I think you should consider doing the same, I know it would make your content far, far better
Nobody has permission to use these clips. It’s owned by USTA, ATP, WTA, ITF or whoever else. Yes the content would be better with pro clips, but I’m working on getting my own footage of pros for future videos.
@@IntuitiveTennis if you record the footage yourself you still can't use them? That's what 12kgp tennis did
@@arvzg let’s say you go to US Open and record players. USTA owns that footage. The only way to do 100% legally is to get professional players to your own site and record them there. That’s what I’m working on.
@@IntuitiveTennis even practice sessions that aren’t part of a broadcast?
Nick is probably correct. At ticketed controlled entry sports events, the ticket and the entry point signs often have language about the rights to photo and video images. Usually guests are permitted to take pics for their own use and enjoyment but not permitted to copy or reproduce images for commercial uses. You’d have to read your ticket and event signage but seems likely patrons can take vid of tennis players but Nick etc cannot use those images in their businesses
Hi Nick in my opinion in terms of your upper body and throwing technique, it's pretty much perfect. It's fluid, you get a good drop and you pronate well. Nothing wrong with your serve technique.
The only thing I disagree with you on is the leg drive and how to use the legs on the serve. But I think there are different views and techniques on this etc.
As for back bending this is called thoracic extension where the mid back flexes and the chest points up. This increases range of motion on the serve and allows you to transfer energy more vertically on the serve but the movement of the mid back staightening does not contribute to power as it only increaes range in racket drop etc.
Good content Nick, keep it up👍
Hi you have a great serve What is meant by using your inner coil from the shoulder? From from the sound of the first serve it looks like you hit on the top side of the string make it more in center and pronation earlier
Ho you have any video about how to place the serve? is about the moment you pronate, the toss placement or how?
I went from playing regularly at a decent level to 34yrs old to not picking up a racquet for 6 years and when I finally played again at 40 my flexibility on my serve was terrible, no coil, no back arch, no power in my legs and also my hitting shoulder felt literally rusty, terrible feeling 😅
Is it normal to see the back of the service box above the net mid serve?
(yes, I am looking away too soon, I'm working on eliminating that, but I find it strange that I can see so much of the box mid serve)
I may be wrong, as the tennis stroke happen so quickly, but does Wawrinka have a similarish style in not having the reverse C (or full reverse c) bend?
You are 100% true about the age.I am 72 ,*& i do serve atleast one or two aces.
Thx
I didn't answer the question because for the life of me I did not see ANYTHING wrong at all. Your serve is one of your best shots, if not the best. Also, what's that white racquet? Switched from the pure drive?
Great job Nick. I was going to give you an "A", but I'm adjusting it to an "A+" for recognizing lyrics from Eminem...
🫶🫶
Andy Roddick in a video + interview on serve recommends using leg drive for the serve and said it adds 5-15mph.
I wouldn't mind having your serve. Not at all. But you're bigger, and a lot younger, so there's no way I can emulate it. Good work! By the way, what do you think of Goran Ivanisovic's serve? It's one of my favorites.
Goran serve Best in history
@@IntuitiveTennis Could be. There are so many great ones. Goran's serve is in my top 5 at least. But he's a real big guy. Somebody more my size, from my era, who also had a great serve was John Newcombe, who I did try to emulate for a while, among others. Anyway, what I eventually evolved into, and the way I approach it as an elderly person, is to basically hit my serve sort of like how I would throw a baseball. A very simple, economical motion, relatively low toss but high enough that I can get almost a full extension, platform style -- just lean into it and let my arm do the work. For me, it works good. I have the hardest serve of anybody in my low level recreational tennis league C Division. hahahahaha Never had tennis elbow or any problems with the arm. But yeah, If I had the physical attributes to do it, I would definitely emulate Goran Ivanisovic's serve. From the stance to the fluid hitting motion. Was watching a UA-cam video of his Wimbledon match against Rafter recently.
How could there be no leg drive when Dolgopolov left the ground 6" to a foot? The Dog def. drove his legs. If a player has a deep knee bend they will probably drive their legs.
Dammmm that was along video but very informative, thank you! I am the same age as you and played D1 tennis back in the day. Due to flexibility issues I cannot get the loop correctly on my serve now but it's still all right.
Hey Nick,
Thanks for the wonderful video. I have a question.
Is C shape a must? Nick krgios and several other tall players don't really make a flexible C shape *correct me if I am wrong*.
Also if we really have to work towards making a C shape/pointing your chest to the sky and let's say everyone on tour does it.
In that case, won't you have to change the toss more above your head instead of inside the court?
P. S: My serving style is pretty much like yours. Decent pace, toss in front of me and inside the court. Because of thaf, your opinion will really help if you could please answer the questions.
Great questions. Yes toss needs to be adjusted which is part of reason you don’t see it much on WTA. It’s not a deal breaker to serve with J load like the women. You can still serve well. Nick K has less bend than others it’s true. It’s about finding the optimal serve and it has to match players limitations. So bending backwards if you can’t bend backwards can make your serve worse
Great questions. Yes toss needs to be adjusted which is part of reason you don’t see it much on WTA. It’s not a deal breaker to serve with J load like the women. You can still serve well. Nick K has less bend than others it’s true. It’s about finding the optimal serve and it has to match players limitations. So bending backwards if you can’t bend backwards can make your serve worse
Thank you so much Nick. That’s really helpful. 😊
Not trying to be disrespectful but doesn’t mark Kovacs talk about loading the back leg a lot? I see that it’s definitely not a jump. And you don’t really need it to hit a great serve but it seems like one can get more power by loading the back leg better
Have you tried it? I had a friend 20 years ago tell me his coach was trying to get him to load off the back leg so I tried it, but it’s literally near impossible hence no one on tour does it
@@YehShano I actually used a course online that gave a drill of serving from one leg and I can hit basically my full speed serve standing only on my back leg and landing on my front. I found that it was awkward at first but then working on it I feel that I can do it. Idk have you seen mark Kovacs before? He’s like a scientist that studies mechanics of the serve. He always talks about the importance of the back leg and hip load on the serve. Heck he has a video correcting Pete freeman’s serve from crunch time coaching explaining that his back leg is not loaded enough. I know some pros don’t really load it. John isner doesn’t load his back leg but that’s cuz he doesn’t have to, he’s a giant. But It seems like some do
great serve lesson Nick :)
💯🫶
Nothing wrong. Love that.
I think I missed something, where your pure drive?
Aloha Nik! I'm the one to tell you what to do... I've learned a lot from you. Could it be a small adjustment in your grip? Things have changed since your father. I love everything you've doing and he has done. I asked about a toe drag with you... It seemed everyone was jumping,... I was told to drag toe. It seemed to work. Just went thru shoes.
*I'm not the one to tell you. Sorry! Autocorrect!
With my serve, I feel that I have all the knowledge after watching all these videos. The problem is I can only think about 1 thing at a time when serving and there's so much wrong with my serve 😅
new racquet? Solinco Whiteout extended?
Just had a thought, Nick should get sponsored by a local watch company, watches are monster on YT, Nick should be sporting sport watches on the videos, then give a shout out to the Jeweler / watch maker, easy advertising, sales will boom, Nick get's a free Rolex or Omega. 'Today Gang, Anna will be serving with her new Rolex, while Nick returns with his Omega Seamaster, Anna with the crosscourt winner to the ad side, Nick frustrated, puts on his TAG Heuer Carrera, comes back on court, Anna, getting distracted by Nick's red watch band.....
Its not about coach heaters … criticism is where there is a reason. Serve I don’t comment as here what works is flexibility, fexibilty I can not criticize… forhend is much different.
Lendl had a very high toss and had a beautiful motion on his serve........kind of a flat kick that he had
The question isn’t what’s wrong with your serve the question is what isn’t right with it.
I still can believe you played against someone in the top 100
You can’t jump or push off the ground without leg drive. You can serve without it but it would make for a weaker serve.
Leg drive is dependable of the body weight. If you get a respectable belly over the years, your leg drive will decline.
The leg drive is extremely important for the swing of the racquet. The more explosive the leg drive is, the faster the serve.
He’s made like a thousand videos about how leg drive isn’t real on the serve. And he’s right.
Great video. Separate q but is that your Pure Drive? I love the all white aesthetic.
Uh, the shirt is clearly the problem with this serve (referring to that yellow/gray tennis ball thing)
One thing that annoys me, when Nick walks out onto the court to demo something, he takes a ball cage, carries it with him, and there are maybe 8-10 balls in it. NICK, STOP THIS. Just have the large ball carrier, with 200 balls sitting on the center line when you walk out, I don't know who choreographed this but yell at them, unless it's Anna. And also there is no need for you to bend down to pick 2/3 balls out of the near empty cage, just walk over to the ball cart and pick out, less bending = more tennis in the 80's.
I didn't mean I'm the one. Sorry for auto correct... Just refer to prior. My apologies.
Is that a new racket?
What is that... white racket??? Have you "painted" over your Pure Drive because Babolat would not sponsor you? If that's the case, I totally support you except... white???
I just like to point out that one of the greatest players of all time, Steffi Graf, has a huge pause at the trophy position. One of the best servers Boris Becker has somewhat a pause as well. I think for people who can deliver big serves on reasonably consistent basis, these small technical differences don't really matter. Todd Martin once tried to teach Djokovic how to do topspin serve using the kneeling on the ground drill, which seemed to be ridiculous. No, none of us can help you with your techniques. You have achieved a high level with what you have. Your techniques are just fine. ua-cam.com/video/1ywm916KQq8/v-deo.html
Serve is wrong, should be serving left handed
What is not wrong with your serve 😅😂