You kept the most import tip to till the end.........throwing the ball into the court. I spent so much time throwing it along the baseline only to have the opponent step in the take a big swing at my soft serve! Now practicing into the court, much improved!
It's a great explanation how to get there. I watched a lot of serve videos and this is the best to study. Thank you, sir, for sharing your deep knowledge of tennis technic.
Outstanding kick serve instruction, thank you. Delivered with clarity and no annoying "buzzwords" to market the illusion of some sort of revolutionary teaching method. Very useful transitions clearly presented and easy to follow. As a surgeon who has to teach residents (similar challenges with any profession involving the teaching of technical skills), I do not underestimate the difficulty tennis coaches face in helping their students master the many varied techniques required for good tennis. Not everyone gets it easily and you have the exceptional capacity to deliver your instruction with clarity.
Wow Jerome, thank you for your kind words! I've always thought that teaching pros have a tendency to "over teach" or make things to complicated. My whole premise of this channel to keep things simple and easy to understand. As a surgeon who teaches, you can understand this better than anyone. Thanks for your comment and support! JF
A very informative video on the kick serve. I really like the detailed presentation of the various drills involved. Thank you very much sir for the video.
So watching other kick serve vids. They mention keeping the racquet on the same side and not crossing your body. Or if u do cross your body bring it up toward ur chest. Dipping your knees forward and opening your chest is just like other vids I have watched. Good drills ! More than other vids.
Excellent! Im am brazilian, like tênis so much and consider very importante to have a good second service. With your lessons, I will. Thank you, Professor!
Absolutely SUPEB and the BEST Kick serve (though here it's more about Topspin serve) exercises. Never ever seen anything as comprehensive as this vid. Many many thanks for this outstanding lesson 👍🙏✊🥳
Excellent progressive drills for feel and how to hit up by lifting and not pushing the ball and then translate that to full speed and kinetic chain. Not easy to do...I tend to hit out rather than up. A good picture for me was the camera in front of you..it showed better how the body looks and moves.
Maybe it’s the camera angle. My coach put a bench vertically on the baseline and make sure my kick serve go up about 5 ft when it hit the bench. Otherwise it’s just a regular topspin serve.
Good progressions John, for advanced players, junior and adult 4.5 and above playing 4-5 times a week with 2-3 hour training and playing sessions. For 4.0 and below rec players, 95% of tennis players playing for an hour 1-2X a week for an hour or so, developing a kick serve is unrealistic and a sure way to get them to move to pickleball LOL. Most rec players have an Eastern FH grip and struggle to produce a decent toss. A video on serve basics would be helpful, and then learning a slice serve. Even top WTA pros struggle with a kick serve because they lack racket head speed and location consistency and a weak kick gets crushed even at women’s college level let alone pro level.
Great point. I agree a BASIC video would be good....maybe showing the transition from the eastern to continental grip and the adjustments necessary to has success with the continental grip. Great stuff! Sorry I didn't respond back to your Pickleball suggestion. I may begin to create Pickleball videos. I like the game and feel their is potential there as well. I hope all is well in Canada! JF
@@topspintennis Look forward to your basic serve video and your dive into pickleball. Be sure to include toss instruction and progressions on the serve basics video. It's pretty darn frigid in the great White North.
Really enjoyed this, liked your teaching style and some nice progressions. We'll discuss this one today in the Tennis Coaches Support Network on Facebook if that's ok with you.
Thank you for the video. Very good. My personal problem (and I know it is me :) is that, sometimes, if I don't drop the racket behind my back deep enough, I have less distance for the racket to brush against the ball. As a result I tend to hit a hybrid of flat and kick server and the ball goes too far :(. Being aware of the problem is the first step in resolving it :)
I'm just curious is there a rule in tennis where the serve has to be toss? Like the ball has be struck without touching the hand? I guess there's rule for that right? Otherwise I might not toss and serve with my left hand holding the ball like the instructions
Thank you for posting. Love your club! Amazing lighting! I need to find a tennis facility like that. It’s always nice to try and learn something new. Would the toss out front be the same? I wonder if you didn’t hit the ball how far into the court it would land?
The toss is definitely still out in front but not as far as it would be with a first serve. You need to get it out into the court but not too far where you are not able to get "under" the ball hit up on it. I hope this helps! JF
I liked the video, but I think there is one aspect that was not broached which was foot position/stance. I see in the video at the end that shows Fed's kick serve. His left foot is parallel to the baseline which when he tosses the ball along the baseline, this allows him to keep his chest facing the fence. This allows him to serve out wide on the AD side with a wicked kick. That is what I need to practice and probably a lot of other people too. In your other video, "Federer Kick Serve | Master Class" it shows the same clip as at the end of this video; however, do you have any footage of Federer serving out wide to the Deuce side that shows his stance/foot position? Prior to both videos, I realize that I was practicing incorrectly.
Brian, I like your comment about foot position on kick serves on the ad side versus the deuce side. Let me look into this. This could be a great video discussing foot position on kick serves. Thanks for your comment! JF
Thanks John. When you do the serve at the end the sound is different from 10:42. Is it because less brush? When I watch Federer live, his second serve clearly sounds different from first serve. But his second serve still have speed
Yes, I am definitely taking less of the ball, making a different noise. Federer does the same but due to his exceptional strength and great technique he is able to get good spin and speed. Great observation. Thanks, JF
At least his serving from the Deuce court. Most of the so called experts are demonstrating from the Ad court which is the easier court to serve the kicker from. However in my opinion this isn't a true kick server as it doesn't break away from the receiver. It seems to go directly to the receiver with good topspin but it doesn't move away. The other thing is serving from the far court towards the camera would give a better view of what the receiver sees after the ball makes contact with the court. Just my opinion
🔥I completely agree with you on your comment, the intent was the kick but the ball does not kick enough. If I do another video in the future I will make sure to make it KICK!!! Thanks for your comment! JF
We need to have a kicker down the middle , or a body serve aimed for the opponent’s left shoulder from deuce court. May as well learn from deuce side. Promotes better trunk and shoulder rotation, too.
Glad you liked it! I agree with you, I played tennis last night and kept my shoulders and hips closed to the contact longer and felt as if I got more spin and kick. Good work! JF
Brian, my racquet weighs almost 13 ounces. It's heavy but I love the response I get when hitting. I have lead tape pretty all around the head and under my over grip as well. I may do a video on this in the future. Thanks for watching! JF
I never know quite how far in front or how high to toss the ball for my kick serve. I think I'm tossing too far in front and then have to open up too soon in order to reach the ball. Is there a way to develop a good feel for whether you have a good toss or not?
Yes: take an hour and first, hit the ball as straight up & high as possible. Then, practice an arc that lands the ball just beyond the net. Lastly, slowly add power by thinking about hitting the far baseline. This will engrain the right position in your ‘mind’s eye’.
At 12:19 when you are doing a full blown kick serve from the deuce side down the T , shouldn't the ball kick to the right? I don't see that, looks like more like a slice serve to me.
You did a good job constructing the kick serve, but there's one thing you skipped that could help. It's not clear where in relation to your body you're striking the ball and what the racquet orientation is at that point. It's all a blur when you're doing it.
Excellent video! Just discovered this channel so I am going to really dig into it. One question - how do you control the kick serve not to be too loopy and slow or to not flatten it out either. Yours very nice - fast, and not too loopy. Is that still a matter of racquet head speed?
Welcome aboard! You initially do have to begin more slowly with your racquet head speed which forces you to open the racquet face slightly in order to make the ball go over the net. But as you gain control and feel at lower speeds you can begin to up your speed and begin closing your racquet face. It's the Ying and the Yang with the Kick Serve. I hope this helps! JF
Hi John, do you know of some exercises to improve my quickness and also my coordination and focus between my eyes and hand? I saw a player, in an ATP tournament, do these exercises with a coach, before going on the court. He only used a tennis ball. I think they were warming up. Do you have a video about it?
If you are asking about serves, I recommend shadow tossing the ball during warmups. On kick servers, throw it above or behind your head, and on flat servers throw the ball up to the right.
For quickness I like jumping rope....hands down one of the best exercises for quickness. I like James Jin's comment on shadow tossing. I don't understand your question on the exercises the player was doing before his match. Please elaborate. Thanks! JF
Yes I noticed you choking up the raquet, is that how yourself choke up when you serve in a game with all other types of serves and do you teach all your students to always choke up even with flat and slice serve?
With that net divider drill, it practically forces you to toss towards 12 o'clock. If you toss too much to the right, there is no way to arc it over the divider. Is that the idea? And that ball arc path over the divider is pretty similar to the ball arc path in a real serve, correct?
You are not opening your shoulders up enough or you are not pronating enough. Are you trying to keep your shoulders closed, not opening to the court? JF
I’m a visual learner…just hit 30 kick serves in a row non stop so I/we can watch it and commit it to memory! (You can use subtitles if you’d like to emphasize certain things) (I’ll be waiting for this video…and I promise I’ll subscribe, like and tell ALL my friends to watch you! 😃) HURRY, I play on Monday! EDIT; ohh, you can use slow mo too! But 30 non stop…PLZZZZZ
There’s no pause. His motion is continuous and there is no break in the kinetic chain. Some players have a more gradual transition (loading) phase from backswing to throughswing leading to an apparent pause in the racquet head. Watch the lower body and it’s clear there’s no pause. Slow motion video evidences that the best servers are all slow at the top (transition phase) relative to their overall tempo. The tour pros are just much quicker in overall tempo, so we don’t see this. But slow motion analysis shows it’s there. If I was to hazard to guess, I'd say the reason for the slower transition phase in John's serve is that he arrives at the top of the backswing with more weight on the back foot than is typical. This means a little more time needed to get the weight shift forward, hence the longer transition phase. The quality of the serve remains evident.
Daniel, it's counter intuitive though. A lot of people know they have to accelerate but many don't, especially on big points. Thanks for your comment! JF
No problem. I agree with you; there could be more KICK on these serves. I could have hit up on the inside of the ball more on these shots. Don't ever be sorry for leaving a comment and speaking your mind; that's what this channel is for. I can always improve my teaching. JF
