If you want to maximize the potential of pronation, join the 30-Day serve challenge with many different pronation drills: www.feeltennis.net/serve-challenge/
Having practiced more than 100000 serves on my own, I m pretty sure this is the best vid of tennis serves for intermediate level rec players as well as complete beginners. Highly informative..!!!
I just realized the importance of the pronation recently. Came back to this video and found it exactly correct when it described “may not maximize the full pronation”. Wished I paid more attention when I watched it the first time. Thank you for the excellent explanation
Much appreciated! Make sure you follow some drills as they develop the pronation well, the information of what's happening is just the start. You can join the serve challenge: www.feeltennis.net/serve-challenge/
You share invaluable info on the serve on this video, years of tennis lessons and never even heard of this concept. Every question and answer are so well detailed and demonstrated. Thank you!
Hi Tomas. I have been playing and trying to learn tennis serve for the last 8 years. But for the first time in my life, after watching this video, I REALLY understood the concept of pronation. I went to the court, tried my serve keeping this video in my mind, and I am not lying that my usually opponent could not take even one of my serves!!! I am so happy and can't thank you enough.
Yes!!! This is fantastic! I've been playing tennis for 20 years and NEVER ever any coach said a word about pronation . I always felt something was missing. Thanks for sharing this awesome master class!!!
Wow!! I recorded my serves and had this exact question on my mind - am I pronating? It is funny how Thomaz could think of us having a question like this after playing tennis for 10 years AND answer it so clearly and accurately!
This is by far the best explanation and demonstration of what is meant by 'serve' pronation that I have ever heard. Thanks! Wish I had seen this 3 years ago when it came out. Great job!
This is by far the best video explaining pronation that I have ever watched. Great explanation, and demonstration. In all the years I have played tennis and coached my daughter I never really knew for sure or understood the major differences in serves or the concept of pronating. Thank you for this excellent video explanation describing in detail the pronation process.
The demonstrations of poor technique are delightful. Besides informing and illustration, they add a touch of endearing comic absurdity. They make me chuckle. Also, a good reminder of what I probably look like half the time in my tennis technique. Tomaz, you're great!
I achieved both understanding and muscle memory of pronation in tennis just a couple of weeks ago. I’ve known about the definition for more than a decade, but only got the feeling this month. And it feels wonderful. I would describe the result of pronation as force that drives the ball forward into the service box. In nerdy terms, it’s the component of the hitting force perpendicular to the racket face and pointing towards the service box. As all serves needs to go to the service box, then any serve (using Continental grip as Tomaz said) must have this result that was caused by pronation. I further consider pronation to result in a a position of strength and stability for the arm as the racket hits the ball. In simpler terms, pronation gives you the “slapping” action on the ball. The spin and kick comes from the grazing action. The proportion between the slapping and grazing actions determines the type of serve (flat, kick, slice)
After following the guideline of the coach Tomaz, my serve has worked! You can not image how happy I am. I appreciate really your great support! You are the best coach at the RU-vid. Thank you for brightening my tennis world.
idk why i was so confused if i was pronating or not but this is very clear!! thank you! I AM pronating but I need to focus on maximizing the pronation especially on slice serves.
Your explanation of the serve is the best I have found on RU-vid. Before your videos I really did not understand what part pronation played in the serve. I always felt like there was an element missing in the explanation. Thinking of the serve as a two-axis motion has really made a difference for me. I still need to work on actualizing it! :) But this has certainly pointed me in the right direction. Thank you!
Sir, can you please make a video explaining & showcasing the fundamentals of how to aim the serves in tennis, like what should be the mental as well as the physical process while aiming🙏
Great video on pronation and use of the ball; as a visual learner, your videos are some of the best on youtube. Ive been playing tennis for over 30 yrs and rated 4.5-5.0.
I’m 63, I play 4.0-4.5 league tennis. I have been playing tennis for 23 years. I have a good powerful serve, flat, slice, and kick, with a Continental grip. I developed my serve years ago watching Pete Sampras serve in slow motion, and going to the courts with a basket of balls and trying to copy it. After thousands of balls I developed a very good serve 20 some years ago. It is a big part of my game. Recently I started working on maximizing my pronation, and I developed tennis elbow for the first time. Obviously, I am doing something wrong, or I have exposed a weakness in my arm. I am currently taking time off, icing, stretching, and strengthening my injury. I am not very happy about all this, and my advice to y’all is be careful with this concept. It might maximize your serve, but it might put you on the sidelines with an injury. It seems to put a great deal of stress on the elbow.
Exactly my point. I did a little research before going out and practice because this is such an awkward movement even without holding the racquet. Hope you have a fast recovery.
@@miracledoh4020 At this age, I Usually play a match twice a week, and hit with my wife once or twice a week. When I was younger I played almost everyday.
I had watched many videos on pronation before stumbling on this and I must confess, you broke it down the way it needs to. Now I understand the whole dynamics of pronation. And I just subscribed to your channel for this reason. A very big thanks to you.
Sooo that´s what happened t me whenever I tried to hit a kick serve hahaha I didn´t know I had to add a bit of pronation!! Thank Thomaz always great hearing from you!!!
Very good video (as ever). I am also so glad that the Kiki Bertens serve was addressed in it. I was stunned when I first saw her serve and thought my perception was playing tricks with me. Amazing that you can play top 10 WTA tennis with a waiter's tray serve! (You have to wonder what kind of powerful serve she would have otherwise.)
Your video was truly excellent. I was so so confused with pronation and you just cleared it up instantly and I really appreciate the simple and clear demonstrations. Thank you so so much for your teaching.
Hey Tomas, I have learned almost everything about tennis from you only. Your lessons still reveal so many new things even on rewatching the 3rd time. Thank you so much.
One of the best videos on serve and pronation. To be honest, I think I still don’t pronate most of the times, but the hinge and improved toss has improved my serve a lot. I have noticed that I seem to pronate only when I toss it higher than usual.
Impressive how he can vary between the different stroke techniques. Even showing the wrong/ineffective ones. I am an advanced player playing 30 years, but especially changing the serve takes so much time. My pronation is good, but I tend to not swing the racket, kind of interrupt the motion and lose a lot of speed. So the last few weeks I mostly focused only on the swing to get some power back. I just have made some progress. Now I start to try more adjustments to improve precision. If this works, I'll start focusing on spin.
Now that’s the best way a video on tennis serve and pronation should start. Thanks for explaining this so well Tomaz. A quick rookie question, Q. “Doesn’t pronation then result in a lot of stress (and then maybe even injury) on the wrist? What is it that I might be doing wrong when trying to maximise pronation with a continental grip?”
I now can reconcile what for a long time seemed like opposite racquet movements: the left to right brush of the racquet to achieve spin (kick/slice) and having the ball-hitting racquet face end up facing to my right (as a right hander)! Upto this point, I’ve been ending up with the ball-hitting racquet facing down with my my wrist on top. I’m looking forward to developing new muscle memory and hitting the serve with more power with proper serve pronation. I appreciate the careful explanation. Quite the find for me.
This is an amazing video. I believed that pronation must just occur naturally, without any conscious movement. But you say that we must actively DO the pronation, pushing with our finger / hand, thus adding power / spin / byte to the ball, and not just let the pronation happening by the natural momentum of the racket head? That's great :)
The big problem of my serve was I did not pronate. After I one day I did the pronation I feel my serve so much better. After I experience the pronation, then I watch this video, it explains real clear. I hope I watch this video earlier.
Love your explanations. You are more articulate in a second language than 99% of native English speakers. Seems a bit harsh to describe kiki bertens serve technique as a mistake. You have highlighted in a different video that Federer and Tsonga both momentarily have strings facing upwards, Kiki just has a pronounced pause at that moment. Seems that enough players serve this way for it to be considered a different but valid technique - ferrer, hewitt, safin and the fastest female server Lisicki. Appears to involve a specific movement in the elbow.
Love this video... I have heard of the word "pronation" and was wondering if I am doing it correctly. So glad to hear that I am pronating, just not optimize my probation.
Fantastic instructions - Thomaz made me understand with his breakdowns - after many years of improvising - the fundamentals of the forehand, backhand, service, timing and the split step. Thank you very much !
hi tomaz thank u for these helpful videos. in this video you said doctors can explain. im a doctor and started to learn tennis 6 months ago.. we call movement in joints. so pronation is in wrist. and pronation in shoulder.. pronation in wrist makes pronation and pronation in sholder makes it maximize.
Great video. It covered the questions which as amateur tennis players I had. Watched few other videos on pronation but this one answers the question those left unanswered.
With all due respect, I’ve been doing the pronation exercises and got tennis elbow. It can be because of my age, but I had a lot of pain and could not touch a racket for three weeks. The lessons are great, without a doubt, but I would suggest to inform the viewers on potential hazards to their arm. Thank you !
Hi Rolland, there are potential hazards in any exercise. What "informs" you that you're going in the wrong direction is PAIN. When you did exercises you likely did them to the point where you felt some small pain at first but you ignored it because there is such strong desire for more powerful serve. Ignoring the pain is the problem, not the exercise. It also takes time to do the exercise right and it's best to request feedback from a good tennis coach whether you're doing the pronation right. In any sport when you attempt a new exercise you need to do it very carefully and wait for your body to adapt and certain muscles to strengthen before you can do the exercise harder. Again, what informs you that you're not doing it right is PAIN. Always listen to pain! Pain is telling you that you are doing the exercise wrong or that you're doing it too hard for your current skill level or strength level.
Thank you for your response. I was not complaining, I was only suggesting to caution the possible elbow injury related to pronation. Outside of this your lessons are great. But man, my elbow hurt, but I over did it like you said.
One extra little tip is to keep serving arm extended straight out after follow through, and not to bring it down and around the body. This will naturally encourage pronation and a snap motion
As a doctor who is learning to serve, "pronation" adds racket speed with the wrist pronator and flexor muscles, and adds power with the pectoralis and anterior deltoid muscles. It enhances the kinetic chain and follow through, like icing on a cake.
Very informative, but check BMT Spain, because this former international tennis player and now coach, says that it is possible to serve flat, slice and top spin with a forehand grip. He demonstrates all three types of serve with a forehand grip. He says this is good enough for most social players.
