London, UK
CNN
–
If you’ve ever picked up a tennis racket and tried to serve your opponent, you’ll see how difficult it is. Getting the ball on the net is a whole other thing, even starting to think about speed and accuracy.
This is a technique to quickly separate experts from amateurs and skills that are becoming increasingly important in modern games.
Today, both men and women are serving faster than ever, and players regularly reach service speeds that were once considered almost impossible.
For example, at Wimbledon this year, fans witnessed the fastest serve in the tournament’s 148-year history.
Pericards are part of a new kind of player who will weaponize their powerful weapons assets Important effects. The 21-year-old is currently the 36th place in the world, but he clearly has the power to take on the best challenge one day.
“I don’t do any special techniques to have big serves or fast serves. I’m serving as I should do. We honestly don’t train this part of my game. But it came naturally,” he said.
But while Perishield is casual about his excellent delivery, there is science behind what makes his technique so successful.
Former tennis player and sports scientist, Mark Covacs has devoted years to studying the biomechanics behind tennis serves.
Speaking to CNN Sports, he breaks down the technique into eight components. The opening stance, vault toss, load, coiling, acceleration, contact, deceleration, and finally the finishing touches the player to land.
“We need synchronous movement. All these stages need to hit optimally to get this total of forces. It’s really called the motion chain. We’re trying to optimize the motion chain.
The job of Kovacs is to use research and data to provide players with that small edge to improve performance.
He has worked with some of the sport’s biggest servers, including John Isner, a former US player who set the ATP recognition record for the fastest serve in 2016.
All eight components of motion are important to make the most of the service’s potential, but Kovacs says that research points to the specific elements needed to generate fast serves.
First, there is Stage 3 (load) and you need to check the player’s body position before it comes into contact with you. Kovacs says the key here is the player’s back hip, how fast the serving moves.
Next, there are seven (acceleration, contact, deceleration) in Stage 5. This explains how quickly the serving arm moves through the action.
“You hear people talk about players who have live arms. In a scientific sense, you can actually put numbers in it,” he says.
“A lot of coaches will say, ‘That guy just got a live arm, so he can serve hard, but probably doesn’t have the best technique.’ ”
“But in reality he has pretty good techniques in that position. He may not have great techniques anywhere else, but his ability to move his arm in the right position is the second most important correlation of serve speed.”
Albano Olivetti is another current player who uses his huge serve to bring him profits. The 33-year-old is currently focused primarily on doubles, reaching the second round at Wimbledon this year.
Although he has never had a major impact on singles games in his professional career, one particular moment remains etched in the folklore of the sport.
At the 2012 Challenger Tour event, Olivetti unleashed the fastest, second-fastest serve ever, sending a 160 mph rocket to his opponent.
The mark is not officially recognized by the ATP (Governmental Body for Men’s Tennis). This wasn’t done at the official ATP event, but it remains something Olivetti is proud of.
At Wimbledon this year, Olivetti’s fastest serve was 140 mph, which remains the best in the men’s game.
When asked what makes his technique so powerful, the 6-foot-8 Frenchman initially points out his height as a major factor.
Kovacs agrees that there is a clear correlation between height and large serves, noting that the best players in the male and female games are on average taller. This is a trend seen in several other professional sports, such as basketball.
“So force is equal to acceleration of mass,” Kovacs tells CNN Sports, explaining why height makes a difference.
“Power is what you talk about when you’re talking about serve speed, and because mass is a person’s weight, it usually means you’re gaining weight.
“And acceleration is your lever. If you have long arms and legs, you actually have it over a slightly longer period of time, so you actually get a greater acceleration.
“It is also important to note that if you are above 6 feet, 6 feet, you can play serves on contact, and when it is shorter than that, you are actually hitting a slight ball, even if most people don’t notice.
But both Kovacs and Olivetti say height is not a huge profit as much as you would consider it.
Olivetti says that as always taller than most of his opponents, his technique always outweighs pure physical attributes, which is why he has been working on his serving skills since he was a young child.
He also says that using the right equipment is important when it comes to finding a big serve, but explains that searching for fast serves can cost.
For example, the racket he used previously helped create force in his serve with his preferred string tension, but it returned from the bass line.
He says it’s sometimes difficult to find a balance.
“I was winning with my serve and not in the return part,” he told CNN Sports.
“So you have to find the right balance in your game again. You might prefer to lose the speed of your serve, for example, and feel comfortable from the baseline.
“I think every player is different and you really have to find out what works for you. I’d say that equipment is important for that.”
As they move forward, Olivetti says serve speeds continue to increase as players are looking for new ways to improve this important aspect of the game.
Kovacs agrees, saying that the current player’s harvest is not close to the limits of how quickly humans can serve tennis balls.
He says that when it comes to their serving techniques, they can still see untapped possibilities in several top players, including world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
Serve’s biomechanics can allow players to control improvements in techniques, but Kovacs says many external situations can affect the speed of a particular day.
“There are obvious limitations, but that’s under the assumption that everything remains the same in terms of technology, balls, strings, rackets, and temperature and environment,” he says.
“The reason I saw these fast serves at Wimbledon this year is that the temperature was much hotter and dry for the first few days, so the ball goes through the air a little faster.
With serves increasingly influential in the current game, records that are broken today could be surpassed again in the next decade.
And perhaps more importantly, it is still a source of pride and competition for all the big hitters on tour.
“Yes,” Olivetti says with a smile when asked if professional players are interested in even breaking new speed records.
“Every time ever since I started playing, I have always tried to serve as great as possible.”
