Learn The Croatian Serve 🇭🇷 (FREE COURSE) 👉🏻 bit.ly/tcs1977

When I get my ATP point at age 60, I’m gonna thank you in person. The serve has been my Achilles tendon and I’m just starting to figure it out thanks to you. THANK YOU 🙏

I serve with a abbreviated backswing. I get power as long as my motion is fluid and I whip the raquet. Thank you for breaking down each serve and highlighting the fact that everyone is different and you have to find the one that compliments your own game.

Superior knowledge and explanation of the different take backs for the serve! Excellent video...as always.

Amazing that you can do all nicely. Thank you so much.

You are touching a very important element of tennis serve, which is often overlooked. Thank you!

I used to have full backswing (without knowing) and no matter how hard i tried, i always open up the racket face at trophy position. So i tried semi-abbreviated backswing and fixed the problem!. wish i seen this video earlier..

Thanks for the lesson, Nick!! I really enjoy the your way of teaching! I used to serve with a full back swing, but due to tennis elbow issues I now do it in a little more compact way, somewhere in between the semi-abbreviated and the Abbreviated.

I didn't pay attention to all of those variations of the service technics. Recently I injured my shoulder and I found out so many details about the serv. Yours explanations are very academic and useful.

Excellent explanation of the take back options in serve for aspiring players looking to experiment and see what is best for him/her!

Fantastic info! Vey helpful and i cant wait to go try out some of these adjustments!

Nikola, your videos are amazing! I've watched tens of them in a row. Looking forward to practising all your tips on court!

I really like how you provide options for each shot and discuss the pros and cons. It is amazing to me how some instructors have such little knowledge as to the benefits and weaknesses of various styles of play. Ideally an instructor could identify why some players prefer a particular approach (ie a shorter player can get more leg drive or a serve and volley player can get into the court faster). Thanks for your hard work!

Thank you for the video! Very informative

Another excellent demo and explanation.

Like this video and your explanations - really something different and bringing value to me. Thanks for this!

Very insightful video!! I just realized that I tend to snap my wrist open in the full backswing of my serve, this isn't allowing me to serve properly. Thank you for always uploading great content!!

This is a fantastic lesson which many other channels out there never covered. The racket take back has been my pain point for a long time and this video is going to do wonders. Can't thank you enough for this and other videos. It would be really helpful if you can make one video on ball hitting technique during serve.

Great videos! Thank you.

Very impressive tutorial Nik, covering all aspects of the racquet drop. Thank you. Gordon

You are so knowledgeable about the game. Nice job!

Fantastic content - really helpful.

Very few talk about the racket take back during the serve. I was getting confused with the pat dog method since I was used to the first method you described. The only thing I was doing wrong was the forehand grip and waiter serve. Now I am practising the pronation serve and your utube explaining the different styles of take back has really helped.A big thanks I am an ITF player and tennis coach.

High Nick nice to see you again 👍

A great demo for swing for serve Thank you.

Great video Nick, At 2.36 you describe recreational players snapping the wrist open on take back. That is precisely what I do and the end result is a more limited racket drop. It's a very engrained habit (25yrs!). Im trying lots of shadow swings to try to correct it. Anything else you can recommend?

Very useful video - excellent!

Thanks Nick! Excellent instruction. I really liked the parts, where you explained the loop holes of each different take-back. I have a student doing full take-back, and he supinate too early while going up ending up having a racket loop at or above his shoulder line instead of a drop. Then it is really a struggle to get the face into correct orientation at impact. I think the early supination is an issue, which is hardly ever covered and cripples all types of take-backs. Ok, there are some instructions, where you try to avoid racket opening up early going up, but the culprit is often not revealed, yet it totally kills the momentum going into the drop loop and enable the racket drop become both deep and effective turning the frame edge up before getting up. Yet you dropped "properly" with allready supinated wrist the rest would be close to waiters tray anyway, cause the racket momentum would restrict the rest of the desired movement and defenately by the mental image of hitting with the strings would cancel the possibility to use internal shoulder rotation close to contact.

Very helpful I have started using the abbreviated take back to help pronation and consistency like your observation that one can change from the abbreviated when the action is grooved I will do that and see how it goes when I am ready. Thanks

Excellent technical breakdown! Bravo!

Great lesson! I'm still working on which technique will work best for me. I'm liking the semi-abbreviated backswing.

very good! Thanks!

I THINK I HAVE ENOUGH WORK TO DO FOR A FEW DAYS LOL , THANK YOU AGAIN

Simply excellent

Great video

Amazing video

After failing so many times at using parallel arms to toss the ball and full back swing to bring back the racquet, I guess I need to try something else. so frustrated... As always, great video ! Thank you so much !

Excellent 😀

Excellent 'in depth' tutorial Nick, thank you. Gordon

Great demonstration. One comment about the abbreviated backswing - Andy Roddick bends his knees extremely low and gets an extreme twist in his torso to make up for the loss of backswing power. That would be one thing to mention for why this worked so well for him.

Again... the best and the most objective analysis of all three options. For Rodick style the more stress should probably be on the shoulders turn and the explosive legs drive, but true it's not for everybody

Nick can you cover what the players do behind the scenes prep before a match if possible?

Great videos.

Excellent serve action. Please make a video on proper racquet drop and elbow bend.

Thanks for the great video Nick. Could you demonstrate more on semi abbreviated, I could tell the difference between the the lag one and up together one. I am struggling coordinating my legs and swing.

Monfis and Kyrgios are prefect examples for the abbreviated take back. For the full swing Wawrinka is for me a prefect example as well.

GREAT WORK SIR, I WAS STRUGGLING , NOW OK .....

Good video.

Hi Coach great insights, I may not have liked too much because I have perfected the abbreviated swing and it is working for me, feel there is less room for glitches and basic errors, I may give a shot soon to the semi abbreviated swing, since you are more in favor of it. One thing I missed from your analysis regarding the abbreviated swing is the South Americans, specially Argentine players, a lot of them used it and perfected it for decades, Zabaleta, Chela, Canas, and currently Delbonis has a very powerful and strong abbreviated one. Also Fernando Gonzalzez on top of my head....

This is excellent! I've intuitively (excuse the pun) understood these differences through my own experimentation on my serve, but it's so nice to see them laid out this clearly. This, together with your racket drop explanation, gives a great overview of overall service motions of the swing arm. But question for you: is the semi-abbreviated take back (which is more parallel to the baseline) naturally set you up for the kick serve better than the full take back (which is more perpendicular to the baseline)? I ask because as the kick serve motion itself is more parallel to the baseline, is it better to have a take back that matches the swing path's linear plane?

I've tried Full and Abbreviated over my long career (😩). Abbreviated gives more control and a quick rhythm IMO but requires a lot of strength to achieve high r-head speed. Roddick has both I think?

There's another really obscure take back that, for example, Caroline Garcia uses. The serving arm is set up high, then the toss, racquet drop etc happen after that. For beginners, that might be the easiest way. And it's not really that bad, it does the job.

Any recommendations for someone recovering from shoulder surgery? I’ve been trying to find the right style with a more limited range of motion. I’m doing an abbreviated backswing right now. Most of the stress on the shoulder is felt when I’m moving upwards and my racquet is still behind me, pointing downwards.

Hi, what about pronation of the forearm after the racquet and ball meet on the serve, do you think it is necessary, if so can you do a video on it. What I mean by pronation is the racquet hand palm faces outward during the racquet follow through.

For the Roddick serve he actually uses elastic potential energy rather than momentum. He bends his knees and moves the elbow back and down (like a bow and arrow) as he tosses and twists his hips and then uncoils as he launches at the ball. I think this worked well for him because he was a lot stronger in his shoulders and upper body than most tennis players. When you have larger than average upper body muscles from other sports they don't get used as much in tennis and so they become more prone to tightness. I have experienced this and it makes getting loose when playing very hard. That weakness can also be used as a strength however if you can somehow tap into the muscles and their inherent tension. I think what Andy did was simply pull his bicept muscle back as an additional torque lever as the last stage of his uncoiling of his core (which every serve motion does). His narrow base and quick motion allowed his stretched chest muscle to whip his arm up at the last moment before pronation and ball contact. I've tried this and it works if you can cut down the time from toss to contact to a minimum. All this said...perhaps recommend this motion for players who have a stronger upper body and/or are coming from other more quick burst motion sports (like baseball or football or basketball). It's very hard to be smooth when stationary if you are used to making a quick first step. I struggle with this and a abbreviated serve release really worked...at least for a hard first serve. Still not sold its a good motion generally but perhaps a helpful way to recommend for players choosing among the options.

Excellent video Nik! I filmed myself serving and what I see is that I have full takeback and have the problem you mentioned, I flip my wrist, open the racket, and what I see I dont reach thropy position at all. I tried to moved to semiabbreviated, but it s not working. How to correct this flip of the wrist what you mentioned for full takeback?

Hi Nick, how much tension should be applied on the grip? I strugle to accelerate the racket and thought perhaps I wasn´t gripping strong enough: Thank you.

Do you think the full take back could help balance against the tossing arm, and provide a more consistent toss? It kind of seems like this is what Federer does.

First, I'm just getting to know your channel, very well explained and great content! Secondly, My wrist has the tendency to open up like you mention at 6:03, is there any specific practice to reinforce it to not do that?

I’m going to give you an unusual compliment so please don’t take it as an insult in disguise. Your videos all have GREAT AUDIO. I watch a lot of tennis instructional videos and you’d be amazed how many times you just can’t hear what the instructor is saying! If you wanted some constructive criticism, I could say your lighting is a bit harsh, but that’s a necessary evil as you record outdoors. It does make you come off a little stern, which you don’t actually seem to be at all. I suppose you could wear a hat or sunglasses, which depending on your choices, will either make you look cool or really, really dorky... Now I AM being insulting, my apologies!😉. Let me try to save face by saying that I like your channel a lot, you have a deep knowledge of tennis technique and explain it well. And like others have said, you pair that with practical application of each method’s advantages and disadvantages, something that other instructors seem to miss. (?!) Thank you for all your hard work, best of luck growing your channel. You’re one of the good guys, Nik!!

loved thed semi.

Which take back least prone to injuries?

I've been watching some videos of women's ncaa division 1 college players in the US, and I've noticed many of them use the abbreviated backswing. I was raised in the 1990s only with the full backswing and platform stance, so it's helpful to understand the differences. Thanks! PS- didn't Agassi use the abbreviated backswing on his second serve for awhile?

Which is Zverev used?

i remember agassi did an abbreviated backswing on his service in 1993 ..

Sort of unrelated question, but what are your thoughts about shock absorbers?

What serve technique does Dominic Thiem use? It looks like a full backswing?

Doesn't the abbreviated allow you to start faster core rotation (arms are tucked closer for longer), thus increasing rotation speed? My understanding is that a full swing slows down your core rotation and makes the contact slower. Andy Roddick as a short guy and you can only muscle a ball so fast. The fact that Roddick is the only great server at that level tells me that being taller seems more important a factor in speed than the take back. Makes me want to see a tall player with an abbreviated swing take a crack at it. Will experiment later and report back.

Hey I have a question what category would Carla Suárez Navarro serve be in ?

I believe that for taller players like myself (194cm) the abbreviated take back like Berdych or Roddick has some advantages, because the tossing arm is easier to coordinate. One can achieve that as well with a lag of the hitting arm, but then I tend to get in trouble with timing (rush). The longer the extremities the more torque is being creating which has to be tamed and coordinated. As a recreational player you only have a limited time to practice so I think it’s reasonable to maximize the likelihood of achieving good quality rather than unlocking all potential sources to build momentum.

This is very good video. But what about the wrist? Do you have a video that shows correct form for the wrist, to avoid wrist injuries? Clearly I write this comment because I experience a lot of wrist pains when practicing serve. Especially when I just start practicing the serve I seem to be twisting my wrist to cause the pain.

Gael Monfils and Nadal also have an abbreviated takeback.

What do you think are the mechanical similarities between the serve and the forehand, beyond the grips?

With Isner's serve his racket doesn't drop, due to it being dropped before he tosses the ball

I thought Fed looks more like an abbreviated, or at least he keeps it on the right side…

Oooo. That's not what the other guy says.

So of the Top 20 best servers of all time only 1 used an abbreviated take back, and your contention is that it lacks power? Funny that the 9 out of the top 10 FASTEST servers of all time all have an abbreviated or semi-abbreviated take back.

Great videos! Thank you.