Last year, I faced an opponent who used to be a college baseball pitcher. He boasted speeds in the high 80s before arm surgery altered his pitching career. What struck me most was his first serve in tennis – unlike anything I had ever encountered. If his serve wasn’t clocking in at 120 mph, I shudder to think what facing someone who does would be like; it was genuinely intimidating. A significant part of this intimidation was the sound. It was a deafening CRACK. Fortunately, his inconsistency and weaker second serve prevented these matches from ending in a mere half hour. This experience solidified my belief that a baseball background can indeed translate to a potent tennis serve with dedicated practice. My own athletic background, heavily favoring throwing sports like football and baseball over tennis, has personally aided my serving ability. While I’m not a physically imposing player and never threw an 85-90 mph fastball, I can still serve with enough pace to challenge 4.0 level players.
The sought-after “whip” sound in a serve, I believe, is generated by fully hitting through the ball with exceptional racquet head speed. Many skilled players possess sound service motions, yet they often hold back from fully committing to hitting through the ball, opting instead for a more guiding approach. To achieve that whip-like sound, imagine the ball is nonexistent. Focus on tossing to a precise spot and swinging through that spot with maximum velocity.
