Dear Tomaz,
I am writing to express my sincere gratitude for your exceptional tennis lessons that have greatly benefited tennis players worldwide. As a novice player who started tennis seven months ago at 37, I have experienced significant improvement thanks to your videos, suggestions, and clear explanations. Your teachings have been invaluable, covering aspects that even my coach hasn’t addressed.
My question pertains to the serve, a particularly challenging shot, especially the pronation phase. I have diligently studied your serve and pronation technique videos, which have provided me with a clear understanding and have aided my progress during practice.
I’ve noticed that while I can consistently serve from left to right (as a right-handed player), serving from right to left presents considerable difficulties. My primary issue is controlling the ball’s direction. In my focus to aim for the left service box, I often lose overall serve motion control, resulting in erratic and unsuccessful shots. Hitting the court becomes a matter of chance.
From your lessons and professional matches, I understand that body orientation and foot stance should remain consistent regardless of the service box. For a right-handed player, this involves positioning feet parallel to the baseline and the body at a 45-degree angle to the right, correct? My question is, starting from this identical stance, what mechanisms enable directing the serve to opposite sides of the court? Is it adjusting racket face orientation at contact, altering body orientation, or modifying pronation? My coach advises initiating body rotation earlier for left-side serves, facing the left court before contact, and opening my wrist to angle the racket face leftward. However, this seems akin to a waiter’s serve, which I believe is incorrect. What is the proper approach?
I am struggling to resolve this issue, likely due to my limited understanding of correct technique. I suspect this is a common challenge for beginners. A tutorial dedicated to this specific problem would be immensely helpful to your followers. Even a written explanation would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you again for your outstanding tennis instruction.
Sincerely,
Luigi (Lucca, Italy)
