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OK, one body part we rarely associate with a good service motion is specifically your front heel.
When I worked with Tom Stow, Tom liked me to be in my ready position for my serve with my front heel already raised.
I never felt comfortable with it, so we eventually compromised to where I would start with my front foot flat, rock back slightly, and then raise my heel during my tossing motion.
Tom eventually gave in (I'm sure that might have been a first for him!) and he let me develop my heel raise in a way that worked for me.
This is a small but incredibly important aspect of your serve to insure that you get into really good hitting position set up.
In fact for me, and in an upcoming tip, the importance of your front hip coming out under you during your tossing motion is completely related to the timing of your front heel raise.
But for now, let's just tinker a bit on you going out there on the practice court for about 25 practice serves (nothing fancy, just go through your normal service motion and try to be aware if and when you're raising your front heel) and seeing if you can feel what we're talking about here.
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"The 3 Magic Moves Of The Serve"
Never worry again about missing a 2nd serve!

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I hadn't thought of it that way before - but now that I think about it, if I am going to contact the ball inside the baseline with my weight moving forward, that can only happen when I toss with the front heel raised.
ReplyDelete-- Steve