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Tennis Lessons / Serve / Step 5
Racket Drop
In this article we are only going to focus on the upper body, and how you get your upper body into the racket drop, or "scratch back" position. We will add the lower body in the next article.
How To :
1. Drop the racket behind your back straight down at the court.
2. Elbow of hitting arm comes up.
3. Tossing arm drops straight down.
Figure 1: Getting to the racket drop
From the trophy pose, I drop the racket behind my back and point it straight down at the court. As this happens, my hitting arm elbow comes up. This is sometimes referred to as the "scratch back" position, because it looks very similar to trying to scratch your back with the tennis racket. At the same time, I drop my tossing arm straight down.
There are a couple other things relating to your upper body position to copy. First, in the trophy pose, my tossing shoulder is higher than my hitting shoulder. But now, in the racket drop, my shoulders have leveled out – they are on the same plane. Also, my upper body is now almost perfectly sideways to the net. In other words, I'm not facing the side fence.
The position my hitting arm is in when I get to the racket drop is absolutely critical. Every single good server on the pro tour gets to this position, without exception. This is because the racket drop lets you swing at the tennis ball correctly.
Also, take a closer look at the racket drop position. It is very similar to the upside down "L" position your arm was just in. That's why I emphasized previously the importance of getting to the "L." It makes it easy to get to the racket drop.
Common Errors:
Getting close, but not quite, to the racket drop.
You cannot swing at the tennis ball properly if you do not get here. This is sometimes hard to see / feel. I suggest you film yourself if you are unsure. Then you watch yourself in slow motion.
The service motion is very similar, in many respects, to a throwing motion. As a result, coaches regularly emphasize this point. However, it is not exactly like a throwing motion – your arm moves "up" much more than it would if you were, say, throwing a baseball. Your arm will not get to the racket drop if you move it like you were throwing something.
I suggest you watch THIS video if you are looking for clarification.
Pulling your tossing arm down.
Consciously trying to get your tossing arm out of the way can throw off your body position, especially if you try to pull it down or swing it to the side. Just let it fall.
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