This delay is critically important if you are to be able to turn your shoulders comfortably and in time to bring the racket over and hit the ball in a smooth motion. Failing to do this means that your tossing arm and shoulder will be in the way of your hitting arm and shoulder and will cause all sorts of problems in connecting with the ball properly.

I realised this by trying to imitate Elena Dementieva’s and then Marion Bartoli’s serves after watching their match at the Pilot Pen Open 2010 this past week and being somewhat perplex at their serve motions. When you separate the movement of both arms like they do, there’s less going on at the same time and makes it much easier to execute properly. You should all try it, it’s a real eye opener.