THE SERVE– GAME DEMANDS
As part of APA owner Daz Drake’s unofficial PhD a series of research projects was conducted in the area of Groundstrokes, The Serve and Tennis Movement. For this research on the serve a combination of personal communication with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and a literature search of nearly thirty peer reviewed journal articles was performed in order to examine the latest research. For ease of understanding the review has been broken down into three key areas that influence tennis movement:
Anthropometrical Factors
- Includes body height and mass
Structural Factors
- Includes ground reaction force and shoulder range of motion and strength
Mechanical Factors
- Includes motor coordination of general and specific movements
Tennis Conditioning Blueprint – The Serve
The complete research findings are presented and summarised in this Ebook. This Ebook is not simply a guide on how to produce more force in a rotational plane (although that’s part of it!). It’s about the factors that are most within the scope of the strength & conditioning coach to enhance the tennis stroke itself. It’s about discovering the factors that can have the biggest impact on serve hitting power, notwithstanding the obvious priority that technical mastery has on serve performance.
It aims to present up to date facts on Tennis Serve Research. It is ultimately the job of the reader to then decide how to apply the information contained here to inform their practices. A strong case is made for the importance of shoulder internal rotation strength for developing high racket velocity so logically then the next step would be to ask what would be the underlying exercises we can use in the gym to develop capacity in this action?
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