Brenton's Serve

The serve, although more complex, is the easiest shot to analyze because there is no footwork involved and so there is less variety with one's technique.

When I first saw Brenton's serves on video I was very surprised to find so many imperfect elements on his swing, especially after being on court with him. Trying to return his serves is not an easy task.

07/05/10 (foot fault!)


07/05/10

I'll start my analysis on these aspects: toss, stance, trophy position, leg drive and contact.

Toss: The first I saw from Brenton's serve was that the toss wasn't curved. It was straight vertical. You can see it from the front angle video. All the pros toss the ball with an arc that goes from the right to the left or left to the right if you're left handed. Maybe it Could be that Brenton was still warming up his serves, or it was just a fluke after all the trajectory of the toss can only be seen from the front angle and I have only two serves. I have a feeling that it was not a fluke, and it makes since specially with the stance that Brenton uses .

Stance :

Brenton serves with an extreme lateral pimpoint. He brings his back foot not only to the side but it is even in front of the front foot. It seems that Brenton is reaching out towards the toss. Players who use the lateral pinpoint such as Ivanisevic, Rafter and Safin, plant the back foot on the side but behind the front foot.

Trophy position, leg drive, contact:

To execute a good serve you need to make sure you have a trophy position. The trophy position consists in having the tossing arm up, the racket tip pointing up, the elbow in a sort of an "L shape", and the knees at the maximum bend, and the shoulders and torso rotated. Players reach the trophy position when the ball is pretty much at the highest point of the toss.
At the first sight it seems that Brenton has nothing wrong with his trophy position, but I think that is not quite so, and it would be impossible to find it with a normal video or with the naked eye. When the left arm and racket comes up into the "L shape" the tossing arm is already dropping and his knees have started to extend a little bit earlier. In fact the knees extend before Brenton has reached the maximum drop of his racket. The consequence is that when the knees explode the racket still has a long way to go till the contact is made. When Brenton makes contact his knees are bended and that means Brenton has lost already some leg drive on contact.

07/05/10


How to improve:

I think the first thing Brenton should change is his toss. A toss with an arc and more towards the head or his right side (he's left handed). He should still keep the ball in front of his head at contact just like he is doing.
Changing the toss would make it easier to make sure that his back foot doesn't come in front of his front foot. I think there seems to be an advantage with the normal pinpoint stance where the back foot is located just behind the front foot. He could even try the platform stance for his serve, where the back foot doesn't come forward.
Next, Brenton gotta make sure that his racket come up a bit earlier till he reaches the power position. That would probably make sure that the knees explode just a bit before the contact is made.

07/05/10


I have little doubts that Brenton can improve his serve a lot, and I'm sure he will. I reckon that if he is serving over 180 km/h with little leg drive, means the 200 km/h mark is more than accessible. Good luck Brenton and keep blasting those balls!

07/05/10