Throw more balls for a better serve

If we look at the best servers of the past few decades, we can see two interesting things these servers have in common. On the one hand, obviously the height, when serving, the height helps to create more angle and leverage, as long as the serving technique is good. Much more interesting, however, is the second striking feature: of the top 15 best servers of all time, 5 players come from the United States of America (Isner, Opelka, Roddick, Sampras, Cressy), plus 3 from Australia (Kyrgios, Arthurs, Guccione ), as well as 1 Canadian (Raonic) and 1 South African (Anderson). (Source ATP STATS Link)

At first glance, you're probably wondering what's so interesting about it, since all of these players are quite tall. Kyrgios, Arthurs, Roddick and Sampras are the “smallest” players, with Kyrgios the tallest of the four at 1.93 and Pete Sampras the shortest at 1.85. There are many top players in the world who are between 1.85 and 1.93 tall, but they are not characterized by a top serve like the ones mentioned above. The interesting thing about the statistics is the players' country of origin and the sporting culture in these countries.

Former No. 1 Andy Roddick and me. Andy is a very strong server.

In Germany or Europe, we all play football as small children, so we unconsciously work hard on the coordination of our legs. One could certainly make the case that European tennis players move better than American players. However, the Americans serve better than the Europeans. While we play football, kids in the USA, Australia and Canada throw balls a lot more often. Throwing a football or baseball is as much a part of a barbecue as a rib eye steak. By throwing a lot, the shoulder learns to work more efficiently and become more flexible. If you look more closely, the serve is also a kind of throw; you have to hold the racket loosely and be very flexible in the shoulder joint in order to serve hard and well placed. The Americans in particular have an enormous advantage here because they throw a lot of balls at a young age. Even in the lower professional level you often see American players with excellent serves. Of course, it takes more than just throwing the football to become a good server, but I look at that Throwing is one of the few “secrets” on the way to a successful serve.

Ideally, you start playing tennis at a young age and combine it with soccer and a throwing sport to develop a near-complete athlete. As with learning foreign languages, success comes more quickly for children and young people than for adults. The ability to learn is increased at a young age and you should take advantage of that.

Unfortunately, once you get to a certain age, it's very difficult to change your basic athletic structure, but you can always improve and create new stimuli. During the pandemic, I learned to throw the football and baseball correctly and spent several sessions developing these skills. At the age of 25, I was once again able to dramatically improve my serve, which was a cornerstone for my success in 2022 on the professional tour. I threw the football a lot back then and learned to let the ball fly in a spiral, almost like Tom Brady 😉

After a while I threw the baseball more and slowly increased the distance. Since a lot of serves plus throws can put strain on the shoulder, I did a lot of training for the back shoulder and the rotator cuff during this time to compensate for the throwing movements.

There are numerous videos on the Internet and now many football and baseball coaches in Germany, if you get the chance, try it out and incorporate throws into your training. Maybe a new passion will arise. However, you have to approach throwing very carefully, the shoulder can become irritated, so always speak to a doctor first and have your current fitness level assessed. And it's best to only work with professionals from the respective sports before tackling the topic of throwing on your own.

Have fun throwing,

Hendrik