Strength training for tennis serve performance on the court can significantly alter the outcome of any tennis match. A combination of placement, accuracy, spin, and speed can setup a point for the server. Serve velocity and upper body strength hold high correlations in a study of nationally ranked players.

 

In the strength & conditioning world, there are very few professionals who have a background in tennis far enough to understand how to assess, implement, and progress exercises based on the athlete. Knowing certain specifics parameters in strength training for the tennis athlete can help your tennis serve and as a result improve your tennis performance.

Strength Training for Tennis Serve Performance Breakdown 

 

 

Tennis Serve Biomechanics

Before jumping into how strength training for tennis serve and the specific exercises can help improve a tennis serve, we have to look at the biomechanics of a serve. There are many different “styles”: hip-dominant, knee-dominant, snap serves, longer deliveries, and shorter tosses, foot back, and foot up techniques. There is also the difference in strategies between the first serve and second serve. The mechanics might vary and so do the varying degrees of different joint angles and muscle activation.

The following is a short-review of the 2016 analysis provided by Ulbricht and colleagues. 

 

 

Knee Flexion & Knee Extension

 

 

• Emerging evidence indicates that neuromuscular coordination between both of these motions are the biggest difference between elite and lower level players.
• It’s commonly agreed that between 110-120 degrees of knee flexion is normal during the serve. With any knee flexion subsequent knee extension is required once the kinetic chain reaches its end.
• Ground reaction forces (GRF) from the lower extremities for a tennis serve account approximately 51% kinetic energy developed.

 

Hip & Trunk Rotation

 

 

• Angular momentum is created with horizontal twisting of the trunk that allows a stretch shortening cycle (loading phase).
• Frontal plane/lateral flexion occurs even though movement in the sagittal and transverse plane is seen.

 

 

Shoulder Rotation

 

 

• Rotational angular velocities during the tennis serve has been recorded to reach as high as 2800 degrees per second. The internal rotation deceleration during the tennis serve should be valued just as much as the external rotational acceleration at the shoulder.
• Anterior muscle groups of the trunk and chest: the pectorals, abdominals, quadriceps, and biceps, can be classified as the accelerators of the tennis serve. Posterior muscle groups: rotator cuff, traps, rhomboids, and spinal erectors, can be classified as the decelerators of the tennis serve.

 

 

Other Considerations

 

 

• Ankle dorsiflexion and plantar flexion can contribute to the knee flexion and extension demands related to gastrocnemius activation.
• Forearm pronation and wrist flexion are independently related with the type of tennis serve performed.

 

 

Tennis Serve Performance Assessment

 

 

Most research conducted on the strength training for tennis serve have caveats, or flaws to their design. Some studies are conducted in a laboratory setting, some players were not using their racquets, or some did not account for lower limb performance. Overall it is very difficult to assess a rotational athlete.

The best way of addressing and assessing performance in a rotational athlete has to include the theory of “energy flow”. This theory describes how segmental limb analysis and the values behind those measurements, can indicate whether a rotational athlete transfers energy efficiently. There is limited technology out right now that can assess “energy flow”. It is still useful to look at segmental analysis of the lower extremity, core musculature, and upper extremity to determine their influence to strength training for tennis serve performance. How an athlete performs on these tests can determine how to strength training can improve their tennis serve. 

 

 

Looking first at the upper extremity, there are mixed reviews. A study by Kraemer & et al. (1995) describes the importance of internal rotation isometric strength being an important value – however it was not distinguished between the forehand, backhand, or serve. Shoulder internal peak torque, according to Perry & et al. (2004), “contributed significantly to the variance in ball velocity for both tennis serves and cross-court ground strokes.” It can be universally understood that strength training for tennis serve includes a lot of exercises emphasizing strength for internal rotation and shoulder flexion.

 

 

For the lower body, the source that provided the most context was Girard et al. (2005) where they looked at the lower limb activity during a tennis serve. With a mixture of experience levels, force plate measurements that were combined to measure lower body power were the product of vertical component of GRF (Fz, N) and vertical velocity at takeoff. Coordination across different skill groups likely produced different results, but the power output was consistent across all groups. There are other isokinetic strength tests, but I want to focus on the vertical component of a complex motion and not isolated tests.

 

 

Lastly, the isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) values for peak force, 300ms impulse, body height, CMJ height, and peak serve speed were found to be correlated between 21 elite-junior Australian players. Whether your serve is a foot back or foot forward position, this makes sense. The IMTP is performed at the second pull position, or where peak forces can be measured as a result from joint-specific angles; closely mimicked with most athletic explosive movements. You can also imagine how your standing body height can contribute to the angle of your serve: the taller you are, the better angle you have on your tennis serve.

 

 

 

Strength Training For Tennis Serve Can Improve Performance

 

 

Now let’s get to the good stuff: how. Let’s look at what the research suggests and what philosophies I have in regard to the strength training for tennis serve performance.

 

 

• Amongst junior tennis athletes, Fernandez-Fernandez and colleagues (2013) saw an increase in serve velocity of 4.9% when compared to a group that had no strength training sessions. This included exercises with a theraband and medicine ball movements. It is an ideal training environment for young kids and juniors to use therabands and medicine balls for their strength training for tennis serve performance. 
• Amongst college-level female tennis athletes, Kraemer et al. (2000) saw the experimental group gain 20 MPH on their serve after completing a periodalized strength training program. The 20 MPH figure also has to consider a loss of 4 MPH off the serve from the control group that had no strength training for tennis serve program.

 

 

 

Take Home Message

 

 

Most research suggests that implementing a strength training program that includes upper body strength, upper body plyometrics, shoulder-care, core strengthening, lower body power, and lower body plyometrics 2-3 times a week can improve tennis serve performance. No matter what experience level you are at, a periodalized and specific strength training for tennis serve program can yield results.  

If you want to start strength training to improve your tennis performance, feel free to email me on any one of my contact forms – including here on my coaching page.