Attention to detail matters! I'll share something silly that's been happening to me: I first learned to serve underhand like most people. Afterawhile I switched to serve backhand. All was good except for one thing... I kept falling over when I try to serve! Just when I'm about to serve the bird I'd notice that i'm falling forwards and towards the right. I often asked myself how other players can serve so well without falling over. Just today I discovered something I overlooked.... I should have switched by foot position when switching between underhand and backhand serves. All this time I've been serving backhand with the racquet foot backwards! Happy ending of course... now that i'm serving with the racquet foot forward I haven't fallen over once yet! I'm sure my accuracy will further improve as well. I guess this is what they mean by saying you'll learn faster with a coach.
yes, i noticed that a lot of people are off-balance when they serve, even i am, but i stand on my tip-toes when i serve, because im short my feet are square to the opponent, and i stand on my tip-toes... thats it =D
I thought it's pretty intuitive to put your racquet foot forward to balance? I've never had balance problems when doing serves.
Re: Re: something silly / attention to detail not while serving underhand... or else you'd have to learn over to the right more (since your right let is in the way) and risk falling over on the right again
actually.... i used to do the EXACT same thing.... when i did backhand serve, my racquet foot was behind me..... EVERY person that played with me was like "uh... wtf??" and then i finally switched.... personally, not a big difference... but it's better than having a person ask me what the hell i am doing every time i play someone new...
i've actually experienced the exact same thing when i do backhand serves too! (didn't even take note of it either). i always feel unbalanced, particularly when i serve from the right side, since its an immediate reaction for me to stick my closest foot to the corner (which in this case, would be the left). darn. now i gotta correct some more bad habits :/
I'm never off balance when I serve backhand. . . I serve with non racquet foot forward! haha. And yes my serve is fine!
When I started playing, the forehand short serve was still pretty common, and that's what I used. (To serve forehand with the racquet foot back has always been done because [1] many players come from some other sports background--baseball, tennis, golf, etc.--where contact with the ball is done that way, and [2] with the forehand serve, the shuttle is hit out to the side of the server, not directly in front.) When I decided to switch to the backhand serve, I noticed virtually everyone using it was serving with the feet even. I chose to serve with my racquet foot forward just as I would any backhand underhand shot because it seemed more natural. I don't think there is anything wrong with serving backhand with the non-racquet foot forward if you want to. Seems to me it would be harder to move sideways after the serve, though.
well, for me, it doesn't really matter which foot i have forward cause i tend to fall over either way with the backhand serve...
