Author Topic: Who's serve do you think you could return? (Read 6240 times)

Tennis4you · « **on:** December 11, 2004, 09:31:24 AM »

I made a comment in a previous post about someone trying to return Roddick's serve and it got me to thinking.

If Roddick, Federer or Safin was serving to you, how many serves do you think you could get back out of 100 FIRST serves?

One I would be scared crapless just standing there. I would need an adult diaper the first time they hit that serve. I would be praying they were not going for an "at your body serve".

Now before you type in a number of service returns, ALL you would have to do is get the ball back, it does not have to be pretty.

I say I would get back about 5... 1/2 of which would probably go off of my frame and happen to land into the court...

What about you?

MC ill Logic · « **Reply #1 on:** December 11, 2004, 12:00:03 PM »

I could probably get one back into play sooner or later. Roddick's second serve would be tough. Those guy can place their second serves on a dime but Federer's can't be going faster than 110, so if I choose the right side it wouldn't be THAT much tougher thant the first serves I'm used to facing.

Tennis4you · « **Reply #2 on:** December 11, 2004, 12:01:15 PM »

I figured of anyone here you could get the most back since you are used to some of those speeds. It would be the spin that would throw me for a HUGE loop. I would never be able to tell where the spini sgoing to take some of those balls. Those guys hit with mad spinz!

hummer23mm · « **Reply #3 on:** December 11, 2004, 03:01:47 PM »

i play wit ha guy who gets about 125 on his serves. we got ahold of a radar gun and timeed both of ours. thing is about his first serve, if you can guss where he is going to go, and he gives it away quite a bit, the way he drops his forarm and elbow when he goes down the T, you can get get your strings on the ball. its got a lot of kick on his second also, and if i just stand there, he can kick it at 90mph up to my eyes, and im 6 foot tall. on his second serves, i get myself moving forward, and i get abovce the ball before it jumps too high, this way you hit wiyth soem power, and you dont need to swing hard. i imagine its similar for pros, with the exception of roddick and a few others who are just scary as hell. If you guess right and learn from a few give aways they might let out, you can get to the ball. if you shorten up your swing and make sure the racquet face is pointed towards the other side of the court, you should be able to get soem returns back, quite a few with good depth adn pace. to answer the question, if i went up against a serve like roddicks, i doubt if icould do much better than scott or anyone else. but against more reaslistic players that we encounter in matches, try to use the ideas i presented, espcially trying to look for hints on the direction/spin of serves, and you will be better off.

Tennis4you · « **Reply #4 on:** December 11, 2004, 06:58:45 PM »

The spin they use (meaning the pros) is just insnae compared to what we are used to. I would love to try though. Hey, Maybe some pro will read this thread and give me a chance! HA!

hummer23mm · « **Reply #5 on:** December 15, 2004, 04:43:30 PM »

it really isnt as much spin as you think. yeah it jumps a hell of alot more than your kick serve or mine, but its not unbeleiveable. the spin and power come from raceuthead speed. if you hit the serve more closed, and use your wrist in an up and down flip, you make more spin and less power. this is how the pros get thier second serves and some slower first serves to jump and spin so muhc. i say slow in a relative sense, because they do serve like 110 for a second serve. the racquet head speed is where the power comes from so if they kick it over your head, its not going to be going so fast. its dealable with. i hit with a guy who goes to columbia university and he has soem classes with my brother, and he was really good. he would take me out 6-0 6-0, adn his serve was excellent. for some reason, i just got used to the kick, and if the ball ocmes at you with a slower loop, you know taht its going to jump. the best give awy to look for is if the ball lands short in the box, like 3 feet in front of the line, you know its going to kick up like crazy. best thing to do is watch it as best you can as you hurl yourslef to ward it to cut it off. this way you are agressive and sending a message. that guy was a solid 5.5 - 6.0 ntrp. this means taht pros arent too much better, and i dont think that thier spin is unbeleiveable. perhaps its nieve, but i think that any good player can get at least a third of 100 serves back from a decent pro. paradorn shricipan or someone else ouside the top 10 perhaps. not to say that its easy, its just not imposible. tehy are good, but not invincible.

Tennis4you · « **Reply #6 on:** December 15, 2004, 05:21:08 PM »

The pros are a hell of a lot better than 5.5. All I know is the article I read a 4.5 player was misjudging balls by almost 2 feet because of spin, holy crap! I would LOOOOOOOOOOVE to hit with a pro!

hummer23mm · « **Reply #7 on:** December 15, 2004, 06:09:31 PM »

judge for youreself, you go to masters series cinci so youve seen the pros hit. i dont know how close you go, but iwas at teh us open a few times this year, and i saw the shricipan hrbaty early round match from the first row courtisde. i was about as far from them as i would be if i was standing outside of public courts at a park, no exaturation, and anyone who has been to flushing knows that the outide courts like 11 or 13 are really intimate for the fans. thsoe guys hit hard and had soem spin on the ball. more than i get for sure on thier groundies, but they were shanking quite a bit, especially shricipan. both are solid top 20 players, and it was as if they were taht much better than a 5.5 or 6.0 player. their serves had much more juice than anything most pople can hit, they got 125-133 quite a few times. other than that tho, id say they are just very good consistant tennis players. im wasnt taken aback as i saw taht match. sure they hit some magnificent shots, but i wasnt shocked at the level of play. the way tehy say it works is many many players get to 4.5- 5.0 ntrp adn stop there. some move onto a 5.5, even fewer to 6.5-7.0's. and one becoems federer. so teh difference between them and a really solid player who just plays it at the park adn tennis club isnt taht big. tehy could bagel is the same way we could bagel a crappy player, hitting great shots and lots of aces, but to say that they are godly or a 10 steps above anything we can ever acheive is unfair to us. they are excellent yes, and i cant beat any pro, and i never will be able to most likely, but to say that they get soem magical spin is just exadurating.

frankfontaine · « **Reply #8 on:** December 15, 2004, 07:17:58 PM »

my bread and butter is in my return, so I'd like to think I could get back atleast 30% of any of those guys serve.

Tennis4you · « **Reply #9 on:** December 15, 2004, 09:04:50 PM »

Frank,

What is your USTA rating? Give us an idea of your level.

hummer23mm · « **Reply #10 on:** December 15, 2004, 10:04:45 PM »

all the guys except federer and roddick and johaneseen philopousis safin karlovic, and a few others have serves taht are like ours, just with more spin and power. in otehr words, they are much better than us, but not imposible to catch up with and get back into play.

frankfontaine · « **Reply #11 on:** December 15, 2004, 11:26:48 PM »

Certain aspects of my game are 4.0 and others are 3.5 (serve/volley).
I've always felt my return was my strong shot and my instinct around
the court usually helps keep me competative enough to make a match
even against better players.

My serve has lost a lot of power recently as I only get out
about once every two weeks during the summer and I in my 30's.

How about yourself?

Tennis4you · « **Reply #12 on:** December 16, 2004, 12:03:38 AM »

Well, I am 3 months from 30, I play 4.5 USTA leagues.

My return is probably the weak point in my game.

Arcforce · « **Reply #13 on:** December 16, 2004, 05:29:49 PM »

How funny that a question like this came up. I heard that there was an exhibition match somewhere sometime in these past few weeks here that for $10 you could get down there and receive 3 of Venus Williams' serves. And for $20 you could play like 5 points with her or something.

Hah, I'd like to pretend i could handle her serve...128 mph isn't really child'splay yknow?

hummer23mm · « **Reply #14 on:** December 16, 2004, 05:51:10 PM »

my good friend serves above 125-127 outdoors and i have a hard time catching up to it at first. after a while though, it isnt that tough, and i can get many back in play with good depth. power is one thing, but power with control and placement is much more deadly that straight ahead 128 mph.

Tennis4you · « **Reply #15 on:** December 16, 2004, 05:59:46 PM »

128 is friggin insane! I have never faced that at 4.5 or 5.0, or that I know of. I used to play a guy whos serve used to scare the crap out of me. I never wanted him to serve into my body.

One day back in college we were playing at a college. A bunch of hot college girls (some sport related group) walked on by. I figured I would take a big swing at his next first serve to of coarse look cool He cranked one to my forehand and I think I pretty much closed my eyes and swung as hard as I could. I actually hit a huge winner down the line. Here's the problem... I was so stunned I fell on the ground laughing, then I wasn;t looking so cool.

I think he might have been in the 120's. No spin though, so easier to block back.

hummer23mm · « **Reply #16 on:** December 16, 2004, 07:03:40 PM »

lol i hope this is before you met ms. Baker. lol serve returning is all about rythem. if you are used to 100-105 mph serves, an 85 mph kicker change up will mess you up. if are looking to return an out wide serve and he goes up the tee, you are done for. on the other hand, if the serve comes where you thought it would with about the face you anticipated, you can get it back with relative ease/ same applies to more powerful serves. if you guess wrong on a 120mph serve, you are basically done. if you guess wrong a 100 mph serve, you still have a change to get it back in play. you get into a rythem, even against powerful serves, so 120 after the third or fourth serve isnt so bad. you can gauge where its going to be. if the server can move it around really well, then you are indeed screwed, but if you guess right, then you can get it back pretty easily. its the rythem that matters.

DirtyKash · « **Reply #17 on:** December 16, 2004, 08:29:40 PM »

Elena Dementieva's serve probably.

frankfontaine · « **Reply #18 on:** December 17, 2004, 12:30:08 AM »

I play a guy who's about 6 foot 4 at the local club. He has an amazingly fast and accurate serve (corners and T). No Idea how fast it goes, but I'm thinking probably in the 100 to 110 mph range at most. It's hard to believe anyone at the club hitting beyond that. I can usually handle his serve with confidence. I return 70+% first, 90+% seconds. He can only ace me about 4-5 times in a three set match, however, his accuracy forces me to swipe at the ball at times sending in all directions

.

Not sure if I can handle the speed of a Roddick serve, but I think Roger's serve is approachable. I'd like to pay $20 to try, even if it's against a Williams.

Tennis4you · « **Reply #19 on:** December 17, 2004, 07:25:26 AM »

hell yeah, I would too! I would pay more than that just to get on the court with any of them!

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Author Topic: Who's serve do you think you could return? (Read 6240 times)