pre-serve routine?

**extremenanopowe** · 01-27-2008, 03:35 AM

annoyance is a strategy as long as you are not carded.... get it?

**westwood_13** · 01-27-2008, 09:17 AM

Routine is key and I guarantee you all the pros have one. Certainly all the national level players in Canada do.

A big element of the routine is for focus, though. To clear to the last point from one's mind and prepare the body to re-exert.

One thing that no one has mentioned in their routine, but that is very important, is breathing. That is key, especially when serving.

**venkatesh** · 01-30-2008, 01:10 AM

Originally Posted by extremenanopowe

annoyance is a strategy as long as you are not carded.... get it?

yup. i definitely agree with this. that's why everytime she does this time-consuming routine, i pause and pretend to be doing something (like tying my shoes, checking my racket, etc.). that way, she'd be the one to wait for me, thus, annoy her also in return.

**YinLoung** · 01-31-2008, 07:42 AM

Serves are arguably the easiest hit to do but a short serve isn't exactly easy.

For a good short serve

1- You have to keep it low. Low enough to prevent any offensive hit.
2- It has to travel just enough to be in front of the services line.
3 ( In doubles ) it keeps on player in front, the offensive formation, which leaves the sides vulnerable. So you have to hit a good short serve so the other side won't attack the holes.

since you can take your time. You should at least, position yourself carefully, mentally prepared and physically prepared. Me, i place my foot near the serve line, close to the T. I shake my racket a bit to stimulate the fore arm muscles and then position the shuttle in front of me with the racket behind. I take a breath and serve. So that I'm entirely ready for anything that comes after. A server that is served too quickly puts urself in a bad situation.

**DarthHowie** · 01-31-2008, 08:52 AM

Originally Posted by DivingBirdie

i think most importantly one must make sure pre serve routines do not give your serve away ---as in timing of delay of serve, intention to short/flick serve. My habit is to position the tip of my shoe like 1cm away from the service line...which is the exact marking of a wooden tile. Apart from that my actions are intentionally unpredictable...

Now actually, i kinda find that some pre-serve routines are also used by players who want to confuse their opponents when they think they can 'read' their routines. For example some people always do a few shakes of the racket , then after a certain delay time, serve. And when the opponent gets ambitious and tries to 'read' him, he launches a surprise serve before shaking his racket. Or sometimes, after a few shakes of the racket, he holds the service for a longer duration, making his opponent sort of lose his balance and cool.
So it often appears to me that such pre-serve routines can be there to MISLEAD as well! Wonder if i'm making some paranoid over-analysis.

Definitely a good over-analysis!! To deal with attackers/rushers, i've been told to vary the time i hold the bird in front of my racket (difference of +/- a second) before serving to keep the attacker honest. That way they cannot predict as well whether i'll flick deep or serve short.