The serve is one of the most important and physically stressful strokes in tennis. While other shots require considerable muscle, tendon and ligament use, the serve may ask the most of your body because of its dependence on rotator cuff muscles to accelerate and slow the arm. Performing this motion hundreds of times during a singles match, even slightly wrong, can lead to pain and long-term injury.
The Kinetic Chain
The order in which you use different body parts to hit a tennis shot creates a kinetic chain of events that contributes to power generation. Power generation starts when you bend your knees downward and continues as you rotate your trunk backward, uncoil it forward, push upward with your legs and move your arm forward. If you use improper form, such as not bending your knees or rotating your trunk enough, you call on your shoulder, arm and elbow to do more work than they should. One cause of shoulder pain in tennis players comes from a lack of coordination of all of the parts of the kinetic chain and too little use of the legs, hip and trunk. Work with a teaching pro versed in biomechanics to help you see where you can improve your serve mechanics to decrease stress on your shoulder.
Throwing Motion
Sports use general movements to perform specific skills. For example, athletes use the general sport skill of throwing to pitch baseballs, pass footballs, throw javelins and serve tennis balls. If you do not have a proper throwing motion, you can strain your shoulder. The two common throwing motions are the overhead and sidearm motions. For tennis servers, a sidearm serve may relieve shoulder pain, according to tennis researcher Vic Braden. Braden recommends your ball toss goes no higher than the tip of your outstretched racket and slightly to the outside of your right shoulder, if you are a right-hander.
Forward Toss
If you do not toss the ball far enough in front of you, you are able to use less of your body to generate power for your serve, putting more stress on your shoulder. Toss several balls using your serving motion, then let them fall to the ground before you hit them. If they land on the baseline or behind, you may be putting too much stress on your shoulder. Toss your balls so that they land at least 1 to 2 feet into the court. You should have to move forward to hit your serve.
Side Toss
Another tossing problem that puts stress on the shoulder is tossing the ball too far inside your serving shoulder. Toss several balls using your serving motion, then let them fall to the ground before you hit them. If you are a right-hander and your balls land to the left of your feet, you may be tossing your balls too far inside the shoulder, preventing your hips and shoulder from moving forward, naturally. This means you have to use more arm and shoulder effort to generate power. Practice tossing balls until they land more in line with your right foot than your left foot.
References
- Oxnard Tennis Center; Breaking the Myth: Toss the Ball High on the Serve to Gain More Time to Strike the Ball; Vic Braden; February 2001
- British Journal of Sports Medicine; Shoulder Injuries in Tennis Players; H. van der Hoeven, W.B. Kibler; 2006
- British Journal of Sports Medicine; Biomechanics and Tennis; Dr. Bruce Elliot; December 10, 2005
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