#1 Serena Williams
Trending
Serena Williams is a powerhouse. John McEnroe once described her serve as the “most important shot in tennis.” Her serve is powerful, no doubt, but it is also incredibly fast. The World No. 1 routinely hits speeds of upto 120mph, hit by the ATP’s fastest servers.
Her serve is strong, aggresisve and as assertive as the player herself, but it is also technically perfect – it’s considered perhaps the most technically sound serve in the business.
She stands close to the centre of the baseline, unlike sister Venus, who stands far behind. Like her sister Venus, however, she prefers a low grip on the racquet, both for backhands and forehands.
Serena starts off with a perfect ball toss. Unlike many other players who will bend at the elbow or the shoulder, leading to a bit of unpredictability with the ball when it is tossed, the No. 1 locks her arm straight – ensuring a smooth, fluid toss and assured motion.
Few players use their bodies as does the younger Williams sister, and Serena angles her body to ensure momentum is perfectly shifted as she directs the ball to the other end of the net. Rather than stand 90 degrees to the baseline as most do, Williams angles herself just before she serves, and gives herself space to angle the racquet upwards once the ball is tossed, helping generate extra racquet speed – making the serve not just powerful, but quick.
In the lead-up to making contact with the ball, Serena rotates her racquet – a rotation that completes itself through to the end of the serve. The downward rotation of that serve is called pronation, and it adds both spin and power to the serve.
From start to finish, Serena is technically sound and powerful on what is perhaps the best serve going, and the intricacy of a movement that in real-time, would take only a few seconds, shows just how much goes into having one of the best serves of all time.
Venus Williams and Father Richard recall one match that 7-time Grand Slam champion "should have won"
