Today, a more refined footwork accompanied two breakthroughs. The first was bending my knees while hitting. This technique produced harder shots and fewer balls into the net. I bent my knees on both forehands and backhands, with massive success, to the point where I could feel stress in my legs.

The second breakthrough on the day was in the serving department. Right from the start I adopted, for the first time, my coach’s advice to use a fluid motion while serving. I had done numerous shadow swings for a fluid serve motion, but never in a game. Today, for the first time, I used a fluid serve motion and it worked massively well. I served numerous, effortless power aces as well as several blazing fast serves that challenged Luke, shown in the following video. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moFqfmols50

At last, I had discovered the secret of serving. Or so it seemed. Upon reviewing the videos, I noticed that my racquet was in the awkward, waiter’s tray position when swinging up to contact. Yet the serves went in with good pace. It made me wonder about how fast the serve would be with a proper racquet drop. (With a proper racquet drop, the racquet swings up by the edge, adding more racquet head speed.)

To view a serve tutorial from a professional, click here: