A
s tennis players, we all want to
put more power behind our
serves. Who wouldn't want to
overpower opponents like Andy Roddick
or Venus Williams? To add some MPH to
your serves, there are a few steps you
can take. Mitch Bridge from the Jackson-
Bridge Tennis Academy at Los Cab of-
fered us his top tips for hitting it harder.
EXPLORE YOUR THROWING ARM
One of the best things you can do is
to throw a baseball or football, and tie
the throwing motion into your serving
motion – if you do them well, they're ba-
sically the same. "I have a football in my
bag and often play catch with kids to
strengthen their shoulders," Bridge said.
EMBRACE BRUTE FORCE
Throwing helps you learn to make the
movement of serving forceful rather than
smooth. It's not really a swing arc; it's
more of a violent throwing motion.
"People have the misperception that
being tall and having a powerful serve
go together," he said. "The tall players
are famous for their serving because of
their height, whereas shorter players
serve just as hard as the giants." You can
serve hard without a lot of size because
it's all about that shoulder movement.
GET A GRIP
One of the things Bridge does with his
students is to give them his racket in ad-
dition to their own. "They put the two
together and hold onto the handles in an
extreme backhand grip, and then go
through a long, fluid, non-stop service
swing," he said. "The weight of the two
rackets creates a fluidity in the stroke
and also develops shoulder strength."
BUILDING STRENGTH
Exercising with stretching bands
strengthens your serving shoulder –
and when you want to be effective in a
match, you must be trained to hit the
ball with more power. So in practice,
there's something to be said for consis-
tently swinging faster and stronger.
"Over time, it builds strength and
allows you to add power," Bridge said.
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> VISIT jacksonbridgetennis.com.
TENNIS COACH
MITCH BRIDGE
OFFERS KEYS
TO HITTING
POWERFUL
SERVES
TENNIS TIPS
JUNE 2019
❘
LOS CAB LIFE
❘
3
POWER
UP!
