Why tennis players should make the leap
It's leap year day (tomorrow), a bonus day to try out new things. Making the leap count in tennis is good for your game, and on the serve it's the way you can cross the line
MAKE THE LEAPFebruary 29th only comes around every four years and tomorrow is the first time this century it's fallen on a Saturday. Here are some leaps of the tennis imagination to help you celebrate. If you are playing doubles play on the opposite side from usual. Don't worry about the score; just note what happens and how you feel |
Serving must start with both the servers' feet behind the baseline. You cannot start with one foot on the line or, as you try to deliver an ace, step on any part of the line before or while you hit the ball. But you can float above it. So long as your feet are not on the line when you make contact with the ball, you can jump above the line and it does not matter where your feet land afterwards.
Jumping up to the serve is a specialty of the pros (above, Britain's Cameron Norrie). Getting ten to twelve inches in the air when they hit the ball is not uncommon. But lesser (or heavier) mortals may struggle to leave the ground, and if you are in this category, don't worry. The gravity-defying jump is not where the power comes from. People have been taught that bending the knees and loading your weight like a spring is the engine of the serve but it is not true says TopSpeedTennis.com.
The speed comes from separating the upper and lower body as you serve, rotating the shoulders and throwing your arm as you come through the ball.
Above, Kei Nishikori grabbing extra height
So why jump? You get higher clearance over the net, and higher clearance means fewer mistakes. However you serve, make it a soaraway success.