February 1994
Stroke of the Year
The Pete Sampras Serve
By Tim Gullikson & Tony Trabert, Instruction Editors, with Alexander McNab
Between The Lines/Lesson from the best
If you consider our instruction pages a classroom, you could say that we have the best faculty around. That's what Senior Instruction Editor Alexander McNab told me as he was preparing the instruction stories that appear in this issue. Alex served as editor of this magazine from 1987 to 1990, then embarked on a freelance career. Last May, we were delighted when he agreed to come back to TENNIS to supervise our instruction coverage -- a task that he clearly enjoys. Take, for example, his work on "The Pete Sampras Serve," which starts on page 39.
"On the first day I rejoined TENNIS, Staff Photographer Dom Furore and I discussed how great it would be to get shots of Pete Sampras' serve from three different angles, similar to what Dom does with pro golfers for our sister publication, Golf Digest," Alex said. The photo shoot took place at Saddlebrook Resort in Florida. "Pete was great to work with," said Alex. Sampras' serve is our Stroke of the Year, and we chose the world No. 1 as our Player of the Year (page 22), the first time we've ever picked one.
Instruction Editors Tim Gullikson, who is Sampras' coach, and Tony Trabert, analyze Sampras' serve in our special photo sequences. The rest of our instruction staff -- Vic Braden, Peter Burwash, Chris Evert, Jack Groppel, Jim Loehr, Stan Smith and Dennis Van der Meer -- helped compile "The Pros' Favorite Plays," which begins on page 54. After all, if you're going to learn, why not be taught by the best?
In this Yearbook issue, we also take a look back at 1993 and a look ahead at the '94 pro tours. In our special report, "The Women's Tour Faces Its Future'' (page 28), Senior Editor Susan Fiske and Associate Editor Mark Preston examine the challenges and changes for the women's pro game.
Finally, you've probably already noticed that our pages are bigger, by about 11 percent. We've gone to a wider format, which will allow us to use more and bigger photos while keeping the design fresh and clean. We hope you like our new look.
-- Peter Francesconi/Managing Editor
Pete Sampras' serve was the signature stroke of the 1993 tennis season.
Consider some statistics. Sampras led the ATP Tour in the four major serve categories: aces (1,011), service games won (90 percent), first-serve points won (82 percent) and break points saved (69 percent). At Wimbledon, he hit 108 aces and averaged 110 miles per hour on his first serve and 97 miles per hour on his second serve. His fastest serve was 123 miles per hour. At the U.S. Open, he hit 83 aces, held serve in 102 of 109 service games and won 277 of 309 points when he got his first serve in. He hit the fastest serve of the tournament, 127 miles per hour.
Yet speed is not the only factor that makes Sampras' serve lethal. His outstanding spin and placement, especially when hitting a wide-breaking slice to the deuce court, keep his opponents off balance. In the U.S. Open final, for example, Sampras aced Cedric Pioline with an 88 mile-per-hour slice second serve out wide in the deuce court, then aced him again two points later with a 123 mile-per-hour heater down the center service line. No returner can cover all of Sampras' options when he is serving well.
On the pages that follow, TENNIS presents an exclusive, three-angle view of the Sampras serve, in sequence photographs analyzed by Instruction Editors Tim Gullikson, Sampras' coach, and Tony Trabert. Sampras posed for Staff Photographer Dom Furore on the grass courts of Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, Fla. We asked Sampras to hit basic flat serves down the center.
By Tim Gullikson, Instruction Editor
Photography By Dom Furore
Start Relaxed
The word I use to describe Pete Sampras' service stance is "Comfortable." He is relaxed and balanced. There's no tension at all. One thing he does that I firmly believe in if you want to serve big is hold the racquet with the bottom of the hand off the handle, the reverse of choking up. His toes-up left foot is a personal idiosyncrasy that you wouldn't want to change.
Turn the shoulders
Although it is a little hard to see from this angle, Sampras' tossing arm already is out to the side. That indicates that he is making a good shoulder turn; he's really getting coiled. Meantime his racquet arm is going back but is still low. A lot of players take the racquet back too quickly and, consequently, take it up too high in the backswing. I'd rather have it low at this stage of the motion. It means he really will accelerate up into the ball.
Toss in front
The toss is going up and forward. In fact, I would prefer to see Sampras toss the ball even farther forward than this; in a match situation, he probably would. The farther in front you toss, the more body weight you get behind the hit, the better start you get to the net if you are serving and volleying and the better wrist snap you get through the ball. Note the good extension of the tossing arm.
Tilt the shoulders
Sampras' shoulder tilt is one of the keys to how well he serves. From this position his racquet is going to to up at a pretty steep angle. That will give him a lot of leverage on the hit. You definitely can hit the ball a lot harder from this position than you could if your shoulders were horizontal. Almost all of his weight is now on the front foot.
Launch up to the ball
Here Sampras' legs have straightened out and he's going up into the air after the ball. He also is going forward. Notice how his elbow is pointing up. A lot of players let the ball drop too low and the elbow comes around more to the side. He is going to generate a tremendous snap from this position.
Extend at impact
It is important to note how fully extended Sampras is at contact. Other players would be in a much lower position. Sampras' head is up and his eyes are glued to the ball. He probably is hitting the ball 2 to 2 1/2 feet in front of the baseline. His lower body now is in front of the line, too, which is really important, because it helps him get upward and forward acceleration through contact. If you toss the ball out in front but hang back with the lower body, more often than not you hit the serve into the net. His long arms, steep swing arc and forward body weight from head to toe give Sampras great leverage as he hits. The result will be a high bouncing serve that's hard for the receiver to handle.
Snap the wrist
Here's the payoff of Sampras' relaxed start. He has generated tremendous wrist snap and forearm pronation, something he could not do if those muscles were not relaxed. The snapping action is where a lot of his power comes from; it is what moves the racquet head through the ball.
To learn pronation, hold the racquet with just your thumb and index finger. As you swing the racquet from the backscratching position up to the contact point, try to square the strings up to the ball. You have to pronate to do it. Because your loose grip doesn't restrict your swing, once you start trying to square the racquet up, it should just keep going that way, and you'll really get the feeling of pronation.
Finish inside the court
Sampras' follow-through is as relaxed as his start. You can have a bad motion and somehow manufacture a follow-through that goes across your body, but Sampras does it naturally as the end result of everything good that has happened before. He finishes inside the court, which you must do to maximize your power. A lot of players hit the ball as hard as Sampras on the first serve, but they don't toss the ball far enough out in front, so they don't get the acceleration and snap he does.
A lesson in power
By Tony Trabert, Instruction Editor
Pete Sampras is the best server in tennis. He has power, variety and, perhaps most important, a better second serve than anyone else. He averages 10.3 aces a match, and if you figure he also averages twice as many service winners, that's 31 free points, almost eight free games -- a huge edge.
Sampras' unique starting position, with his left toes off the ground, means there is almost no weight on his front leg. His feet are spread wide enough so he can transfer his weight forward rather than just sway into the serve. He guides the ball up into the position he wants by completely extending his tossing arm -- a must for an accurate toss. At the same time he starts to shift his weight forward.
While I like the upward and forward thrust from Sampras' knee bend, I personally wouldn't teach you to go up in the air on the serve because it is too difficult to time properly. He gets power from the way he coils and uncoils his hips and shoulders. By the time he hits the ball, his hips and shoulders have rotated, so his arm isn't blocked by his body.
Look how high his elbow is in the backscratch position. The racquet head pointing down indicates he really has cocked his wrist, which is a major power source and the last thing to trigger during the hit. If his elbow were lower, he wouldn't be able to get his racquet down in that position. If you are having difficulty getting pace on your serve, you're probably not getting your elbow up high enough.
At contact Sampras is extended fully and leaning forward inside the baseline. That means the toss was forward, as it should be. If you toss the ball straight up, when you transfer your weight forward the ball is going to be behind you, which means 1) you can't see it and 2) you will make contact with a pulling instead of a hitting motion.
Finally, the finish with the racquet head below the hand shows how well he has snapped his wrist and how fast the racquet head has traveled through the contact zone. He lands inside the court in good balance, so if he wants to go to the net he is en route and if he doesn't, he can just push back to get behind the baseline.