Novak Djokovic's Perfect Ball Toss

Summary

In this transcript, the speaker discusses the importance of the ball toss in tennis, highlighting Novak Djokovic's evolution and perfection of his serve. The conversation revolves around the intricacies of the ball toss, its impact on serving success, and the journey of Djokovic's serve from its early days to the refined technique that helped him dominate the sport. The speaker also promotes a seven-day serve challenge, encouraging viewers to improve their own serves by focusing on the fundamentals and progressions of the serve, as exemplified by Djokovic's dedication to refining his technique.

Takeaways

• 🎾 The importance of the ball toss in tennis is often overlooked by casual viewers but is crucial for players, as an incorrect toss can lead to a disastrous serve.
• 🏆 Brad Gilbert, a renowned tennis commentator, praised one player's serve as the 'perfect ball toss' on the ATP tour, sparking curiosity and discussion.
• 🤔 The player Gilbert referred to with the perfect ball toss is Novak Djokovic, whose serve has undergone significant evolution and improvement over the years.
• 📈 Djokovic's serve transformation began around 2011, which coincides with his rise to dominance in the tennis world, indicating a strong correlation between serve quality and success.
• 🎥 The video script includes an analysis of Djokovic's serve from 2005 to 2009, highlighting the flaws and changes in his technique.
• 🚀 Djokovic's dedication to improving his serve is evident through his willingness to work on fundamental drills, even in front of others and at the top of his game.
• 🌟 The 'Goldilocks' serve motion is introduced as an ideal target for tennis players, aiming for a toss that is neither too high nor too low.
• 📊 The script compares Djokovic's serve with other players like Alexander Zverev and Bernard Tomic, illustrating the impact of different ball toss styles on serve effectiveness.
• 💡 The importance of practice and progressions is emphasized, with Djokovic's serve evolution serving as an example of the results of consistent, focused training.
• 🏆 The Seven Day Serve Challenge is promoted as a resource for players looking to improve their serve, offering drills, video instruction, and the opportunity for serve analysis.
• 🔥 Novak Djokovic's serve serves as an inspiration for tennis players, showing that even the best can improve by focusing on fundamentals and practicing diligently.

Q & A

What aspect of tennis was Brad Gilbert discussing during the Australian Open?

Brad Gilbert was discussing the importance of the ball toss in tennis serves, specifically mentioning one player's serve that had the perfect ball toss on the ATP tour.

Why is the ball toss so crucial in tennis serves?

The ball toss is crucial because if it goes wrong, it can lead to a disaster, affecting the rest of the serve. It can cause players to miss first serves, result in double faults, and lose power and control over their serves.

Who did Brad Gilbert refer to as having the perfect ball toss on the ATP tour?

Brad Gilbert referred to Novak Djokovic as having the perfect ball toss on the ATP tour.

How has Novak Djokovic's serve evolved over the years?

Novak Djokovic's serve has gone through a significant evolution. It was not always perfect, and there were years where his ball toss technique was not ideal. However, he worked hard on improving it, and by 2011, he had developed a serve that was considered perfect.

What is the 'Goldilocks serve motion' and why is it important?

The 'Goldilocks serve motion' refers to a ball toss that is neither too low nor too high. It is important because it allows the server to load up their body and explode into the serve without having to wait too long or rush the motion, resulting in better control and power.

What are some common issues with ball tosses as seen in the script?

Common issues with ball tosses include tossing the ball too high, which can lead to double faults and deceleration in the serve, and tossing it too low, which can hinder the server's ability to load up their body and execute a powerful serve.

How did Novak Djokovic improve his serve according to the script?

Novak Djokovic improved his serve through dedicated practice and hard work. He went through various drills and even served on his knees to refine his technique. His efforts resulted in a serve that is now considered perfect.

What is the seven-day serve challenge mentioned in the script?

The seven-day serve challenge is a training program designed to help tennis players improve their serves. It includes various drills and progressions that break down different aspects of serving, such as the ball toss, pronation, and achieving higher serve speeds.

What kind of access does signing up for the seven-day serve challenge offer?

Signing up for the seven-day serve challenge offers 48 hours of access to each day's content for free. After signing up, participants are also offered the opportunity to gain lifetime access to the program at a discounted price.

What is the significance of Novak Djokovic's willingness to practice basic drills?

Novak Djokovic's willingness to practice basic drills demonstrates his dedication to improving his serve, even at the highest level of his career. It shows that even the best players engage in fundamental exercises to refine their techniques and overcome weaknesses.

What was the result of Novak Djokovic's hard work on his serve?

As a result of his hard work, Novak Djokovic developed a serve that is now considered perfect by many, including Brad Gilbert. His serve has become a powerful and consistent weapon in his game, contributing significantly to his dominance in tennis.

Outlines

00:00

🎾 The Art of the Perfect Ball Toss

The paragraph discusses the importance of the ball toss in tennis, particularly on the ATP tour. It highlights Brad Gilbert's comment on one player's serve, which he considered to have the perfect ball toss. The speaker agrees after analyzing the slow-motion replay. The paragraph emphasizes that while viewers may not notice the ball toss, it is crucial for players, and a poor toss can lead to a disastrous serve. The speaker also mentions a seven-day serve challenge and a video on improving the ball toss.

05:02

🏆 Novak Djokovic's Evolution of Serve

This section focuses on Novak Djokovic's serve evolution from 2005 to 2019. It points out that Djokovic's serve was not always perfect and underwent significant changes over the years. The speaker notes Djokovic's rise to dominance in 2011, correlating it with his improved serve. The paragraph also compares Djokovic's serve with Alexander Zverev's, highlighting the issues caused by a too-high ball toss and advocating for a 'Goldilocks' serve motion that is neither too low nor too high.

10:04

🤸‍♂️ The Perfect Serve Toss Analysis

The speaker delves into what makes Djokovic's serve toss perfect, emphasizing his years of refinement and hard work. The paragraph describes Djokovic's tossing motion, his use of the off-hand, and the ideal power position he achieves. It also discusses the optimal height and timing of the ball toss, which allows Djokovic to serve efficiently and with power. The speaker admires Djokovic's willingness to work on his serve through drills and progressions, even in front of the world.

15:05

🥇 Seven-Day Serve Challenge and Progression

The final paragraph promotes the seven-day serve challenge, a program designed to improve tennis serves through a series of drills and progressions. The speaker shares Djokovic's struggle with serve drills, illustrating the value of practice and progression. The challenge includes exercises for various aspects of serving, such as toss improvement, hitting serves over 100 miles per hour, and mastering different serve types. The speaker encourages signing up for the challenge, offering lifetime access and the opportunity to have one's serve analyzed and potentially win cash prizes.

Keywords

💡Ball Toss

The ball toss is a critical component of a tennis serve, where the player throws the ball up before hitting it with the racket. In the video, it is emphasized that a perfect ball toss is essential for a successful serve, and the discussion revolves around analyzing Novak Djokovic's ball toss, which is considered the 'perfect' by expert Brad Gilbert.

💡Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic is a professional tennis player who is highlighted in the video for his 'perfect ball toss'. His serve has evolved over the years, and the video provides an analysis of this evolution, showing how he went from having a less-than-ideal serve to perfecting it and becoming a dominant force in the sport.

💡Serve Technique

Serve technique refers to the method and mechanics used by a tennis player to serve the ball. It encompasses the entire motion, from the initial stance and backswing to the ball toss and the final hit. The video focuses on the importance of a consistent and effective serve technique, particularly the ball toss aspect.

💡Australian Open

The Australian Open is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, held annually in Melbourne, Australia. It is a prestigious event where top tennis players compete. In the video, the speaker mentions watching the Australian Open and discussing the serve techniques of players in the context of the tournament.

💡Brad Gilbert

Brad Gilbert is a former professional tennis player and current tennis commentator and coach. In the video, he is credited with the remark about a player having the 'perfect ball toss' on the ATP tour, which is later revealed to be about Novak Djokovic.

💡Seven-Day Serve Challenge

The Seven-Day Serve Challenge appears to be a training program or series of drills aimed at improving tennis players' serve techniques over the course of seven days. It includes various exercises and progressions designed to refine different aspects of the serve, such as the ball toss, power, and types of serves.

💡Perfect Serve

The term 'perfect serve' refers to an ideal and highly effective serve in tennis, characterized by accuracy, power, and consistency. It is often the result of meticulous technique and practice. In the video, Novak Djokovic's serve is described as reaching this standard, particularly in terms of his ball toss.

💡Double Faults

A double fault is a term in tennis where a player fails to land a serve into the correct service box on two consecutive attempts. This results in the loss of the serve. In the context of the video, the importance of a proper ball toss is emphasized as a way to avoid double faults and maintain serve effectiveness.

💡Serve Motion

Serve motion refers to the entire sequence of movements a tennis player makes when serving the ball. It includes the preparation, the ball toss, and the actual hitting of the ball. The video discusses the 'Goldilocks serve motion,' which is a balanced serve motion that is neither too high nor too low, with Novak Djokovic's serve motion being cited as an example of this ideal technique.

💡Tennis Evolution

Tennis evolution refers to the development and changes in a player's technique or style of play over time. The video script discusses the evolution of Novak Djokovic's serve from 2005 to 2019, highlighting the improvements and adjustments he made to his technique.

Highlights

Brad Gilbert praised one player's serve as having the perfect ball toss on the ATP tour.

The importance of the ball toss in tennis is often overlooked by casual viewers but is crucial for players.

A poor ball toss can lead to a loss of power, control, and an increase in double faults.

The player with the perfect ball toss, according to Brad Gilbert, is Novak Djokovic.

Novak Djokovic's serve has gone through an evolution and was not always perfect.

Djokovic's serve in 2009 had a low and droopy elbow, which was not ideal.

The transformation of Djokovic's serve began around 2011, which coincides with his rise to dominance in the sport.

Novak Djokovic's ball toss is considered perfect because it reaches its peak at the right moment, allowing for efficient serving.

Djokovic's toss is not too high or too low, but just right for his serving mechanics.

The ball toss should not be too high, as seen with Alexander Zverev's, which can lead to double faults.

Novak Djokovic's serve motion and ball toss are the result of hard work and dedication to improving his craft.

Djokovic has practiced serving on his knees and other drills to refine his technique.

The seven-day serve challenge is designed to help players improve their serve through a series of drills and progressions.

Novak Djokovic's serve evolution serves as an example that even the best players must work on their technique to achieve perfection.

The video includes a preview of the seven-day serve challenge and encourages viewers to sign up for the upcoming session.

The seven-day serve challenge offers video instruction, analysis of serves, and opportunities to win cash prizes.

The importance of the ball toss is emphasized, and the video provides analysis on how to improve it through specific drills.

The video concludes with a tease for an upcoming analysis preview and prediction of an Australian Open match between Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev.

Transcripts

hey so uh i was watching the australian

open the other day

and brad gilbert was remarking on this

one player serve saying that it was the

perfect ball toss on the atp

tour and i was looking at the toss they

showed it in slow motion

back and forth and i looked at i thought

you know what i gotta agree that is

absolutely the perfect ball toss

and not a lot of people when you're

watching

the sport of tennis on tv really remark

about the ball toss

and how important it is but everybody

that plays

tennis knows how important the ball toss

is that

you know that ball toss does not go

right

it turns into a disaster right

everything else falls apart

this one you can miss so many first and

unfortunately second service throw in a

lot of double faults

you lose power of the toss it's not

there you lose control

all kinds of things go wrong you know so

much of the serve

is set up by the ball toss and also if

you're not

watching uh tennis or playing tennis

that much and you just hear about a ball

toss you you would think

well that's easy you just throw the ball

up and hit it like how hard can it be

but when you play tennis and especially

when you put nerves in there and if you

have some things that are not

technically perfect

about your serve the ball toss can

again be very difficult to execute i'm

getting ready to do right here i'm going

to put this up here actually

we're getting ready to do a seven day

serve challenge

and so if you haven't signed up yet if

you're watching this video you haven't

signed up yet definitely go sign up

because we're starting

on um monday and on tuesday

we're actually gonna have a a uh video

on the 10 minute fix for the ball toss

so you want to make sure that you go

through that

all those exercises but anyway i wanted

to come on

if you if you can guess who do you think

it is who do you think

brad gilbert was talking about when he

said that this player had the perfect

ball toss any guesses out there before i

reveal it

uh and let's get right into it i don't

wanna i don't wanna waste i don't wanna

waste any time because i wanna actually

do a lot of

analysis and share my screen so brad

gilbert said

the player with the perfect ball toss

was

novak djokovic so we're gonna share the

screen

right now and get into this lesson for

you

and the thing that really excited me

about this

for uh people who play tennis

was that novak serve has gone through

quite an evolution

and was not always perfect and in fact

what we're going to do

is we're just going to start them out

from i think this starts out let's see

what year it starts out at

so this is the evolution of novak's

ball toss let's just take a look at it

hopefully it's playing

well for you guys long introduction here

all right novak djokovic 2005-2019 we're

probably not going to go all the way to

2019

we'll go as long as we're learning

something so here he is 2005.

not a bad serve kind of flowing there

okay

then 2006

2007. one thing i want you to notice

this is 2007 was the first year i'm

going that doesn't look great

2008 something's going on

watch 2009 okay 2009

i'm starting to think it's not like he

had a bad ball toss in 2009 but

for you as a recreational player

what i want you to know is that you know

tennis is a journey and novak now i

i think he's got the the perfect serve

technique just not the perfect ball toss

technique

and this is a player on the professional

tour

i think at the time he was number three

in the world who clearly

look at look at how his elbow is so low

and droopy here

and he almost serves it in look at that

he almost serves it in like he's hitting

a hook shot

in basketball or something so

his serve for a while went through some

different transformations and

some were better than others and and

like i would say that one was just bad

let's let's see if it's the same thing

in 2010 this is a year later

let's see if he's changed yet or if it's

still the same yeah

again it's getting almost more

pronounced

and worse really really weird to see

novak

uh was such an unorthodox serve

on the professional tour let's see what

year this is kind of

um peaking my curiosity now to see how

many years he had this really really

awkward looking serve and what year he

started to change it

so here he is and now all of a sudden

look at that

and this is what an interesting thing

guys

and i swear i did not plan this watch

this

what a big deal to serve is do you guys

remember

when did novak really start to dominate

i would say it was a brown that 2011 and

on year novak started to dominate

roger and uh nadal and became number one

in the world

and look how much he went to work on his

serve

look at that that's completely different

do you guys see what i'm talking about

that's completely different than it was

in the year before and the year before

that so he really cleaned up his serve

he really went to work that took a lot

of work

no one could just tell him to look like

that he knows what a good serve looks

like and what he doesn't

he somehow i don't know how the coaches

let it happen especially when he didn't

start off with this

but somehow somebody let it happen to

where he developed this

weird weird serve motion

and i don't know who it was i would love

to know

who should get the credit for this but

at some point

they must have had a long talk him and

him and his coach or maybe novak just

came to his coach and said you know what

my serve i'm watching all the pros on

the tour

my serve's got problems and he went to

work

and uh now we know he has the perfect

uh serve motion besides is the perfect

toss and his service really really

improved in fact

you see how i got the australian open

hat

i was there on rod laver arena last year

fourth row watch them play ronich and i

was thinking man this guy's serve is

awesome like it's he's just not thrown

in there it's a perfect serve

so let's take a look at what the perfect

serve toss

is not here we have somebody alexander

zarev

who has a decent serve motion

but i would say his serve toss is the

reason

why one of the biggest reasons

why he throws in so many double faults

and probably why he decelerates on a

serve so

you want to develop something i call the

goldilocks serve motion

and uh it's a toss it's not too low and

it's not too high alexander rev's toss

is too high watch how high that thing

goes

right there look how much higher that is

than he is look out

he's a big dude look how tall that thing

is

it looks like it could be you know one

almost two alexander's or revs above his

head and alexandre revis

uh i think he's six foot six or

something like that or maybe even taller

i don't know but look

and and so now see how far that had to

drop

and then that went long okay let's turn

down the volume

what's let's oh that was his double

fault see that would end up being a

double fault

okay so that that toss right there

going up so high and having to wait

so long is causing a double

fault just like we talked about that

toss if it's off

especially when you're nervous can make

you hit double fault so that's a

that's a toss that's too high

so you're throwing it up there too high

you're doing that now

i think you can also toss the ball too

low

i and you might be thinking well pete

what would you rather have a toss it's

too high or too low i guess i'd rather

have it too low

and that lesson can go wrong but then it

forces you to maybe

speed up at such an uncomfortable rate

and plus you can't

load your body up as much to really get

all the juices the

perfect kinetic chain out of your serve

so this is bernard atomic and i think

he's got the opposite problem he throws

it up there it's pretty efficient

you know but the ball doesn't really

drop and then he's hitting it so he hits

it

almost on the way up what i love about

novak's toss let's get into

novak's toss let's really take a look at

that

i think we might have lost his screen

please don't tell me we lost the screen

okay good

please play for us sometimes when i go

live the videos start to not especially

the more videos i

play doesn't play well so i knew i was

taking a little bit of a risk here

and it's coming to bite me hopefully

hopefully the video will play here in a

second

okay cool here we go

so novak's toss you can't see it right

there but it's basically reaches

its peak and then he's ready to hit it

so i know

let's let me find the per oh this one

this is a good one

okay so we're going to blow this up

and take a look at the serve toss we're

going to slow it down

why why did brad gilbert say that

novak's got the perfect

serve toss let's take a look at it

so he's playing grigor dimitrov looks

like they're on the other side

and this is novak years and years of

working on his craft

he's got a flow toss what i would say

too like his arm flows up there

look besides the ball besides watching

the ball

look at how much he uses that off hand

he gets himself in what i like to call

a deep tilt see his shoulders are in

alignment but his

his his elbow almost appears to be

drooping down but it's

not that's because he's got himself in a

deep tilt and he's got himself in this

perfect

l power position before he goes into

something i call the secret power source

but it's all being set up by this

beautiful tossing motion with his arm

the toss goes up now it reaches its peak

and no back jumping it's probably

you know just maybe a racket length

above where he's going to hit it so it's

not going to drop that much so

it's high enough to where he can really

load up his body and explode into the

serve

but it's low enough to where he doesn't

have to wait forever and a day to where

he all of a sudden starts thinking about

it

and if the wind's there the wind can

blow it around

it's in the perfect spot it's also

in the perfect window of opportunity to

where his throwing motion

can really be used here so you can see

it's not right over his head like a lot

of people think it is

it's a little bit off to the side so he

can basically

use his throwing motion right through

the hitting window

and then go up and the ball

drops a bit and now he's hitting at the

apex and uh he's bringing in

the slice serve here he's slicing this

one out wide let's see if it

let's see if it fooled anything let's

see if it got griegor if grigor was on

this one

yeah so he's stretching so so novak oh

he's gonna put it back and play pretty

deep but novak got a pretty good look

at the first ball to go the open court

and a nice little one-two punch so he

should be controlling the point from

here on out

so that's what i love about novak

ball toss is not only is a perfect

and we're going to stop sharing the

screen here

but he earned it that's what i love

about it he earned

his ball toss he worked hard on it it

didn't come

easy it didn't come natural uh there's

there's videos of novak

you know going through all kinds of

drills where you see him sometimes

serving on his knee and he was having a

lot of trouble doing that

like um you know let me see as i'm even

talking to you guys if i can find that

and i'll share that

but the guy has worked really really

hard on his serve

and he didn't always have a perfect

serve so that's the whole idea

why i'm doing the uh seven day serve

obsession challenge so we get obsessed

about our serve

and and we can get better

uh and novak's a great example because

he didn't always have the perfect serve

he had to work on it and now

it's absolute perfections novak serving

on

his knees let me see if i can

find this video that would be great

oh yeah cool i found it guys watch this

uh i'm gonna blow this gonna bring this

up he's with todd martin

2010 maybe maybe todd martin i'll share

the screen here in a second the video's

not plain yet i don't want i don't want

you to waste any of your time

but uh one thing that's kind of cool

remember i said 2011

he had the perfect serve and this is

when he started to dominate

on the tour and so this started to

happen in 2011

and you know that he just didn't get

that

in one outing right he had to work on it

he had to really go to work on a serve

so maybe

todd martin had an amazing serve by the

way maybe todd martin

should get a lot of credit for novak uh

improving his serve and getting rid of a

lot of the crazy

junk that he had so i'm just gonna come

here

and share the screen again just so you

guys can see

and and that's another thing i love

about this

is that in my uh seven day serve

challenge is i have a lot of

progressions you know a lot of simple

progressions that you're thinking

well i'm not a baby anymore you know why

are you having me do this or having me

do that

look this is a professional look at look

at

todd martin here by the way he just

makes that look easy

and and you're watching novak's gonna

try it you're gonna see him struggle

um but that's what pros are willing to

do who want to get good they're willing

to do

the simple things they're willing to do

progressions they're willing to break

down their serve that's how you get a

really good serve

you don't get a really good serve by

going out there and practicing just

bucket after bucket of serves

that's a good thing to do but if you're

serving the wrong way it just reinforces

bad habits

and you can see here that novak is

struggling

you can see look he loses his balance he

barely he barely can do it

uh there's another one where he where

he's falling over but they're just going

to work

he's got a this is this could be

embarrassing too so

well think about this look how many

people are watching novak right now

working on a serve and he's willing to

go out in front

of the world one of the best players

in the history of tennis he's willing to

go out in front of everybody get on his

hands and knees

and do an elementary serve drill and you

know what

look at that that ball clearly didn't

even make it to the net he's struggling

to do it

he's looking bad i know at one point i

don't know if we're gonna see it but i

know at one point

he actually falls over and and basically

has to catch himself with his arms

because he he had a tough time doing

this drill

so that goes to show

that you know novak can break down a

servant and do the simple things and

really go to work on a serve

you can too that's why i made the seven

day serve challenge because we do

a bunch of drills where we break

everything down like i said on tuesday

we're talking about the toss in this

drill

on tuesday we go through a 10 minute

toss fix

so we're working on fixing our toss

we work on pronation another day we work

on

uh learning how to hit a serve over 100

miles an hour or

you know yeah i mean if you have a

server that's like 85 90 miles an hour

and you can't break 100 i think you

could break 100 after you go through the

seven day serve challenge

if you are in the 50s or 60s well you

could probably learn how to add 10 or 15

miles an hour to your serve

we go through powerhouse serving we go

through the how to hit a better slicer

how to hit a better kick serve

and we break the serve down into

progressions like this

so if that sounds good to you make sure

you go to we'll watch this last serve

from novak

make sure you go to

sevendayservchallenge.com before

monday i'm talking about this on

saturday

so make sure you go there before monday

and you

you sign yourself up because you're

gonna love it

you can send me videos of your serve and

i can analyze it

um we do a whole bunch of cool things

you can win

cash prizes it's it's really great so

you get your video instruction

you can also pick up you get you can do

it for free you sign up for free

but if you decide that you want um

longer access

when you sign up for free you get 48

hours access to each day you decide you

want to own it for life

you basically on the page after you sign

up will offer you

lifetime action lifetime access

for the lowest possible price so pay

attention to the next page when you sign

up because i give you the lowest offer

that you're going to get

and that's it and i can't wait to see

you and hopefully you'll do it because i

i think it's going to be a lot of fun

and uh i hope you enjoyed this serve

analysis video

and good luck watching well good luck

with the seven-day serve challenge but

have fun i meant to say

watching the finals of the australian

open novak djokovic

and daniel mevadev i'll be back later

today with my

uh analysis preview slash prediction of

that match i think it's going to be

awesome

you guys take care