Grigor Dimitrov Serve Analysis- Smooth, Powerful, And Precise!

Summary

In this tennis instructional video, coach John Craig analyzes Grigor Dimitrov's serving technique. He breaks down Dimitrov's rhythm, balance, toss, trophy position, pronation, and contact point, praising his consistency and efficiency. Craig highlights key details like allowing the tossing arm to continue rising after the toss, keeping the non-hitting hand tucked at contact, activating the legs and shoulder rotation together, and maintaining edge alignment through pronation. He compares Dimitrov's slice and flat serves and advises minimizing toss adjustments when placing wide serves. Craig promotes adapting elements of Dimitrov's world-class service motion to improve any player's serve.

Takeaways

• 😀 Grigor starts his serve with his weight forward and back heel up to get into a rhythmic motion
• 😀 He has great lag on his toss and gets into a coiled back trophy position
• 👌 He contacts the ball about 24-28 inches below the toss apex
• ✅ He initiates the serve swing with his legs driving up and left arm pulling away
• 🎾 He hits a flat slice serve for better consistency rather than a flat serve
• 🥎 His pronation is visible even on the slice serve out wide
• 🎯 His contact point is virtually the same for flat down the T and slice out wide serves
• 👍 His left arm tucks across his body as he makes contact
• 🤾‍♂️ His upper arm stays high after contact showing good pronation
• 🙌 Great balance and positioning are key fundamentals emphasized

Q & A

What is Grigor Dimitrov known for in terms of his playing style and technique?

Grigor Dimitrov is known for having a very stylish game and great technique on virtually all shots, similar to Roger Federer's style of play. He is called 'Baby Fed' for this reason.

What are some key elements of Dimitrov's service motion and technique?

Some key elements are: starting with his weight forward, rocking back onto his back foot during the motion, keeping relatively still during the ball toss, achieving great racquet lag and release point, stretching his tossing arm up on release, dropping the ball about 24-28 inches before contact, using his legs and left arm to initiate the swing, contacting the ball out in front with racquet edge, using pronation to put spin on the ball.

What type of serve does Dimitrov typically hit?

Dimitrov typically hits a flat slice serve, which has a flatter trajectory but still some slice spin on it. This allows him to achieve good power and spin while maintaining a high first serve percentage.

What adjustments does Dimitrov make when hitting a wide slice serve versus a T serve?

Very minimal adjustments. The contact point is inside the shoulder for both serves. The wide slice serve contact point is only slightly more to the right by a couple inches compared to the T serve.

What is the function of the left arm during the service motion?

The left arm initiates the upwards and forwards rotation of the shoulders by 'pulling away' from the body. This generates significant power and racquet head speed coming into contact with the ball.

What is the optimal trophy position to load up from prior to initiating the swing?

The optimal trophy position has the shoulders tilted with right shoulder high and left shoulder low, racquet face pointing downwards, weight loaded onto the back foot, and balanced posture.

Why is it important for the tossing arm to continue stretching upwards after the ball is released?

Stretching the tossing arm upwards helps gauge if the ball toss is in the correct position. It also gets the body into an optimal loaded/coiled back position before initiating the upward swing motion.

Why does Dimitrov's left arm lift up slightly after contact with the ball?

His left arm lifts up after contact as a counterbalance measure because his body is falling forwards after contact towards the net. This helps him maintain balance.

Should you pronate on a slice serve?

Yes, pronation should still occur on a slice serve. This enhances control and ensures the proper racquet face angle is maintained through contact to impart the desired spin.

What adjustments does Dimitrov make when serving from the ad court versus the deuce court?

Very minimal adjustments again. His world class technique allows him to repeat the same service motion and contact point regardless of which side he serves from.

Outlines

00:00

💡 Introducing the video on analyzing Grigor Dimitrov's serve

The host John introduces himself and the video, which will analyze Grigor Dimitrov's serve technique. He notes Dimitrov's stylish game and 'Baby Fed' nickname. John promises useful serving tips and a special offer at the end.

05:00

👋 Breaking down Dimitrov's service motion and rhythm

John breaks down key aspects of Dimitrov's service motion: starting with weight forward, rhythmic rocking back, steady tossing, lagging racket, and good release point. He notes that many pros drop the toss lower than amateurs realize, around 24-28 inches.

10:01

🎾 Wrapping up with serving tips and offers

John concludes by summarizing key serving tips from Dimitrov's technique. He invites viewers to post questions, subscribe for more content, and click his service analysis link to improve serves.

Keywords

💡Serve technique

The main theme of the video is analyzing Grigor Dimitrov's serve technique. Aspects like his balance, leg drive, trophy position, pronation, and sequencing are examined as examples of effective serve technique.

💡Trophy position

The loaded position with the racket back, weight shifted, and non-hitting arm tucked that allows optimal conditions to swing up into the serve. Dimitrov demonstrates an excellent trophy position.

💡Pronation

Rotating the forearm during contact to brush up the back of the ball, creating spin. Dimitrov shows strong pronation even on slice serves, contributing to his effectiveness.

💡Leg drive

Using the legs to initiate upward momentum into the serve. The video analyzes how Dimitrov's leg drive helps him reverse his shoulder angle to attack the ball.

💡Sequencing

The precise coordination of movements during the serve motion. The video emphasizes how Dimitrov sequences pulling his left arm away while dropping the racket to maximize power.

💡Toss consistency

Tossing the ball to a consistent ideal height and position to allow for rhythm and timing. Dimitrov shows excellent toss positioning and how to use the toss hand to guide body positioning.

💡Racket drop

Letting the racket drop down while maintaining arm extension in preparation for accelerating up into contact point. The video examines how Dimitrov executes this.

💡Contact point

The location where racket meets ball during serve. Dimitrov makes contact consistently inside the front shoulder for power and control.

💡Flat slice serve

A flatter serve with slight slice spin directed wide in the service box. The video compares Dimitrov's flat and slice serves to show subtle adjustments at contact point.

💡Balance

Maintaining controlled centered posture during the serve motion. Dimitrov demonstrates exceptional balance allowing fluid technique and adjustment to placements.

Highlights

Grigor Dimitrov has great serve technique including weight transfer, rhythm, release point and trophy position.

Good serve toss goes about 24-28 inches above contact point to allow time to get into loaded position.

Trigger the swing by simultaneous leg drive and left arm pull, reversing shoulder angle.

Contact the ball out in front with racket edge leading, then pronate through the hit.

Use a controllable flat slice serve to improve first serve percentage.

Keep racket and arm up through contact with hand lower than elbow.

Pronate and brush up the back of the ball even on a slice serve.

Minimize adjustment in contact point between flat and slice serves.

Release toss with palm facing camera then turn to activate shoulder rotation.

As racket drops, height should match tossing hand signaling timing to pull left arm.

Left arm rises slightly after contact to help balance forward momentum.

Racket face points down in trophy position before swing trigger.

Professional serve analysis can help develop quality serve movements.

Ask questions and subscribe for more serve analysis videos.

Use link to access personal video serve analysis program.

Transcripts

hello everybody John Craig here with

Performance Plus tennis welcome to

today's video we're going to break down

the serve of grigor demitro and you know

there's not a thing about Gregor's game

that I don't like and of course he's

called Baby fed for a reason because his

game is so stylish he's such a great

athlete he's got great technique on

virtually everything including a serve

so let's take a look at his serve but

before we get started just stick around

to the end because I got a special offer

for you that can help you with your

serve as well so let's go ahead and get

started and take a look at Gregor's

serve here and you know when we're

watching him he's he starts with his

weight forward and we can see that his

back heel is in the air and this is just

a great way to get started with a little

bit of Rhythm okay on your serve so his

weight is forward he's going to rock

back and put his back heel down that's

going to get him kind of into a rhythmic

start to have his hands follow him back

he's going to stay really pretty still

here through the tossing phase a little

bit more movement than some players um

but you know perfect release point you

can see that the racket is lagging uh

well behind behind the tossing hand

which is so common in today's modern

serving technique which I really like

and here we are perfect position ball

leaves the hand this is where we've

recck players tend to miss the Mark here

once the ball leaves the hand let the

left arm and the tossing arm for radies

stretch up up up up up and at this point

in time is doing a couple things it's

helping you really recognize whether the

ball is in a good position or not you

can see that you can use your your your

hand and arm as a guideline for whether

the ball's in a good place or not which

is so important but it also stretches

you into a good trophy position gets you

coiled back so he's in a great position

here to make his move on the serve on

the ball and here he comes and when he

makes his move he stop for a second I'm

going to go back up here and this is

another thing that's important that I

like to emphasize and that's the height

of the ball so there's the ball at the

Apex and let's just Advance forward and

see where he makes contact so just about

a contact right there there good let's

is caught there and now if we take a

look at the space between uh the two

lines and we compare that to the racket

even to the hand you know it's it's fair

to say he's dropping the ball about 24

in maybe 28 inches to contact even

though it doesn't look like it because

things happen so quickly so for those of

you who are trying to hit to hit the

ball at the Apex of your toss let's not

do that let's get your ball up so you've

got a little time to get yourself into a

good loaded position as we see grigor do

here and really measure up the ball and

then make a very coordinated movement up

to the ball okay now once he decides to

make his move and he sees the ball there

you're going to see that what's going to

trigger his swing is the movement of the

body and the body movement is going to

be really um really promoted or

triggered by two things the leg drive

that we're seeing here the leg Drive is

going to push up and we're going to see

that left arm is going to pull away and

those two things simultaneously are

going to take him from this 45 degree

angle here and reverse it and you'll see

that happen right right here as we go

pushing up with the legs pulling away

with the left hand tucking the left hand

and now we can see that his angle of his

shoulders is very similar to the

original loaded position but has

reversed so now his right shoulder is

high and his left shoulder is low and

here he comes into contact coming up to

contact we can see that the racket is

beautifully on edge here attacking the

ball and he's going to hit what we call

a flat slice here he's going to hit a

ball that's pretty flat pretty square

but the racket's going to track off to

the right as it hits the ball and you'll

see that the ball has a little bit of a

slice on it and what I recommend you do

if you're struggling with your first

serve percentage is stop hitting flat

serves get some spin on the ball hit

what's called a flat slice that'll

increase your your serving percentage

right away okay so let's go back up and

take a look at it again here he comes on

edge the racket slides across the ball

and off to the right slightly so he hit

what's called a flat slice and not long

after the ball's gone we can see that

the racket is turned over so even though

he's slicing the strings are is still

still turning off to the right because

he's pronating into contact he's

pronating in right here you can see the

rets on edge on edge on edge and then it

turns and the momentum of that turn

right there turns the racket right over

and there look at that pronation wow

beautiful okay and another key thing

here you can see that he really keeps

the arm up and you can see he's really

keeping that shoulder up and that elbow

up the upper arm up so that the hand is

actually lower than the elbow at this

point in time and that's a great

byproduct of of pronation and long AIS

rotation into the ball from the shoulder

so very very good technique okay

beautiful serve okay now one other thing

to mention here is when he makes his

move and pulls his left hand in and away

it's visible right here you can see it's

barely visible but it is right there and

you'll see it actually pull up slightly

as he hits the ball it goes right up

there slightly and he moved up a little

bit so when he's making contact the left

arm is tucked so don't be deceived by

the fact that his left hand is now over

here okay because that's just a

counterbalance move okay so he's falling

forward and that's why the back leg is

kicking up and that's why the left hand

has the left arm has gone back it's a

counterbalance because he's put so much

momentum up and forward into the ball so

this is a natural movement but the key

here really the key takeaway is that

when he's making contact that left hand

is indeed tucked right there

okay so that's a really really good key

thing on the serve that you got to pay

attention to and let's go to the next

frame here and this is a uh a slice out

wide and and we're going to take a look

at this and watch how he places the ball

and he loads up same way everything else

exactly the same watch that he comes on

the ball he cuts the side of it a little

bit more right there and watch this ball

spin off the court look at it spin away

off the court beautiful serve right on

the line off she goes it's gone okay but

the key thing here in this a lot of

people asked this question on the

channel should you pronate on a slice

serve well here he comes on edge again

tacking the ball going across the side

of the ball the pronation is there even

on a slice serve okay and the other

thing we're going to see here in the

next frame because we're going to take a

really good look at this this is a key

thing as well let me see if I can get in

here take a look is we're going to Mark

a couple things the serve on the on the

uh on the right is going to be the one

down the middle and the one on the left

is going to be the slice Out w

so let's take a look here and see the

differences this is amazing actually how

precise he is okay um beautiful

positions for both of them here and then

look at's look at the ball okay let's

look at the ball placement when he makes

contact on the slice out

wide look look where his look where his

contact is inside the shoulder okay it's

the same over here okay it's the same

let get a little bit closer in there

it's barely it's barely any different

okay so he's hitting the um I'm really

having trouble getting this lineup just

right here we go got it look at the one

going down the middle and look at the

one going out wide the difference in the

ball placement is so subtle that the

receiver can't even tell so for those of

you who are really trying to you know

hit a good slice serve out wide this

cord try to learn how to minimize your

your your adjustment and your ball

placement otherwise just giving away

where you're hitting your serve and you

can do it look how beautifully he cuts

this ball and off the cord it goes from

the same or virtually the same position

really really close maybe a couple

inches to the right okay and there's

your pronation again right there okay so

those are a couple key things to really

focus on on the serve um on your serve

when you're slicing don't worry about

placing the ball too far to the right

still get that ball a little bit up

inside your shoulder so that you can

activate that long EX pronation which

will give you the action on the ball

okay finally next up let's take a look

at a serve from the ad court and from

this way you can see a couple things

that I want to point out beautiful

balance beautiful positioning watch how

the left arm is going to pull away here

and let's to do this first see how he

releases the ball and this how his his

hand is actually facing the camera you

can see that but before he makes his

move watch his hand turn away look at

turn away now you can't see the Palm

because the Palm is now facing forward

and that's because he's using the power

in in the arm to really activate the

shoulder rotation which you're going to

see here so let's go back to his trophy

position

here trophy

position beautiful

angle I'm going to get that on the

shoulders because I really want that on

the shoulders racket face is pointing

down this is a perfect position to swing

from perfect power position and here he

goes make his move watch the left arm

pull away and watch it tuck right

there and this sequencing is consistent

with almost every player you'll see that

when the when the racket gets to the

bottom of its drop it almost matches the

height of the hand so look at that the

tossing hand has to pull away in order

to really activate this shoulder over

shoulder action so here we

go tuck that left arm it's up it's going

to come around a semicircle and tuck in

there it is and then watch it slightly

rise slightly it actually Rises slightly

to hold the balance as it comes onto the

ballve see

that perfect that's a perfect position

and look at that angle coming in on edge

perfect turns it over this is a flat

slice down the te hits the T Ball's gone

again okay so work on these technical

elements in this sequencing try to get

yourself into a beautiful balance

leading with the left arm get the ball

up 24 in make sure your racket face is

is not open but your palm is down and

your racket face is down in your trophy

position use your legs to push you as

your left arm pulls away go up and make

that contact let that pronation happen

naturally and you'll be on your way to

having a great serve so thanks so much

for watching today's video um if you

have questions please leave them down

below and leave your comments down below

give us a like if you've enjoyed this

video um and uh subscribe to the channel

if you've not done so already we got a

lot more coming here at Performance Plus

tennis and finally if you'd like to have

me take a look at your serve I would be

happy to do that I have a video analysis

program that I can can offer you and all

you got to do is click on the link down

below to get uh access to my video

analysis program which has helped

thousands of serves all around the world

develop professional quality movements

I'm happy to do that take a look at that

and uh thanks so much for watching

today's video and we'll see you in the

next lesson