THE | DIET DETECTIVE^®

 Tennis expert Vic Braden has the scoop on your toughest court questions.

Vic's Answer: We have done exhaustive studies on Pete Sampras's serve. Arthur Ashe and Jack Kramer served their slice with a larger angle off the court, but their slice serve did not have the same speed as Pete's. However, in all cases, contrary to popular belief, the forearm pronated. Ashe was stunned when he reviewed the film at 1,000 frames per second. The concept of coming around the ball is one that might help the server contact the ball on the appropriate spot for a slice, but it's done with pronation. If someone has a film of a player supinating, I sure would like to see it.

Go through the action very slowly, and I think you will see it more clearly. When your racquet is approaching the ball, the racquet head is on edge. The forearm must pronate to get the racquet into position for a hit. The pronation can't make a 90-degree turn as it would for a flat hit. In most cases, the pronation places the racquet close to a 45-degree turn and the ball is struck moving horizontally left to right (for a right hander). This means the ball will be struck more to the right side of center than a flat serve. Both Kramer and Ashe were certain they came around the ball, but I have done a ton of slice serves and the pronation is even further to the right than a flat serve.

The reason is that the racket is traveling more on a horizontal plane moving left to right and the force of the pronation is so great that it can't be stopped to effect a curved swing around the ball. To make matters worse, wherever the ball is struck, there are no further points of contact, as the ball leaves the racquet on a serve in 4 or 5 milliseconds. When Ashe saw the high-speed (super-slow motion) film, he was the only player in the study who admitted he had been wrong in analyzing the path of the racquet and forearm. That's one of the reasons his name is on the U.S. Open's main stadium in Flushing Meadows.

Question: I would like to try out for the tennis team next year (I'm in seventh grade), but I'm just starting to play. I have all the summer to practice. What advice do you have and what does a coach usually look for in a tennis player?

Vic's Answer: There's no doubt you can do some great things during a summer to get ready. If you know what a good stroke looks like, you can literally have it perfected by the end of the summer. It normally takes about eight weeks to make a permanent change in a stroke pattern, if you really work at it and want to make the change. A coach is always looking for someone with potential. There's no better way to impress a coach than to show up with sound strokes and a real desire to play and learn. You can go to your library and find my new book, Tennis 2000, and it will show you the flight pattern of excellent strokes. Good luck!