Interactive Forum October 2021: Shapovolov Serve

[John Yandell]

Denis Shapovalov Serve

Denis Shapovalov’s serve looks like a left handed Pete Sampras.

He has more body turn away from the ball than any player on the tour.

Contrast that to the opposite extreme in this month’s Tour Strokes: Jenson Brooksby!

What are your guys thoughts?

[jimlosaltos]

Great video selection.

When I first saw him beat Rafa as a teen he already had an amazing serve.

I recall saying out loud at the TV "He can hit all four corners. He's got that lefty slice and he can hit all four corners."

Toss sometimes goes way wild, way behind his head, but he hits it anyways.

El Shapo's live shoulder sometimes reminds me of Roddick, nothing else about his serve, but the shoulder external rotation.

[doctorhl]

Your selection and analysis of Brooksby as a contrast model to Shap on service motion is great! Shap’s rear leg drive enabling a high and forward contact point sure seems to give an angle advantage to hit the four corners while maintaining speed. Has there ever been any discussion on jumping drills for serve conditioning? Or, is jumping conditioning just a distraction from regular service practice?

[doctorhl]

Trying to learn to jump from platform versus pinpoint stance just to experience the differences helped me to better understand what I was observing as the modern serve developed over the years. My motor memory and leg conditioning never allowed me past a bad version of a Roscoe Tanner jump.

[seano]

I love the video quality of Brooksby's serves

[John Yandell]

Or is that Shapo??

[seano]

Video of Jensen Brooksby from Tour Strokes for October

[John Yandell]

Ah, you snuck in and it does look awesome... Wonder who shot it?

[jeffreycounts]

The difference between Brooksby's upper body rotation and Shapo's is massive:

This is spot on in my opinion: "Compare that to Jensen who starts more or less square to the net and doesn't turn away much if at all. That means less forward rotation of the hips and shoulders into contact."

If you compare him to the gold standard for upper body rotation, the difference is glaring. Brooksby is straight as a tree while Johnny Mac is coiled up like a snake ready to strike. Shapo does the same and rivals Mac. That's A LOT of kinetic energy Jensen is missing out on.

Fantastic footage of Brooksby by the way. Love the saturation and high definition of the clips.
brooksby_shoulders.png

[stotty]

Brooksby is straight as a tree while Johnny Mac is coiled up like a snake ready to strike.

Wonderfully put...

[jeremy93]

Interesting how he sticks his butt back during the load as if he’s squatting which is unlike many great servers that have very close to a straight line from their knees to their shoulders during load. What Shapo has is referred to as an “S” posture in the racquet fit world (not ideal). Maybe Shapo’s stance/body turn influences the butt back look during load. I also found it interesting that he has what seems to be a bit of a “waiters serve.” He also seems to have his racquet far from his body when entering the racquet drop. Nonetheless he does a lot of things really well and has a good serve.