Novak Djokovic – Solid Service 3.0
The Serbian tennis hero Novak Djokovic (*1987 / SRB) is, after a fantastic 2nd half of 2018, in my personal opinion, well-deserved firmly back on the tennis throne and successfully claiming the position as one of the very best players in the history of the Open era of tennis. Novak is then not the genius artist like Roger Federer nor the player with a sheer endless power like Rafael Nadal, he is just a very smart highly consistent fighter with a very solidly brushed technique and almost perfectly controlled strokes.
Novak’s service is usually not making the biggest headlines, but since he found back to a good service rhythm while returning to a bit longer take-back during the spring and mainly summer of 2018, he can rely on it quite well again. His highly solid 1st service fulfills very well all the requirements of a great Service 3.0 with a helix form and builds together with very solid spin varieties, which he can use in both 1st and 2nd service, one of the essential elements of his tremendous and well-deserved success. The statistics behind Novak’s service speak about its quality. His 1st service percentage over the entire touring career is 65% of which he won 73% of the points. He also won over 55% of his 2nd service points. While doing so, he won 67% of his serving points and 86% of the serving games!
On the photos below, I am showing Novak’s service during three Grand Slams in 2018. The main deciding elements making this service to what it is are well visible here:
Novak Djokovic (*87 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 1 of 11 – concentration/ritual 1 – comfortable platform stance – 2018 French Open – Paris / France – June 2018
Novak Djokovic (*87 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 2 of 11 – concentration/ritual 2 – Novak is known for a very long and precise ritual with many ball bounces – 2018 French Open – Paris / France – June 2018
Novak Djokovic (*87 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 3 of 11 – toss – the ball is being released well above shoulder level, the racket take-back is delayed – 2018 French Open – France / Paris – June 2018
Novak Djokovic (*87 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 4 of 11 – take-back / loading 1 – tossing (left) arm remains very controlled after the ball release – 2018 French Open – Paris / France – June 2018
Novak Djokovic (*87 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 5 of 11 – loading 2 – a relatively higher toss gives Novak the chance for a very calm and controlled take-back and a very significant loading/pretention build-up – 2018 French Open – Paris / France – June 2018
Novak Djokovic (*87 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 6 of 11 – loading 3 – 2018 French Open – Paris / France – June 2018
Novak Djokovic (*87 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 7 of 11 – push-off – from a platform stance, the right foot tip is sliding slightly to the front – 2018 French Open – Paris / France – June 2018
Novak Djokovic (*87 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 8 of 11 – acceleration against the ball – high elbow, good glenohumeral angle, perfect observation of the impact zone, well-controlled tossing (left) arm – 2018 French Open – Paris / France – June 2018
Novak Djokovic (*87 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 9 of 11 – follow through 1 – perfect body energy unloading into the targeted long-axis pronation of a helix form, very compact – 2018 French Open – Paris / France – June 2018
Novak Djokovic (*87 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 10 of 11 – landing 1 / follow through 2 aka relaxation, most of the energy was spent during the previous part of the action already – 2018 French Open – Paris / France – June 2018
Novak Djokovic (*87 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 11 of 11 – landing 2 – the racket is already coming to the front again, a perfect focus at the action of the opponent – 2018 French Open – Paris / France – June 2018
Novak Djokovic (*1987 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 1 of 2 – toss / take-back – delayed abbreviated take-back, but longer now than at the beginning of 2018, right after the return to the tour, providing enough coiling again, perfectly controlled tossing (left) arm – 2018 Wimbledon Championships – London / Great Britain – July 2018
Novak Djokovic (*1987 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 2 of 2 – impact – very solid reach and integration of the body energy – 2018 Wimbledon Championships – London / Great Britain – July 2018
Novak Djokovic (*1987 / SRB) – Spin service 3.0 in a match – 1 of 2 – toss in a very balanced position – 2018 Wimbledon Championships – London / Great Britain – July 2018
Novak Djokovic (*1987 / SRB) – Spin service 3.0 in a match – 2 of 2 – follow through 1 = targeted long-axis pronation of a helix form – end – excellent body energy integration – 2018 Wimbledon Championships – London / Great Britain – July 2018
Novak Djokovic (*1987 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 1 of 2 – toss – very balanced and controlled – 2018 Wimbledon Championships – London / Great Britain – July 2018
Novak Djokovic (*1987 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a match – 2 of 2 – follow through 1 – targeted long-axis pronation with a helix form – perfect body energy integration – 2018 Wimbledon Championships – London / Great Britain – July 2018
Novak Djokovic (*1987 / SRB) – 1st service 3.0 in a practice – 1 of 1 – acceleration towards the impact – high elbow position, perfect eye control of the impact zone and good control of the tossing (left) arm are some of the decisive qualities shown here – 2018 US Open – New York / USA – September 2018
This article covers certain aspects of Novak Djokovic’s service and service in general only! Further extensive photo galleries and more distinct details about his service and other strokes as well as about the strokes of other players are available upon a qualified request at drmgb11(at)gmail.com. Some significant details of this kind, necessary for the peak performance in modern tennis as well as for a sustainable tennis training/development in general, are being discussed also in the seminar “TENNIS 3.0 – Future of the Game”, which is available worldwide upon request – www.tennis30.com / www.tennis30.cz
Photos (June 2018, July 2018 & September 2018) & text (December 2018) copyright by Dr. Martin G. Baroch. Any further publication of either any of the photos and/or texts with the explicit written permission issued by the author/copyright owner only!! All instruction provided reflects just the personal opinion of the author and neither the author nor the CPTA accepts any responsibility for potential damages, direct or implied, of any kind!!
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