Due to old injuries I have very limited motion in my playing hand wrist.   It is limited in forward- backward motion (slapping the ball), up-down motion (adding topspin to loop), and rotation (being able to set a blade angle open or closed).   I would estimate that I have 20-30% of the normal range of motion in any of these directions.  At the end of the range of motion I experience fairly strong pain, so I try to not even use the full amount of motion possible.

This limits my technique on lots of strokes, but it is particularly limiting on my serves.  Fh pendulum serves (both normal and reverse) are low in spin and it is difficult to disguise topspin from underspin since I can not move the racket in the complete semi-circular motion described in most instructions. Bh pendulum serves are a little better since I can substitute straightening the forearm (unbending at the elbow) for some of the wrist action. 

So my question is which of the various serving styles should be the most effective in terms of spin and disguise with a very limited amount of wrist action.

Mark

Mark,

I don't think range of motion is as critical as timing for the issue that you are talking about.  You will struggle with deception as it is harder to deceive better players with larger motions.  That said, I don't see why you can't get a good backspin no spin combination as a start.  I think having one will set the table for what you can or cannot do and what grip you should serve with primarily.

Ringer84 wrote: Mark, Have you seen the reverse pendulum serve series at TTedge? That serve utilizes a super short wrist action which could potentially be an option for you.

I can not even get close to getting my wrist in the fully bent position at the end of the backswing that Brett demos.  That limits my ability to generate both top and under variations with any kind of deception.  In addition I estimate that my total range of motion is only about half of that used by Brett in his demo.  With so little motion available it is difficult to get any speed up without driving the wrist to the end of its range of motion and having fairly strong pain.

Brett does do it with much less range of wrist travel than I had thought was required.  So maybe there is some work around for me.  I will try to get some video to Brett and see what he thinks.

Thanks.

Mark 

I'd actually suggest experimenting with a forehand hook serve (a la Par Gerell or Anton Kallberg, without hiding the ball of course ).  Much like the backhand serve, I think you can do most of the work on the hook serve with less wrist and more forearm movement.