Why this matters: Shelton took down the defending champion in five sets, in a match that finished at 3:33 a.m. — the latest finish in US Open history. The result put an American into the semifinals and guaranteed a first-time champion from this half of the draw. Source: US Open Tennis Championships (official) More from
Ben Shelton vs. Carlos Alcaraz Highlights | 2026 US Open Quarterfinal Read More »
Watch a 140-mph serve and your eye goes straight to the arm. You’re looking at the wrong place. The real engine is two feet lower. Let me ruin a magic trick for you — the good way, the way that makes the next match you watch ten times more fun. When you see a pro
It’s Not the Arm: The Real Reason Pro Serves Are So Fast Read More »
Alcaraz, Federer, Serena, Sampras, Sabalenka — every serve you’ve ever admired passes through the exact same checkpoint. Once you can see it, you’ll never watch a serve the same way again. Here’s a little game I want you to play next time you’re watching tennis. The next time a great server steps up to the
The One Position Every Great Serve Has in Common Read More »
The kick serve is one of the best weapons your child can own. It’s also the serve that asks the most of a growing spine. Here’s how to keep it a weapon — and not a back problem. If you’ve watched your child’s serve develop, you’ve probably seen the moment the kick serve arrives. The
Is the Kick Serve Hurting Your Child’s Back? What Every Tennis Parent Should Know Read More »
You don’t have to know how to teach a serve. You just have to be willing to feed balls, count out loud, and hold up your phone for four weeks. That’s the whole job. Here’s a truth that took me a long time to learn as a coach: most junior serves don’t improve because nobody
The Tennis Dad’s 4-Week Serve Plan: From High School JV to USTA-Ready Read More »
Every coaches’ room has this argument. It’s the wrong argument. Here’s where serve speed actually comes from — and what to coach instead. If you’ve spent any time around tennis coaches, you’ve heard the debate. Foot-up or foot-back. Pinpoint or platform. Somebody swears the pinpoint stance is the only way to get a high contact
Pinpoint or Platform? Why Your Serve Stance Won’t Add Power — and 5 Things That Will Read More »
The serve is built on the court. But the body that survives ten thousand of them is built off it. Here’s a conversation I have with coaching colleagues more often than I’d like. A player’s serve plateaus, or their shoulder starts barking, and the whole fix-it conversation lives inside the swing — the toss, the
The 6-Point Off-Court Plan Behind a Faster, Healthier Serve Read More »
Most coaches diagnose the serve where the problem shows up. The good ones diagnose it upstream, where the problem actually started. Here’s the mistake I made for years, and watch other coaches make every week: a player’s serve breaks down, and we go to work on the broken part. The contact looks late, so we
How to Analyze and Strengthen a Serve, Step by Step, Using the Kovacs 8-Stage Model Read More »
The serve flashes by in about a second. Most of the real action happens in moments the broadcast never names. Here’s where to point your eyes. Here’s the thing about watching tennis on TV: the commentators will tell you the serve was 128 mph, they’ll tell you it caught the line, and then they’ll move
How to Watch Serves Like a Pro: 5 Things the Pros Do That TV Commentators Never Discuss Read More »
If a player’s serve is short, weak, or sore, you’ve probably been watching the swing. Look at the toss instead. Half the serve problems on your court trace back to one bead on the wire — and it’s the second one, not the seventh. Here’s a pattern you’ve seen a hundred times. A player has
The 12 O’Clock Toss Is Costing Your Players Power — and Their Shoulders Read More »