Why Your Serve Is Getting Worse — And It Has Nothing to Do With Your Arm I John Craig

If your serve has quietly gotten shorter, slower, and less reliable over the last few years, you've probably blamed your shoulder, your elbow, or just "getting older." John Craig has coached hundreds of senior players over 40 years and says the real culprit is almost never what you think — and the fixes most players are chasing are making it worse. In this episode, we get into what breaks down first as we age, why stability beats jumping every time, how grip tension is silently killing your racket head speed, and why hunting serve tips on YouTube is basically building a jalopy out of junkyard parts.

 

Key Takeaways:

• Stability over jumping — You lose almost no power by keeping your feet on the ground. What you lose is control when you don't.
• Tension is the silent killer — The death grip doesn't just hurt your speed, it masks every other problem in your serve. Fix this first.
• The racket drop isn't a move — it's a byproduct — Stop trying to manufacture it. Relax, sequence correctly, and it happens on its own.
• The frying pan grip has a ceiling — If you're still serving Eastern forehand, John explains exactly why your serve will never get where you want it — and how to test whether your mobility even allows the transition.
• Quality over buckets — Shadow your serve before you touch a ball, and separate technical work from target practice. Hitting 250 balls with the wrong pattern just grooves the wrong pattern 250 times.

 

Contact John Craig:

https://performanceplustennis.com/john-craig-director/

http://www.youtube.com/@PerformancePlusTennis

 

#tennistips #tennistrategy #seniortennis #tennisserve #tennisover50

 

⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:17 What Actually Breaks Down as We Age

03:14 Control Over Power: The Senior Serve Mindset

05:49 Grip Tension: The Silent Serve Killer

07:12 Trophy Position, Racket Drop & Toss Mechanics

11:27 How to Practice Your Serve the Right Way

13:14 The Frying Pan Grip: Can You Actually Make the Switch?

17:20 Fitness, Patience & Stop Building a Jalopy

19:13 What John Is Working On + How to Find Him

21:21 Show Wrap up & Key Takeaways

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