[smarties]

For those who have been to women versus men tourney, Ithink you can see the difference; Men spend at least 45 min practicing their serve while women rarely do; they only practice their groundies and practice their serve only when they do a practice match. IMO, that's why their serve is weaker and you see so many breaks.

The only women player I ever saw really practicing her serve is Shaughnessy, she went to a court by herself with a big bucket of balls and practice for more then 1hour.

 

[Vincent]

Having a weaker serve in women's game doesn't hurt as much as in men's game, maybe this is the reason. But of course, firing an ace down the "T" at 250 km/h would be good to everyone.

 

[TonyP]

Women DO practice their serves. You perhaps just don't notice. I have seen people like Davenport practice and she works on her serve all the time.

 

[Experimentee]

Because serve doesnt matter as much in the womens game, not like the mens where they need to rely on their serves to win all the time.

 

[bandabou]

For some players( Dementieva, Kournikova) it won´t really matter anyway and for some players( Serena, Venus, Lindsay) there´s no need to practice it that much..

 

[controlfreak]

Maybe it's because they spend so much time on their hair and make-up that by the time they get to the court they don't have time to practice their serves!

 

[per4ever]

so that's how Justine's service has improved so much by not practising it!

 

[splat]

I watched Daniela Hantuchova practice the other day and she worked on her serve.

 

[Dava]

Alicia Molik works her serve very hard.

 

[Bella]

Maybe most of them would throw out their arms if they practiced 45 minutes straight on one hard motion and then played the match that day or even a day later. They might get to point where the muscle is less dependable. Maybe during the off weeks they can rest and compensate for long periods of drills by balancing their activities. Just guessing.

 

[RYNJ]

Thats such a stupid question. Of course they practice there serves! OMG

 

[RYNJ]

no offense...

 

[decemberlove]

IMO, that's why their serve is weaker and you see so many breaks.

their serve is weaker cos they are women. the best men will always be better than the best women at the same sport. mens bodies are built to handle a lot of physical stress while a womens isnt.

 

[Bella]

RYNJ: I think smarties was just saying that he/she has been watching practices and noticed the difference. Based on what he saw, he was asking others who have watched at the tournaments if they saw anything different. He noticed that the only serving practice women were doing was during practice matches. It's inevitable that they are serving during a practice match. He has seen them do groundstrokes practice, but not serving practice…except for Megan.

 

[smarties]

Thanx Bella ,at last, someone who understood what I meant. I didn't say that the women didn't practiced their serve but THAT THE VAST MAJORITY don't practice it as much as men. And when I say practice it also includes changing, improving the technique. If women spended more time doing that, you wouldn't see so much breaks and weaks second serves.

 

[TatiAnnahølic]

you can ask Alex Stevenson

 

[Brian Stewart]

I don't think a lack of practice is involved as much as it's a difference in physiology. The fact of the matter is that there are very few players on either tour with optimal service technique. It's just that the male physique allows one to compensate more easily. A man can have a horrible service technique and still hit serves over 120 MPH. In some cases, well over.

Tactics may play a role in it. The women know they aren't going to win with just their serves. They need other things to back it up. And of course, all of the recent changes in the sport have benefitted the return game more. (Bigger, stronger, faster players, lighter racquets, larger sweet spots.)

On the other side of the coin, I was wondering how much time you guys observed them spending practicing their returns?

 

[Gowza]

not so long ago in the womens game the serve wasn't all that big a deal and for a lot of players it was just to start the point off so i wonder whether some of them are stuck in old habits (especially the older players).

 

[F-R-E-A-K]

In Sydney after Dementieva lost her match she went dtr8 oncourt and practiced her serve for around 1hr, didn`t do her any good though.

And ive seen rubin serve to boxes of balls, so that took her around 10-20mins.

I do agree with you, they need to practice it more.