The tennis serve is the most complex stroke in competitive
tennis.32 The complexity of the movement results from
the combination of limb and joint movements required to
summate and transfer forces from the ground up through the
kinetic chain and out into the ball. Effective servers maximally
utilize their entire kinetic chain via the synchronous use of
selective muscle groups, segmental rotations, and coordinated
lower extremity muscle activation (quadriceps, hamstrings, and
hip rotators, internal and external). This lower body–core force
production is then transferred up into the upper body and out
through the racket into the ball. If any of the links in the chain
are not synchronized effectively, the outcome of the serve will
not be optimal.38
The serve has been studied in a similar manner to the
throwing motion in baseball, although some significant
differences do exist between the serving motion and the
throwing motion. These differences include planes of motion,
the nondominant arm tossing the tennis ball, the trajectory of