Tennis Serve Wrist Snap Illusion and Misconception

One of the most common myths in tennis is that there is a wrist snap when hitting a tennis serve. Even experienced coaches often teach the serve incorrectly by advising tennis players to snap their wrists for more power, but as you will see in this video article, the wrist does not snap at all.

The video above and images taken from it were shot using an iPad Pro 12.9, which can record 240 frames per second. I used the OnForm video analysis app to scrub through the video and show in slow motion what really happens with the wrist on a serve.

The Wrist Position from 4 Angles

The serve was recorded from all 4 angles (both side angles, back view and front view) to give you the best view of the wrist from all angles.

a) Right-side Angle

So let’s take a look at the wrist position a few hundredths of a second after contact from the right-side view.

While this is not an ideal angle for seeing what happens with the wrist, we can see the “broken line” between the arm and the racket in space.

I believe this is one of the main reasons coaches and players believe that there is a wrist snap: they assume it is the wrist that angles the racket head downward. But this is just a visual illusion.

When you observe the forearm and the wrist closely, you can see that there is no wrist flexion or extension (which is how a wrist snap would be described anatomically). You’ll see this even more clearly in the images below.

What causes the hand and the racket head to orient downward are the internal shoulder rotation and forearm pronation.

b) Back View

When we observe the arm and wrist of a tennis serve from the back view just after contact, we can see that there is a flat, straight line along the wrist, which clearly shows us that the wrist is not snapping (bending).

The wrist is stable through contact, and as mentioned above, it’s the internal shoulder rotation and the pronation that create the illusion of the wrist snap because the racket head angles downward in relation to the arm.

c) Left-side View

Looking at the wrist from the left-side view, we can again see that there is no flexion of the wrist, which would suggest that the wrist is not snapping.

We can see that the wrist is nicely aligned with the forearm and holding its position even after contact.

This means that there was no flexion (wrist snap), which would somehow help accelerate the racket head and give the player more power during contact.

Even if we were to detect wrist flexion at this point, it would be useless, as the ball has already left the racket.

d) Front View

Looking at the serve from the front view gives us another interesting and revealing perspective of what happens with the wrist at contact and immediately after.

As you can see, the wrist is firm and aligned with the forearm at contact. There could be a possibility that the wrist was snapping through contact, but we just managed to freeze the frame exactly when the wrist happened to be aligned with the forearm.

However, if the wrist were snapping during contact then we should start to see flexion (bending) of the wrist immediately after contact.

As you can see, in the first few frames after contact, there is no bending/snapping of the wrist; there is still a straight line connecting the forearm and the wrist.

A screenshot of the serve a few frames later again shows us that there is no wrist snap on a tennis serve; the wrist is still aligned with the forearm.

Why It’s Not Possible to Serve with a Wrist Snap

If we hold the racket incorrectly, with a forehand grip, which is what all tennis beginners start with, then it’s impossible to serve with a wrist snap because the butt of the racket pushes into our wrist and hand and blocks further movement, which does not allow the wrist to actually snap/bend.

Even if we change the grip and use the correct Continental grip, we still face the same issue.

Not only does the butt of the racket push into the hand and wrist, but bending the wrist (flexion) causes pain. We would cause serious injury to the wrist very quickly if we were bending it during the serve action.

However, if we correctly engage the internal shoulder rotation and pronation, then we can accelerate the racket head faster than the arm and also allow the butt of the racket to move past the wrist freely without causing any pain or injury.

Why the Wrist Snap Myth Persists

I believe that there are two reasons why coaches still make the mistake of teaching players to snap their wrists on the serve:

1. Visual Illusion – As you saw in the images above the racket head will accelerate faster than the arm on a well-executed tennis serve and create that “broken line” image.

When you either just glance at such an image or observe a tennis serve at full speed, it’s easy to misinterpret what you saw and imagine that the racket head acceleration was done through the wrist.

2. Deceived by the Feel – A skilled tennis player who serves well will have a very relaxed wrist 95% of the time, from the start of the service motion until contact.

The player will start firming up and stabilizing the wrist just a few hundredths of a second before contact (the last 5% of the movement).

The player will hold that firm wrist position for a few hundredths of a second, until the ball leaves the racket, and then relax the wrist again, as there is no need to exert any more effort once the ball has left the racket.

The wrist is, in reality, firm and stable perhaps less than 5% of the entire duration of the complete service motion, from the initial start until the completed follow-through.

This means that a skilled tennis server will feel a relaxed wrist 95% of the time while executing the serve, and that can easily deceive them into feeling and thinking that they had a relaxed wrist through contact.

However, as you saw in the images above, this is not the case. The wrist is firm at contact and immediately after because it needs to help transfer the energy generated from the legs, hips, trunk, upper body, and arm into the ball.

If the wrist were loose, there would be a big loss of energy in the transfer. It would also lead to an inability to aim the serve precisely, as the loose wrist would cause too much racket angle variation.

Summary

So, while this video article is focused on answering the question of whether there is a wrist snap on a tennis serve, determining that there is none, this doesn’t mean you should have a stiff wrist when serving.

As I mentioned above, the wrist is relaxed during 95% of the service action in order for it to lag and allow fast acceleration through the backswing loop.

A skilled server will also very quickly relax the wrist after contact, as the ball is gone and there is no longer any need to stabilize the wrist.

You will not learn how to use the wrist on the serve correctly by reading this article and looking at the images.

You will only learn by doing the pronation exercises correctly and progressively until, after a certain period of time, you start to feel how to actually accelerate the racket head through internal shoulder rotation and pronation.

You will also feel a very stable and firm wrist at contact, yet you will be able to hit the ball very hard.

This skill will, of course, become more refined as you continue to work on the serve by doing pronation exercises and other serve drills.