[mortgagejake]

Hey Guys, glad to have found and joined this forum.

Last year I broke my humurus bone (ha ha) in a biking accident. As a result I have a plate with 7 screws holding it together, and my range of motion is about 70% or less, with the left shoulder. I play with my right hand but serving is an issue, as is backhand (2-hander)

My issue is this: because of pain and discomfort, and lack of range, I can't always keep my hand up, my serving toss is all over the place, and sometimes instead of tossing the ball I find myself throwing it up (big no-no).

Before this accident I was about a 4.0 or so player, very happy with my first and second, did not double fault often, and although win/lose, I was happy with my game.

Now I'm seething. Angry at the accident and angry that I cna't do what I did. After a year of rehab I'm finally able to sort of play normal again but don't know how to deal with this shoulder issue.

Should I:

shorten the toss?
Open the stance?
Modify something?
Take lessons?
All the above?

Hard to explain further but perhaps this is an open-ended question: How do you shoulder-injury guys deal with getting your groove back whilst serving?


(I'm rejoining my local gym after 3 months off due to birth of child, and play 2x per week to maintain consistency. Winter is coming so trying to ramp up to 3x, and then join inside tennis locally here in freezing TORONTO CANADA)

Thanks for your help,

[Josh_Camp]

I think the perfect example of a player's serve being affected by a shoulder injury is Maria Sharapova. Look at her serve now, and what it used to look like. It used to be much better. What she had to do was shorten her toss and simplify her motion a little more - when she first started doing it, it wasn't working so well. But if she starts serving normally again, use it as a motivation to simplify your motion.

[10sMan]

Look, I worked with many players coming back from the injury and here is a rule: do not try too much right away. Even if you feel like you can hit the ball harder stick with the ball with average pace, good net clearance and not closer than 3 feet from the lines. Aim your serves in the middle of the box. Focus on the fundamentals: preparation, balance and hitting in the hitting zone. Good Luck