Why tennis players bump balls on the floor of the court before serving?

India
July 27, 2009 7:24am CST
Hello All, What do the tennis players check by bumping ball on the floor of the court before every serve? There is a common practice followed by all the Tennis players that they do before each serve. They bump the ball on the floor of the court and look at it before going for each serve. Do you know the reason?
1 person likes this
9 responses
• India
27 Jul 09
I personally believe, its just the matter of keeping your concentration going.. to put in the best.. You always needs to be focussed! There are some people like Nadal.. who do it as sort of a routine.. Nadal does it a lot of times that at times it too much frustrating for the opponend.. May be part of beliefs.. anyway we don't mind watching them bumpin the ball.. This should probably be the reasons.. Hope my response helped!
• United States
4 Aug 09
Yes, as many people have answered it is used for concentration and focus before starting the point. But that is not it. Most players use the technique of bouncing the ball as a part of a routine. Professional players need a routine to follow during the serve. Players will choose how many times the ball will be bounced, how fast or slow, and the height in which they will drop it from their hand. It is all part of a routine used to concentrate before each serve.
@stealthy (8181)
• United States
28 Jul 09
As others have said it helps in concentration and to get in rythem. When I used to play it was for those reasons and, also, it has a calming effect and acts as a natural way to get into starting the serving motion. I would bounce the ball usual three times which is fairly common. Players who bounce it a lot more are probably doing it a lot more as a calming thing and to transtion into concentration. Sometimes it also helps in regaining ones breath after a strenuous point.
@gvaisakh (421)
• India
28 Jul 09
Hi to all....... I am not a tennis player....... So, I too do not know the exact reason behind the tennis players bumping the balls on the floor of the court before serving........ What I think is to keep the concentration on the ball while hitting......... HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY MYLOTTING!!!!!!!!!!!!
• United States
28 Jul 09
it helps with concentration and staying focused.
• United States
27 Jul 09
Hi! I am a tennis player and have played for more than 10 years and that is a very good question. I do this before I serve and I think that it has to do with concentrating before serving. The serve is a very important shot, and you want to do everything right. Therefore, I think that taking a few seconds and concentrating does one very well. I think that is probably the easiest explanation for that behavior.
@rajeshfgh (1629)
• India
27 Jul 09
Maybe it's a way of threatening your opponent that better watch out for my serve. On a more serious note, I think it is to focus all the attention at the ball so that when they fling it up in the air, the eyes maintain the path of the ball. This usually helps in middling the ball on the racket increasing the chances of that magnificent ace.
@Ritz100 (1169)
• Yecla, Spain
27 Jul 09
Apparantly it trains their eyes to focus on the ball, you will see that when they do this, they watch the ball. Thats the theory I heard anyway, Im not a tennis player but this seems to make sense, its like a warm up, yeh? I also heard that it warms the ball up, but Im not so sure about this one!!
@jensenfan (153)
• Philippines
27 Jul 09
The time they use while doing it may be used of think of their strategy; of how they are going to play the game. It can help them focus on their game plan.