Bolger rume serve is a term used in the sport of tennis to describe a specific type of serve known as a slow motion serve. This technique involves the player intentionally hitting the ball at a slower pace than is typical for a serve, in order to catch their opponent off guard and disrupt their timing. The slow motion serve is often used as a tactical strategy to vary the pace of the game and create uncertainty for the opponent. By hitting the ball with less power and spin, the server can force their opponent to adjust their timing and potentially make errors in their return. The Bolger rume serve, named after its inventor John Bolger, has become increasingly popular among professional tennis players in recent years. It requires a high level of accuracy and control, as the server must carefully place the ball in a specific location on the court to maximize its effectiveness.
"I can confirm that I am Holger Rune's coach," Becker exclusively told Eurosport Germany's Das Gelbe vom Ball podcast.
1 Becker, who won six Grand Slam titles in his career, with the pair set to officially begin their working relationship at Swiss Indoors Basel, which gets underway on October 25. It could be that many players started to copy the serve of Pete Sampras, who jumped and landed on his front left foot and kicked the right leg backward before allowing it to swing forward.
It requires a high level of accuracy and control, as the server must carefully place the ball in a specific location on the court to maximize its effectiveness. One of the main advantages of the Bolger rume serve is that it can disrupt the rhythm and momentum of the opponent. By hitting the ball with a slower pace, the server can force their opponent to wait longer for the ball to reach them, throwing off their timing and footwork.
Boris Becker Serve Slow Motion. interesting
That goes back to an older style of serving. Back in the day (before the 70s?), players were not allowed to have both feet leave the ground on their service motion. Usually, the front foot would stay on the ground and the back leg would swing forward. Check out Pancho Gonzales here:
Don't know exactly when the serving rule was changed. When we watched players in the mid/late 70s, more leg drive and jumping became evident. Players still swung the back leg forward because it lent itself to stepping into the court to serve and volley -- this S&V style was very common up until the 90s or so.
In the past 2 decade or more, players have been employing a considerable amount of leg drive and have been hitting serves with more pace. It could be that many players started to copy the serve of Pete Sampras, who jumped and landed on his front (left) foot and kicked the right leg backward before allowing it to swing forward.
One possibility is that, by kicking the right leg backward, the hip rotation stops (for the most part) and kinetic energy is transferred more completely to the torso rotation and the arm swing.
Thepowerofchoice
Semi-Pro
Thanks for your answer. I didn't know about the rule that players were not allowed to have both feet leave the ground on their service motion. I really like his serve motion but landing on his right foot seem odd but it works for him just fine.
TennisMaverick
Banned
Don't know exactly when the serving rule was changed.It was changed during the early '60's.
Boris CHANGED his serve to use this type of leg drive as a teenager, specifically from his coach's instruction.
bad_call
Legend
I was checking out some of his serve motions and I notice he was landing on his right leg before his left.(He's rightly)
Anyone else does this? Please discuss pros and cons. Thanks
think this player does the same. didn't pay attention to whom else landed this way. just know that the right foot appeared to land first and further in the court a lot of the time. wasn't about to change it since it didn't detract from my serve.
dlesser13
Rookie
Not that we are disputing or arguing anything here, but isn't it more natural for one to land on their right leg first? If you're coming into the court, physics says your body is going to follow it. Naturally, your right leg would follow first as you come around. No?
Thepowerofchoice
Semi-Pro
Not that we are disputing or arguing anything here, but isn't it more natural for one to land on their right leg first? If you're coming into the court, physics says your body is going to follow it. Naturally, your right leg would follow first as you come around. No?
Funny you said this. The reason I found his serve motion interesting is because I used to do the same thing (land on my right foot first). I'm a self taught tennis player but I switched to landing on my left first after someone told me I was doing it incorrectly.
wings56
Hall of Fame
Not that we are disputing or arguing anything here, but isn't it more natural for one to land on their right leg first? If you're coming into the court, physics says your body is going to follow it. Naturally, your right leg would follow first as you come around. No?
sometimes a land on the right foot can be caused from over rotation of the body resulting in a loss of energy. this energy is put off to the side as opposed to into the court. clearly, in the case of pancho and boris, they have transferred all of their energy into the court and serve by the time that foot comes around and lands into the court. the right leg around gives more of a pitching type energy into the court whereas the jump on to the non dominate side food incorporates a little different set of muscles
rufusbgood
Semi-Pro
Here's another guy doing it all wrong. Bill Tilden. Not only landing on the "wrong" foot but tossing with a bent arm that never gets higher than his nose. And that backhand?! What an amateur!
anchorage
Rookie
Boris uses a lot of rotation; basically, you can think of his right side rotating around the left side; that's why he lands on his right foot. (Also, by doing that, his full momentum goes into the line of the serve.)
albesca
Rookie
Thepowerofchoice
Semi-Pro
Boris uses a lot of rotation; basically, you can think of his right side rotating around the left side; that's why he lands on his right foot. (Also, by doing that, his full momentum goes into the line of the serve.)
That make sense but how come no one else is doing the same?
5263
G.O.A.T.
That goes back to an older style of serving. Back in the day (before the 70s?), players were not allowed to have both feet leave the ground on their service motion. Usually, the front foot would stay on the ground and the back leg would swing forward.
Don't know exactly when the serving rule was changed. When we watched players in the mid/late 70s, more leg drive and jumping became evident. Players still swung the back leg forward because it lent itself to stepping into the court to serve and volley -- this S&V style was very common up until the 90s or so.
In the past 2 decade or more, players have been employing a considerable amount of leg drive and have been hitting serves with more pace. It could be that many players started to copy the serve of Pete Sampras, who jumped and landed on his front (left) foot and kicked the right leg backward before allowing it to swing forward.
One possibility is that, by kicking the right leg backward, the hip rotation stops (for the most part) and kinetic energy is transferred more completely to the torso rotation and the arm swing.
Lots of good info SA.
Think Becker's grip on serve "allowed him/made him" to turn more into the court with the right side as well?
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Here's another guy doing it all wrong. Bill Tilden. Not only landing on the "wrong" foot but tossing with a bent arm that never gets higher than his nose. And that backhand?! What an amateur!
OMG! Don't know if that was typical of serve mechanics back in the 20s and 30s but it leaves a lot to be desired. Difficult to believe that that Tilden supposedly hit a serve in excess of 160 mph back in 1931 with a wood racket and those mechanics.
Perhaps it was not until Pancho G came along in the 50s and 60s that the modern serve began to take shape (w/o the jump). Sampras in the late 80s or the 90s might have been one of the early pioneers of the left foot landing (for a righty) with the left leg kicking back.
It was changed during the early '60's.
Boris CHANGED his serve to use this type of leg drive as a teenager, specifically from his coach's instruction.
Thnx for the feedback. This might very well be the case. It could be that it took quite while to see significant changes in serve mechanics of most players after the rule change. Players in the 70s had some semblance of leg drive but I don't recall of any players who had enough leg drive to get them off the ground very much. More knee bend with greater leg drive may have come later in the 80s with the likes of of Boris B and Pete S.
When Boris developed his serve as a young lad, the right foot landing was the de facto standard. His serve mechanics was the next step in the evolution of the serve. The Pete Sampras serve, a few years later, was a further advance in the evolution of the modern serve.
Take a gander at the serve of Andre Agassi early in his pro career (at 0:24 in the link below). He lands right foot forward, somewhat like Boris. Compare this to to the Agassi serve in the past decade (and the late 90s?) -- we see that he changed his mechanics -- in particular, he lands on his left foot first rather than his right.
Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
Surprised no-one has said it yet re: Becker's serve. how few players have ever served with a forehand grip? (at least in the modern era)
rkelley
Hall of Fame
Surprised no-one has said it yet re: Becker's serve. how few players have ever served with a forehand grip? (at least in the modern era)
AFAIK it's a continental grip, rotated a bit toward the forehand side. But it's not an E. forehand grip.
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Surprised no-one has said it yet re: Becker's serve. how few players have ever served with a forehand grip? (at least in the modern era)
While many have claimed that Boris served with a FH grip, it was probably more of a semi-continental or an Aussie grip for his 1st serve. His 2nd serve may have employed something closer to a true continental grip.
Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
OMG! Don't know if that was typical of serve mechanics back in the 20s and 30s but it leaves a lot to be desired. Difficult to believe that that Tilden supposedly hit a serve in excess of 160 mph back in 1931 with a wood racket and those mechanics.
Perhaps it was not until Pancho G came along in the 50s and 60s that the modern serve began to take shape (w/o the jump). Sampras in the late 80s or the 90s might have been one of the early pioneers of the left foot landing (for a righty) with the left leg kicking back.
Bill Tilden had many different serves (as he had many different forehands and backhands), with different motions, timing and tosses. That's how great Tilden was. But, he did have a compact windup in which his racquet was ahead of his toss, and always hit on the rise, like Dick Savitt, John Newcombe, Rosco Tanner and Kevin Curren, 4 of the greatest servers of all time. And, yes, he had a big serve for his day. (What is shown in that video is a high kicking second serve of Tilden in his 40's). Tilden's cannonball serve was probably more like 115-120 at it's biggest. The 160 figure was calculated with stopwatches and mathmatical equations, and is obviously not accurate. But, the fact that the effort was made to calculate the speed of Tilden's serve indicates how big it was compared to the rest of the field. I have no doubt that Tilden's serve and game would hold up well today, IF, he took training and conditioning as seriously as today's players do. Like the best of the best in any era, Tilden was a naturally supremely gifted athlete.
As for your comment about "the modern serve taking shape," there are some good video clips of players like Elsworth Vines, Don Budge Gottfried von Cramm and Jack Kramer on the Tube and Britishe Pathe, that will put that issue to rest immediately. You might have to do some legwork to find them. But, I will tell you that, as great as Pancho's serve was, it was not an original. His windup and technique looks like a replica of Gardnar Mulloy's serve. And Pete was definitely not the pioneer of landing on the left foot (or right foot for a lefty).
PS: Jack Kramer's beautiful service motion can be seen here beginning at about 20 seconds. Note that he keeps his left foot grounded as per the rule. Yet Kramer invented the S&V game as a primary tactic. If you watch closely, you'll also see that Kramer invented the reverse "buggy whip" forehand in the 40's.
PPS: This video shows the serves of Gerald Patterson in 1919, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Pete Sampras and Boris Becker. Note that Patterson also hits on the rise and that Budge and Laver hit at the apex of the toss.
PPPS: Some footage showing several Ellsworth Vines' serves:
PPPPS: Check out the 1975 AO final between Connors and Newcombe. Newcombe lands on his right foot like Becker, and Connors lands on his right foot as a lefty. Both are S&Ving.
Here's another guy doing it all wrong. Bill Tilden. Not only landing on the "wrong" foot but tossing with a bent arm that never gets higher than his nose. And that backhand?! What an amateur!
This can make it more difficult for the opponent to generate power in their return and can increase the chances of them making an error. Additionally, the slow motion serve can be an effective weapon against opponents who rely heavily on their power and aggressive play. By taking the pace off the ball, the server can nullify the opponent's strength and force them to generate their own power, potentially leading to mistakes or weak returns. However, the Bolger rume serve also carries its own risks. Since the ball is hit with less power and spin, it can be easier for the opponent to read and anticipate. This means that the server must be able to vary their shot selection and disguise their intentions in order to maximize the effectiveness of the slow motion serve. In conclusion, the Bolger rume serve is a strategic tactic in tennis that involves hitting the ball at a slower pace to disrupt the opponent's timing and generate errors. While it carries its own risks, it can be a highly effective weapon in the right hands and has gained popularity among professional players in recent years..
Reviews for "Exploring the Dynamics of Bolger's Rume Serve in Slow Motion"
1. Sarah - 1 out of 5 stars
This is by far the slowest and most frustrating rum service I have ever experienced. It took forever for the bartender to even acknowledge us, and then he took his sweet time making each drink. It felt like we were waiting for hours just to get a simple rum and coke. The service was so slow that we ended up leaving before even getting our second round of drinks. I would not recommend Bolger for anyone in a hurry or looking for efficient service.
2. Mike - 2 out of 5 stars
The slow motion "experience" at Bolger was a complete disappointment. I don't understand why anyone would want to drink in slow motion. It was confusing and made the whole experience feel like a waste of time. Not to mention, the prices were outrageous for what we got. I would much rather go to a regular bar with normal speed service. Save your money and skip the slow motion gimmick.
3. Jennifer - 1 out of 5 stars
Bolger's slow motion rum service was an absolute joke. The only thing slow about it was how long it took for the bartender to make our drinks. It was like watching paint dry. The ambiance and concept might have been interesting if it wasn't for the terrible service. I felt like I was in a bad dream where time was moving at a snail's pace. I definitely won't be going back to Bolger anytime soon.