Trophy Position

The trophy position is. As a result, named. This is because the body posture resembles a figure holding a trophy overhead. This means the hitting arm is raised with the elbow at or above shoulder height, the racquet head pointing upward or slightly backward, the tossing arm extended fully upward toward the ball. The body arched in a bow with the front leg bent at the knee carrying a portion of the body weight. This position does not last long. It is a momentary pause between the backswing and the upward drive. This means but what happens there determines much of the serve's pace and consistency.

The trophy position loads the kinetic chain from the ground up. In the pin-point stance (feet close together at the peak of the toss) or the platform stance (feet shoulder-width apart), the legs and hips are coiled at this moment, storing elastic energy that drives the upward push into the court. The shoulder internal rotation that produces the whipping arm action is set in motion from this position. This means the hitting shoulder is back and the hitting elbow is up. As a result, the racquet drop and arm acceleration happen sequentially from a loaded starting point. Coaches treat it as a mandatory checkpoint because so much of serve quality is determined before the racquet ever begins accelerating.

Rushing through the trophy position. This means starting the racquet drop and arm swing before the toss has peaked. This means collapses the kinetic chain by initiating the forward motion before the legs and hips have fully loaded. The result is a serve driven primarily by the arm, with by a lot less pace and far more uneven results in timing. The most common cause of rushed trophy positions is an anxious or fast rhythm on the toss. This means when the toss goes up quickly, the body follows it up quickly. The position is never truly held. A slower, deliberate toss rhythm naturally encourages a better trophy-position hold.