Jun Mizutani’s high forehand service with a sudden change of direction

Jun Mizutani is known as the Japanese player who might make it into the top 10 of the World Ranking List. At the moment he is ranked number 29. The brilliant technician Jun has also developed his very own service variety. He belongs to those who throw up the ball far above their heads and execute some surprising arm movements. The picture series in front of us gives us one example.

Starting phase: Pictures 1-6: Jun is standing beside the table with his back sideways towards his opponent (picture 1). His right upper leg seems to touch the edge of the table. His feet are parallel about shoulder wide apart. The ball has left the hand already and can’t be seen on the picture. Jun’s eyes follow the ball which is about one to two metres high. His bat is in front of his body. While he is taking the arm, which has thrown up the ball, down (picture 2), his other arm draws a semi-circle with the bat in the direction of the right hip. Like most top players he has taken his fingers away from the grip for a forehand serve. He holds the bat between his index finger and thumb to enable better wrist movement and speed. On picture 3 we can see that the arm which has thrown up the ball is down to shoulder height. The bat has reached the end of the backswing to the right.

Pictures 4-6: Jun is now pulling the bat fast in the opposite direction (dotted line hinted at on picture 3) and takes it to the end of the backswing (picture 6). On picture 4 we can also see that Jun transfers his body weight to the back leg because his front foot is lifted off the floor (pictures 4/5). On picture 6 it doesn’t have contact with the floor anymore. The shifting of weight has to happen because Jun has taken his playing arm far back into an extreme backswing position. He also bends his right knee which leads to the conclusion that he is lowering his body weight. It is also interesting to see how his eyes are still fixed on the ball which is now in height of his forehead. The reason why Jun is moving his backswing to the opposite direction – first to the right and then to the left – has surely got something to do with the fact that Jun tries to confuse his opponent and distract him from the moment when he is making contact with the ball. This kind of opposing movement is only possible when the ball is thrown up high otherwise there wouldn’t be enough time.

Main phase – pictures 7/8: Jun makes contact with the ball in height of his chest. Picture 7 has been taken just before making contact with the ball. The playing arm is extremely bent at the elbow so that he can lift his playing arm up to shoulder level. That way he has got more space to move the hand and the bat. It is also obvious that Jun lowers his upper body and is getting ready to move forwards. Exactly at that moment when Jun is making contact with the ball he puts his right front foot down. Some players actually stamp on the floor during the service which was forbidden a few years ago. This stamping (it doesn’t have to be that noisy) while making contact with the ball has the advantage that the players are able to achieve optimal timing and rhythm for a very complicated movement. On picture 8 we see that the front foot is compensating the impulse whereas the back foot is only touching the floor with the toes. The position of the bat is surprising. Not only the extremely high elbow which indicates that Jun has pulled the bat up after he has made contact with the ball but also the position of the bat could not be expected after the position before (picture 7). In any case he has turned the bat with lightening speed in a semi-circle from the outside inside. A comparison between picture 7 and 8 shows this clearly. Watching the follow through (pictures 9/10) the inward movement becomes even clearer. If Jun has hit the ball with the bat directed upwards the service would have side top spin. It could also be possible that Jun has turned the bat only to deceive the opponent and hit the ball after the turning movement. Then he would have hit the ball with the bat angle in picture 7 and it would have been a side spin serve. Finally we can’t answer this question. It is a fact though that – and this can be seen with many Asian players - the suddenly changed service movement may and can lead the opponent to a wrong conclusion about the spin of the serve. This all happens very quickly and underlines the difficulty of such a service movement. It demands brilliant coordination with high precision.

Follow through – pictures 9-11: Jun continues to move the bat in a circle inwards and upwards. Simultaneously he lifts his left foot and starts moving inwards with his body to achieve the optimal basic position. The front leg is the turning point to get back to the table. On pictures 9/10 we can see as well how Jun resolves his service grip to go back to his normal shake-hand grip. On picture 10 he is still not back to the neutral position, whereas on picture 11 he is back into the optimal stroke position to play the next stroke. The feet are parallel, the knees are slightly bent and the playing arm is in front of the body.