# @mytenniscoaching on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Db3Lb1ijGDZ
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/69004404-mytenniscoaching-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/d8d5982ece.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-08-10T14:00:03.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Steve Whelan | International Tennis Coach Developer (@mytenniscoaching) — https://gondola.cc/mytenniscoaching

## Caption

This serve could fail the prescribed grip criterion on an LTA readiness test.

Yet it belongs to Sapfo Sakellaridi, a professional tennis player.

Her serve uses what many coaches would describe as a “frying-pan” grip and an unconventional action. It does not conform to the technical model traditionally presented as necessary for serving successfully.

But it functions at professional level.

That creates an uncomfortable question for coach education:

Are we assessing whether a movement solves the problem—or whether it resembles our preferred technical model?

Sakellaridi’s serve does not prove that grip is unimportant. Different grips can influence the possibilities available to a player, including spin, speed, placement and adaptability.

It also does not mean coaches should deliberately teach every beginner to serve this way.

But it challenges the stronger claim that every successful serve must begin with one prescribed “chopper” grip and follow one recognisable technical pathway.

If a professional player can develop a functional solution that falls outside our technical checklist, perhaps the checklist is measuring conformity more than skill.

Technique should be evaluated through function:

Can the player start the point effectively?

Can they create different trajectories, speeds and placements?

Can they adapt their serve to opponents and match situations?

Can the movement withstand competitive demands?

A technique can look unconventional and still be functional.

A technique can also satisfy every coaching checkpoint and remain ineffective in competition.

The player serves the ball. They do not serve the technical model.

Function before conformity.

What should matter more in coach education: reproducing prescribed technique or achieving functional outcomes?

#TennisCoaching #TennisCoach #SkillAcquisition #TennisServe #EcologicalDynamics

## Stats

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## Tags

skillacquisition, ecologicaldynamics, tennisserve, tenniscoach, tenniscoaching

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