When exactly do you pronate for slice and kick serves?...

[LazyAzN]

I'm really having trouble figuring out when the pronation should occur in those two serves. Flat is understandable, since you turn the racket inward, yet for slice and kick, are you still supposed to pronate inward? When?... Because for the slice and kick, you have to naturally hit upward or to the side, but if you pronate at contact, then the ball is basically flat...

Thanks.

[BravoRed691]

Hmm...where are all the responses for this post? I think it's a good question. I know at hi tech tennis there is a video for the kick but what about the slice? And is it absolutely nec to turn your forearm so much that you can "read your watch" to kick the ball up? I wanna know the answer to this question as well!

BR

[oldhacker]

Pronation is something which should happen naturally rather than be forced. It is the last part of the kinetic chain which fires the serve - legs - hips - torsoe - chest - shoulder - elbow - forearm / wrist (pronation). If you serve with a continental grip and do not pronate you will hit the ball with the edge of the frame. The effect of pronation will depend on the position of the ball (dictated by the toss) and the position of the body. For example when I want to hit a kick serve I toss the ball to the left of my hitting arm (I am right handed) and somewhat overhead and I do not open my chest fully to the court before contact (ie I try to stay more side on). This causes pronation somewhat up and across the back left hand side tof the ball to give the combination of topspin and sidespin you need for a kick serve.

Whereas if you toss directly in front on your hitting arm and fully open up the chest before contact then pronation will be pretty much straight through the back of the ball and so you get a flat serve.

[Tennismastery]

Old Hacker has it exactly correct. You do not consciously attempt to pronate.

If you do, you will end up flattening our or hitting the wrong side of the ball!

If you are learning to hit a slice, simply concentrate on moving your strings across the right side of the ball (if you are right handed), brushing across the "equator" of the ball with a vertical axis.

It is the degree of brush versus coming "at" the back of the ball that will determine the pace of the serve and the amount of spin such a serve will have.

The hybrid, topspin and kick or twist serve all have this same concept with a different axis: Hybrid, the axis is tilted about 45 degrees, with topspin, the axis is nearly horizontal and nearly parallel with the baseline. With a kick serve the axis is hrizontal but pointing towards the left net post. (Relative to the server.)

[BravoRed691]

Thnx oldhacker and tennis mastery! I have often heard the tip that players should be able to read their watch after pronation. I think if we take that tip at face value, players will tend to turn their forearm so much so that they can see that effect...when i examine my own serve, i can see myself pronating on the flat and my kick but never turn my forearm over so much. At best, my wirst points up. So if this is my "natural" finishing position, does that mean i'm not finishing, or pronating correctly (ala the pros who can rad their wrist watches?)

As for the slice, i've tried many slice progression but am still having trouble getting the ball to "break" to the side after the bounce. I can get the serve to bend through the air, and hit the corner of the box but it doesn't break very often. Even when i think i'm blading the ball from 3 o clock, it still doesn't break much when i hit it from the baseline. Am i doing it incorrectly or do i simply need to practice more and keep trying to blade the ball at 3/4 o clock?

BR