What is Best Strategy against Twist Serve?

[myservenow]

At the weekend warrior level of tennis it is rare to come across someone with a legitimate American twist serve (at least in my area). I played a guy last week that had such a serve and it blew me away. I tried to time the bounce and move accordingly, but only made a fool of myself reaching for the serve. He would also sneak in a slice serve when it was obvious I was cheating to get to the twist serve. The problem is even when I KNOW the twist is coming, it is hard to handle.

So, what tips can anyone offer on combatting and then attacking a good twist serve?

[TopShelf]

Cheat to one side drastically and then shuffle back (when he gives up looking ahead and tosses the ball). When twist serving, you pretty much have your "desired location" mentally set when the ball is about to be tossed and you need alot of focus so he will probably not try and compensate for your shuffle.

That way he will serve it to the said you were not originally lined up for, and if you can do that a few times it will slow down that serve hopefully.

[2nd_Serve]

Well, you could just sit back, and wait for it to drop, but he may have already be at the net. Try taking it off the rise again. It's your best chance.

[(Blank)]

Well first, you should be able to recognize it by the toss. As soon as you see it's a twist, I would say to move up and attack it. Don't think about the ball coming at you and instead think of where the ball will be when you swing.

[Nellie]

Unfortunately, it is something you need to practice. Per comments, look to see where the toss is - over the right (for righty) is a slice, over the left is a twist server. For the twist, I would suggest playing around the backline and moving in and take the ball with a volley-like motion to chip the ball back. As a guy who hits a lot of kick/twist serves, I am bothered by two things - One, when I try to serve and volley, people regularly lob the ball back deep; and 2) my kick/twist will sometimes fail to get good height and the receiver will crush it. So, to summarize - chip or lob it back, but look to wack the ball if the serve ends up short.

[fuzz nation]

Good call from Nellie. A twist serve makes the ball freak out and your typical receiving position becomes the worst place to handle that ball. Either move in and chip the ball off a short hop before it freaks out or back off more and deal with the ball after it takes that goofy bounce off the court. That option might require more of a long, loopy return to let you get back in position, but it might also come down in your wheelhouse and give you an opportunity at a rather aggressive return even though you're deeper in your end.