gain back my flat serve?

[trenzterra]

maybe its due to not playing matches for a month or so, but a few months back, my flat serve was fairly reliable, i got it in around half or more of the time, and often won games based on my service alone.

but as of late, i can't seem to serve consistently. from the moment i toss the ball to the point of contact, it just doesn't seem right. my first serve percentage now is around 10% or less i figure, and on balls that go in, most of them don't even hit the sweetspot on the racket and the ball doesn't travel fast.

the only positive thing is that i'm able to do the twist serve now, but somehow i think my mastery of the twist serve has actually affected my flat serve.

oh and i noticed, it seems that after i serve, sometimes my racquet twists a little to the side. i am using a 4.5 grip with 2 overgrips already. is my grip too small or too big if i'm having this problem?

[LeeD]

Gripsize fine, remember your toss location is about a foot and a half DIFFERENCE between a true twist and a flat first serve.
Twist allows the ball to drop behind your head, about head level into the court.
Flat first toss allows the ball to drop 18" or so inside the court, directly over your hitting shoulder when you FACE the opponent.
Conti grip both, just hit a few thousand and it hits dead center 99% of the time.

[trenzterra]

hmm thanks for these pointers. but regarding my racquet twisting, is there any way around it? i'm afraid one day my racquet would just slip off and there goes $180