Bread and butter serve

[dlam]

If you are down 30-40 and miss 1st serve
Pressure is on facing 2nd serve
What is your bread butter serve on the ad side you know you will get in?

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by dlam

If you are down 30-40 and miss 1st serve
Pressure is on facing 2nd serve
What is your bread butter serve on the ad side you know you will get in?

Kicker down the middle if my opponent does not have a huge forehand to take a whack at it.

[Govnor]

Simple slice down the middle.

[Buford T Justice]

Anything that lands in.

[Buford T Justice]

In seriousness.....there is one guy I play (good pal....the guy Ive played the most against for sure) so he has seen my ball literally thousands of times. So, there is no fooling him....he knows whats coming.

In that case, I will DF alot more than usual, as I know exactly what hes going to try and do with a 2nd serve that is not hit well. He is going to run around it and bash a crosscourt FH on deuce side and DTL on the ad side. (My BH is better than my FH.) So, when I know he is going to do this, and be successful like 80-90% of the time, I will "go for it" on the 2nd and try to kick the you know what out of it to his BH. I figured the odds are higher than just hitting one that lands in the middle of the service box.

[JLyon]

try big kick out wide to open the court

[Tammo]

typo wrong thread

[spot]

Topspin serve to the backhand.

[OrangePower]

Originally Posted by spot

Topspin serve to the backhand.

Same here (assuming opponent is righty). Topspin 2nd serve wide on ad court is very reliable for me.

I make a distinction between topspin and kicker, which I'm not sure everyone does. Decent kicker is lower percentage for me.

[dlam]

Originally Posted by spot

Topspin serve to the backhand.

what happen if he's lefty?

topspin serve to his forehand ? (same serve?)

[spot]

Originally Posted by dlam

what happen if he's lefty?

topspin serve to his forehand ? (same serve?)

My serve out wide is far more reliable on the Ad side. If I was facing a lefty I would hit more of a body serve- he would still be able to hit a forehand off of it but hopefully he wouldn't be set up. In that situation my first serve would have been the topspin serve up the t- but I wouldn't trust myself to really go for the T on a second serve in a tight situation.

[LeeD]

Topspin serve either kicked or top/slice depending on backhand return skills of the opponent.

[Fuji]

Twist down the T. Most guys don't read a twist that well, so they jam themselves pretty easily.

-Fuji

[LeeD]

Matters little WHAT serve you hit.
Matters TONS how well you hit it, place it, and what you do to back it up.
At most levels, you can TELL the opponent what serve you're going to serve, and it won't matter one tiny bit.

[OrangePower]

Originally Posted by Fuji

Twist down the T. Most guys don't read a twist that well, so they jam themselves pretty easily.

-Fuji

Is that a high percentage 2nd serve for you?

I would unfortunately be serving many DFs with that strategy

[Fuji]

Originally Posted by OrangePower

Is that a high percentage 2nd serve for you?

I would unfortunately be serving many DFs with that strategy

Yup! Since I have a lame shoulder right now due to injury (from playing badminton nonetheless) I can't hit big bombs anymore. My biggest reliable first serves right now are at around the 80MPH mark. With that being said, I have been restricted to hitting with a ton of different spin varieties, thus my twist serve has gotten a fair amount of extra practice. I only double fault maybe once every set, if that?

-Fuji

[LeeD]

I'm with Fuji....
Since last week, I've been using an AmericanTwist exclusively for my second serves, and for most of my first serves. Don't think I missed more than 5 total in 3 playing days and over 9 sets of tennis.
I lost my Twist a month ago, and am looking for it still.

[Drew_a_blank]

For playing a right-handed player, a kick serve out to their backhand, ideally so they have to make contact from at least in the alley.

[Cindysphinx]

Originally Posted by dlam

If you are down 30-40 and miss 1st serve
Pressure is on facing 2nd serve
What is your bread butter serve on the ad side you know you will get in?

I will my usual slice serve and DF. Sorry.

[SwankPeRFection]

Something offensive and strong. It's always better to go for it and make the return more difficult than to just serve and get it in just to have it bashed back at you. What's good about not DF if the return is a winner anyway? You still lose the point. Learn to hit a strong second serve no matter what. Sometimes I even go for an ace on the second serve and get it when I'm down. People that I don't play much with are surprised. People I always play with know to expect it from time to time and know that sometimes the second serve is even more aggressive (kick wise) than the first was.