Tips for Improving 2nd Serve?
- Thread starter Mr. Ed
- Start date
Have your son practice his second serve more and his first serve less. With a strong second serve, he will be under far less pressure on his serve, and it will improve his first serve. Take some speed off his first serve, add more spin and have him work that in as both serves until he gets confident. Then add the pace back into the first serve.
10s talk
Semi-Pro
If he has a spin serve move your contact point back a little (from the first serve ), and hit up on the ball.
if the serve goes long.... move the contact point forward
if the serve is in the net..... move the contact point back
DO NOT SLOW THE SWING DOWN ON THE SECOND SERVE
and don't listen to a talking horse
if the serve goes long.... move the contact point forward
if the serve is in the net..... move the contact point back
DO NOT SLOW THE SWING DOWN ON THE SECOND SERVE
and don't listen to a talking horse
Last edited:
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Check out the articles and vids that Will has posted on the kick serve on his site:
http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/kick_serve_step_1.php
http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/index.php?col=7514590
http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/kick_serve_step_1.php
http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/index.php?col=7514590
Thanks for the good tips.
A little more info-- His first serve is a real power serve. It has some good slice/movement on it and can be very difficult to return whether down the T or out wide. On his second serve, he hits it in at a very high percentage, but it is a very low powered serve with a slicing spin. He definitely does not swing as nearly as hard at the ball, as it is easy to tell he is going to hit it softly even from the toss as he kind of pampers the ball over the net.
A little more info-- His first serve is a real power serve. It has some good slice/movement on it and can be very difficult to return whether down the T or out wide. On his second serve, he hits it in at a very high percentage, but it is a very low powered serve with a slicing spin. He definitely does not swing as nearly as hard at the ball, as it is easy to tell he is going to hit it softly even from the toss as he kind of pampers the ball over the net.
In that case, (He obviously has good serving mechanics), throwing the ball to the left will do it.The farther you throw the ball to the left, the less slice you get and the more topspin you get.The topspin will allow him to hit his serve with authority but with ana dded margin for error.
DarthCow
Rookie
If you want him to actually practice his confidence for a second serve, ive found that playing best out of 5 tie breaks with a partner, where no faults are permitted.
By this i mean if you have your first serve, and fault, the point is lost.
It helped me greatly to get my second serve confidence higher. I was able to do a kick serve for a first serve, but not my second, as i decelerated my swing. Now its fixed
By this i mean if you have your first serve, and fault, the point is lost.
It helped me greatly to get my second serve confidence higher. I was able to do a kick serve for a first serve, but not my second, as i decelerated my swing. Now its fixed
Djokovicfan4life
Legend
If you want him to actually practice his confidence for a second serve, ive found that playing best out of 5 tie breaks with a partner, where no faults are permitted.
By this i mean if you have your first serve, and fault, the point is lost.
It helped me greatly to get my second serve confidence higher. I was able to do a kick serve for a first serve, but not my second, as i decelerated my swing. Now its fixed
Wouldn't it kind of be the same mentality as hitting a second serve? Either way the point would be lost on a fault.
tennisaddict1
New User
Alright! I have had this same problem but I solved it in about 1 month. I am a high schooler age 17 that has over a 100 mph serve that only goes in about 50% of the time, albeit very close to the service line. My second serve was terrible. Mostly because it was not a threat at all. Most of the people I played could kill the ball easily down the line. I could always try my first serve again but it is very risky. Therefore I spent a great deal of time and effort researching why the pros have such a good second serve. I found my answer. They have either a great kick serve, a twist serve, or a slice-kick serve. At the moment I can only do a kick and twist serve with lots of pace and spin. At the speed I am hitting my kick and twist I can confidently say that it is fast enough to feed my appetite for smashing the ball. Actually I found that my second serve was more dangerous than my first serve. I could serve up to 80 mph while getting the ball safely in with lots of spin. The key is learning how to hit a slow kick serve. Once your son has mastered the slow kick serve he must focus on increasing the spin. Once he has gotten the spin to a degree that the "kick" is very noticeable he must switch his grip from continental to eastern. This is for advanced servers. If you watch closely you can see pros do this. Once you switch to this grip you execute the same motions as the slow kick serve but move your arm as fast as a first serve. This way the speed is similar but with tons of kick and pace. That is key. Most High school students are not patient enough though.
tennisaddict1
New User
oh and don't let him use his first serve in any games. just using his second serve will improve his confidence and will improve his game
tennisaddict1
New User
make sure to learn a kick/twist/slice-kick serve for the second serve though
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
These helped me out quite a bit earier today. Because of ongoing shoulder problems (an old v'ball injury), I often cannot execute very many kick serves with my preferred (left) arm. After reviewing the links above, I was able to teach myself a right-handed kick serve in less than an hour on the court.
Tennisman912
Semi-Pro
Mr. Ed,
A couple of suggestions. First make him hit only second serves in matches until he learns to do it on demand. This will hurt him in the short run but he has to decide what is more important. One step back to take a few steps forward is the key. Also don't underestimate the value of the feedback the ball is giving you. What 10s talk is telling you is some of the best advice you can get to help trouble shoot your serve (or any stroke if you read between the lines).
Make sure he is accelerating through the ball. He should be swinging with at least as much racquet head speed as a first serve, he is just hitting less of the ball. The more spin he can generate, the more margin for error he will gain.
I hope this helps. There are quite a few threads on hitting a kick serve to help him get the proper technique. Good luck.
TM
A couple of suggestions. First make him hit only second serves in matches until he learns to do it on demand. This will hurt him in the short run but he has to decide what is more important. One step back to take a few steps forward is the key. Also don't underestimate the value of the feedback the ball is giving you. What 10s talk is telling you is some of the best advice you can get to help trouble shoot your serve (or any stroke if you read between the lines).
Make sure he is accelerating through the ball. He should be swinging with at least as much racquet head speed as a first serve, he is just hitting less of the ball. The more spin he can generate, the more margin for error he will gain.
I hope this helps. There are quite a few threads on hitting a kick serve to help him get the proper technique. Good luck.
TM
