Can someone Please clarify again which side of the the ball to hit for slice serve?
- Thread starter millenium
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Mahboob Khan
Hall of Fame
Just imagine that the ball is the face of a clock.
The ball is made of two parts: the inside rubber part, and the outside fuzz part.
Let's also presume that the strings of your racket are sandpaper.
For the right-handed: you toss the ball more to your right, and defuzz the ball at 3 o'clock (in some cases from center to 3 o'clock). As you make contact with the ball keep your head still.
The ball is made of two parts: the inside rubber part, and the outside fuzz part.
Let's also presume that the strings of your racket are sandpaper.
For the right-handed: you toss the ball more to your right, and defuzz the ball at 3 o'clock (in some cases from center to 3 o'clock). As you make contact with the ball keep your head still.
fuzz nation
G.O.A.T.
My idea is a little different. As I teach it, all you really need to do is swing through the ball, but instead of having a relatively flat racquet face, you angle it a bit to the left by shading your grip a little more toward a backhand (this is for a right handed server). Shift your stance/set up and aim a few feet to the right to compensate for your new racquet face angle and take the same service motion.
This way, you only change two things to alter a flat serve to a spin serve and the placement will get better after you hit a number of them to develop an instinct for where the ball will go. One other alteration that may help deal with this more angular contact with the ball is to move your toss a little to the right (again, for a right handed server).
I'm not a fan of using the idea of hitting the ball at 3 o'clock, etc. because it can get a server working too hard with their wrist to try and steer the racquet around the outside of the ball. You can hit a good slice serve with only a little different racquet face angle from that mildly different grip along with an adjusted swing path that comes from aiming more to the right.
This way, you only change two things to alter a flat serve to a spin serve and the placement will get better after you hit a number of them to develop an instinct for where the ball will go. One other alteration that may help deal with this more angular contact with the ball is to move your toss a little to the right (again, for a right handed server).
I'm not a fan of using the idea of hitting the ball at 3 o'clock, etc. because it can get a server working too hard with their wrist to try and steer the racquet around the outside of the ball. You can hit a good slice serve with only a little different racquet face angle from that mildly different grip along with an adjusted swing path that comes from aiming more to the right.
appppppppple
Banned
the best slice serve is when you toss it like a flat and hit it like a flat but your follow through cuts across on the top face to the right (iif you are a right handed guy gal). It's a flat slice and it feels a lot better to hit than a slice serve with part topspin
Bagumbawalla
G.O.A.T.
This is actually a good question, because, it seems, no two people (even very good players), have the same concepts of what is happening when they put various kinds of spin on the ball.
To be more realistic, imagine the ball, exactly as it is-- a sphere, and the racket face, what it is-- a flat plane.
And to further simplify, imagine you are hitting a topspin forehand groundstroke right in your comfort zone.
Imagine you want to hit the ball about three feet above the net straight over the middle of the net. Imagine the arc the ball must take and the forward momentum you must gernerate to place it deep near the baseline.
What part of the ball do you actually hit. OK, think about it. Your racket is pretty much perpendicular to the court surface and your racket strikes the ball traveling from low to high at (say) a 25 or 30 degree angle.
No matter what the angle of your low to high followthrough, if your racket face is vertical, then you are basically hitting it dead center (where it bulges out most)-- and it is the action of the low to high follow through that adds the spin.
OK, now just tilt the whole concept up over your head and imaging the same action 90 degrees on it's side. The ball is still a sphere and your racket face still a flat plane. With some very minor adjustment because you are hitting the ball from about 10' up, the concept is basically the same. The ball is a sphere, The flat planeof the racket face strikes the part that bulges out opposite a line drawn straight through the ball toward the toward your target and the spin is still created by the racket following an angled path through the ball. For a right-hander that would be from left to right.
Now, just as for a groundstoke (imagine it in your comfort zone), you can hit the ball with various amounts of topspin, slice, or even sidespin without having to change the position of the ball, you can (to an extent) do much the same thing for your serve.
Personally, I move the ball toss fairly little to produce the different types of serves/spins. What I alter is the racket path through the ball.
That may not work for everyone, especially if your are just starting out, As suggested by some of the others, above, it may help you to hit through the ball with the proper angled followthrough by moving your toss a bit to the left, right, forward or back- depending on the shot you are trying to create.
To be more realistic, imagine the ball, exactly as it is-- a sphere, and the racket face, what it is-- a flat plane.
And to further simplify, imagine you are hitting a topspin forehand groundstroke right in your comfort zone.
Imagine you want to hit the ball about three feet above the net straight over the middle of the net. Imagine the arc the ball must take and the forward momentum you must gernerate to place it deep near the baseline.
What part of the ball do you actually hit. OK, think about it. Your racket is pretty much perpendicular to the court surface and your racket strikes the ball traveling from low to high at (say) a 25 or 30 degree angle.
No matter what the angle of your low to high followthrough, if your racket face is vertical, then you are basically hitting it dead center (where it bulges out most)-- and it is the action of the low to high follow through that adds the spin.
OK, now just tilt the whole concept up over your head and imaging the same action 90 degrees on it's side. The ball is still a sphere and your racket face still a flat plane. With some very minor adjustment because you are hitting the ball from about 10' up, the concept is basically the same. The ball is a sphere, The flat planeof the racket face strikes the part that bulges out opposite a line drawn straight through the ball toward the toward your target and the spin is still created by the racket following an angled path through the ball. For a right-hander that would be from left to right.
Now, just as for a groundstoke (imagine it in your comfort zone), you can hit the ball with various amounts of topspin, slice, or even sidespin without having to change the position of the ball, you can (to an extent) do much the same thing for your serve.
Personally, I move the ball toss fairly little to produce the different types of serves/spins. What I alter is the racket path through the ball.
That may not work for everyone, especially if your are just starting out, As suggested by some of the others, above, it may help you to hit through the ball with the proper angled followthrough by moving your toss a bit to the left, right, forward or back- depending on the shot you are trying to create.
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