General "Slice Serve" Question

[tom-selleck]

i'm always asking about the slice serve. and appreciate the help.

but I have one final (tentatively final) question:

do i want to hit it with racquet edge completely perpendicular to racquet and to facing down court??? i.e do i want to hit it with absolute lightest scraping action??? with the racquet face just brushing off the ball

or, do i want to hit it with the racquet face facing towards the opposing player 45% and get a pretty good forward hit on the ball as well???

really just asking if i want hit the very furthest 3-oclock edge with the racquet face going straight sideways.... hope i haven't confused, but do i want to judo-chop straight foreward on the ball with the edge of the racquet? or, catch alot more the ball with forward momentum???/

thanks as always in advance!

 

[kevhen]

I have a power slice serve that has alot of movement and I hit it with the face at 45 degrees using eastern backhand grip and just power through it hitting it forward like a flat serve and the racquet face creates the spin. I don't see many people who hit a power slice serve but I know mine is very effective and the spin and movement cause alot of return errors. I usually aim for it to land in the center of the box so that it will jamp the returner and allow for a high percentage to go in. Good luck, experiement and see what works for you.

 

[Rickson]

Hitting the ball at 3 won't give you a slice serve, hitting the ball with a backhand grip will. If you aim for the deuce corner and you already use a backhand grip, you're gonna go way to the left. I just hit toward the middle, but the backhand grip makes the ball go to the left anyway.

 

[tom-selleck]

I have a power slice serve that has alot of movement and I hit it with the face at 45 degrees using eastern backhand grip and just power through it hitting it forward like a flat serve and the racquet face creates the spin. I don't see many people who hit a power slice serve but I know mine is very effective and the spin and movement cause alot of return errors. I usually aim for it to land in the center of the box so that it will jamp the returner and allow for a high percentage to go in. Good luck, experiement and see what works for you.

i went out to the court and yes, the 45 degree hitting works wonders.. you could do 30 degrees or 60 degrees or maybe every 70-75 degree cut, but the 90 degree cut (just wanting to nip the ball) doesn't work.........

hitting with 45 degree angle gives you good action, good angles and pretty resistant to double-faulting. and, as i said, you can work the racquet angles over time for different effects (although i'll have to practice them and maybe you just want to keep it simple)

so thanks for the advice. this is really going to help, and "touch wood", it doesn't seem like one of my break-thru's that will backslide.

 

[scotus]

kevhen,

I usually don't slice, but if I hit a fast slice serve, the ball just doesn't curve enough to the left (I am right-handed).

I can hit an extreme slice. It lands well inside the service line and curves sharply to the left, and since I do this quite rarely, most returners can't even get to it. But I have very little pace on this shot.

So what do you think is your secret to hitting a slice that has both a respectable spin and pace.

 

[SageOfDeath]

I think its just finding your range. Its like a groundstroke, too much topspin or too much drive.

Right now the slice serve is the only spin serve I can use to keep my shots in the court. Anyways I used to hit with too much spin and sometimes too flat. I think that's what's happening in your case. Its either too flat or too spinny. I found my range but I had to slow my head racquet speed to find it. Now I'm more consistant I think I might speed it up a little bit.

 

[scotus]

Thanks for the reply, SageofDeath.

I need to practice my slice serve more. For some reason I've been facing more and more left-handed opponents these days, so strengthening my slice will definitely help me.

 

[kevhen]

My slice serve is like a combo flat serve and slice with full extension and a higher closer toss than the conventional slow brushup slice serve. I am basically hitting a flat serve using an eastern backhand grip with just a little bit of a chopping motion to add spin to the pace.

In doubles last night I hit about 80% hard slice and 20% flat and held serve against other solid 4.0s, 5/5 times. The hard slice is great for windy conditions since you can just aim for the center of the box and still force errors without trying to hit close to the lines and then the wind moves the already curving ball even more making it even harder to return.

 

[scotus]

Thanks, kevhen.

I'll give your method a try later today.