How to hit extreme slice serve?

[EddieBrock]

I used to play with a girl that had an extreme slice serve and I'd like to learn how to hit a serve like that. Basically the serve went over with very little pace and stayed very low and bounced sharply to the left. When people (myself included) would try to return it they'd be reaching for the ball the way the slice cut away would make them have trouble making contact.

Once you get used to it you can stand in closer than usual and cut off the angle.

My serve is my worst shot and I've been working a lot on the kick serve, but am struggling to win any free points on my serve. My slice/flat serve works well against 3.5 level players, but it's just not doing much more than starting the point against 4.0 and above. I think if I could mix in some of these extreme slice it would help a lot, especially on the ad side when people start leaning towards the backhand side to run around since I've been having success kicking up to their backhand.

I think my 1st serve is just too predictable and this extreme slice would help a lot. Aside from her I've never seen anyone hit a serve like that. How do you hit it?

 

[EddieBrock]

I saw this video on it, but don't really understand the swing and follow-through

 

[LeeD]

Just chop the heck out of it, barely making it move forwards, with tons of spin. You can serve as little as 20 mph and have it go over the net.

 

[GuyClinch]

toss the ball to the right some and imagine that you almost want to cut the ball in half..

You should watch this Peter Freeman video.. very great for this..

 

[Chas Tennis]

You have an unknown serving technique. The girl with the extreme slice serve has an unknown technique.

Perhaps 50% of tennis players use a Waiter's Tray technique with a small minority using a high level technique. There are other serving techniques. Advice for a high level serve probably does not apply to a Waiter's Tray technique or other techniques.

Study your serve with high speed video. 30 fps with small motion blur is adequate to screen for WT.

I believe that the lowest bouncing slice serves come from WT serves but I don't know.

 

[GuyClinch]

You have an unknown serving technique. The girl with the extreme slice serve has an unknown technique.

Perhaps 50% of tennis players use a Waiter's Tray technique with a small minority using a high level technique. There are other serving techniques. Advice for a high level serve probably does not apply to a Waiter's Tray technique or other techniques.

Study your serve with high speed video. 30 fps with small motion blur is adequate to screen for WT.

I believe that the lowest bouncing slice serves come from WT serves but I don't know.

Well I agree with the "don't know" bit. Slice serve does not benefit from the waiter's tray. On the contrary its the easiest serve to learn when you want to hit without the waiter's tray. Because keeping the racquet on edge will allow you to hit a ball with a ton of slice and little power. Do you even hit slice serves?

 

[EddieBrock]

I have a little slice on my first serves, but it's not as effective as I'd like. I've been working hard on getting a more effective twist serve, but have neglected my slice/flat serve. The thing is the guys I'm playing see serves like my 1st serve all the time so it's not having the kind of impact I'd like.

What does the waiter's tray have to do with imparting heavy spin?

 

[Chas Tennis]

................
What does the waiter's tray have to do with imparting heavy spin?

There is a huge disconnect regarding advice for the serve.

1) High Level Serve. The way to perform a high level serve is well researched, well known, pro male players are using it almost exclusively, high speed videos are available, etc. Generally, excellent advice can be found. The high level serve uses internal shoulder rotation (ISR) as well as swinging to develop high racket head speed.

2) Waiter's Tray Serve. The Waiter's Tray serve is not a high performance serve. It does not use much ISR to develop racket head speed. It is very widely used. It is poorly researched and how to do it properly is hardly touched. For an exception, search Pat Dougherty's Hammer that Serve Youtube. He uses the term Hammer to refer to WT.

Advice is either for a high level serve or very suspect for any different technique. If you have a WT I don't know what advice would be good for a WT.

A friend of mine has a WT and he slices very effectively. For indoor tennis he can slice into deuce court with ball hitting the net between the courts and well short of the baseline. It is so hard to cover that he does not use that slice during the indoor blocktime season - unless he really wants the point. I don't know how he moves his racket for that WT slice serve.

In otherwords, if you have a WT don't accept advice intended for a high level serve.

Take a video.

Waiter's Tray Error
http://www.hi-techtennis.com/serve/big_l_student.php