illegal serve?

Mike Danger

Mike Danger

Banned
Im lefty, and Ive been practicing my inside out slice serve... I get way more spin that a regular slice serve for some reason. to the point that ball practically makes a 90deg turn when it hits the ground. And the returner would have almost no chance I getting to it. Makes me wonder if it might be illegal if the opponent could never get to it
 
Mike Danger said:
Im lefty, and Ive been practicing my inside out slice serve... I get way more spin that a regular slice serve for some reason. to the point that ball practically makes a 90deg turn when it hits the ground. And the returner would have almost no chance I getting to it. Makes me wonder if it might be illegal if the opponent could never get to it
Click to expand...

Tennis isn't famous (unlike maybe cricket) for banning things that give success - in fact the tennis serve actually (imho) has very few rules at all....

That said - two thoughts about the 'i/o' slice:

1. I've rarely, if ever, seen it used in competition or at the pro level. I think this may be due to questionable accuracy, and also...
2. It's a very readable serve imho, I can spot it quite early usually. One of the strengths of Pete's serve is often touted as the fact that he could hit very different serves with the same (similar) toss & motion.

That said: If it works for you, good luck to you....
 
Mike Danger said:
Im lefty, and Ive been practicing my inside out slice serve... I get way more spin that a regular slice serve for some reason. to the point that ball practically makes a 90deg turn when it hits the ground. And the returner would have almost no chance I getting to it. Makes me wonder if it might be illegal if the opponent could never get to it
Click to expand...

I will give you the quote I love hearing, as I am a lefty too, "Damn lefties!!!"
 
what's inside/out? reverse slice... i think there's a youtube of tursunov doing it..... can't believe yours curves alot, as tursunov's doesn't....

but maybe i misunderstand what you're saying.
 
Shots like the posited are of the 'fooled me once, shame on you - fool me twice, shame on me' variety...
 
Last edited:
inside out means you put opposite slice on the ball.
I think it wouldnt be that readable. To get it to slice hard I had to toss it way infront of me, just like I would on a down the line ace.
It was hitting the fence(side) just ahead of the base line. So if someone was to stand that far out, then Id have a wide open shot down the T.

its like hitting an extreme top spin forehand over your head.
 
I know a righty who has a serve like this. It's a nasty surprise the first couple of times he pulls it out of the bag. It never quite loses its effectiveness because he only uses it for spice, and it's hard to get used an odd spin you only see a handful of times a match.

Fortunately for me, he has to change his service grip to hit the reverse spin serve, so I get an early clue it's coming.
 
I throw in a lot of reverse slice serves myself. Definitely worth a few surprise points until the returner gets used to it. Yeah, my motion is an obvious telegraph, but some are slower to catch on than others. Even when my opponents are ready for it, it's still a good serve to curve into the body, and it makes it easier to exploit a returners weak backhand.
 
This pro (Bozoljac) does the serve youre talking about. No its not illegal. Heres the thread on it:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=54362&highlight=bozoljac

These trick serves only work once or twice a match vs a good player. I have a serve where I swing and completely miss the ball, then slice under the ball before it hits the ground, basically hitting a drop shot serve with tons of sidespin. However, its not a serve I would do more than once or twice, if ever against someone good, because if they read it then itll get killed.
 
I dont think I'd call it a trick shot, a drop shot serve, maybe. If I was righty then maybe I wouldnt care as much, but being lefty if I can serve way out wide on both sides...

just like most people dont hit slice forehands, I try to work on that too.
 
As it happens I played a guy with a serve like that at the weekend in a doubles match...I was receiving on the 'ad' side and he hit the ball moving the racquet right to left (as he looked)....it creates a lot of slice and was quite tough to return , but as already stated its easy to read and not very consistent. Nothing illegal as far as I'm aware.
 
I've actually played someone who had this kind of serve. He would actually serve and when it would hit the ground, it would stop almost like a drop shot and move to the left. But he wasn't that very good a player at all and when you're at that level, you just invent your own thing...
 
I have played a guy who is lefty and hits a wicked serve with a western grip. Played him twice. It has a ton of spin with decent pace and comes in just like a right handed kicker. The first time I played him it took me about a set to figure out he could only hit it to one area of the box. He hit the serve the same way every time. After I got used to it, it was very predictable and easy to crush.
 
Shaolin said:
This pro (Bozoljac) does the serve youre talking about. No its not illegal. Heres the thread on it:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=54362&highlight=bozoljac

These trick serves only work once or twice a match vs a good player. I have a serve where I swing and completely miss the ball, then slice under the ball before it hits the ground, basically hitting a drop shot serve with tons of sidespin. However, its not a serve I would do more than once or twice, if ever against someone good, because if they read it then itll get killed.
Click to expand...

Mansour Bahrami has that same serve. He still does it on the Senior Circuit. I would freak if someone served to me like that!
 
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