Kick Serve-Need help for more kick!

[acer]

Hi, I know there are several hits on doing a kick serve and I am sure that I have viewed a majority of them. The problem that I am having is that I just can't get alot of kick on my topspin serve. I can usually get the ball to kick to a player's lower chest area at most. My friend can hit at face level. First, I am a lefty so of course I love the slice serve. I am using an Eastern backhand grip, I toss the ball over my head so that if it drops it would land on my head. I bend my knees and I try to toss the ball high (I have a tendacy to have a lower toss). I aim for 6:00 on the ball and brush up to 12:00. So I think I have covered all of the bases. The only thing I can think of is that I don't do a good wrist snap. My friend with the high kick serve says it has alot to do with wrist.

Can anyone explain the mechanics of a good wrist snap on the kick serve? How should the motion feel? Any other suggestions on getting a better kick serve would be great!

Thanks

Acer

 

[GrahamIsSuper]

Well, wrist snap plays a huge role in every type of serve. It is primarily this snap that gives a player his unique spin/power ratio, all things being close to one-another.

I noticed you didn't say anything regarding to your upward explosion. The kick serve, over every other type of serve, requires explosive upward movement in order to generate the most topspin or kick or twist or whatever your goal is. So, not only should you be bending your knees, you should focus on exploding up into the ball and trying to get the ball to go as "high" as possible. What I mean by this is:

Instead of doing a flatter ray over the net, from top-most impact to final resting point in the box, like you would be going for with the slice or flat, your goal with the kick or twist should be more of a paraballa shape. This will subconciously force your body to hit more up on it, and explode straight up into the ball, producing massive topspin onto the ball, hopefully keeping it in the court. So, focus on trying to hit the kick serve a good 6 feet OVER the net level (it may go out but we are practicing not playing a match) and eventually your body will learn the necessary means to get that form into the court.

Your wrist is a pretty simple fix. Try and imagine "the wave" or a whip cracking. Your arm should be doing something similar. As your arm is going up, the wrist should be the last thing to uncoil from the bent position, the prior uncoilings contributing their kinetic energy into the wrist, to be released into the ball.

 

[GrahamIsSuper]

Well, wrist snap plays a huge role in every type of serve. It is primarily this snap that gives a player his unique spin/power ratio, all things being close to one-another.

I noticed you didn't say anything regarding to your upward explosion. The kick serve, over every other type of serve, requires explosive upward movement in order to generate the most topspin or kick or twist or whatever your goal is. So, not only should you be bending your knees, you should focus on exploding up into the ball and trying to get the ball to go as "high" as possible. What I mean by this is:

Instead of doing a flatter ray over the net, from top-most impact to final resting point in the box, like you would be going for with the slice or flat, your goal with the kick or twist should be more of a paraballa shape. This will subconciously force your body to hit more up on it, and explode straight up into the ball, producing massive topspin onto the ball, hopefully keeping it in the court. So, focus on trying to hit the kick serve a good 6 feet OVER the net level (it may go out but we are practicing not playing a match) and eventually your body will learn the necessary means to get that form into the court.

Your wrist is a pretty simple fix. Try and imagine "the wave" or a whip cracking. Your arm should be doing something similar. As your arm is going up, the wrist should be the last thing to uncoil from the bent position, the prior uncoilings contributing their kinetic energy into the wrist, to be released into the ball.

 

[ShooterMcMarco]

You could try moving your toss to the left more so that it would land on your left shoulder instead of on top of your head. Of course the ball should still be in front of your body plane.

 

[acer]

Thanks GrahamIsSuper

I will try your tips the next time I get on the court!

Acer

 

[vizsla]

Suggestion:

A pro showed me a tip. This may sound strange, but he took me outside the court, behind the fence directly behind the service line. He had me serve to the closest service box. So, I tried it, but didn't have a kick. I "tapped" it over the fence. He showed me that I needed to go from 7 to 2 and to get that height over the net, just like Graham said.

Try it by hitting about 15 balls over. Then rightafterwards, go into the court and try it. It works.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

do your pronation
check the Sticky on Kick Serve