Kick Serve-Topspin Serve

[Owfred]

Hi,

I have tried and tried but I can't seem to get a productive topspin serve (if it even is one) for a second serve. Typically, I serve with a flat or slice first serve and doink the second one, which has really been killing me. So as I result, I was trying to learn the kick serve so my second serve would be more productive, but it's just not working. Recently, I switched my racquet to a Prince Tour Diablo Mid, which I picked out because my OS racquet was way to head heavy for my liking and i was breaking to many strings. The Diablo hits really nicely on my topspin forehand and backhand, but my serves are much weaker due to it being a control racquet. So when I do a topspin serve, I take a Continental grip and try to toss the ball directly above me instead of a little in front of me and i try to swipe the back side of the ball upward, but I am not really sure on the exact swing motion for the serve. The result i get is a really slow hit that stays up high and then bends down in the service box, but it is really slow and undependable and im not even sure its a topspin serve (it could bounce higher but its not really blatantly obvious). I keep hitting incorrectly due to miss hits on the frame and some balls go directly to the floor in front of me. No one I know has a kick serve and so its hard for me to get help. But I really would appreaciate if you could give me some pointers to help me develop a kick-topspin serve.

 

[Tennis Ball Hitter]

Do a search, lots of threads .

but by the sounds of it your not brushing hard enough.

How slow is it? You should be really c-o-c-king that wrist back and then you brush up the back of the ball with a REALLY HARD wrist flick [as hard/fast as you can flick your wrist].

If you flick your wrist as hard as you can, you will either get a massively long and/or fast serve OR you will get alot of topspin. Then you can work from there.

other than that, it is very hard to change your serve motion from flat to topspin for first/second serve, especially if you are still having trouble with the kick serve.

The other thing you can try is to toss the ball even further behind you ... within reason of course ... and alot of back arching, but definietly try the the wrist flicking thing first.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

check my posting on
Kick Serve
in the Sticky thread at the top of this forum.

 

[Owfred]

Thanks, i've spent some time looking at the kick serve postings all around. But I have just some small questions. For a normal topspin serve (no twist), how left or right (parallel to the baseline) should i toss the ball? Should it be directly where I am standing? and secondly, how far back should i toss the ball (perpendicular to the baseline)? I know that if I throw it forward, it would be harder to hit that serve, but when i throw it too back, it just seems too awkward.

 

[Xevoius]

I find I have the best results when I throw it over just ever so slightly behind by head but interestingly enough I get the highest jump off the court when the toss is also out into the court a bit.

When I get the combination just right, it is like magic.

 

[StraightSets]

This video gave me a few good pointers.
http://www.tomavery.com/video_clips/52859.mov