tallsandwich
Rookie
@J011yroger could you talk more about making the slice serve work? I think I understand the part about hitting the ball at 1:00 but what does the racquet path before/after that need to do? Appreciate any help you could give.
My slice serve doesn't slice...
- Thread starter BartCane
- Start date
Mongolmike
Hall of Fame
Grave digging, but this video A) taught me something B) showed me I am an idiot/showed me how people get mis-perceptions in their brains and block out the truth
Simple enough, he is talking hitting the ball at 4 or 5 o'clock. Some say 4, some say 1, etc.
The point is, when ever the clock analogy was used, I always envisioned the clock face was vertical, like hanging on a wall.
What he is showing/suggesting is the clock is horizontal, like plastered to the ceiling. I never considered that.
All these years of trying unsuccessfully to hit a slice (but I can hit a decent kick), my aim point has been wrong because I am conditioned from viewing a clock on the wall... vertically.
I am literally shaking my head, but heading out now with ball machine. Definitely gonna hit some serves too.
His clock is the equatorial (horizontal) cross-section of the ball. If you think about it, it is the same position on a vertical clock, which is what people normally use in this situation.
Wear an analog watch and keep it horizontal. Mark on your wrist the spot next to a certain time, say 4 o'clock. Now twist your wrist to make the watch face vertical. What o'clock is the spot now?
I agree with the concept that on a slower court a slice serve will have less sideways movement after the bounce. The topspin will bite more. I was hitting serves on a terrible school “parking lot” court last night (ie no court surface, just lines painted on asphalt) and experienced this. The flip side was that T serves were a lot easier because the ball would naturally continue in a straighter line even when hit with top-slice. I noticed the same thing with my kick serves…it was even harder than usual to get them to bounce to my right.
Mongolmike
Hall of Fame
I don't 100% agree with you, ( striking the ball at horizontal 6 vs vertical 6 are two different spots), but that is a mute point ("mute" in that I don't want to argue about it).
To me it was a needed shift in perspective, and that's what I take from it.
I understand your example, appreciate it, thanks.
Maybe part of my singular view is that I don't wear/don't even own a wristwatch. I have rarely ever worn one, so viewing a clock horizontally is not a common thing for me.
Mongolmike
Hall of Fame
Went and hit balls and then worked on the slice serve for 100 or so serves.
Did find that throwing ball further to right helped, but if l have any longer term success with the slice, that will have to change.
Right now my toss for my flat-"ish" 1st serve, and my 2nd serve kicker toss are only a few degrees different. Same height, same toss arm arc, same foot/body alignment.
If I learn a slice, and can show the same-"ish" toss for all 3 serves....Ho ho ho! Merry freaking Christmas, and l am going to pi ss off a lot of people I play.
Today, had 1 slice where the ball jumped about 15 degrees to left. I was like....what did l do? How did I do that???
Maybe 10 others had a slight visible jump to left.
Most of the rest l could not discern movement, or even if l imparted spin, and of course a bunch of them l shanked or they were complete mis-hits. All good. Plenty of work to do. Another 1000 or so serves and lets see where we are at then.
Did find that throwing ball further to right helped, but if l have any longer term success with the slice, that will have to change.
Right now my toss for my flat-"ish" 1st serve, and my 2nd serve kicker toss are only a few degrees different. Same height, same toss arm arc, same foot/body alignment.
If I learn a slice, and can show the same-"ish" toss for all 3 serves....Ho ho ho! Merry freaking Christmas, and l am going to pi ss off a lot of people I play.
Today, had 1 slice where the ball jumped about 15 degrees to left. I was like....what did l do? How did I do that???
Maybe 10 others had a slight visible jump to left.
Most of the rest l could not discern movement, or even if l imparted spin, and of course a bunch of them l shanked or they were complete mis-hits. All good. Plenty of work to do. Another 1000 or so serves and lets see where we are at then.
