Putting some more spice to serve^^

TennisAce101

New User
I was hoping if anyone could give me some tips in putting that extra speed and power in the side-spin serve... i'm soo short my percentage for flat is like... 0.0001%. So i changed to side spin to give me a higher percentage... but now the problem is... i'm having trouble placing the ball and its soooooo slow... Tips would be appreicated!!:D :D
 

Andres

G.O.A.T.
TennisAce101 said:
I was hoping if anyone could give me some tips in putting that extra speed and power in the side-spin serve... i'm soo short my percentage for flat is like... 0.0001%. So i changed to side spin to give me a higher percentage... but now the problem is... i'm having trouble placing the ball and its soooooo slow... Tips would be appreicated!!:D :D
Learn how to hit with TOPSPIN instead of sidespin. You can swing faster = more spin = more pace and more likely to go in.
You'll have greater margin of clearance over the net, and you can hit much faster.
 

looseswing

Professional
I'm about five sixish maybe five seven and I still use flat and slice serves as my first serves. Why aren't you just trying to build your flat serve?
 

edberg505

Legend
looseswing said:
I'm about five sixish maybe five seven and I still use flat and slice serves as my first serves. Why aren't you just trying to build your flat serve?

I don't even know if I could hit a true flat serve if I tried. All of my serves have some sort of spin on it, regardless of how hard they are hit.
 

TennsDog

Hall of Fame
First of all, I want to say that I think way too much emphasis is put on height for serving. Yes, tall people like 6'3" or whatever can pound in big serves, it is largely due to leverage and technique than actual heigh above the net. I am 5'8" and have a great serve. Look at Henin-Hardenne. She's only 5'5" and has one of the most formidable serves on tour.

Ok, now that I have that out of the way, to answer the question. It is hard to tell you exactly what you can do for more spin and pace into your serve when we can't see what your serve looks like right now. Any single element that could be missing would improve your serve all around: proper toss, good knee bend, proper timing, good backswing, tucking tossing arm in, weight shift, loose wrist, shoulder rotation, and I could go on... See my thread "Want A Better, More Powerful Serve? (The 10 Step Program)" and see if any of that helps you.

I do think a topspin serve would be very important for you to learn, though, if you want to improve it. You can never go wrong when you got a kicker.
 

TennsDog

Hall of Fame
looseswing said:
I'm about five sixish maybe five seven and I still use flat and slice serves as my first serves. Why aren't you just trying to build your flat serve?
Why not just build your flat serve?? Because no matter how tall you are, it's still going to be a much lower percentage play than anything with spin. Yes, a flat serve is a good weapon to have, but it shouldn't be the primary serve used if you are able to hit serves. Variety is key in tennis, especially serving.
 

ryohazuki222

Professional
i think there was a small article in tennis magazine recently addressing this.. they mentioned some old pro who was pretty short but had a huge serve...

they also said that since you're shorter, you use your legs more... i guess the idea is to make yourself "taller"...

as for being short... at least no random strangers ask you to get stuff for them off the top shelves in stores...
 
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