Slice serve instead of kick/topspin
- Thread starter Bruen
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SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Toss somewhat more to the left (if you are a right-handed server) -- kinda behind your tossing shoulder. The toss won't be as far forward as a flat or slice toss would be. (See lower images). Try to lean forward a bit to get under the toss.
Meet the ball a little bit lower -- that is, let the toss drop a bit more for your contact. But still extend your arm -- it should be comfortably straight at contact. If you let the toss drop more, your swing should still be moving in an upward direction when you make contact. This should give you more topspin or kick. If you catch the toss too high your racket swing path won't be moving up as much as it will be moving to the to side.
Meet the ball a little bit lower -- that is, let the toss drop a bit more for your contact. But still extend your arm -- it should be comfortably straight at contact. If you let the toss drop more, your swing should still be moving in an upward direction when you make contact. This should give you more topspin or kick. If you catch the toss too high your racket swing path won't be moving up as much as it will be moving to the to side.
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I suggest that you learn more about the kick serve and develop a better mental picture of it. Daily Tennis lesson guy has a free tutorial which I think is one of the best.. If you learn about the kicker - you won't make this mistake - well without knowing why..anyway...
But if you want a quick fix - this is my shot at it. You HAVE to toss the ball to your left some. At least 11'oclock. If you do this..
1) its HARD to hit a slice serve in..
2) You will have a better shot at hitting a kick serve.
Every once in a while you will toss the ball to the wrong spot - making it nearly impossible to hit anything but a flatish or slice serve.
Some people will tell you that hey you should 'disguise' your serve and hit them all from the same toss. I haven't actually seen that work though.. IF you are learning exaggerating the different toss positions helps some..
But if you want a quick fix - this is my shot at it. You HAVE to toss the ball to your left some. At least 11'oclock. If you do this..
1) its HARD to hit a slice serve in..
2) You will have a better shot at hitting a kick serve.
Every once in a while you will toss the ball to the wrong spot - making it nearly impossible to hit anything but a flatish or slice serve.
Some people will tell you that hey you should 'disguise' your serve and hit them all from the same toss. I haven't actually seen that work though.. IF you are learning exaggerating the different toss positions helps some..
Shroud
G.O.A.T.
Great advice here already.
One thing for me, is that on the kick I need to hit the ball as its falling, but on the slice i can hit it at the top of the toss. Occasionally I will not be as relaxed and rush things...those tend to be more top/slice serves and not like kicks.
dct693
Semi-Pro
One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is that the body must be facing more sideways, rather than pointing towards the target when contact is made. It's not really apparent from the excellent photos in post #2 (perhaps because contact with the ball hasn't been made in pictures 1 and 2). In fact, the Feel Tennis guy has another video about improving topspin serves where he mentions this very fact. I try to point my left shoulder (I'm a righty) towards my target when I hit a topspin serve. Helps tremendously. I've seen the Daily Tennis Lesson videos as well, but Brady doesn't emphasize this point, which I think is key.
Dave Smith's video is really good and it works for some..but I had better luck with Brady's tutorial. Different cues will help different students I think. He really harps on ulnar deviation which if you get the feel for makes you kinda automatically do the other stuff (sideways, elbow back). Same with the toss - with your toss left - it becomes hard to come around the other side of the ball.
But yeah as Dave does explain kick and the other serves are really quite different. Slice and Flat are kinda cousins - whereas kick is like from the other side of your family altogether.
But yeah as Dave does explain kick and the other serves are really quite different. Slice and Flat are kinda cousins - whereas kick is like from the other side of your family altogether.
Toss location will prolly fix most of your problems. Toss more to the left would be my first guess.
If you want to use the same toss, you need to slightly alter your swingpath. This is really nuanced, and if you can't tell you're adding slice right now, then it'll be hard for you to change your swingpath. I mean, you can try, but you won't recognize when you're doing it right or wrong.
There will prolly be some slice in your topspin serve. Unless you use more extreme technique to get rid of slice. You could have a proper top serve and slice serve, but your top serve could be someone else's slice serve.
Secondary guesses would be stay more sideways and arche your back and make sure your chest faces towards the sky.
If you want to use the same toss, you need to slightly alter your swingpath. This is really nuanced, and if you can't tell you're adding slice right now, then it'll be hard for you to change your swingpath. I mean, you can try, but you won't recognize when you're doing it right or wrong.
There will prolly be some slice in your topspin serve. Unless you use more extreme technique to get rid of slice. You could have a proper top serve and slice serve, but your top serve could be someone else's slice serve.
Secondary guesses would be stay more sideways and arche your back and make sure your chest faces towards the sky.
winstonlim8
Professional
Due to back injuries, I have had to do the following to hit topspin serves -
1.use an Eastern backhand grip
2.bend my knees more and "sit" more on my left to shift my weight more under the ball (I am right handed)
3.start with a slightly wider stance with my right heel aligned directly behind my left heel so that I can stay sideways longer.
To kick the ball to my left (right hander's forehand) I have to toss more to my left but that requires a deeper back bend so I seldom do it. I prefer to slice the ball to a left hander's backhand (with a weak Eastern more towards Continental backhand grip) because it's less strain on my back than tossing further left.
I have to align the ball of my right foot with my left heel and aim at 3 o'clock to slice consistently. I don't know why staying more sideways a little bit longer helps me swing the ball to my left though. It just works for me.
But they're all such a minor adjustments in foot alignment that most opponents don't notice it from the opposite end of the court.
I hope this helps.
1.use an Eastern backhand grip
2.bend my knees more and "sit" more on my left to shift my weight more under the ball (I am right handed)
3.start with a slightly wider stance with my right heel aligned directly behind my left heel so that I can stay sideways longer.
To kick the ball to my left (right hander's forehand) I have to toss more to my left but that requires a deeper back bend so I seldom do it. I prefer to slice the ball to a left hander's backhand (with a weak Eastern more towards Continental backhand grip) because it's less strain on my back than tossing further left.
I have to align the ball of my right foot with my left heel and aim at 3 o'clock to slice consistently. I don't know why staying more sideways a little bit longer helps me swing the ball to my left though. It just works for me.
But they're all such a minor adjustments in foot alignment that most opponents don't notice it from the opposite end of the court.
I hope this helps.
