I have never really been able to hit this serve, except by accident once in a blue moon. Part of the problem is that I've never seen a good explanation how you can get the ball to curve one way and bounce another. But I think I may have hit on something finally.
First, it probably helps to define the kind of serve I'm talking about. From a right hander's perspective it's a serve that moves from right to left in the air (like a slice serve), but bounces sharply up and to the right (unlike a slice serve that bounces to the left).
I was talking to an instructor about problems I have returning slice serves, and that the return goes too far cross court. I said I thought this was because I was too far out front on them. He said, maybe not, it might be because I'm improperly adjusting for the spin as it comes off the racket. Again, assuming we are talking right handers here, a slice serve is coming toward me curving to my right but once it hits my strings it will bounce to my left - cross court. So, If I don't take this into consideration then my return will go too cross court. I'd never heard this before, and was skeptical because as everyone knows a slice serve bounces to the the returners' right off the bounce, why would it go the other way when it hit's my racket?
Well, by tossing me balls with slice spin on them and letting them hit my racket he proved that he was right. I later verified this by hitting slice side spin at a wall and sure enough the ball goes sharply the other way when it hits the wall (if the ball is moving right to left in the air, it comes off the wall to the right - the more slice on the ball the more it goes to the right).
So, when a slice serve hits the ground it keeps going in the direction it was going in the air, but when it hits a wall or a racket it goes the opposite direction, and of course the opposite direction bounce is what an American twist kick serve does. Why is that?
It's the angle of incidence. If the ball hits the floor at a shallow glancing angle that does not take much spin off the ball, but when it hits the wall or a racket the impact is much more direct and the wall or racket grabs the ball and reverses the spin direction (that's my theory).
So, to hit the American twist serve the ball has to be dropping as nearly straight down as possible to turn the floor into a wall - more straight down than a slice serve. Seems like you can do this by hitting a ton of top and side spin, and/or hitting it high in the air so that gravity pulls it down more vertically. I have not tried this out yet, but I think I can see now how to hit the serve.
First, it probably helps to define the kind of serve I'm talking about. From a right hander's perspective it's a serve that moves from right to left in the air (like a slice serve), but bounces sharply up and to the right (unlike a slice serve that bounces to the left).
I was talking to an instructor about problems I have returning slice serves, and that the return goes too far cross court. I said I thought this was because I was too far out front on them. He said, maybe not, it might be because I'm improperly adjusting for the spin as it comes off the racket. Again, assuming we are talking right handers here, a slice serve is coming toward me curving to my right but once it hits my strings it will bounce to my left - cross court. So, If I don't take this into consideration then my return will go too cross court. I'd never heard this before, and was skeptical because as everyone knows a slice serve bounces to the the returners' right off the bounce, why would it go the other way when it hit's my racket?
Well, by tossing me balls with slice spin on them and letting them hit my racket he proved that he was right. I later verified this by hitting slice side spin at a wall and sure enough the ball goes sharply the other way when it hits the wall (if the ball is moving right to left in the air, it comes off the wall to the right - the more slice on the ball the more it goes to the right).
So, when a slice serve hits the ground it keeps going in the direction it was going in the air, but when it hits a wall or a racket it goes the opposite direction, and of course the opposite direction bounce is what an American twist kick serve does. Why is that?
It's the angle of incidence. If the ball hits the floor at a shallow glancing angle that does not take much spin off the ball, but when it hits the wall or a racket the impact is much more direct and the wall or racket grabs the ball and reverses the spin direction (that's my theory).
So, to hit the American twist serve the ball has to be dropping as nearly straight down as possible to turn the floor into a wall - more straight down than a slice serve. Seems like you can do this by hitting a ton of top and side spin, and/or hitting it high in the air so that gravity pulls it down more vertically. I have not tried this out yet, but I think I can see now how to hit the serve.
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