toss for kick serve

[tennispal]

Hey

why do ppl say that the toss for the kick serve has to be behind your head. I toss mine to the left of my head yes, but to the front and try to lean into it. ive found that i get better pace and more kick. When i try to toss behind my head, the kick serve is too slow and the arc a little too high. Any input would be welcome.

Thanks

 

[Ghosting]

Hey

why do ppl say that the toss for the kick serve has to be behind your head. I toss mine to the left of my head yes, but to the front and try to lean into it. ive found that i get better pace and more kick. When i try to toss behind my head, the kick serve is too slow and the arc a little too high. Any input would be welcome.

Thanks

Hi, I think you are right. Almost everbody will tell you that you must toss behind your head but I think it's not best advice. You have to make racquet contact behind your head or above. But to get it you must lean forward with your body being sideways to the baseline. Federer ends his kick serve motion
almost 1/2 metre in the court. So it's better toss the ball to 11 o'clock but forward. Hitting arm must be quite behind head - the only way how to pronate properly. It means hitting arm goes up and "sideways body" goes forward.

http://www.hi-techtennis.com/serve/seesaw_example.php
http://image63.webshots.com/63/8/74/6/409787406GRQvmX_ph.jpg
you can see how both Malisse and Henman lean forward

Some general tips to hit a kick serve are wrong from my point of view:
1. toss the ball behind your head
2. break your wrist at contact (it's rubbish, it's about arm pronating)
3. eastern backhand grip (with this grip it's very difficult to pronate so you don't get aggressive ball jump action to the right for righty players)
4. brush the ball (it's better to catch the ball with extended arm and fling it out to to right)

 

[tennispal]

great tips

Thanks, i thought i was the only one

 

[Ghosting]

great tips

Thanks, i thought i was the only one

Do you have a solid kick serve? I'm struggling to get enough kick to the right. The most kick I get when I serve from the ad side to the T.

 

[Vision84]

I was taught to make my back close to horizontal by bending the legs and if I let the ball drop and keep my legs bent it should land on my face. When I do this right I get my best kicks.

 

[tennispal]

I have an ok kick serve. Its really consistent, but like u, i dont get enough kick

working on it tho

 

[shindemac]

I think the ball toss location is more critical for people who are just learning this serve. Things like "swing from 6 to 12" or "brush up the back of the ball" can be hard for someone to put into practice if they use the same ball toss as their flat. They're likely to not get enough spin, and then hurt their chances of later developing a good kick serve. But once you master this, then you can change your ball toss to get the desired mix of spin/pace while still performing the correct motion.

I think most coaches are going for consistency rather than pace. You should be able to clear the net by at least 3 feet, and still have the serve land in. Even when you up the pace for a second serve, you should still follow the 3 feet rule and shouldn't sacrifice on net clearance to get the pace.