The answer to this question depends upon whether you are aiming to reply in kind with a slice, or to hit a topspin. As the ball approaches and you rotate your shoulders to your left, bring your racquet back above your left shoulder. When a slice is done correctly, the racket adds a backspin to the ball when it is struck. Within tennis, the serve is a bigger weapon for men than for women, in part . That's just plain easier.

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A word of caution: Slice backhands make poor passing shots. There are many variations of the topspin forehand where players will choose a desired Western or Eastern grip depending on their style of play. Second, it can be difficult to generate power with a slice. Disadvantages Lack of topspin Lower power potential Difficulty handling high bouncing balls How to Form a Continental Grip To form the continental grip, place the palm side of your index finger's bottom knuckle against the second bevel if you're right-handed or the eighth bevel if you're left-handed. Many pros, including the legendary Australian champion Ken Rosewall, used the slice backhand stroke as their only backhand. The three primary types of tennis serves include the flat, slice, and kick serve. It gives the opponent more time to get to the ball. Its subtle, but hopefully, compared with the flat serve, you can tell the racquet is coming toward the ball at an angle with a bit of upward motion. At MyTennisHQ, we have all played junior, college, and professional tennis. Im extremely passionate about the mental and technical part of the game. There are many different types of forehand slice shot, all of which have their uses. Friction and surface area explain why slower surfaces are less effective. The racquet head instead should be pointing at the back fence, at about a 45-degree angle. The first thing you need to do is grip the racket properly. This requires care, however, as the ball may be low, and will not rise off the racket as readily as a ball which comes to you with topspin. The flat serve is one of the most popular and most useful serves in tennis. Slice will make the ball stop short after it hits the court, so it is the obvious choice if you want to hit a short ball to surprise your opponent. As a result, when the ball hits the court, it stays low, which forces a player to have to bend and get low or return out of their strike zone. The shot is executed with a flowing high-to-low action and a continental or Eastern grip, using a neutral or semi-open stance. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Lets take a look at how to hit a slice serve with proper technique. link to The Best Babolat Tennis Rackets (for Every Type of Player), link to The Top 3 Best Babolat Tennis Rackets Under $100. If you look at a tennis shot side-on from the players right, a ball hit with topspin will appear to be rotating clockwise. What makes the slice serve unique is the sidespin applied, which causes the ball to move from right to left (if youre a righty) and continue to move in that direction off the bounce. The major difference is that the racquet shouldn't be pointing straight up, at a 90-degree angle, like a bat. Some professionals hit virtually all of their forehands with slice. The major difference is that the racquet shouldn't be pointing straight up, at a 90-degree angle, like a bat. Create a free account and explore my latest videos below. Hitting up is counterintuitive to many players at first because theyre afraid the ball will sail long. While you should strive to maintain an identical toss for your flat and slice serves, the kick serve falls into a category of its own, with a different toss that allows you to generate the necessary topspin. First and foremost, its important to make sure youre using the correct grip for the flat serve. Swing forward with a high-to-low motion.

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Release the racquet with your left hand as you do this. A tennis slice is a means of hitting or returning the ball that puts a particular spin on the ball. Of all the serves, the kick serve is arguably the most valuable and highly sought after for players to learn. This motion gives the ball the spin or slice that youre looking for while also making sure theres just enough topspin to bring the ball back down into the court. The amount of torsion the arm suffers increases as the court gets more worn, because bounces become more unpredictable, leading to more off-center hits. If your opponent has a very fast or heavily spun serve, and you are having difficulty controlling it with a flat or topspun return, a block return with a little slice can be effective. You may want to be slightly lower for a push as usually we play this shot against lower, backspin balls. Slice always imparts control. To hit a slice, you need to strike the ball with a high-to-low movement, thus imparting backspin. It should go without saying that your legs are critical to your serve, but unfortunately, its not second nature to most players. A topspin shot, on the other hand, rotates forward toward the opponent as it travels through the air. The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. Since a big flat serve has a lower margin for error, its worth being thoughtful when you choose to use it. Implementing finesse into your shots when competing against other tennis players is a great way to throw off your opponent by forcing them to change their game plan on the fly. Once again, when hitting a kick serve, you should rely on your continental service grip, which is ideally suited for this serve. It is easier to control and creates a less predictable bounce with no pace for my opponents to work with. Your ability to hit more than one type of serve will allow you to be more competitive against different players and on various court surfaces. Here too, it is necessary to make a distinction. Think of your racquet face as an elevator that you need to move to the right \"story\" or height to pick up the passenger, a bright yellow tennis ball!

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4. One of the biggest challenges of the game of tennis is adjusting your stroke according to the incoming ball (high, low, topspin, slice, fast, slow, etc. On the other hand, if youre down 15-40, a big flat serve can be a considerable risk. Instead of hitting through the ball as you would with a flat serve, youll want to hit up. Turn the racquet face as you bring it back so that the hitting surface ends up facing upward, as shown in Figure 1.

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This position makes it easy and natural to brush your strings under the lower portion of the ball, producing backspin. Heres a photo that shows the contact point against the ball as well as the correct racquet face angle, which is flat to avoid putting spin on the ball. With the kick serve, youll want to contact the ball from bottom to the top of the ball so that youre hitting or brushing up on the ball. I went with that for a bit then went back to try and develop topspin, at which point it was infinitely easier because I could get clean contact and not have the racket face twist back on me during . Now that you know the three different types of tennis serves, it pays to keep in mind that each serve can be hit in countless places in the service box, providing you with even greater variety. The Best Babolat Tennis Rackets (for Every Type of Player).

Michael Kernicki is currently the Head Professional at the Indian Creek Country Club in Miami Beach.

","authors":[{"authorId":10669,"name":"Michael Patrick Shiels","slug":"michael-patrick-shiels","description":" Michael Patrick Shiels writes frequently for golf magazines and is the official golf writer of the PGA of America's Michigan section. Topspin and slice shots are a necessity in tennis. When executing a tennis slice, the player will swing downward in a "slicing" motion, angling the racket anywhere between fully flat and entirely diagonal. The ball will follow a low, flattish path through the air and then bounce up (but not far forward) on a grippy court surface like acrylic. When you're moving forward toward the net and you want to drive a low-bouncing ball into the corner of your opponent's court. Again, this is in favor of the two-handed backhand. In contrast, a sliced groundstroke will appear to be rotating anti-clockwise. This toss placement allows you to achieve the proper racquet angle for those serves. By common sense, it is known that in tight situations players have to use larger body parts to lessen the impact of their muscles tightening. Hopefully, youve enjoyed this post on the three different types of serves. That's just plain easier.

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