Hit a Slice Serve in Tennis

A quick summary of how to hit a slice serve in the game of tennis.

Steps

  1. Hold your racket with an eastern backhand or continental grip (see Tennis Grips page for complete listing)
  2. Line up your shoulders so that they point in the direction you want to hit, with your non-dominant side closer to the net
  3. Toss the ball (with your non-dominant hand) somewhat close to your head. Make sure it does not go over the baseline and its not behind you.
  4. Hit the outside of the ball (the part farthest from you), slicing (hence the name) around and very slightly under the ball.
  5. Your arm should be straight at contact and you should follow through on your non-dominant side
  6. Your serve should curve to your non-dominant side (a right-handed slice serve curves left, etc.)



Tips

  • work on your toss it should become so consistent in it's location that you could close your eyes and hit it. If your having trouble very often the location of your toss (inconsistent) is causing problems.
  • make sure you push with your knees to get the ball. This adds extra spin and power to a reliable serve.

If the ball is going in the net, adjust your toss. Make sure your toss is high enough, Remember, you can toss it as many times as you like if you don't swing, so get that perfect toss!

  • Once you have a good slice serve down, learn to use it. For a right-handed person on the deuce side, you want to hit it to the left to push the ball as far off the court as you can. On the ad side, hit it to the tee so it will slice left to get them to stretch out and hit a bad shot.

. Learn to visualize this serve really curving or taking a huge swing/breaking into the service box. The easiest way to learn for right handed imagine curving the serve from the nest post all the way around into corner of deuce box and try to make it hit the fence on the side. Very few players ever really understand just how big a break you can put on a proper slice serve it's not "just for the pros". This serve toss should be in front and to right for right handed player.

Warnings

  • Warm up your arm before swinging hard. Remember: you can hit a few soft serves and win a match or slam the first serve you hit and mess up your arm for a long time!
  • Don't hit too much under the ball, as it will not give you much power or it will also might make it go out. That's a sort of handicap to help you get over the net. You should try not to cut under the ball, if possible.

Related Articles

Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Hit_a_Slice_Serve_in_Tennis&oldid=356653"