Thats where variety is king and why learning the three different types of serves is crucial. In-depth Resources On slice shots, the racquet doesn't come around and up, making an arc. Lets take a look at how to hit a slice serve with proper technique. There are many variations of the topspin forehand where players will choose a desired Western or Eastern grip depending on their style of play. ), your position on the court and the direction you want to hit. The slice forehand has many advantages, but using it for rally balls on slow surfaces like clay and some hard courts can result in the ball bouncing slowly and steeply, seemingly asking to be attacked. 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. When executing a tennis slice, the player will swing downward in a slicing motion, angling the racket anywhere between fully flat and entirely diagonal.When the racket and the ball make contact, the racket should be continuously moving in a direction close to perpendicular to the ball. As the ball approaches and you rotate your shoulders to your left, bring your racquet back above your left shoulder. As a result, most players hit flat groundstrokes sparingly. 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 . In this article I will tell you what you need to know about how and when to play a tennis forehand slice by answering some of the commonly asked questions. Hitting a very high lob with some slice, by cutting under the ball with a flattish swing, can give you time to get back into a rally. Next, lets talk about how to make contact with the ball. Slice shots don't bounce as high, either. Disguise is crucial, but if executed well against a player who is standing a long way back, it can be very effective. If you miss, then youll have to rely on your second serve to keep you in the game with your opponent, who is ready to take a chance themselves and close out the game. It is possible to play every single forehand shot as a slice, but this is unlikely to be the most effective way to play. While weve tried to provide a thorough examination of the three kinds of serves, we realize it can be challenging to answer every question a reader might have. Heres a photo that showcases the contact point and racquet angle when hitting a kick serve. The result can be a very low-bouncing serve that is hard to return. 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. You will have more time to return the ball, have a better stance, stronger strokes, more spin, and more confidence. If you miss, the pressure is still on your opponent to hit a great return off your slower second serve. There are basically three major types of court surfaces: Hard Courts, Grass Courts, and Clay Courts. Without some of Hi there! Last but not least, another element that will help you produce a fantastic serve is going for it and hitting with confidence. If you are happy to slice the ball back, the standard slice technique can be used, making sure that you stay in a low stance, as the ball may stay quite low. And, an athlete like Mima Ito, proves beyond a doubt that the banana flip can be even more effective . But don't use it as a substitute for your flat or topspin forehand. Helpful Tip: The underarm serve is most widely employed by players with big serves and a good touch, such as Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Bublik. Rallying with a sliced forehand is mainly done by players who lack confidence in their topspin game, but it can nonetheless be very effective in the right conditions. Copyright 2017-2023 Rookie Road Inc. All rights reserved. Even at pro level, doing damage is still all about the forehand. However, by hitting up on the ball, you generate topspin, which can bring the ball back down into the court even though youre hitting up. Disadvantages Of Slice In Tennis Slashes are disliked by many lower-level recreational players. If youre playing on a clay court, you may love your kick serve, where you benefit from the higher bounces that make this serve even more challenging to return. At the highest level, many matches go by without a single sliced forehand being played. MyTennisHQ is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to websites like TennisWarehouse.com and Amazon.com. The sports divide into a few tiers of serving advantages. Babolat have been producing tennis equipment since 1875, and today they manufacture a range of rackets that offers something for everyone. That's just plain easier.
\n- Slice slows the ball down. A ball hit with any kind of spin travels slower than a flat one. If youre looking to develop an effective serve thats a weapon, then its crucial to understand and learn how to execute the three different types of tennis serves. In fact, hitting a slice serve at 75% of your max swing speed can be a great tactic because the sidespin combined with the change in pace will often throw off your opponent. Many top players, including male and female Grand Slam champions use the sliced forehand. It should go without saying that your legs are critical to your serve, but unfortunately, its not second nature to most players. On the other hand, if you were to try that same serve against a 65 opponent, then you may find it lands much closer to their strike zone, allowing them to hit an easy return. Here are some tips on how to slice a ball in tennis: 1. For most players, the kick serve has become the default second serve. They expect each ball to bounce to them after it lands, and they expect the ball to bounce low from a slice in order to avoid getting injured. Additionally, if the forehand slice has been hit with side-spin, you will need to recognise this and allow more space if you aim to reply with a forehand, as the ball will spin into your body if your opponent is right-handed. Aerodynamically it will appear to rise and then dip, kicking forward and up off the court surface when it lands. Straight flips can be much easier and quicker as the pips are less sensitive to spin. However, it makes it challenging to get under the ball and apply maximum topspin for the kick serve. Home > Instruction > Serve > 3 Types of Tennis Serves, Improve your game alongside our community of tennis players. For the taller opponent, who might not move as well as a shorter player, you might hit a slice serve at their body because theyll struggle to reposition themselves quickly when returning. As a result, the overuse of a hard flat serve can lead to giving away too many free points or forcing you to rely heavily on your second serve. This leads to a higher bounce and less spin on the ball after contact with the ground. It's a defensive shot that you should use on only three occasions: \n
- When you're scrambling to retrieve a good, angled shot by your opponent (this is called making a get) and can't set up to hit a conventional forehand you can swipe the ball back with slice and buy yourself a little time to get back into position.
- 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.
- When you want to surprise your opponent with a drop shot.
Dressing up your backhand with slice
\nIf you have trouble effectively hitting the flat backhand, you can use a slightly different stroke that carries many players far in the game the pure slice backhand. {"appState":{"pageLoadApiCallsStatus":true},"articleState":{"article":{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-26T22:57:30+00:00","modifiedTime":"2016-03-26T22:57:30+00:00","timestamp":"2022-09-14T18:12:05+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Home, Auto, & Hobbies","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33809"},"slug":"home-auto-hobbies","categoryId":33809},{"name":"Sports & Recreation","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34001"},"slug":"sports-recreation","categoryId":34001},{"name":"Tennis","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34033"},"slug":"tennis","categoryId":34033}],"title":"Slicing and Dicing, Tennis Style","strippedTitle":"slicing and dicing, tennis style","slug":"slicing-and-dicing-tennis-style","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Slice, or backspin, causes the tennis ball to spin back toward the source of impact (you). When hitting a flat serve, youll want your toss to be roughly 12-18 inches in front of you and approximately 6 inches to the right of your tossing arms shoulder at the peak of the toss. In this section, I will look at some of the circumstances in which a forehand slice shot can be played successfully, and the broad technique which should be used. 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. As for the angle of your racquet head, youll want the edge to be roughly parallel with the baseline. But don't use it as a substitute for your flat or topspin forehand.
Michael Kernicki is currently the Head Professional at the Indian Creek Country Club in Miami Beach.
Michael Patrick Shiels writes frequently for golf magazines and is the official golf writer of the PGA of America's Michigan section. During a slice shot, the racket travels in a downward motion, before slicing underneath the tennis ball. Ive had the chance to play against great names of the new generation, like Christian Garin, Cameron Norrie, and Kyle Edmund. To be a complete tennis player and to be competitive you need to master every shot and you need to know when to use them. Only a few top players will use a forehand slice routinely for a rally ball, but on a low-bouncing surface like grass the shot can be effective in preventing an opponent from attacking and keeping them on the move. The forehand slice is a shot which is rarely taught or discussed in modern tennis. 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. 3. Slicing does have disadvantages, so ideally it is used as a variation or in specific circumstances. I had to work extra harder. Modern tennis is dominated by the use of topspin shots. . To hit a slice, you need to strike the ball with a high-to-low movement, thus imparting backspin. Many players will want to take the initiative from the slicer by hitting an aggressive topspin. Turn the racquet face as you bring it back so that the hitting surface ends up facing upward, as shown in Figure 1.\nThis position makes it easy and natural to brush your strings under the lower portion of the ball, producing backspin. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. A flat groundstroke is usually more challenging to hit while keeping the shot within boundaries of the tennis court since there isn't much topspin. When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent to really stretch to get to the ball. Slow pace and the flat trajectory give your opponent two big advantages: more time and an ideal height, at about a foot above the net, to smash away a winner.
\nBasically, you hit the slice backhand just as you would hit your standard backhand (both one-handed and two-handed backhands), changing only the following things about your stroke:
\n1. As a result, the overuse of a hard flat serve can lead to giving away too many free points or forcing you to rely heavily on your second serve. Tennis is not recommended for individuals who. Serve and volley: Due to the shorter reaction time that you may have fielding your opponents return, it can be challenging to move forward and volley. Ive included brief stops to help you get a sense for toss placement, contact, point, and racquet angle. Related Tags. Your email address will not be published. Since youre looking to hit the ball flat or without any spin, youll want to try to strike the ball directly from behind without brushing up on the ball or hitting the side of the ball. Like all slice shots, the forehand version is hit high-to-low, with the strings brushing under the ball. The same can be set for other net approaches. However, once you miss your first serve, the pressure equalizes to a degree. Here too, it is necessary to make a distinction. Many pros, including the legendary Australian champion Ken Rosewall, used the slice backhand stroke as their only backhand. Its strength lies in its speed and difficulty to return. Required fields are marked *. You just need to learn to use it for a great slice serve, which takes time and patience. Knees should be slightly bent and the body should be leaning forward. After all, if you have a question, its likely another reader does too, which helps our entire community. The first thing you need to do is grip the racket properly. With the slice serve, youll want to make contact with the outer edge of the ball to generate sidespin. If youre short, the flat serve is more challenging to execute because you have less clearance over the net, which reduces your margin of error. As the ball approaches and you rotate your shoulders to your left, bring your racquet back above your left shoulder.
\nYour stance resembles the stance you take when you step up to the plate and get ready to swing a baseball bat in both cases, your hands are up around your left shoulder. If you look at a tennis shot side-on from the players right, a ball hit with topspin will appear to be rotating clockwise. For example, if youre up 40-15 when serving, you might throw a big flat serve in to try and close out the game. A slice ground stroke causes the ball to rotate backwards towards the person who hit the ball. On your side, there is pressure to hit your second serve in, which forces you to take some pace off the serve and subsequently gives your opponent more confidence in their return. 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. Slice, or backspin, causes the tennis ball to spin back toward the source of impact (you). However, its often one of the most challenging serves to develop. Once again, when hitting a kick serve, you should rely on your continental service grip, which is ideally suited for this serve. This is known as a squash shot and a good one will fly low and fast over the net. In contrast, a sliced groundstroke will appear to be rotating anti-clockwise.
\nHigh bouncing balls are ideal for hitting slice shots, but you can play balls at any height with a slice by bending more at the knees and/or adjusting the height of your back and forward swings. The good news is that youll use the continental grip for all three types of serves, so you only need to learn this one grip if youre not already familiar with it. Heres a photo to show you what your contact point should look like for a slice serve. Members of a larger team often take on different roles, and there will generally be a captain to lead. The major difference is that the racquet shouldn't be pointing straight up, at a 90-degree angle, like a bat. A topspin shot, on the other hand, rotates forward toward the opponent as it travels through the air. It always adds to the entertainment value when it is played well. The Best Babolat Tennis Rackets (for Every Type of Player). Rookie Road may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Just before you start your forward swing, raise the racquet head to shoulder height, open the face so that the hitting surface faces up, and produce slice by cutting under the ball with a long, smooth stroke.
\nThe slice forehand is easy to master, and a fair number of hackers resort to it.
\nHigh bouncing balls are ideal for hitting slice shots, but you can play balls at any height with a slice by bending more at the knees and/or adjusting the height of your back and forward swings. The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. This toss placement allows you to achieve the proper racquet angle for those serves. At the start, youre content with just hitting the ball flat but as your skill level progresses you need to add variation to your game. \"https://sb\" : \"http://b\") + \".scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js\";el.parentNode.insertBefore(s, el);})();
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