If youre a righty, hitting a slice serve out wide in the deuce court will draw your opponent off the court, leaving the rest of the court open for a follow-up shot that puts you in a position to move forward and attack. Your email address will not be published. Once again, when hitting a kick serve, you should rely on your continental service grip, which is ideally suited for this serve. My slice backhand is more dangerous than my topspin backhand to some of my opponents. 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.
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. Up a set and a break, Medvedev served into the deuce court to . For most players, the kick serve has become the default second serve. Using this technique, you can make it very difficult for your opponent to return your shot with topspin, making the slice a great defensive shot. The racquet head instead should be pointing at the back fence, at about a 45-degree angle. Related Tags. Rallying. The slice serves name comes from the brushing action, or slice, applied to the tennis ball to produce sidespin. Good topspin shots will land just in front of the line and bounce towards the opponent so he has a tough time generating power and needs to have good footwork to cope with 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. When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent to really stretch to get to the ball. Serving Is A Disadvantage In Some Olympic Sports But knowing how to use the topspin to your game (strategy) has its advantages: 2. 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. Because of this added spin, the ball will bounce with significantly less height when reaching the opponent's side.The ball bouncing with less height then makes it more difficult for the opponent to return the slice, since they will have much less time to reach the ball from where they awaited the return. The same goes for court surfaces. Im extremely passionate about the mental and technical part of the game. A forehand push is a difficult defensive shot that requires the player to strike downwards on the back and underneath the ball to create backspin. Modern-day tennis players utilize topspin frequently, as it can appear that the ball will sail over the net and out of bounds before dropping well within the lines of play. The slice backhand suited their approach to the game, which was based on control rather than power.
\nThe slice backhand offers the following practical and tactical advantages:
\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. Slice shots never travel with a lot of pace. On a surface like grass which creates less friction, the ball will tend to skid and stay low. But don't use it as a substitute for your flat or topspin forehand. To generate the necessary topspin for your kick serve, you need to brush the side of the tennis ball from low to high. The kick serve gets its name from how the ball jumps or kicks up off the ground as a result of heavy topspin applied to the ball. How To Feel Topspin In Tennis The Way A Pro Hits It This is most easily done if you are holding the racket in either a continental or Eastern grip (see How to hold a tennis racket on this site for details of these grips). 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. A player can add topspin to a shot by hitting the ball in a down-up movement, which causes the ball to rotate towards the opponent. Sometimes, especially on a low-bouncing court like grass, your opponent may hit a low, short ball. There are several advantages and disadvantages of clay tennis court surfaces, including using red clay and green clay or Har-Tru. If something isnt clear or you have questions, please feel free to submit a comment below wed love to hear from you! This toss placement allows you to achieve the proper racquet angle for those serves.
\nIf you hit this shot from a comfortable, set position (at about the center of the baseline), your racquet should be pointing toward the right netpost.
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\nWhen your backswing is complete, your right shoulder is close to your chin, and your right elbow points in the same direction as your right foot.
\n2. In tennis, a slice is a type of swing that puts spin on the ball.Players will utilize a slice when serving or returning volleys to give the ball an irregular bounce, making it harder for their opponent to track and return. What are the pros/cons of a one handed and a two handed backhand in tennis? Regardless of the type of serve you hit, relaxing through your service motion is essential. A "slow" surface such as clay will interact with more of the ball's surface area and there will be more friction placed on the ball. Slice shots don't bounce as high, either. 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 . After that, I somehow ended up with a flat slice (something similar to Rosewall's backhand), probably in my attempt to firm up the face on contact. It's a defensive shot that you should use on only three occasions: If 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. The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. As a result, when the flat serve hits the court, it tends to bounce low and continue straight forward from where it lands in the court. After watching some players in action, you could be forgiven for thinking that the answer to this question was no, but of course this is far from the truth. To be successful with this tactic, you will need to stay low and develop plenty of racket-head speed, to allow you to control the trajectory of the ball. When you reach it, the ball may only be a few inches off the ground, meaning that a topspin is not a realistic option. The problem with this mentality and a low first serve percentage is that it takes a great deal of pressure off your opponent. 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. This will allow you to hit the ball with a slicing action. 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. On slice shots, the racquet doesn't come around and up, making an arc. 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. Oh, and I had lunch with Brad Gilbert once. Friction and surface area explain why slower surfaces are less effective. Some people love the camaraderie and sense of interdependence that goes with being part of a larger sporting group, like in a football, soccer, or basketball team. 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. The result will be a more fluid motion that helps you achieve a better 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. 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. Most of the more adaptable players will also use the forehand slice for approach shots when necessary, although some are better at it than others. As the ball approaches and you rotate your shoulders to your left, bring your racquet back above your left shoulder. 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. Similar to the flat serve, youll want to place your toss about 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, allowing for natural contact with the ball. It should go without saying that your legs are critical to your serve, but unfortunately, its not second nature to most players. He enjoys competing in county tennis leagues and ITF Seniors events. The slice can be used effectively in several matchplay situations. When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent ","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"
Slice, or backspin, causes the tennis ball to spin back toward the source of impact (you). Rookie Road may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. The Top 3 Best Babolat Tennis Rackets Under $100. All three have their benefits and all three result in a very different bounce of the tennis . The slice forehand is easy to master, and a fair number of hackers resort to it. The Good, Bad, and Debatable Clay Courts - LiveAbout Hitting up is counterintuitive to many players at first because theyre afraid the ball will sail long. However, on grass, that same kick serve wont jump nearly as high, so you might rely on your slice serve, which stays low, making it challenging to return when playing on grass.
\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. Your opponent can do almost anything he wants with them, especially from a position up at the net.
\nSlice always imparts control. Generally, the taller you are, the easier it will be to execute a hard flat serve because you have more clearance over the net and, therefore, a higher margin for error. Many pros, including the legendary Australian champion Ken Rosewall, used the slice backhand stroke as their only backhand. It is said to be the fastest shot in tennis. Thats where variety is king and why learning the three different types of serves is crucial. Release the racquet with your left hand as you do this. If the one-handed backhand is so bad at high balls, why - Talk Tennis If you are defending desperately, you are unlikely to be able to execute a topspin lob. There are basically three major types of court surfaces: Hard Courts, Grass Courts, and Clay Courts. What is the difference between tennis slices and tennis tops? A slice is often used when you return a serve and then come straight to the net (known as Chip and Charge) because it gives you time to do so. Slice shots that are hit from lack of confidence or in a desperate attempt to just get the ball back tend to float, and they travel through the air slowly. Tennis Slice vs Topspin - What's The Difference? Many of tennis greats, such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, have relied on their vicious topspin forehand to win world championships and countless titles. Babolat have been producing tennis equipment since 1875, and today they manufacture a range of rackets that offers something for everyone. It tends to put you on the defensive quite often, so you must be physically and mentally prepared for that. Like all slice shots, the forehand version is hit high-to-low, with the strings brushing under the ball. Ultimately, the greater variety of serves you can hit, the more you can adjust your strategy to compete at a higher level against different players and on various court surfaces. Generally speaking, coaches and players will talk about three main spots in the service box: Since you can hit your serve in any of these locations, youll have a minimum of 9 serves in your back pocket that you can hit at any given time pretty sweet, right?