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Learning to effectively hit each serve is an important part
to improving your serve. There are four kinds of serves you
need to be aware of, the flat serve, slice serve, kick serve,
and the topspin serve. All four serves can be very effective
and no one serve is better than any of the others. Each has
their advantages and disadvantages, learning how to hit all
four is important, and learning to mix them up in a match
against an opponent is even more important. Here we will list
the advantages and disadvantages of each serve.
Flat Serve
Advantages of the flat serve:
1. Speed of the serve gives your opponent less time
to react and prepare for the return.
2. Helps to win easy points which in turn can also
help you conserve energy.
3. Easy to learn
Disadvanatges of the flat serve:
1. Gives serve and volley players less time to get
to the net.
2. Percentage of serves that go in can be very low.
3. Harder for shorter people to get the clearance over
the net with out some spin.
4. When returnee gets their racquet on the ball the
return can come back very fast b/c they are using the power
you generated.
Slice Serve:
Advantages of the slice serve:
1. Ball bounces low, away from or into opponent's body.
2. You can use the spin to jam your opponent or pull
them off of the court.
3. Percentage of serves in is high.
4. Easy to learn.
Disadvanatges of the slice serve:
1. It's a basic serve, people are used to hitting back
slice serves.
Kick Serve:
Advantages of the kick serve:
1. Ball bounces high, away from or into opponent's
body.
2. Ball bounces opposite direction of which it hits
the ground.
3. Gives serve-and-volley players time to get to the
net.
4. Hard to attack
5. Less experienced people have not played much against
a kick serve and it may really throw them off.
Disadvanatges of the kick serve:
1. If your opponent hit's the ball off the rise it
takes away the effectiveness of the serve, not allowing the
ball to go far in any direction.
2. Hard to learn
Topspin Serve:
Advantages of the topspin serve:
1. Gives serve-and-volley players time to get to the
net.
2. Bounces high
3. Great consistency
4. Easy to learn
5. Hard to attack
Disadvanatges of the topspin serve:
1. If your opponent hit's the ball off the rise it
takes away the effectiveness of the serve, not allowing the
ball to bounce high
2. Easy to see comming and easy to hit back.
Breakdown of How To Strike The Ball for Each Serve:
Please be aware that there is much more to these serves than
I am explaining in this section. For the first three I am
only going to talk about the motion your racquet needs to
hit/brush the ball to execute these serves. Watching the pros
is a great way to see how the whole body needs to move as
one for the serve! The numbers I am referring to are the numbers
on a clock so you can get orientated on how to hit the ball.
These are also assuming you are right handed. (Sorry lefties)
Flat Serve: No spin on the ball, just drive through
the ball towards the court!
Slice Serve: Brush the ball on the right side driving
through the ball towards the court. Your swing should move
right to left slightly as you hit this serve and follow through.
Topspin Serve:
Brush the ball from low to high, from 6 to 12. The harder
you brush the ball, the more spin you will get.
The Kick Serve: Brush the ball from low to high,
from 8 to 1 or 2 o'clock. Here is a great example of a kick
serve illustrated by Patrick Rafter.
Work on hitting all 4 types of serves to better attack your
opponent's weaknesses and keep them guessing on the return.
Good Luck on the
Court!
Scott Baker
Tennis4you.com
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