Swing forward with a high-to-low motion. Topspin and slice shots are a necessity in tennis. Slice, or backspin, causes the tennis ball to spin back toward the source of impact (you). As the ball approaches and you rotate your shoulders to your left, bring your racquet back above your left shoulder.

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Your 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. However, assuming you have the correct serve stance, behind you is parallel with the baseline and an important distinction when it comes to the kick serve. 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.

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Basically, 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:

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1. Advantages of a Tennis Slice When you want to surprise your opponent with a drop shot. This leads to a higher bounce and less spin on the ball after contact with the ground. Even at pro level, doing damage is still all about the forehand. 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. The slice backhand suited their approach to the game, which was based on control rather than power.

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The slice backhand offers the following practical and tactical advantages:

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• The slice stroke is simple. You hit under the ball, instead of through and over it, as you do on the flat backhand. 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 first thing you need to do is grip the racket properly. Backspin is most commonly achieved when using a slice shot technique. Lets dive into the proper technique for hitting a kick serve. Basically, 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: 1. It moves forward and down, coming around to your right side only at the tail end of your stroke, long after the ball is gone.
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  Make contact with the ball, with the racquet \"slicing\" under it, when it's at a point about even with your right shoulder. The forehand slice is a shot which is rarely taught or discussed in modern tennis. What Was The Battle of The Sexes In Tennis. Slower Pace: Kick serves are slower than flat or slice serves. Tennis may not be right for you if you suffer from heart disease or have high or low blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis or osteoporosis. When hitting a flat serve, here are a few tips to keep in mind: Many players enjoy hitting a big flat serve and rely almost exclusively on it as their first serve even if they only make 10% of them. This will allow you to hit the ball with a slicing action. The slice backhand suited their approach to the game, which was based on control rather than power.

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  The slice backhand offers the following practical and tactical advantages:

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  • The slice stroke is simple. You hit under the ball, instead of through and over it, as you do on the flat backhand. At the highest level, many matches go by without a single sliced forehand being played. Disguise is key, so you will prepare as though you intend to hit an aggressive topspin, and, at the last second, cut under the ball with a high-to-low action, perhaps adding some side-spin for good measure. 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. Slice shots never travel with a lot of pace. The loose surface dissipates sidespin so that heavy slice serves and sidespin-slice backhands, for example, turn less dramatically than they do on other surfaces. As you work to practice your serve, do so with confidence, and allow yourself the freedom to mess up while you establish the basic feel and rhythm to develop your serve. If players like to attack the net and volley, they slice a lot.
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    The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. Your email address will not be published. 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. After all, if you have a question, its likely another reader does too, which helps our entire community. 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? Many top players, including male and female Grand Slam champions use the sliced forehand. Slice always imparts control. The major difference is that the racquet shouldn't be pointing straight up, at a 90-degree angle, like a bat. Unfortunately, this approach usually lends itself to tension, which is your serves worst enemy and, over time, can lead to injury. Home > Instruction > Serve > 3 Types of Tennis Serves, Improve your game alongside our community of tennis players. Tennis toe. 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. The type of tennis court surface that you play on can have a major influence on how the game is played as well as on the effects of Tennis on your body. The shot is executed with a flowing high-to-low action and a continental or Eastern grip, using a neutral or semi-open stance. 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.

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    The slice forehand is easy to master, and a fair number of hackers resort to it. When the racket and the ball make contact, the racket should be continuously moving in a direction close to perpendicular to the ball. Figure 1: Hold your racquet at a 45-degree angle to the fence when you slice your backhand. As your game improves, learning all three types of serves will allow you to compete at a higher level by bringing variety to your service game. 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. The Best Babolat Tennis Rackets (for Every Type of Player). Once again, when hitting a kick serve, you should rely on your continental service grip, which is ideally suited for this serve. Upper Body Exercises Safe for Tennis Elbow, How to Choose a Grip Size for a Tennis Racquet, How To Handle The High Bounce To The Backhand Side In Tennis. Follow through until your racquet arm is fully extended, with the head pointing toward the ground at a moderate angle. The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. Rookie Road may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. There are several advantages and disadvantages of clay tennis court surfaces, including using red clay and green clay or Har-Tru. The slice backhand offers the following practical and tactical advantages: A word of caution: Slice backhands make poor passing shots. Disguise is crucial, but if executed well against a player who is standing a long way back, it can be very effective. 3. 02. of 02. Do you like to hit a forehand slice? Another instance when you are using a slice is if you want to surprise your opponent with a drop shot. 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. 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. 3 Types of Tennis Serves: Flat, Slice, and Kick - TennisCompanion The truth is, a continental serve grip is highly effective for all types of tennis serves. The slice can be used effectively in several matchplay situations. 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.

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    The slice forehand is easy to master, and a fair number of hackers resort to it. It moves forward and down, coming around to your right side only at the tail end of your stroke, long after the ball is gone.

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    Make contact with the ball, with the racquet \"slicing\" under it, when it's at a point about even with your right shoulder. On Friday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the Grand Slam champions earned themselves a nomination for point of the year. To slice in tennis, a player must angle their racquet and swing downward in a slicing motion.The manner in which the player angles their racquet while slicing downward can be anywhere between fully flat and entirely diagonal. This position makes it easy and natural to brush your strings under the lower portion of the ball, producing backspin. She has even used the shot effectively on hard courts, which is probably more difficult than employing it on softer surfaces. Second, changing your grip can be a dead giveaway to your opponent as to what type of serve youre about to hit. 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. Table tennis forehand push - Table tennis - essential skills and Drop Shots. While some players and coaches might suggest that you can use an eastern grip for your slice serve, Id recommend against it for two main reasons. If you havent had the chance, Id highly recommend you check out our post on the serve trophy pose, which will show you how to get the most out of your serve while incorporating your legs to help you generate power. Turn the racquet face as you bring it back so that the hitting surface ends up facing upward, as shown in Figure 1. We both feel like tennis has given us opportunities that we would have never had otherwise, so we started myTennisHQ with the intent of helping more and more people become familiar with the sport.

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    If 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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    Slice, or backspin, causes the tennis ball to spin back toward the source of impact (you). At MyTennisHQ, we have all played junior, college, and professional tennis. This leaves it tough for the opponent to hit it back with much pace. The result will be a more fluid motion that helps you achieve a better serve. However, it makes it challenging to get under the ball and apply maximum topspin for the kick serve. By entering your email address and clicking the Submit button, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Dummies.com, which may include marketing promotions, news and updates. But what is the difference between these two groundstrokes? 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. More consistent - means with which one you can hit more or less the same shot over and over again. On slice shots, the racquet doesn't come around and up, making an arc. Tennis Grips | Types of Grips Explained & Illustrated Your email address will not be published. For a slice, you will need to grip the racket with an eastern or semi-western grip. During a slice shot, the racket travels in a downward motion, before slicing underneath the tennis ball. Sliced returns need to be controlled with precision or else a volleyer can pick them off, especially in doubles. Thats because racquet head speed is required to create topspin. Disadvantages of Tennis Potential for serious injuries Tennis equipment can be costly Not a team sport Tennis cannot be played alone Lack of tennis courts Tennis takes some time to learn Motivation might be a problem Tennis may be time-consuming Need for a trainer to get to the next level Pressure can be high May conflict with your corporate career Noticed one disadvantage is playing on a slower court. 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. disadvantages of the two backhand strokes in relation to the style of play. As a result, you should aim to toss the ball directly above your head and slightly behind you, so that when you can swing up to contact the ball, youre coming from under the ball. Instead of hitting through the ball as you would with a flat serve, youll want to hit up. 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 . What Is A Slice Serve In A Tennis Match? - Rookieroad They are something you should work on and get better at but in the end, are extremely fun to use. The most common variations are the slice and the topspin. This photo was snapped at the height of the toss so you can get a sense of accurate placement. It's a defensive shot that you should use on only three occasions:

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    • 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.
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    • 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.
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    • When you want to surprise your opponent with a drop shot.
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    Dressing up your backhand with slice

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    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. Slice Forehand & Backhand 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. How To Slice A Ball In Tennis - TennisLadys Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. . 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. Here are a few tips to help execute an effective slice serve: When youre learning the slice serve, it can be relatively easy to overhit as you attempt to generate side spin. The ball will naturally bounce less on grass, which plays terrifically with the slice serve, which also doesnt bounce high. Reaction time: The same speed that makes it difficult for your opponent to return a hard flat serve can make it challenging for you to field a well-executed return off of a flat serve because youll have less time to react. When comparing table tennis to tennis, golf, ice hockey, football, or nearly anything, you will find that it is rather cheap. Sources: rio2016.com, itftennis.com. It also has a slightly lower margin for error than the kick serve, because it doesn't have as much top spin to make the ball dip into the service box. Third, it can be difficult to keep the ball in the court. In this article, well cover these topics for each type of serve: Well start by talking briefly about why you should learn the three types of tennis serves. Dummies has always stood for taking on complex concepts and making them easy to understand. 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. Tennis Court Surface: Pros And Cons Of The Different Surfaces - Online Tennis Tips for Seniors and Every Tennis Lovers. This can put the person slicing very much on the defensive and makes the game extremely hard work.

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

    ","hasArticle":false,"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10669"}},{"authorId":10670,"name":"Michael Kernicki","slug":"michael-kernicki","description":" Michael Patrick Shiels writes frequently for golf magazines and is the official golf writer of the PGA of America's Michigan section. Topspin shots are used by most tennis players as their general groundstroke because it forces opponents to go backward. 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. There are a few disadvantages of using a slice in tennis. 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. The sports divide into a few tiers of serving advantages. 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. 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. Thats where variety is king and why learning the three different types of serves is crucial. 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. Your opponent can do almost anything he wants with them, especially from a position up at the net.

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    Mastering the forehand slice

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    Slice always imparts control. 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. Rafael Nadal for example knows that with his extreme spin on the forehand he can make it difficult for a player like Roger Federer with his one-handed backhand to generate power. You can find his 2020 book: ', Seniortennisclub.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to. The essence of a slice is that it is the opposite of a topspin. How to Play a Forehand Push in Table Tennis 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. But knowing how to use the topspin to your game (strategy) has its advantages: On slice shots, the racquet doesn't come around and up, making an arc. Heres a video that brings together all the different pieces of a slice serve and once again includes a pause so you can see the toss placement, contact point, and racquet angle as part of the entire service motion. If something isnt clear or you have questions, please feel free to submit a comment below wed love to hear from you! 6. Ive included brief stops to help you get a sense for toss placement, contact, point, and racquet angle. Slice shots don't bounce as high, either.