Make contact with the ball, with the racquet \"slicing\" under it, when it's at a point about even with your right shoulder. If players like to attack the net and volley, they slice a lot.
\nThe slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. This can put the person slicing very much on the defensive and makes the game extremely hard work. The slice backhand suited their approach to the game, which was based on control rather than power. For that reason, its vital to add different types of shots to your repertoire. easier to learn and to apply slice shots, and have better feel and control . 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. Those two qualities can catch your opponent off guard and screw up her timing.
\nA word of caution: Slice backhands make poor passing shots. Slice shots can be good for making an opponent really stretch for a ball, but it is difficult to hit them with much pace. 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. 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. Slower Pace: Kick serves are slower than flat or slice serves. Figure 1: Hold your racquet at a 45-degree angle to the fence when you slice your backhand. 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. And, an athlete like Mima Ito, proves beyond a doubt that the banana flip can be even more effective . The Austrian said: "Very difficult because, I mean, I . Nonetheless, the shot can be very useful in a variety of situations, and some professionals have enjoyed quite a bit of success using it as their main option on the forehand side. Backspin is most commonly achieved when using a slice shot technique. After all, if you have a question, its likely another reader does too, which helps our entire community. Dummies has always stood for taking on complex concepts and making them easy to understand. 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. 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. Oh, and I had lunch with Brad Gilbert once. Many pros, including the legendary Australian champion Ken Rosewall, used the slice backhand stroke as their only backhand. The ideal contact point and racquet angle. 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. When you want to surprise your opponent with a drop shot. By using the proper topspin or backspin techniques during your next competitive match, you will be able to easily keep your opponent on their toes, making it much more difficult for them to adjust to your techniques throughout the entirety of your match. 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. 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. When 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. When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent to really stretch to get to 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.
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. That's just plain easier.\nThis position makes it easy and natural to brush your strings under the lower portion of the ball, producing backspin. Think of your racquet face as an elevator that you need to move to the right \"story\" or height to pick up the passenger, a bright yellow tennis ball!
\n4. With the slice serve, youll want to make contact with the outer edge of the ball to generate sidespin. Tennis is at the top. 2. 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. When you are playing tennis its all about getting the ball over the net and trying to hit a shot your opponent cant return.
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. Slice Forehand & Backhand The Best Babolat Tennis Rackets (for Every Type of Player). Slice, or backspin, causes the tennis ball to spin back toward the source of impact (you). Follow through until your racquet arm is fully extended, with the head pointing toward the ground at a moderate angle. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The last comment and 5 other comment(s) need to be approved. Ive included brief stops to help you get a sense for toss placement, contact, point, and racquet angle. When youre scrambling to retrieve a good, angled shot by your opponent you can swipe the ball back with a slice and buy yourself a little time to get back into position. 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 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. But don't use it as a substitute for your flat or topspin forehand. Hitting up is counterintuitive to many players at first because theyre afraid the ball will sail long. As the previous tip suggests, you must relax your grip and wrist to allow for the wrist to move freely. She has even used the shot effectively on hard courts, which is probably more difficult than employing it on softer surfaces. Lets take a look at some of the details that will help ensure you can hit a great flat serve. Disguise is crucial, but if executed well against a player who is standing a long way back, it can be very effective. Drop Shots. 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. Lets dive into the proper technique for hitting a kick serve. 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. The drawback of a slice serve is that it is easy to read. 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. 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. 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. Slicing can also be used as a means to aid in the return of difficult or powerful shots.By slicing the ball, this will counter the effects of a powerful shot or one that has a lot of spin, thus making the return much more feasible than with a standard attempt to return. Retrieving a wide ball. Approach shots. First, if youre using an eastern grip, youre most likely overcompensating for poor technique. Many players will want to take the initiative from the slicer by hitting an aggressive topspin. Generally, when practicing a topspin forehand, players will implement a semi-Western grip, as you are able to apply a greater amount of spin to the tennis ball using far less effort. Your opponent can do almost anything he wants with them, especially from a position up at the net.\nSlice always imparts control. It doesn't break your bank. Many top players, including male and female Grand Slam champions use the sliced forehand. 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. But don't use it as a substitute for your flat or topspin forehand. Unfortunately, this approach usually lends itself to tension, which is your serves worst enemy and, over time, can lead to injury. Another instance when you are using a slice is if you want to surprise your opponent with a drop shot. Slice always imparts control. Advantages of Clay . The flat serve gets its name from the fact that minimal spin is applied to the ball when making contact. Your email address will not be published. Lets take a look at how to hit a slice serve with proper technique. In a press conference at the French Open, Dominic Thiem commented on his switch from two-handed to one-handed backhand. 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. Only people who haven't really played tennis (or have played and don't use a one hander) believe this myth (aka 90% of this forum). 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. Tsvetana Pironkova and Monica Niculescu have both enjoyed success using this tactic, particularly on grass. Babolat have been producing tennis equipment since 1875, and today they manufacture a range of rackets that offers something for everyone. If you are under pressure in a rally and are forced to stretch very wide to retrieve a ball on your forehand side, it is unlikely that you will be able to play a topspin shot. Last but not least, another element that will help you produce a fantastic serve is going for it and hitting with confidence. 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. Grass is tough on the arm, though, because the ball hits the racquet with more speed, and more speed generally means more shock and torsion. 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. 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. The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. 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. Second, changing your grip can be a dead giveaway to your opponent as to what type of serve youre about to hit. It is easier to control and creates a less predictable bounce with no pace for my opponents to work with. More consistent - means with which one you can hit more or less the same shot over and over again. Sources: rio2016.com, itftennis.com. Believe it or not, when the pros hit a kick serve, their racquet is traveling at roughly the same rate or faster than their flat or slice serve. Slice shots never travel with a lot of pace. About a 90-110 degree bend at the elbow.