A player can add slice or topspin to shots by hitting the ball in different places. Knees should be slightly bent and the body should be leaning forward. Sometimes, especially on a low-bouncing court like grass, your opponent may hit a low, short ball. 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. Modern tennis is dominated by the use of topspin shots. Your email address will not be published. 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. You can't hit through him! "Human backboard" Daniil Medvedev bests One of the biggest challenges of the game of tennis is adjusting your stroke according to the incoming ball (high, low, topspin, slice, fast, slow, etc. There are several advantages and disadvantages of clay tennis court surfaces, including using red clay and green clay or Har-Tru. If you miss, the pressure is still on your opponent to hit a great return off your slower second serve. 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). 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. 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. Ive included brief stops to help you get a sense for toss placement, contact, point, and racquet angle. The 5 Unique Spins For A Winning Tennis Serve Key points about the tennis forehand slice: The forehand slice is a little unfashionable, but it is certainly not obsolete. The problem with this mentality and a low first serve percentage is that it takes a great deal of pressure off your opponent. The flat serve is perhaps one of the most sought-after serves in tennis because its synonymous with power and the ability to hit an ace. Aerodynamically it will appear to rise and then dip, kicking forward and up off the court surface when it lands. Required fields are marked *. Third, it can be difficult to keep the ball in the court. A topspin shot, on the other hand, rotates forward toward the opponent as it travels through the air. Defensive Lob. 2. That's just plain easier.

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  • Slice slows the ball down. A ball hit with any kind of spin travels slower than a flat one. On a surface like grass which creates less friction, the ball will tend to skid and stay low. 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. What Was The Battle of The Sexes In Tennis.

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

    ","authors":[{"authorId":10669,"name":"Michael Patrick Shiels","slug":"michael-patrick-shiels","description":" Michael Patrick Shiels writes frequently for golf magazines and is the official golf writer of the PGA of America's Michigan section. Swing forward with a high-to-low motion.

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    Release the racquet with your left hand as you do this. You can see it coming, as it is obvious where the server is hitting the ball to impart the sidespin. When you want to surprise your opponent with a drop shot. Underarm (Underhand in the US) Serve. 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. Thats because racquet head speed is required to create topspin. 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. You may want to be slightly lower for a push as usually we play this shot against lower, backspin balls. 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. disadvantages of topspin -easier to judge it's bounce pattern -requires more technique -if too much is applied it may go too low and hit net advantages of slice -low bounce -harder for opponent to read bounce pattern -doesn't require as much energy as topspin disadvantages of slice -it's a defensive shot -slower bounce -gives opponent time to think When executing a tennis slice, the player will swing downward in a "slicing" motion, angling the racket anywhere between fully flat and entirely diagonal. But knowing how to use the topspin to your game (strategy) has its advantages: 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. The same can be set for other net approaches. 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. 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. It is easier to control and creates a less predictable bounce with no pace for my opponents to work with. 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. The forehand slice is a shot which is rarely taught or discussed in modern tennis. A "tennis topspin" is when the ball is hit with a lot of power, speed, and spin on it. The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. In general, slicing can be very effective, but considerable precision is needed to use it frequently against a strong hitter. The underarm serve is most widely employed by players with big serves and a good touch, such as Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Bublik. 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. As a result, when the ball hits the court, it stays low, which forces a player to have to bend and get low or return out of their strike zone. 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. The Good, Bad, and Debatable Clay Courts - LiveAbout 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. Thats where variety is king and why learning the three different types of serves is crucial.

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    \"figure\"

    Figure 1: Hold your racquet at a 45-degree angle to the fence when you slice your backhand.\t

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    3. Table tennis forehand push - Table tennis - essential skills and Tennis Forehand Slice - Senior Tennis Club If you look at the top players in the world they know exactly how to use topspin and slice shots to their advantages. With the topspin, he forces Federer and other opponents to either be pushed too far backward or to take a risk and hit the ball extremely early. 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. 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. 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!

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    4.

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    High 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. 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. 3 Types of Tennis Serves: Flat, Slice, and Kick - TennisCompanion This position makes it easy and natural to brush your strings under the lower portion of the ball, producing backspin. 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. How To Bounce A Slice Ball And Drive Your Opponents Crazy It gives the opponent more time to get to the ball. 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 racquet head instead should be pointing at the back fence, at about a 45-degree angle. Now that you know the three different types of tennis serves, it pays to keep in mind that each serve can be hit in countless places in the service box, providing you with even greater variety. Frequently, players who are just learning to serve want to hit with power, so they try hard and attempt to muscle the serve over the net. When the racket and the ball make contact, the racket should be continuously moving in a direction close to perpendicular to the ball. If you are defending desperately, you are unlikely to be able to execute a topspin lob. Many players assume behind means you need to toss the ball toward the back fence, i.e., behind the baseline. This can put the person slicing very much on the defensive and makes the game extremely hard work. However, the shot is not always . 6. Once again, when hitting a kick serve, you should rely on your continental service grip, which is ideally suited for this serve. what is a backhand slice in tennis; how to return a slice in tennis; disadvantages of topspin in tennis; slice serve in tennis Those two qualities can catch your opponent off guard and screw up her timing.

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  • Slice shots travel in a flat trajectory. You don't have to lift the ball over the net in an arc and then get it to drop back down inside the boundaries of the court like you do with your other shots.

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A word of caution: Slice backhands make poor passing shots. This leads to a higher bounce and less spin on the ball after contact with the ground. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The last comment and 5 other comment(s) need to be approved. Slice is also an underrated shot, again thanks to that Bollettieri talent-destroying-nonsense. The flat serve uses a minimal amount of spin which allows the ball to travel faster and bounce lower. A "tennis slice" is when the ball hits the ground and bounces back into play. Like all slice shots, the forehand version is hit high-to-low, with the strings brushing under the ball. Slice shots never travel with a lot of pace. Topspin and slice shots are a necessity in tennis. 7 Downsides of Playing Tennis - HowTheyPlay As for the angle of your racquet head, youll want the edge to be roughly parallel with the baseline. With the slice serve, youll want to make contact with the outer edge of the ball to generate sidespin. The ball will naturally bounce less on grass, which plays terrifically with the slice serve, which also doesnt bounce high. For an in-depth review of the serve toss, be sure to check out our post on perfecting your serve toss technique. 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. 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. Drop Shots. Babolat have been producing tennis equipment since 1875, and today they manufacture a range of rackets that offers something for everyone. Kevin is an LTA-accredited coach, and is world ranked in the over-55 age group. Table tennis forehand smash - Table tennis - BBC Bitesize 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. It tends to put you on the defensive quite often, so you must be physically and mentally prepared for that. 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. 5. Many pros, including the legendary Australian champion Ken Rosewall, used the slice backhand stroke as their only backhand. 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. 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. As a result, it can be beneficial to avoid overusing a big flat serve and to use other types of serves that have a higher margin of error while focusing on quality placement to put the pressure on your opponent. To generate the necessary topspin for your kick serve, you need to brush the side of the tennis ball from low to high. Former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu is one player particularly renowned for her sliced forehand drop shot, which she likes to play with a continental grip. Over the years, many techniques have been developed in tennis to make shots more difficult to hit. For example, if youre up 40-15 when serving, you might throw a big flat serve in to try and close out the game. Many players will want to take the initiative from the slicer by hitting an aggressive topspin. Tennis toe. 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. Rookie Road may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. For a slice, you will need to grip the racket with an eastern or semi-western grip. Return of serve. Heres a photo that showcases the contact point and racquet angle when hitting a kick serve. The shot is executed with a flowing high-to-low action and a continental or Eastern grip, using a neutral or semi-open stance. 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. There are many different types of forehand slice shot, all of which have their uses. Im extremely passionate about the mental and technical part of the game. However, youll also want to hit up slightly to give the ball a bit of topspin so that it drops back down into the court. About a 90-110 degree bend at the elbow. Like all slice shots, the forehand version is hit high-to-low, with the strings brushing under the ball. 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. 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. A slice serve is a fantastic weapon on any court surface. 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. 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. It is said to be the fastest shot in tennis. Regardless of the type of serve you hit, relaxing through your service motion is essential. However, its often one of the most challenging serves to develop. Tennis Court Surface: Pros And Cons Of The Different Surfaces - Online He used the slicing technique very often to outdo his opponents at the highest international stages of the sport. On Friday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the Grand Slam champions earned themselves a nomination for point of the year. 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. Again, this is in favor of the two-handed backhand. Stand quite close to the table, an arms length away. 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. 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. At MyTennisHQ, we have all played junior, college, and professional tennis. Tennis Interviews. When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent to really stretch to get to the ball. Some coaches will tell you that the short game can be more difficult in terms of short chops and banana flips. That's just plain easier.

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  • Slice slows the ball down. A ball hit with any kind of spin travels slower than a flat one. Whether it's to pass that big test, qualify for that big promotion or even master that cooking technique; people who rely on dummies, rely on it to learn the critical skills and relevant information necessary for success. Since many modern tennis players rely on their topspin forehand to dictate the pace of the match, the slice is most commonly seen as a defensive shot that can be used as a last-ditch effort. This is basically a drop shot played at the start of a rally, so the same arguments set out in the previous paragraph apply. 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.

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    \"figure\"

    Figure 1: Hold your racquet at a 45-degree angle to the fence when you slice your backhand.\t

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    3. Create a free account and explore my latest videos below. Hopefully, youve enjoyed this post on the three different types of serves. To help, give yourself a moment before you go to serve. 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. 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. When youre first getting started with tennis, your primary goal will likely be to develop a single reliable serve that allows you to begin a point and play the game. When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent to really stretch to get to the ball. After all, if you have a question, its likely another reader does too, which helps our entire community.

    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. Remember, when you serve, you have a considerable advantage because you begin the point on offense and can control and dictate the point from the start. Instead, the best option is to stretch wide, perhaps in an open stance, and move the racket from high to low and through the line you want the ball to travel. There are many variations of the topspin forehand where players will choose a desired Western or Eastern grip depending on their style of play. However, your ability to control the point is tied heavily to executing an effective serve that keeps your opponent guessing and prevents them from establishing a rhythm. Slice shots never travel with a lot of pace. What Does Game, Set, Match Mean In Tennis? First, it can be difficult to control the ball. The sports divide into a few tiers of serving advantages. Its subtle, but hopefully, compared with the flat serve, you can tell the racquet is coming toward the ball at an angle with a bit of upward motion. 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. 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 drawback of a slice serve is that it is easy to read. 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. 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. My slice backhand is more dangerous than my topspin backhand to some of my opponents. 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. Now that you know what to look for when hitting a flat serve, heres a video that shows the entire flat service motion. The essence of a slice is that it is the opposite of a topspin. If well placed, the flat serve can be extremely challenging to . 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. 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. In a press conference at the French Open, Dominic Thiem commented on his switch from two-handed to one-handed backhand. Swing forward with a high-to-low motion.

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    Release the racquet with your left hand as you do this. How To Slice A Ball In Tennis - TennisLadys This brushing action means youre allowing the strings of your racquet to make contact with the outermost edge of the tennis ball, which causes the ball to spin and ultimately kick up off the ground when it hits the court. 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. However, it makes it challenging to get under the ball and apply maximum topspin for the kick serve. Get the Intuitive Tennis iPhone/iPad App https://apple.co/3c5IyJpGet the Intuitive Tennis Android App https://bit.ly/3QTK1S7In today's video, I explain. Copyright 2017-2023 Rookie Road Inc. All rights reserved. What are the pros/cons of a one handed and a two handed backhand in tennis? 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.

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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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    Michael Patrick Shiels writes frequently for golf magazines and is the official golf writer of the PGA of America's Michigan section.


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