What You Don’t Know About the Slice Serve (SPIN and SPEED)

[@oivie1332]

This is the most comprehensive Slice Serve instruction that I have ever watched on KZbin. Thank you very much for your time and consideration as a tennis player.

[@robertrenk7074]

Many years ago I played doubles against a guy who hit nothing but slice serves. It didn’t matter if it was first or second serve it was always a slice. He was very good at placing his slice in any part of the service box and he varied the speed and spin. Me and my doubles partner could never get in a grove returning his serve. So as you have said it really doesn’t matter if someone can read what kind of serve is coming if you hit the slice well. Thank you for your excellent videos.

[@FundamentalTennis]

Robert Renk thanks. And yeh it reminds me of nadals serve patterns. Everyone knows he will go wide on the add side about 80% of the time.

[@stevenwashington706]

P

[@bzockster]

Excellent description of how to vary degree of slice and speed based on how you position the toss (eg banana slice vs speed slice).

[@wcharles2709]

As A lefty, I've been hitting a slice serve by trial and error (mostly error) for many years. This video is the best instruction on the slice I've ever seen by far - dynamite!. I now know the steps to make the serve something I understand and can repeat (with the drills you demonstrated). You have a great teaching talent. Thanks and keep up the good work!

[@paddlepower888]

No matter how many times you mentioned the word shoulder, my shoulder is not going to hurt. You have just made it impossible for my shoulder to hurt. Great video.

[@dalthiara]

Love the video with great tips. Why have you stopped loading content? please continue....

[@chrisallen5214]

Very helpful. Please do a video on a slice down the T!

[@hochiglenn]

Great info! I've always struggled with my slice. This has really helped me to get a good feel for it. I'm really making it hard for my opponents to return. Getting some aces in ways I never have done. Thanks!!!

[@FundamentalTennis]

Glenn Knowlton awesome Glenn, keep up the hard work!

[@claudioprado389]

Thanks a lot Coach, the best instruction on the slice serve I've ever seen before, so easy to understand and practice. My best regards.

[@opalpearl3051]

So clear and concise. Well done. Thank you for a great video.

[@FundamentalTennis]

opal pearl you are very welcome 👍

[@ripleypipe]

Very clear and concise explanation and demonstration Jeremy, thank you. Gordon

[@FundamentalTennis]

ripleygordon that’s what I try to do. Thanks!

[@eduardomt3823]

Liked your detailing information. Hope you can make a video for kick serve development. Thank you.

[@FundamentalTennis]

eduardo MT already done a few. Here’s one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJnFn5Kfep6bibc

[@alvarotovar3367]

One again, you managed to explain this better than anyone else. I can't wait to get on the court and practice this.

[@TennisTrollChannel]

I like the details- thank you.

[@pats300zx]

Another great video Jeremy. Can't wait to try out some of your tips !!!!

[@FundamentalTennis]

Patrick McCall lemme know how it goes!

[@jamesmurphy2304]

Very good explanation of slice serve. Thanks!

[@TheGeohart]

you said it, that is the way, but requires a lot of practice, to be become proficient, but as a left handed player, its delightful to watch the expressions on my opponents face, when the ball skirts away!

[@thomasostrowicki2619]

Great advice as usual and very sensible, my serve is actually very good most opponents say it's at least a level above my game. Lately my ground game has seen a big improvement thanks to your video about the most important fundamentals of early preparation and extension, all of a sudden my strokes have real depth and I;m so grateful. Keep up the great work

[@FundamentalTennis]

Thomas Osttowicki very happy to hear that, thank you Thomas.

[@santhiyag1650]

Excellent. Now i know how to add speed to my slice serve. Thank u sooomuch!

[@geoffhess2267]

This is a very thorough treatment of the slice serve. Great stuff. It's improved my slice serve tremendously. Wonderful explanation on how to vary spin and speed. Not only are you adding the slice out wide or down the t to your arsenal, but you're adding multiple variations of it. Like it!

[@TPToE]

Great advice, as always - especially that last tip!

[@FundamentalTennis]

Max Renn thanks Max

[@alexdaudsyah4981]

Great to have you back Jeremy. Very instructive video on how to effectively hit a slice by adjusting the toss. I have a question regarding pronation. In this video you don't pronate and recommend the palm should face up on the follow through. When pronating the palm should face down on the follow through. Why do coaches tell students to pronate when hitting serves? I pronate when hitting a flat serve but find it unnatural to pronate when hitting a slice or a topspin.

[@bigboybrayden5236]

Alex Daudsyah because when u hit a slice serve you have to really shape around this ball. Once you get to contact and you “slice” the side the racquet and then pull left around The ball and it will natural fall down to the left and from then you want the racquet to fall close to your arm pit and it will make your palm face up. That’s the best I can really explain it.

[@hemantbendre5954]

Why no videos have been published in last year

[@elaines.hershkowitz7101]

Great stuff as always

[@FundamentalTennis]

Elaine S. Hershkowitz thank you

[@karlschwartz2355]

Outstanding detailed variations to balance and vary slice and spin. I can see that if I was returning a super slice as Jeremy does even if I was aware of it coming, I would have a difficult time controlling the return. If it were doubles probably I would end up returning a weak serve 9/10 times to the net man and lose the point invariably! Thanks for the outstanding detail, I cannot wait to practice and master this serve!

[@francisremedios2530]

Excellent video!

[@PrecisionPointTennis]

Most excellent again 🎾💥‼️

[@stephenk.3226]

Another game-changing video. I tried this on the court today and it worked absolutely fantastic! Thank you for the wonderful content, this channel is awesome! By the way, has anyone told you that you sound a lot like Andre Agassi?

[@FundamentalTennis]

Stephen K. Glad you found it helpful and no haha I am positive I have never gotten that one

[@henryw7982]

Hey Jeremy, after your serve series of videos. Can you do something along the lines of aligning yourself with the incoming ball and directionals for groundstrokes and volleys.

[@FundamentalTennis]

Henry Wong yes could be in the future plans 😊

[@sayjack9761]

Thanks for the great instruction !one question is you mentioned toss less in front could make the ball more safer in the service box , why is that ? thank you !

[@weyman4317]

Lots of instruction about racket face but shoulder rotation is the key to very wide short sliced serves which get to the fence before the returner can run up court and connect.

[@FundamentalTennis]

Wey Man hi there, there is less shoulder rotation on a slice compared to a flatter serve. The toss location I talked about will intuitively bring the shoulders to a good place.

[@user-be5qg7mr1s]

so good. Im trying to work on the toss more to the right for nasty sidespin, as I have more of a flatter power slice I use into the body. Most 4.5 and below don't have good slices...I play alot of tournaments and none of them have slice serves.

[@twinwankel]

Jeremy, for the most part I agree with your slice lesson in general but I do some problems with toss advice and the technique. I think the further you toss to right, increases the likelihood that you are slicing wide instead of into the body. So as a returner, if I see that wide toss I’m gonna cheat to the right and sit on that slice. I’m currently improving my own technique by trying to keep the slice toss same as my flat toss. I pronate the slice and finish closed face instead of open like you. I find that I can hit a hard slice by making the racket more vertical at contact and pronating. I can vary the placement by just changing the contact angle. I have tried your method before and it works but I want to vary the placement better with the same toss. Thanks for the video.

[@FundamentalTennis]

Wally Friend hi Wally. I personally have no problem hitting all spots in the service box when tossing well to the right. In fact I like that players will think I’m going to serve wise because I can condition the returner to be ready for the wide serve but then go down the T or handcuff them. Thanks for the comment.

[@winardisuwito4639]

i like slice serve on the scond ,, tq so much

[@oceanbronze8399]

So on the more spin slice serve that’s thrown closer to baseline and more to right, I will need to supinate more. For the faster slice thrown more at 12 o’clock and further into the court, I will pronate more. The latter is more of what we see the pros like Federer doing. Am I on the right track?

[@sanz8607]

Can't wait to try it! Slice is the one I struggle a lot. The ball just tend to dip to net a lot. When you said outside the ball, Jeremy, is it kind of more on the 1 or 2 o'clock outside, or kind of 3 o'clock outside? Thank you!

[@FundamentalTennis]

Jack Young thanks for watching. Go for 3 o’clock.

[@sanz8607]

Great! Thanks!

[@Bunzenheiner]

Hi Jeremy, What Green Strings you played

[@youseffallahi9151]

As per your instructions no need for pronation in a slice serve. Am I right?

[@Binkler]

Thanks, that's very useful. Can I ask, when you are serving to the ad side do the comments about tossing the ball to your right still hold? Or is there some difference about where you should toss the ball for a slice serve when serving to the ad side? Thanks

[@FundamentalTennis]

@@Binkler on the add side, the toss should be less towards the net as well as more towards the right side fence as righty (all relative to deuce side).

[@steveswen]

Would be interested on your perspective on hitting a combo slice/top spin serve

[@mu11ian]

Excellent, this is great instruction. I struggle to hit this serve with any power, I know it’s not essential for this type of serve, but I really don’t get much speed at all. Also would you recommend this as a 2nd serve? Or would you stick with (mainly) kick serves for 2nd serves?

[@FundamentalTennis]

mu11ian this is great for a 2nd serve or 1st serve. Just keep in mind if done correctly the kick serve is quite a bit safer then a slice. If doing a slice 2nd serve I would typically recommend extra spin versus a speed slice.

[@watcher687]

Jeremy, two questions: 1. You didn't mention anything about the toss height. Is it because you have no recommendation about the height specific to slice serve? 2. Would you agree, for a flat serve the racket swing path is right towards the target, for a kick serve towards the right net post and up? What about for the slice serve?

[@FundamentalTennis]

Yucel Guldali good questions. Toss height is something I have discussed a lot in my paid serve course that was released last month. Toss height depends on many factors but most importantly on your rhythm/style. Tossing so that you make contact after the ball has dropped just a couple inches to 3 feet or so is certainly more then acceptable depending on the player. As for the swing path for a flat serve it depends on the box and exact location in the box that your serving to. Flat serve swing path is not to the target if using a continental grip. It’s more say towards the right side net post. Slice serve is actually a similar swing path just a little more towards the right. Kick serve swing path is drastically different and can be anywhere from towards the right net post to about a 30 degree angle to the baseline.

[@watcher687]

Fundamental Tennis Thanks. Shouldn’t the racket face be travelling towards the target before and after contact with the ball on a flat serve to avoid any significant spin?

[@FundamentalTennis]

Yucel Guldali you won’t get significant spin with the correct flat serve swing path. Also, u may already know this but it is impossible to hit a ball with no spin.

[@watcher687]

Fundamental Tennis Yes, thanks Jeremy. Really great videos.

[@watcher687]

Fundamental Tennis Sorry Jeremy, just thought about the flat serve again and I presume you said the swing path is not to the target with a continental grip because of the involvement of pronation but it seems possible to swing towards the target with pronation at the same time. If you try a quick shadow swing I’d expect you may agree.

[@chandrashekharmysa3692]

Useful tip

[@ssenssel]

You kinda look like a Russian mobster but I like the cut of your jib. Great vid. Kudos fro Brazil.

[@Fernwald84]

Thanks for your thorough treatment of the slice serve, Jeremy. Lots of good points, but one thing I've found is that when my opponent signals a slice serve with his toss I can simply adjust my position and take it as a forehand (on the deuce court--and I'm a lefty). Can't you get the same benefit from a wide toss just by rotating your torso more toward the back fence on the serve toss so your forward swing curves more (right to left for a righty) which imparts that side spin?

[@aionescu33]

Love your content! Was just wondering if adding any body rotation or footwork into the serve to add more slice? It seems for the most part you just stand mostly facing the net. Thanks again!

[@mshartmany]

Is this channel still active?? This was great info!

[@FundamentalTennis]

Thank you. Maybe I’ll come back just for you 😋

[@johnbarron137]

Great stuff

[@allboutthemojo]

It would be funny to see someone toss it so far to the right that they have to move their feet to hit it, but I guess what would be funnier is if the returner didn't read it to be a slice and got surprised by it. LOL Great tips Jeremy. Thanks. One question. If you want the slice in the duece court to be somewhere between the t and the middle so that it jams the returner instead of the wide slice, do you just make a subtle change to your foot position? Peter Freeman showed this same drill progression of forehand slice to serve.

[@FundamentalTennis]

Sz Ki hi, thanks for the comment. I have never seen another pro do the slice drill I showed in this video. I guess I didn’t invent it after all 🤪 As for the feet, I don’t think your feet’s positioning will help aim your serve there. It’s all about ball placement and angle of strings at contact. The forearms rotation or lack of will determine the angle of the strings.

[@allboutthemojo]

@@FundamentalTennis thank you. I didn't mention it to point out that yours was not original. Just mentioning that I had seen it explained in a similar way on two channels. Crunch time coaching and Top Speed Tennis, but there's was intended to be more like a trick serve.

[@alessandrosig]

Hi , i really liked the video a lot , but i have some questions about the silice. It seems at least to me that there is no pronation at all and at the end of the swing the hitting face of the raquet is almost facing up , if i pronate i cant carve around the face of the ball as much as you and at the end the face of the raquet is on the side . Please give me your opinion

[@FundamentalTennis]

alessandro signorini this is A great question. Thanks for asking. I hope I am understanding your question correctly, I will do the best I can to answer it. If I’m off just give me more detail in your question please. The finish of a high-level slice backhand will often have the strings facing almost directly up. Many times players think that at contact the strings were this much open however the angle of the strings on the finish is simply a result of the follow through. At contact the strings should be about 1-5 degrees open depending on height of contact, what your trying to do with the ball etc. however again, similar to volleys the strings will often open at the follow through because the arms path of the racquet and maintaining the wrist position throughout the entire swing will naturally decelerate and finish with the strings facing up. This is if the contact phase was correct. Not easy to explain this through text but the strings will often actually face very much upwards on the follow-through if everything beforehand was correct however again, the strings are not near this much open at contact. The forearm I would say is somewhat pronated throughout the swing.

[@RVick-ws1xu]

If I'm following this explanation correctly than, there is less pronation for the slice as opposed to a "first" serve? @@FundamentalTennis

[@FundamentalTennis]

R. Bick prior to contact yes

[@Pistefka]

Really love the level of detail you go into in your videos. Other coaches seem to miss crucial details, which I guess they might think are "obvious". In this video the part about placement of the toss on a flat serve being above the hitting shoulder was a great point/reminder. It also occurs to me that practising a toss and catching the ball after it falls back into your hand is actually NOT a good drill - the ball shouldn't be falling back down into the left hand, it should be in line with the right shoulder. Or did I misunderstand?

[@ProfessorBoooty]

how to do a slice kick for second serve?

[@FundamentalTennis]

ProfessorBoooty same as a kick serve but you must hit the outside of the ball. Easier to do a “slick” on the deuce side as a righty.

[@gunesfeyzioglu8418]

Hi Jeremy , I liked this video , I also liked your serve course videos which I have purchased. But all of the have a technical problem : a disturbing sound of hiss like the sound of wind or air conditioner . I tried to clear it by sound processing programs, but not so successful. Pls do a favor ; try to use a better microphone . Thanks . Gunes

[@FundamentalTennis]

Güneş Feyzioğlu thanks and yes I will have better sound in the next course 👍

[@banbecuatoi]

Any pronation I have to pay attention for the slice and drill?

[@microphoner1]

uhhhh what?

[@haroonputinov5458]

Jeremy ❤️🎾

[@peteryun8929]

How does Federer do it? He seems to have the toss almost above his head, yet he managed to slice the ball to out to the side line.

[@alvarotovar3367]

He probably practiced many hours a day during his junior years how to disguise it. I personally don't have that much time to train, so this video and these tips are perfect for me.

[@user-be5qg7mr1s]

you dont need to toss it like federer. Disguise is not that important unless you 5.0-pro level.

[@HasteCakes]

good

[@the1tfactor]

Hey J-Man, how tall are you? Because when you get up to serve height on that drill, it almost looks like you are hitting straight down with wicked slice into the court. I'm all of 5'5'' on tiptoe, so I am now fully in awe...

[@FundamentalTennis]

Tanya Robinson hi Tanya. I am 6-1. I don’t use my legs much on my serve like I should.

[@the1tfactor]

Fundamental Tennis Now I’m in awe. If you used your legs on that serve, the awe might shift to terror!

[@WillyD456]

I love your video about the slice serve....but mine is often going into the net :'( Do you have any trick to help me ?

[@microphoner1]

maybe... watch his videos?

[@dnomdelopez1921]

Tnx v much!

[@louismaguina9783]

Thx :)

[@FundamentalTennis]

louis maguina my pleasure!

[@JamesDavisakaRemguy]

Wait, are you saying to *toss the ball to the right, so you can hit the outside of the ball?* 😁 I know repetition is part of learning/teaching, but you're not trying to hypnotize us, are you (Master)?

[@alimoini4718]

where is the point of contact if you imagine a clock ?

[@FundamentalTennis]

You’d have to tell me where 12 o’clock is in relation to the player

[@guillermotrujillo2451]

I dint see you pronate is OK not to pronate?

[@FairwayJack]

like

[@baahubalidefense4619]

I have a doubt from a long time. I couldn't find the answer anywhere. Please help me here! 1) Do we need to use pronation in all three formats of serves(flat, kick, slice) or is it applicable only for flat serve? 2) if pronation is required for kick and slice serves also, how to do that?

[@twinwankel]

You can read my comment at the top for some advice on slice pronation.

[@baahubalidefense4619]

@@twinwankel thank you for the comment. I very well understood your point. I am more interested to see someone present the idea in a video on how to pronate with kick and slice serves. Because when i tried on my own, i was not successful.. hope Jeremy will do a video on this sometime!! Thank you 👍

[@jimcrayne5449]

Confused, don't you mean toss to the ADD ALLEY.

[@PeterDMayr]

As you get older, after 30 y. Of, one could be prone to injury, but maybe inflammation caused by poor diet is a contributing factor.

[@ReidVV]

Not to complain too much because I think most of your lessons are really great, and especially since they're free, I have no right to complain, so I want this taken as constructive and not as criticism. I think your video in this case is overly long and overly wordy. I think you should plan out what you want to demonstrate and what you want to say before shooting to enable you to do a minimum of on camera speaking. Instead, you might want to record yourself actually hitting the shot you want the video to be about and then later create voice-overs that describe what's going on in the video that you later edit into the video. Using this method, not only more videos contain more visual demonstrations that are more helpful to your viewers than verbal descriptions, but this method will result in coaching videos that are also less talk-y and result in less use of the same verbal points over and over. This method will help you stay right on your excellent and important coaching points, showing more stroke demonstrations and giving only the best verbal and visual instruction without too much repetition. For an example this style of shooting and editing video lessons take a look at the KZbin channel called Racquet Flex. Their video demonstrations are very useful to watch and the talking that they do is limited to what's being shown because it's not exclusively, but mostly recorded after the the video is shot and not while they're trying to record the video, demo the technique, and explain it all at the same time. This method will help you pre-plan your videos regarding what you want to show and what you want to say and may result in more concise and effective coaching

[@ReidVV]

@Greg Drotzmann Righthand slice down the T is just like righthanded slice out wide to the deuce court. Just hit slice, but aim for the middle of the service box. The direction of the slice will carry the ball where you want it to go. One often overlooked tip on hitting a good slice serve is rotating your upper body forward and getting your shoulders more square to the net as you swing up and forward into the ball. This allows you to fully get the sideways action on the ball that results in an actual curving slice. Try it and see. Don't change your stance or toss, just concentrate on rotating your hitting arm shoulder slightly more forward toward the net before striking the ball. This extra rotation will help you strike the ball at the correct sideways angle to produce slice. It takes practice.