Stop Hitting Flat Serves (How To Pronate And Add Sidespin To Your Tennis Serve)

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Stop Hitting Flat Serves (How To Pronate And Add Sidespin To Your Tennis Serve)
1. Continental grip
2. Hit bday hat
3. Lead up with edge toward ball
4. Pronate and present strings to ball but still slightly leading with the right edge of frame
5. Swing to the right of your target
6. After contact strings should face off to the right
7. Still follow through off to the left of your body
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You got this!

[@kb7506]

FINALLY, a complete and "makes sense" explanation of the relationship between pronation, contact point, and action (slice, kick, etc.) on the ball. Thank you!

[@richardleecba]

It took one video for me to become a huge fan of yours! Thanks for sharing all this knowledge so amazingly! Greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷

[@2MinuteTennis]

Wow thank you Richard! So nice of you!

[@joseh899]

This is one of your all time best lessons. coach Ryan! 👏👍 like you pointed out, most of us intermediate club players believe you carve around the ball, with no pronation whatsoever. You can hit it that way, but its definitely not as effective as your technique. 🎾🎾

[@2MinuteTennis]

Thank you Jose!! Appreciate the kind words of support. ✅🎾😊👍

[@anneg1536]

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this. Its what I’ve been looking for. Never quite understood why a flat serve has spin. I think I’m getting there now. Will have to watch a few times!

[@royvandijk7119]

You're really helping me understand the serve better. Makes practicing for a better serve much easier

[@cesarm2438]

This is the clearest conceptual explaination of the last few milliseconds before contact, of the flat, slice, and kick serve on the internet. Just a few degrees of the racket face angle and direction separates them. Another lightbulb moment from watching your videos. Thank you Ryan!

[@kabasakalis]

Hey Ryan, eye opening video, I watch many tennis video tutorials, I don't remember seeing anyone breaking down the concepts to their fine details the way you do it. Thanks.

[@mateoruiz2501]

It was the video that I needed, thank you so much Ryan, I will have way more control over my servers now on

[@beachfrontman]

So good the way you explained this and demonstrated it by going over it and repeating in detail and emphasising the outcome by breaking it down...even so I will need to view this a few times to get it right...for me that is......... Many thanks...

[@Lucas-xx3su]

Another great video. I like the focus on the part after the racquet drop

[@NetPhD7110]

You are a genius teacher. This board explanation on the doubles tactics empowers even a beginner to close the game two times in a raw!

[@paulossilveira]

Great job!! You really clear things up!! Kepp up the good workl!!

[@CoachAdrian]

Great video, explanation, and reasoning behind pronation 👍

[@lyndianmay2771]

Thanks Ryan. That was the best explanation I've ever had.

Excellent explanation Ryan!

[@davidepiolini6912]

Simply fantastic !!!

[@peterl7578]

thanks for sharing, greetings from Sweden!

[@emre9633]

Best serving lesson I've ever seen. Thank you Ryan!

[@kerwinlay9637]

Ryan…such an excellent breakdown of how to migrate from the flat serve!!

[@jokotriwardhono2466]

I like the way you explain, now I understand how to hit a serve correctly 👍 Appreciate to Ryan

[@b2m59]

After watching several videos of your Serve lessons, now I understand the pronation is just an 'ergonomics technique' for our elbow. When we pronate, the elbow can bend and the forearm is naturally pointing down. A fast swing speed can then be created. I was serving without pronation and confused on improving my serve. Your videos really help! I will practice and improve my serve then.

[@deanme9]

Really comprehensive explanation of how to serve. I’ve played for many years, and never knew how to hit a serve correctly.

[@cindytom1244]

You explain technique better than any one !!!! You’re tops!!!! Thank you for all your great videos.

[@2MinuteTennis]

Wow thank you so much!! So nice of you to say that. You got this, Cindy!

[@Arunkumar-bg5xk]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU ❤️

[@tbansal80]

Amazing video. I was hitting flat serve and targeting to hit the middle of the ball (6 o’clock ). Will try hitting at 85 degree. Thanks Ryan. So happy to see 100k subscriber. You deserve it. You got this 😄

[@northvanlarry561]

Another nice teaching. Thanks.

[@2MinuteTennis]

Glad you liked it Larry.

[@kumarsabaratnam4787]

Well explained. Thanks

[@2MinuteTennis]

Thanks so much Kumar!

[@deanme9]

Thanks!

[@MR-eh5mk]

congrats on 100k subs !

[@mattgordon3437]

Excellent! Thank you!

[@2MinuteTennis]

Thanks so much Matt! Appreciate the support!!!

[@lucascornubet6801]

You're an Amazing coach man. Thank you

[@2MinuteTennis]

Wow Lucas thanks my friend!

[@crazylector]

I am giving a thumps up even before watching because the title was actually exactly my problem when i played a few days ago!

[@JeffLewistennis]

Great tip Ryan. Congrats on 100k!!! You’re a beast and a inspiration!

[@2MinuteTennis]

Thanks so much Jeff. You’re next!

[@JeffLewistennis]

@@2MinuteTennis Thanks Ryan!

[@mladenmijakic5157]

Thx Rayen from Croatia🖖

[@selfhelp69]

Nice visualization of the mechanics Ryan.

[@2MinuteTennis]

So glad you liked it!!

[@RealEstateData]

Great explanation. You explain so well and in an easy manner. Sidespin makes the ball heavy to return. You are truly a tennis professor. I have been wanting to do that service with pronation and spin. Do you think with the side spin it will also kick little bit?

[@vladomontezuma626]

Really amazing. As I already said, I was always serving flat and being 5'6'' doesn't help ofc, learning side spin and kick really improved my serve :)

[@apollo_gaming007]

Hey Ryan can u make a video on footwork exercises to improve footwork btw do u remember me (first comment) u make very informative videos keep it up

[@rinknijenhuis7830]

Amazing. Was struggling with this part, pronation of the wrist etc. Not clear yet how or why the follow through ends up on the LEFT of me. Will look again (and again). Maybe a video soon on you with some slomo on exactly this part (slice) and the follow through? On a court and not in the neighbors garden :-) Thanks again

[@dkumar50]

Thanks Ryan for these amazing tutorials - which state are you located in ?

[@2MinuteTennis]

Wow thank you. I’m in Pennsylvania.

[@mehmetak2406]

selam siz harikasınız tebrikler tenis tekniklerini en iyi anlatanlardan birisisiniz hatta en iyisisiniz. ne kadar teşekkür etsem azdır. size müteşekkirim yine serviste spin konusunu ço güzel anlatmışsınız tekrar teşekkürler. Hello, you are great, congratulations, you are one of the best explainers of tennis techniques, even the best. I can't thank you enough. I am grateful to you, you explained the subject of spin in the service very well, thank you again.

[@Tang.Nguyen_Music]

Great explanation. I’d probably add there is a little bit of top spin other than the side spin, too 🎾😆.

[@subalbose3705]

Great lesson. Thanks a ton. I have one quick question- after I serve a slice serve, the ball turns further leftward on bouncing off the opponent’s court. If I do a kick serve (haven’t tried it yet) will it bounce rightward?

[@prostobardak]

damn, home run of a lesson!

[@Better_Call_Raul]

6. After contact strings should face off to the right 7. Still follow through off to the left of your body This makes sense... Many coaches also advise a finish (long after pronation and contact) that curl arounds with palm facing upwards/towards your chest. How important is this finish given that the ball is long gone by this point? 🤔

[@sanjaygandhi7962]

That's so true - a flat serve is not truly spinless. If there is not enough spin, the serve will either go into the net or way long. A mostly flat serve will still have some topspin (hitting the ball between 12 o'clock and 1 o'clock on the tennis ball). Flat serves are mostly a waste of time and energy. You might be lucky to get 40% in the box and that's not good enough. The continental grip is good for the first serve to get slice or topspin and the most controllable power. I like to use the eastern backhand grip on the second serve for more control and use a sidespin serve either into the body of the receiver (on the backhand side of the receiver) or wide to the backhand side. It's important to not turn towards the target on the second serve. Focus on the swing and the tennis ball; also keep the tossing hand up as long as possible to prevent the ball from going into the net. Just like a field goal kicker in football focuses on keeping the head steady and swinging at the football and not looking at the goal posts too early.

[@NoosaHeads]

Wish this fella would come over to Queensland.....

[@meditationman415]

Think I'm getting it..slowly......thank you. So hit away from target on slice, and hit towards target on flat, with same ball toss....? And any drills i can do in my sitting room without a ball? 🎉🙏

[@patriotspark5878]

This is an excellent video especially for explaining the pronation mechanics for hitting serves, which are not intuitive. However, I believe you meant 4 thousandths of a second, not 4 tenths of a second, when discussing the length of time the ball contacts the strings (4 milliseconds). Keep up the great work!

[@2MinuteTennis]

You are correct. I made a mistake. Though what’s funny is I corrected my mistake about a second after and said thousandths. Huh, didn’t realize I did that. Yes, 4 milliseconds. 4 thousandths of a second. Thanks!!

[@patriotspark5878]

@@2MinuteTennis Haha I didn't even notice that you did almost immediately correct yourself by saying thousandths. I guess I was too busy trying to think whether 0.4s was realistic. I also want to second all the other comments about how valuable this video is for clearly explaining the pronation mechanics of the racquet during the serve. Like you stated, I've always been under the impression that you "carved" around the ball to generate the sidespin, as it just didn't feel natural or logical how the racquet could do that when it ends up facing outward (as you stated). I'm extremely impressed by your videos (the ones I've viewed so far). Keep up the great work!

[@michaelhao3940]

If the contact is started at 85 degree of the pronate, the ball will spin in the direction of the pronation. During contact the ball is squeezed to a quite flat shape & there is no chance to spin in the right direction. It will spin to the left together with the pronation. When I feel this I can get a very good control to a flat serve.

[@meditationman415]

Can you use a backhand grip on serve? i was taught this 40 years ago. Will the racket come up on edge with an eastern backhand grip ?

[@jh276]

Coach - do you know even i try to slice, the ball still 'kicks' to the right (vs curves to left) on deuce side after it hits the ground? i do as you said...slice and pronate to the right (right-hander). thanks.

[@sveinungjrgensen5125]

👏 👏 👏

[@chedn]

Thank you, I think the video is very helpful. However, I could not understand why you suggest continuing pronation, let's say, from 100° to final 180°, this is, after the racket has lost contact with the ball. What effect does it add to the hit or to the overall serve movement?

[@2MinuteTennis]

It’s the same reason why golfers don’t stop their club a inch after contact. A body motion tends to stay in motion. When you’re loose and relaxed and begin pronating correctly there’s really no way to stop the racket continuing to Pronate. Thanks!!

[@Better_Call_Raul]

"Pronate and present strings to ball but still slightly leading with the right edge of frame" This makes sense. But the video says to do this on all serves. I am a righty and can hit relatively flat serves wide into the AD corner. When I do this I think of hitting the left side of the ball and leading with the LEFT edge of frame.

[@2MinuteTennis]

No matter where you hit the ball…Deuce out wide, down the T, ad out wide, down the T, etc. it’s always the same. Lead with the R edge at contact. You’ll hit the same spin no matter where you hit the ball. Bc your body positioning changes and you aim changes. But your technique doesn’t.

[@Better_Call_Raul]

@@2MinuteTennis The "0 to 180 degrees demo" at 05:15 is very good. So we can think of slightly leading with the right edge and making contact at ~85 degrees as video explains. At 90 degrees the ball is long off the strings but that slight leading of right edge at ~85 degrees is what imparts the sidespin...If a righty slices wide to the deuce corner and it goes wide after the bounce he has successfully imparted the sidespin. If a righty hits to the same target deuce corner but it does not quite have the sidespin (more flat) and bounces more straight ahead rather than wide, something went wrong -- the target deuce corner was hit but sidespin was not imparted... Maybe you can explain why that happens and what went wrong with swing path... Guessing that everything was correct for both serves up until contact since both serves landed in the deuce corner target. But one serve has sidespin after the bounce and other serve bounces more straight after the bounce. Maybe it has to do with swing path after contact. The sidespin swing path will be towards the right net post while the flat swing path is towards the net.

[@sunshineday6880]

A class above coaching

[@antfog1]

Ryan, my 15 year old son was taught a slice serve when he first moved to a continental grip. Now, he pretty much always slices behind the ball (then pronates) but has trouble flattering out at all. It robs him of speed/power. What advice can you give him?

[@2MinuteTennis]

Hey Anthony. I’d recommend signing up for a zoom lesson so we can fix it. You can sign up here. Onlinetraining.2minutetennis.net/programs the 3 of us will meet live on zoom and I’ll analyze video of his serve and I’ll teach you both how to fix it once and for all. Thank you!!! BTW…they’re normally $120/lesson but they’re on sale for $87 for the rest of September. Thanks!!!

[@loopyloutube2]

is it only really possibble to spinn the ball one way i.e. as a right hander from the ad court it goes down the tee and from the deuce court it goes spins out as a wide serve

[@2MinuteTennis]

You are correct that that’s usually what happens. But some players do spin it the opposite way I’d they use. Forehand grip and Pronate early. Thanks!!

[@emjay2045]

👍🏽

[@TheYoudhruv]

Can you tell me how much shall be the grip pressure ? Today I played and started gripping the racket little tighter than usual, getting good results with control.

[@apollo_gaming007]

Hey bro I am a professional tennis player here is a tip keep ur Wrist loose and hold the racquet at an normal tightness then u will get good results

[@TheYoudhruv]

@@apollo_gaming007 thanks will try

[@apollo_gaming007]

@@TheYoudhruv do try it it will help and if it does or doesn’t do comment back here I wanna see if it works for u okay?

[@charlesferber5849]

Quick question, I studied Pat Rafter showing a slice serve, and he finished on the left side follow thru with hitting strings facing the sky, if he pronated on his slice , then how would he achieve that position of strings facing upwards to sky at the end? To my eyes, he carves around the ball, say hits at 3 o’clock, and his swing path continues to follow thru with strings pointing up, am I missing something, or are my eyes fooling me? I’d love your comment as I’m curious of what’s going on, cheers, charlie from London , England.

[@2MinuteTennis]

Can you send me the video you watched ? I’d love to see it.

[@SomeOne-rh5so]

I'm trying slice on serve, but it's still not consistant as I wish - some % ball going too left (

[@2MinuteTennis]

Aim more to the right. Start with your body facing more right. And actually look to the right when aiming more right. Also, be sure to present the strings more to the back of the ball to help it not go so left.

[@SomeOne-rh5so]

@@2MinuteTennis I got it )) just run to practise.

[@Better_Call_Raul]

There is a lot of confusing instruction out there on slice serve and pronation! Have watched two top KZbin coaches demonstrate slice serve and pronation and they will say, "I am not sure if I pronated on that but It was a really good slice..."... Think we can agree that (1)there is pronation on slice -- the pronation is delayed and timed differently (2) you do not want a supinated slice serve (too weak) (3) it may not FEEL like pronation. That is the sensation I get when I do the "skipping rocks" drill. Start out real low and skip rocks and then I get higher, there is sidespin generated but it does not FEEL like pronation. It is weird feeling, but the bottom line is that if you are hitting with decent pace (65 mph plus) and it bounces wide off the deuce court then you are pronating. That is the way I think of it... The one question I have is that many coaches advise pronating but to still "curl" around and finishing with palm up (long after contact). Not clear on this palm up on the finish instruction. If you are pronating and not supinating why is it important to curl and finish with palm up?... This palm up finish tip does seem to work though. But not sure why it works.

[@bournejason66]

It’s the degree of pronation on the slice serve. You don’t need a whole lot of it especially for a righty on the deuce court. That’s why you see Andy Murray has that palm up finish. Even Roger has palm up finish on the deuce court. Roger at the ad court has the full pronation at finish and it’s because the racket face angle and body facing difference between ad and deuce court

[@Better_Call_Raul]

@@bournejason66 "Even Roger has palm up finish on the deuce court. Roger at the ad court has the full pronation at finish". This is an important point. Many coaches advise a palm up finish (always) after the pronation. But maybe the palm up finish does not apply to Ad court... That said, I can sometimes generate huge sidespin on Deuce side with full pronation and no palm up finish.

[@CoachAdrian]

Very true - it does not feel like pronation! However, there are many strokes in tennis that don't "feel" as they are. Coming from my own experience, when I do a "reverse forehand" it does not feel like I follow-through over my head (like a helicopter) - it feels like a regular follow through over my right shoulder. When I do a one-handed backhand slice, it "feels" that my racquet travels straight forward (like a straight line), but when you look at any good slice on video, the racquet on the follow-through can travel downward close to the ground (almost touching it). Tennis has sensations that don't feel close to reality. That's probably why overthinking any stroke can be detrimental... Regarding finishing with palm up - I believe it's simply a proper recoil effect (for lack of a better term) from doing a serve or pronation. Similar to how you do a "stab" volley on the backhand or a backhand overhead where you abruptly flick your wrist for power, the energy from the stroke has to go somewhere. It simply cannot end on the follow-through. If the server does not finish with palm up, the pronation itself stops or decelerates unnaturally (assuming the server pronated).

[@Better_Call_Raul]

@@CoachAdrian Yes, my serves are relatively flat and I always pronate. 3.5 level with Continental grip. And I never finish palm up. But once in a while I get a great slice serve wide on the deuce. Don't want to overthink it but just trying to figure out how to do it intentionally. I may try the palm up finish... Will also try coiling shoulders away from the court more. That seems to generate slice.

[@myviews469]

Yea but how can side spin on ball make a better flat serve ???

[@myviews469]

I don’t believe any is hitting flat serve the mechanics of a arm when you comes at edge automatically pronates otherwise you would hit the ball with edge of racket.

[@dudeabideth4428]

Why is a 2 min vid 12 mins ?

[@2MinuteTennis]

Happy to give you the long answer. Seven years ago I started the original 2MinuteTennis.net. It was a video library of over 300 videos on every tennis topic you can imagine and every video is two minutes long. But as my social media grew on TickTock, Instagram, and now KZbin, I decided to change up my format and make all different lengths of videos to fit each platform. I decided to keep the name since it was my brand no different than Facebook isn’t a “book of faces”. I liked the name so I kept it. Thanks so much.

[@dudeabideth4428]

@@2MinuteTennis thanks for the reply. My question was also a bit rhetorical. With short attention spans these days, it would be good to get two minute videos 😊