5 Point Friday Slice shots never travel with a lot of pace. Like all slice shots, the forehand version is hit high-to-low, with the strings brushing under the 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. On the other hand, if you were to try that same serve against a 65 opponent, then you may find it lands much closer to their strike zone, allowing them to hit an easy return. Create a free account and explore my latest videos below. {"appState":{"pageLoadApiCallsStatus":true},"articleState":{"article":{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-26T22:57:30+00:00","modifiedTime":"2016-03-26T22:57:30+00:00","timestamp":"2022-09-14T18:12:05+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Home, Auto, & Hobbies","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33809"},"slug":"home-auto-hobbies","categoryId":33809},{"name":"Sports & Recreation","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34001"},"slug":"sports-recreation","categoryId":34001},{"name":"Tennis","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34033"},"slug":"tennis","categoryId":34033}],"title":"Slicing and Dicing, Tennis Style","strippedTitle":"slicing and dicing, tennis style","slug":"slicing-and-dicing-tennis-style","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"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. To help, give yourself a moment before you go to serve. 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. 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. Sometimes, especially on a low-bouncing court like grass, your opponent may hit a low, short ball. Many pros, including the legendary Australian champion Ken Rosewall, used the slice backhand stroke as their only backhand. However, its often one of the most challenging serves to develop. 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. The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. Roger Federer was one of the tennis greats known for his undeniable skill of slicing.He was one of the best modern tennis players, and was renowned for his ability to control the ball with unmatched elegance and grace. But don't use it as a substitute for your flat or topspin forehand. If you are defending desperately, you are unlikely to be able to execute a topspin lob. Now that you know what to look for when hitting a flat serve, heres a video that shows the entire flat service motion. Stand quite close to the table, an arms length away. Lets take a look at how to hit a slice serve with proper technique. A player can add slice or topspin to shots by hitting the ball in different places. Serve and volley: Due to the shorter reaction time that you may have fielding your opponents return, it can be challenging to move forward and volley. 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. Many leading players will use the block-slice return and forehand squash-shot described above. 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. 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. Kevin is an LTA-accredited coach, and is world ranked in the over-55 age group. Turn the racquet face as you bring it back so that the hitting surface ends up facing upward, as shown in Figure 1. 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. 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. As a result, most players hit flat groundstrokes sparingly. Second, changing your grip can be a dead giveaway to your opponent as to what type of serve youre about to hit. Heres a photo to show you what your contact point should look like for a slice serve. Slice shots don't bounce as high, either. Many top players, including male and female Grand Slam champions use the sliced forehand. It gives the opponent more time to get to the ball. Add to that the ability to hit your serve at different speeds to throw off your opponent, and you can begin to see why developing various types of serves can be such a huge advantage. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The last comment and 5 other comment(s) need to be approved. Straight flips can be much easier and quicker as the pips are less sensitive to spin. What Does Game, Set, Match Mean In Tennis? Once again, when hitting a kick serve, you should rely on your continental service grip, which is ideally suited for this serve. Another instance when you are using a slice is if you want to surprise your opponent with a drop shot. Key points about the tennis forehand slice: The forehand slice is a little unfashionable, but it is certainly not obsolete. 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. 2. Once again, Ive provided a view of this serve in slow motion so you can easily see the nuances of the different pieces. Defensive Lob. Additionally, if the forehand slice has been hit with side-spin, you will need to recognise this and allow more space if you aim to reply with a forehand, as the ball will spin into your body if your opponent is right-handed. Thats where variety is king and why learning the three different types of serves is crucial. 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. However, the shot is not always . First, if youre using an eastern grip, youre most likely overcompensating for poor technique. Your email address will not be published. A "tennis topspin" is when the ball is hit with a lot of power, speed, and spin on it. 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 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. Like all slice shots, the forehand version is hit high-to-low, with the strings brushing under the ball. There are several advantages and disadvantages of clay tennis court surfaces, including using red clay and green clay or Har-Tru. Friction and surface area explain why slower surfaces are less effective. 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. 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. The slice backhand offers the following practical and tactical advantages: A word of caution: Slice backhands make poor passing shots. Unfortunately, this approach usually lends itself to tension, which is your serves worst enemy and, over time, can lead to injury. 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. 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. When the racket and the ball make contact, the racket should be continuously moving in a direction close to perpendicular to the ball. Turn the racquet face as you bring it back so that the hitting surface ends up facing upward, as shown in Figure 1.
\nThis position makes it easy and natural to brush your strings under the lower portion of the ball, producing backspin. 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. Learn with comprehensive resources to help you improve your game. 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 Those two qualities can catch your opponent off guard and screw up her timing.
\nA word of caution: Slice backhands make poor passing shots. 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. It's a defensive shot that you should use on only three occasions:
\nIf 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.