Slice Serve vs Kick Serve In Tennis - How and When To Hit Each One

Slice Serve vs Kick Serve In Tennis - How and When To Hit Each One
In tennis, the serve is the number one shot you must work on and master. It's the shot that starts every point in tennis matches. If you have a powerful first serve, but an unreliable second serve, you'll struggle to hold your service games. For the second serve, it's best to use either a slice serve or a kick serve in tennis. The spin will give you margin, helping you clear the net and getting the ball to dip in the service boxes.

The Slice Serve In Tennis
Hitting a good slice serve will give you many options when you're serving.
On the deuce side, for right-handers, it will allow you to hit short angled serves that take the opponent off the court. You can also slice the serve into a player's body.
On the advantage side, you can slice it down the T, curving the ball away from the opponent.

How To Hit A Slice Serve In Tennis
Here are three tips to focus on when hitting the slice serve:
1. Focus on hitting the ball around 1-2 o'clock. This means the top, right-hand side of the ball.
2. Uncoil the body so you're front on when you make contact. Imagine throwing the right shoulder into the ball.
3. Initiate the uncoiling motion using your tossing hand (left hand). After you release the ball, point the left hand towards your target, the ball. Hold that position until you're ready to fire. Pull the left arm down and away from the contact point, the faster you pull the arm, the faster you will open up the body.

How To Hit A Kick Serve In Tennis
Here are three tips to focus on when hitting the kick serve in tennis:
1. Brush up and across the ball, going from 7-1 o'clock on the flat ball face. As you improve the kick serve and want to increase the side spin, focus on going from 8-2 on the ball.
2. Stay side on with your body, focus on keeping the shoulders side on to the net, and really crunch the left side of your body.
3. Let the ball drop low enough so that you're able to brush up on the ball and use the extension as you make contact. If you make contact at the highest point, you will be unable to brush up the ball.

Slice Serve vs Kick Serve in Tennis - Ball Toss
For the slice serve, focus on tossing the ball more to your right, This will allow you to carve the outside of the ball, helping you produce the sidespin.
For the kick serve, focus on tossing the ball more to your left and slightly behind your head. This will allow you to brush the ball from the bottom left-hand side to the top right-hand side.

Video Timeline:
00:00 - Slice Serve vs Kick Serve In Tennis Intro
00:51 - The Slice Serve In Tennis
1:43 - The Kick Serve In Tennis
2:16 - How To Hit A Slice Serve In Tennis
5:10 - How To Hit A Kick Serve In Tennis
12:18 - Slice Serve vs Kick Serve Ball Toss On Serve
14:48 - When To Use The Slice Serve In Tennis
16:22 - When To Use The Kick Serve In Tennis

#SliceServe #KickServe #TennisServe

[lilieseat]

I'm literally watching this two two hours before tryouts.

[lcervantes]

Super lesson! Your tip last year on hitting the slice at 1 o'clock really transformed my game. On the ad side I use a slice as a body serve. If placed correctly it will cross opponent's body on the way in, then curve back at them on the bounce. It can also be used on the ad side down the T as it will veer away from opponent towards the deuce court.

[michellenaranjo]

I never realized the racquet was supposed to travel in a different direction for theses serves. The explanation involving the base line was very helpful.

[augustblood]

Brilliant lesson, the best I've seen yet again and just what I wanted right now.

[philipgrainger]

What an incredible gift you have to teach, Simon. Thank you so much for this video.

[seeutennis]

Great lesson Simon! I always learn something from your videos

[FitnessLondon]

Awesome explanation of the complexities of these different serves. Worth practicing each like crazy until you master all of them. Takes discipline to practice them on your own and experiment with all the variations of toss height/position and racket path.

[johnsmith]

I have watched VERY many serve tutorial videos, this one (and the one about the shot put ideology/weight on the back foot) are by far the best videos I have seen. Added bonus: you are showing professional examples of great serves, and are also slamming down some serious mean serves yourself. Bravo!
Side note: I am watching this with subtitles on, and I enjoy the translation being "the juice side" of the court, effective "surf"s, and the "slicer", lol

[desertchamp]

My dad has me watch lots of your videos. You guys are one of the best sources of tennis information on the website.

[jerome_morrow]

Excellent instruction as always, with clear descriptions of how to execute and highly illustrative video clips and stills, Simon.

I have been playing tennis for most of the last 40yrs and heard a lot of different coaches over that time. Some were good, most were middling to awful. I’ve only recently started watching tennis instruction videos once again to help me with teaching my sons this wonderful game. I dare say you’re the best coach I’ve ever come across with your outstanding articulation and approachable style of delivery. Your passion for teaching is evident and you are a credit to your profession.

PS: I use the same toss to hit all the serve variations to either court. I never even realised that this is the “parallel to baseline arc” type of toss until I heard you describe it! Also, because I developed it instinctively in my early teens, it never even occurred to me that I contact the ball at different points on the arc for different spins until I watched a couple of your videos where you talk about it. I can tell you that in the early 80s, lots of coaches told me it was a bad technique since they believed that it was inconsistent compared with the vertical toss. I’m rather glad I didn’t listen to them! Personally, I found it easier to just use the same arc toss everytime, than to make slight variations in a vertical toss to suit the intended spin.

[Stan-B]

Only recently have I realized that having a decent slice serve in your repertoire is a must. I have a weak kick serve, so I have to use a slice serve as a second serve from time to time not to let my opponents to get used to my kick and kill every ball easily.

[richardj]

The explanation is Very detailed and easy to understand . Thanks buddy.

[diamondhandsandrocketships]

Simply the best. You’re the only one that explained where on the ball to hit.

[diamondhandsandrocketships]

Before watching this video, I’ve heard to hit at 3-4, but it was a weak slice. I’ve played around hitting at 1-2 and the slice serve was powerful. You just confirmed I was doing something right

[Chrisnado]

the explanation using just visual points or certain movements makes it so much easier to adapt your existing technique. Love your videos!

[jeffcoffey]

The best at explaining! I can't wait to hit the courts. 👍

[andrewyu]

Great explanation for serving stategy during gameplay!

[princessoftennis]

Tennis serve is too hard.
Your video is a very helpful tennis lesson video.
That's a lot of help. Thank you.

[danhigashi]

When using the clock as a reference, am I correct to understand that the direction that the clock is facing is dependent on the direction of the racket path; in other words is the clock face perpendicular to the racket edge just before pronation starts?

[leetang]

Of all youtube, yours is the best, your explanation super clear n precise always clear my doubts. Super Simon 👍👏