How To Hit The Perfect Tennis Slice Serve In 3 Simple Steps

How To Hit The Perfect Slice Serve In Tennis In 3 Simple Steps.
In this tennis serve lesson, Top Tennis Training coach Simon Konov will help you hit the perfect slice serve in tennis.
The slice serve in tennis is one of the most effective ways to start a tennis point on serve for both right and left-handed players.
If executed correctly, a good slice serve will open the court up on the deuce side for a right-hander and the advantage side for a left-hander.
The tennis slice serve is also a great weapon to use when going down the "T" on the advantage side for right-handers and also for jamming players into the body on both sides of the tennis court.
The key to imparting good amounts of spin on the ball is the angle of the racket face at contact. For a typical flat serve you would want to hit the ball more or less flat on with the string bed to gain the most amount of power from pronation.
For a slice serve however we want to hit the ball on the top right-hand side of the ball (top left for left-handed tennis players).
If the ball was a clock face, at impact for the tennis slice serve we would want to hit around 1-2 o'clock. This will give us good levels of spin but also allow the ball to dip down into the service box. Some coaches will say to hit the ball at 3 o'clock but if you add any real power to that serve it would drift wide as there is no dip on the serve.

3 Steps To Hitting The Perfect Tennis Slice Serve
The first step is using the correct service grip. This is the continental grip, also known as the chopper or hammer grip. This tennis grip will allow you to use supination and pronation on your tennis serve which in turn will give you good control of the racket face prior to, during, and after contact. For the slice serve we want to approach the ball with the side of the racket and open the strings during the contact zone to the ideal position for the slice serve to happen. If we approach the ball with the strings already facing forwards, towards the net, we will not be able to slice that serve effectively and it will turn into a flat serve.
The ball toss and contact point on the ball. When you are just starting to learn the slice serve it is a good idea to toss the ball more to the right so you can really feel the motion of "cutting the ball". This will allow you to truly experience this service motion and your muscle memory for this serve will start to engage. However, as you progress with this serve, it's better to try to keep the same ball toss for all your serves to increase your disguise on the serve. The more you progress with your tennis game, the stronger your opponents will be and they will be able to read the different serves if you are constantly changing your ball toss on serve.
Throwing your body into the serve. For a truly great slice serve we want to imagine that our right shoulder will hit the ball. This will help us to rotate fully as we serve and will give us the best possible angle and spin on the slice serve. If we stay side on to the net on the slice serve, we prevent ourselves from using the full range of motion to achieve a perfect slice serve in tennis.

Video Timeline:
00:00 - Intro
00:20 - Why use a slice serve?
2:48 - The Grip (step one)
3:58 - Where To Aim On The Ball (step two)
8:23 - Opening Up The Body (step three)

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[TopTennisTrainingOfficial]

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[franciskwok]

This is one of the best explanations of hitting a slice serve, bar none. Simon explains not only where on the ball to hit (i.e., between 1:00 and 2:00 o'clock), but takes pains to differentiate between hitting around the edge, and - correctly - hitting on the front face in the 1-to-2 o'clock zone, after the racquet begins to open up (pronates). Too many videos on YT ignore this subtlety entirely. Well, done Simon.

[nate]

Thank you very much for this I’m 13 and this has helped me a lot in tournaments keep it up bro

[fl]

Thats the best slice serve i have seen from an online coach

[willkittwk]

Best break down on YouTube. All the subtle things about the slice covered. And your demonstration is the always the best. Some teachers do the demo and I'm like oh shit I'm gonna get killed if I hit a serve like that. 😆

[javierrabbino]

Thanks for this video man, best tutorial for the slice serve i have seen. Very very good.

[massimosanticchia]

This is simply the best instructional video on slice serve. Thank you.

[jakefan]

Always like your videos Simon. Sometimes i watch the old videos just to review. Good job!

[nicholass.d.]

yr an awesome coach. I like how you reel off info, explaining it one way then the next then maybe even a third way, or a rehash to reinforce the most important parts

[jimbo]

Good explanation of the difference between a curve and a flat slider.

[clydenobbee]

Great explanation for the 3 different serves. Will try the steps and see how it goes. Thanks.

[rajeevidiot]

Your Tennis videos are excellent Simon. I am learning a lot from your videos. Thank you for your hard work

[tarkusi]

I take a lot of lessons and check out videos from time to time to try to pick up some additional insights. Your videos are exceptional. I've learned more from them than from any other internet source. Just wanted to say thanks and keep up the great work. Your tip about what it means to hit the ball between 1 and 2 was extremely helpful to me. I've never looked at it that way and this will help me serve the best I can.

[ivobaren]

love the video simon, i like the explanation about what most coaches teach and why it is better to do it otherwise. Also it is very applicable from beginners level all the way to competition players. The comparison with flat, kick and slice serves in the end made it even better. Please do all videos like that from now on : D

[franklu]

Very clear explanations and demonstrations. Simple and efficient! You are one of the best Youtuber of tennis coaching.

[mada]

I've always wanted to learn slicing and now thanks to you I have a good concept, thank you!!

[TheMilinaire]

Thanks will try this as struggling with my 2nd serve.

[georgebraue]

Best slice serve instruction that I have seen.

[ievamillers]

Thank you very much. Would be great if you could show us the different serves in slow motion also.

[jerome_morrow]

Really excellent explanation of technique and contact point for the slice serve!

One thing about the single position ball toss. Pete Sampras is often cited as the finest example the single position ball toss for any serve technique. Yet in an article on serving which he did for Tennis magazine years ago, he mentioned that this was one of the most exaggerated stories about this game. He stated that even he used different toss positions since this helped to increase the degree of spin for each serve type. However, what was important was to keep it sufficiently close so that it was hard for opponents to get a read on it; ie: choose a balance between increasing the spin vs keeping the disguise.

I suppose what he felt he did might not be what his opponents saw! Boris Becker certainly said on more than one occasion that Pete had one of the most unreadable serves he ever played against!