Nuanced shots can effectively deceive your opponent, causing them to approach the ball incorrectly while increasing the likelihood that they will not be able to return your shot. Rafael Nadal for example knows that with his extreme spin on the forehand he can make it difficult for a player like Roger Federer with his one-handed backhand to generate power. A slice is often used when you return a serve and then come straight to the net (known as Chip and Charge) because it gives you time to do so. Sometimes, especially on a low-bouncing court like grass, your opponent may hit a low, short ball. The amount of torsion the arm suffers increases as the court gets more worn, because bounces become more unpredictable, leading to more off-center hits. Whether it's to pass that big test, qualify for that big promotion or even master that cooking technique; people who rely on dummies, rely on it to learn the critical skills and relevant information necessary for success. Heres a photo that showcases the contact point and racquet angle when hitting a kick serve. For most players, the kick serve has become the default second serve. Underarm (Underhand in the US) Serve. Slice will make the ball stop short after it hits the court, so it is the obvious choice if you want to hit a short ball to surprise your opponent. In this section, I will look at some of the circumstances in which a forehand slice shot can be played successfully, and the broad technique which should be used. Only a few top players will use a forehand slice routinely for a rally ball, but on a low-bouncing surface like grass the shot can be effective in preventing an opponent from attacking and keeping them on the move. Release the racquet with your left hand as you do this. One of the best ways to increase your racquet head speed is to incorporate a wrist snap as you extend your arm to make contact with the tennis ball. But don't use it as a substitute for your flat or topspin forehand. I seldom make a mistake with my slice but it is very effective at creating UE's from my opponents. Slice shots that are hit from lack of confidence or in a desperate attempt to just get the ball back tend to float, and they travel through the air slowly. As for the angle of your racquet head, youll want the edge to be roughly parallel with the baseline. When comparing table tennis to tennis, golf, ice hockey, football, or nearly anything, you will find that it is rather cheap. When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent to really stretch to get to the ball. Rookie Road may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Return of serve. What Does Game, Set, Match Mean In Tennis? If you are under pressure in a rally and are forced to stretch very wide to retrieve a ball on your forehand side, it is unlikely that you will be able to play a topspin shot. Only people who haven't really played tennis (or have played and don't use a one hander) believe this myth (aka 90% of this forum). 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. The underarm serve is most widely employed by players with big serves and a good touch, such as Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Bublik. The slice serves name comes from the brushing action, or slice, applied to the tennis ball to produce sidespin. what is a backhand slice in tennis; how to return a slice in tennis; disadvantages of topspin in tennis; slice serve in tennis If you are happy to slice the ball back, the standard slice technique can be used, making sure that you stay in a low stance, as the ball may stay quite low. 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! This toss placement allows you to achieve the proper racquet angle for those serves. To slice in tennis, a player must angle their racquet and swing downward in a slicing motion.The manner in which the player angles their racquet while slicing downward can be anywhere between fully flat and entirely diagonal. When you are playing tennis its all about getting the ball over the net and trying to hit a shot your opponent cant return.
Michael Kernicki is currently the Head Professional at the Indian Creek Country Club in Miami Beach.
Michael Patrick Shiels writes frequently for golf magazines and is the official golf writer of the PGA of America's Michigan section. 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. Table tennis forehand push. Lets take a look at some of the details that will help ensure you can hit a great flat serve. Disadvantages: Less consistent Worse aim Two hands Advantages: More consistent Better aim Disadvantages: Less power More effort required Quora User PTR Teaching Pro, Racquet technician Author has 468 answers and 678.1K answer views 7 y The one handed backhand really only has two obvious weaknesses in the hands of a top player. Take a deep breath, bounce the ball, and consciously relax your muscles, including your grip and wrist. The racquet head instead should be pointing at the back fence, at about a 45-degree angle. \nIf you hit this shot from a comfortable, set position (at about the center of the baseline), your racquet should be pointing toward the right netpost.
","description":"Slice, or backspin, causes the tennis ball to spin back toward the source of impact (you). This is most easily done if you are holding the racket in either a continental or Eastern grip (see How to hold a tennis racket on this site for details of these grips). As you work to practice your serve, do so with confidence, and allow yourself the freedom to mess up while you establish the basic feel and rhythm to develop your serve.
\nHigh bouncing balls are ideal for hitting slice shots, but you can play balls at any height with a slice by bending more at the knees and/or adjusting the height of your back and forward swings. The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. Let us know about your experiences via the comments. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The last comment and 5 other comment(s) need to be approved. It moves forward and down, coming around to your right side only at the tail end of your stroke, long after the ball is gone. During a slice shot, the racket travels in a downward motion, before slicing underneath the tennis ball. Many top players, including male and female Grand Slam champions use the sliced forehand. When executing a tennis slice, the player will swing downward in a "slicing" motion, angling the racket anywhere between fully flat and entirely diagonal. Kevin Leck is a Sport Psychology Consultant and Writer from Loughborough in the UK. It tends to put you on the defensive quite often, so you must be physically and mentally prepared for that. It moves forward and down, coming around to your right side only at the tail end of your stroke, long after the ball is gone.
\nMake contact with the ball, with the racquet \"slicing\" under it, when it's at a point about even with your right shoulder. Follow through until your racquet arm is fully extended, with the head pointing toward the ground at a moderate angle. I had to work extra harder. Im extremely passionate about the mental and technical part of the game. The major difference is that the racquet shouldn't be pointing straight up, at a 90-degree angle, like a bat. disadvantages of the two backhand strokes in relation to the style of play. Heres a photo that shows the contact point against the ball as well as the correct racquet face angle, which is flat to avoid putting spin on the ball. Of all the serves, the kick serve is arguably the most valuable and highly sought after for players to learn. It always adds to the entertainment value when it is played well. Lets take a look at how to hit a slice serve with proper technique. A player can add topspin to a shot by hitting the ball in a down-up movement, which causes the ball to rotate towards the opponent. Slice shots don't bounce as high, either. Table tennis forehand smash. 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. On a surface like grass which creates less friction, the ball will tend to skid and stay low. The same goes for court surfaces. By using the proper topspin or backspin techniques during your next competitive match, you will be able to easily keep your opponent on their toes, making it much more difficult for them to adjust to your techniques throughout the entirety of your match. Required fields are marked *. Some coaches will tell you that the short game can be more difficult in terms of short chops and banana flips. If youre playing on a clay court, you may love your kick serve, where you benefit from the higher bounces that make this serve even more challenging to return. The racquet head instead should be pointing at the back fence, at about a 45-degree angle.
\nWhen your backswing is complete, your right shoulder is close to your chin, and your right elbow points in the same direction as your right foot.
\n2. Many leading players will use the block-slice return and forehand squash-shot described above. Wrist strains. Tennis may not be right for you if you suffer from heart disease or have high or low blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis or osteoporosis. Retrieving a wide ball. If youre short, the flat serve is more challenging to execute because you have less clearance over the net, which reduces your margin of error. As the previous tip suggests, you must relax your grip and wrist to allow for the wrist to move freely. The result will help you generate even more topspin. When youre scrambling to retrieve a good, angled shot by your opponent you can swipe the ball back with a slice and buy yourself a little time to get back into position. However, you can use it to your advantage on certain court surfaces. While this might seem like another no-brainer, its common for players to be tentative with their serve, which prevents them from executing to their fullest. The drawback of a slice serve is that it is easy to read. Believe it or not, when the pros hit a kick serve, their racquet is traveling at roughly the same rate or faster than their flat or slice serve. A sliced lob can be useful as a defensive measure, but it is generally slower and easier to attack than the topspin version. By entering your email address and clicking the Submit button, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Dummies.com, which may include marketing promotions, news and updates. Slice shots that are hit from lack of confidence or in a desperate attempt to just get the ball back tend to float, and they travel through the air slowly. Implementing finesse into your shots when competing against other tennis players is a great way to throw off your opponent by forcing them to change their game plan on the fly. On slice shots, the racquet doesn't come around and up, making an arc. 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. Over the years, many techniques have been developed in tennis to make shots more difficult to hit. Slice shots that are hit from lack of confidence or in a desperate attempt to just get the ball back tend to float, and they travel through the air slowly. A slice serve is a fantastic weapon on any court surface. For example, if youre lucky enough to have access to grass courts, keep in mind that the slice serve is a fantastic serve for this surface. All three have their benefits and all three result in a very different bounce of the tennis . Here are some tips on how to slice a ball in tennis: 1. Slice is also an underrated shot, again thanks to that Bollettieri talent-destroying-nonsense. Reference: tennis slice vs topspin. Good topspin shots will land just in front of the line and bounce towards the opponent so he has a tough time generating power and needs to have good footwork to cope with it. The problem with this mentality and a low first serve percentage is that it takes a great deal of pressure off your opponent. Do you like to hit a forehand slice? What makes the slice serve unique is the sidespin applied, which causes the ball to move from right to left (if youre a righty) and continue to move in that direction off the bounce. It is easier to control and creates a less predictable bounce with no pace for my opponents to work with. When hitting a flat serve, youll want your toss to be roughly 12-18 inches in front of you and approximately 6 inches to the right of your tossing arms shoulder at the peak of the toss. 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. Thats where variety is king and why learning the three different types of serves is crucial. A slice ground stroke causes the ball to rotate backwards towards the person who hit the ball. As the ball approaches and you rotate your shoulders to your left, bring your racquet back above your left shoulder.
\nYour stance resembles the stance you take when you step up to the plate and get ready to swing a baseball bat in both cases, your hands are up around your left shoulder. If something isnt clear or you have questions, please feel free to submit a comment below wed love to hear from you! However, with practice and the proper technique, you shouldnt need to swing considerably harder to create more spin. If youre a righty, hitting a slice serve out wide in the deuce court will draw your opponent off the court, leaving the rest of the court open for a follow-up shot that puts you in a position to move forward and attack. Now that you know the three different types of tennis serves, it pays to keep in mind that each serve can be hit in countless places in the service box, providing you with even greater variety. Heres a video that showcases the kick serve, including the toss, contact point, and racquet angle necessary to generate topspin. To achieve this, play the return rather like a volley, with a continental or Eastern grip, a short take-back and a punchy, high-to-low action. For a slice, you will need to grip the racket with an eastern or semi-western grip. Turn the racquet face as you bring it back so that the hitting surface ends up facing upward, as shown in Figure 1. 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.
\nThe slice forehand is easy to master, and a fair number of hackers resort to it. Last but not least, another element that will help you produce a fantastic serve is going for it and hitting with confidence. 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. Initially, you may be inclined to toss the ball a little farther right than you do for your flat serve to make contacting the side of the ball a bit more pronounced and establish feel. About a 90-110 degree bend at the elbow. Instead of hitting through the ball as you would with a flat serve, youll want to hit up. Helpful Tip: First, it can be difficult to control the ball. An out-to-in movement can be incorporated to add side-spin. Backspin is most commonly achieved when using a slice shot technique. If players like to attack the net and volley, they slice a lot.
\nThe slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. 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. Many of tennis greats, such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, have relied on their vicious topspin forehand to win world championships and countless titles. Defensive Lob. First and foremost, its important to make sure youre using the correct grip for the flat serve. After all, if you have a question, its likely another reader does too, which helps our entire community. Former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu is one player particularly renowned for her sliced forehand drop shot, which she likes to play with a continental grip. Regardless of the type of serve you hit, relaxing through your service motion is essential. The slice backhand suited their approach to the game, which was based on control rather than power.
\nThe slice backhand offers the following practical and tactical advantages:
\nSlice always imparts control. As a result, the overuse of a hard flat serve can lead to giving away too many free points or forcing you to rely heavily on your second serve. This can put the person slicing very much on the defensive and makes the game extremely hard work. 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. Remember, when you serve, you have a considerable advantage because you begin the point on offense and can control and dictate the point from the start. In this article I will tell you what you need to know about how and when to play a tennis forehand slice by answering some of the commonly asked questions. There are many different types of forehand slice shot, all of which have their uses. Again, this is in favor of the two-handed backhand. Many players will want to take the initiative from the slicer by hitting an aggressive topspin. It gives the opponent more time to get to the ball. There are basically three major types of court surfaces: Hard Courts, Grass Courts, and Clay Courts. Dummies helps everyone be more knowledgeable and confident in applying what they know. To hit a slice, you need to strike the ball with a high-to-low movement, thus imparting backspin. What is the difference between tennis slices and tennis tops? When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent to really stretch to get to the ball. Disguise is key, so you will prepare as though you intend to hit an aggressive topspin, and, at the last second, cut under the ball with a high-to-low action, perhaps adding some side-spin for good measure. However, it makes it challenging to get under the ball and apply maximum topspin for the kick serve. Here, well share as much knowledge and experience as we can, so we hope you enjoy it! On the other hand, if youre down 15-40, a big flat serve can be a considerable risk. As a result, it can be beneficial to avoid overusing a big flat serve and to use other types of serves that have a higher margin of error while focusing on quality placement to put the pressure on your opponent. 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. 5 Point Friday Aerodynamically it will appear to rise and then dip, kicking forward and up off the court surface when it lands. A "tennis slice" is when the ball hits the ground and bounces back into play. Related Tags. But don't use it as a substitute for your flat or topspin forehand. My slice backhand is more dangerous than my topspin backhand to some of my opponents. 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. The ideal contact point and racquet angle. 6. Low bounce: as the name suggests, flat serves have minimal spin. For example, if youre up 40-15 when serving, you might throw a big flat serve in to try and close out the game. This will allow you to hit the ball with a slicing action. Frequently, players who are just learning to serve want to hit with power, so they try hard and attempt to muscle the serve over the net. However, by hitting up on the ball, you generate topspin, which can bring the ball back down into the court even though youre hitting up. 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.
\nBasically, you hit the slice backhand just as you would hit your standard backhand (both one-handed and two-handed backhands), changing only the following things about your stroke:
\n1. A player can add slice or topspin to shots by hitting the ball in different places. By common sense, it is known that in tight situations players have to use larger body parts to lessen the impact of their muscles tightening. Stand quite close to the table, an arms length away. After watching some players in action, you could be forgiven for thinking that the answer to this question was no, but of course this is far from the truth. However, the shot is not always . He enjoys competing in county tennis leagues and ITF Seniors events. This photo was snapped at the height of the toss so you can get a sense of accurate placement. . Disadvantages Lack of topspin Lower power potential Difficulty handling high bouncing balls How to Form a Continental Grip To form the continental grip, place the palm side of your index finger's bottom knuckle against the second bevel if you're right-handed or the eighth bevel if you're left-handed. However, once you miss your first serve, the pressure equalizes to a degree. Like all slice shots, the forehand version is hit high-to-low, with the strings brushing under the ball.
\nHigh bouncing balls are ideal for hitting slice shots, but you can play balls at any height with a slice by bending more at the knees and/or adjusting the height of your back and forward swings. link to The Best Babolat Tennis Rackets (for Every Type of Player), link to The Top 3 Best Babolat Tennis Rackets Under $100. The flat serve is perhaps one of the most sought-after serves in tennis because its synonymous with power and the ability to hit an ace. Swing forward with a high-to-low motion. But knowing how to use the topspin to your game (strategy) has its advantages: Many pros, including the legendary Australian champion Ken Rosewall, used the slice backhand stroke as their only backhand. Disadvantages Of Slice In Tennis Slashes are disliked by many lower-level recreational players. For this reason, they are vulnerable to attack if not hit with enough spin or placement. The slice backhand suited their approach to the game, which was based on control rather than power. Lets dive into the proper technique for hitting a kick serve. There are several advantages and disadvantages of clay tennis court surfaces, including using red clay and green clay or Har-Tru. Once again, when hitting a kick serve, you should rely on your continental service grip, which is ideally suited for this serve. If players like to attack the net and volley, they slice a lot. 2. When youre first getting started with tennis, your primary goal will likely be to develop a single reliable serve that allows you to begin a point and play the game. Slice shots never travel with a lot of pace. Rallying. The result can be a very low-bouncing serve that is hard to return. The result will be a more fluid motion that helps you achieve a better serve. There are many variations of the topspin forehand where players will choose a desired Western or Eastern grip depending on their style of play. With the kick serve, youll want to contact the ball from bottom to the top of the ball so that youre hitting or brushing up on the ball. If you miss, the pressure is still on your opponent to hit a great return off your slower second serve. One of these techniques is the slice, which gives a confounding backspin to a serve or return.Find more information on slice strokes in tennis below. The same can be said about Federers use of the backhand slice. A "tennis topspin" is when the ball is hit with a lot of power, speed, and spin on it. 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. In tennis, a slice is a type of swing that puts spin on the ball.Players will utilize a slice when serving or returning volleys to give the ball an irregular bounce, making it harder for their opponent to track and return. Sources: rio2016.com, itftennis.com. 4. This is basically a drop shot played at the start of a rally, so the same arguments set out in the previous paragraph apply. Like all slice shots, the forehand version is hit high-to-low, with the strings brushing under the ball. Typically, your opponent will be in defense mode when returning your first serve because they know that you can throw anything at them. Generally speaking, coaches and players will talk about three main spots in the service box: Since you can hit your serve in any of these locations, youll have a minimum of 9 serves in your back pocket that you can hit at any given time pretty sweet, right?
\nIf you hit this shot from a comfortable, set position (at about the center of the baseline), your racquet should be pointing toward the right netpost.
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