disadvantages of slice in tennis

Michael Kernicki is currently the Head Professional at the Indian Creek Country Club in Miami Beach.

","hasArticle":false,"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10669"}},{"authorId":10670,"name":"Michael Kernicki","slug":"michael-kernicki","description":" Michael Patrick Shiels writes frequently for golf magazines and is the official golf writer of the PGA of America's Michigan section. Discussion Boards Approach shots. 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. If youre looking to develop an effective serve thats a weapon, then its crucial to understand and learn how to execute the three different types of tennis serves. High 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. 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. Sliced returns need to be controlled with precision or else a volleyer can pick them off, especially in doubles. 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. The shot is executed with a flowing high-to-low action and a continental or Eastern grip, using a neutral or semi-open stance. Lets take a look at some of the details that will help ensure you can hit a great flat serve. Sometimes, especially on a low-bouncing court like grass, your opponent may hit a low, short ball. In general, slicing can be very effective, but considerable precision is needed to use it frequently against a strong hitter. 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. 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!

4. The middle of the net is its lowest point, so its easier to execute a flat serve at that point of the net on either side. When hitting a flat serve, here are a few tips to keep in mind: Many players enjoy hitting a big flat serve and rely almost exclusively on it as their first serve even if they only make 10% of them. Members of a larger team often take on different roles, and there will generally be a captain to lead. The Top 3 Best Babolat Tennis Rackets Under $100. How To Hit The Perfect Tennis Forehand Slice In 5 Simple StepsThe forehand slice in tennis can be a real weapon if you master the technique and use it at the. 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. A sliced lob can be useful as a defensive measure, but it is generally slower and easier to attack than the topspin version. The same can be set for other net approaches. 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. If you look at a tennis shot side-on from the players right, a ball hit with topspin will appear to be rotating clockwise. On a surface like grass which creates less friction, the ball will tend to skid and stay low. This toss placement allows you to achieve the proper racquet angle for those serves. Topspin has changed how tennis is played due to the fact that you can generate much more power behind your shot with a proper topspin forehand. The forehand slice is a shot which is rarely taught or discussed in modern tennis. 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. 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. Typically, your opponent will be in defense mode when returning your first serve because they know that you can throw anything at them. 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.

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Figure 1: Hold your racquet at a 45-degree angle to the fence when you slice your backhand.\t

3. The truth is, a continental serve grip is highly effective for all types of tennis serves. Kevin is an LTA-accredited coach, and is world ranked in the over-55 age group. Home > Instruction > Serve > 3 Types of Tennis Serves, Improve your game alongside our community of tennis players. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Many leading players will use the block-slice return and forehand squash-shot described above. 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? 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. The ball often stays low to the ground after it bounces. Now that you know what to look for when hitting a flat serve, heres a video that shows the entire flat service motion. Slice is also an underrated shot, again thanks to that Bollettieri talent-destroying-nonsense. 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. That's just plain easier.

Slice slows the ball down. A ball hit with any kind of spin travels slower than a flat one. You just need to learn to use it for a great slice serve, which takes time and patience. Follow through until your racquet arm is fully extended, with the head pointing toward the ground at a moderate angle. On slice shots, the racquet doesn't come around and up, making an arc. 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. Backhand gets the ball back neutral so that . To generate the necessary topspin for your kick serve, you need to brush the side of the tennis ball from low to high. 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. Basically, a slice causes the ball to rotate backward (toward the person who hit the ball). Here, well share as much knowledge and experience as we can, so we hope you enjoy it! If your opponent has a very fast or heavily spun serve, and you are having difficulty controlling it with a flat or topspun return, a block return with a little slice can be effective.
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Figure 1: Hold your racquet at a 45-degree angle to the fence when you slice your backhand.\t
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3. Slice shots never travel with a lot of pace. Many top players, including male and female Grand Slam champions use the sliced forehand. If players like to attack the net and volley, they slice a lot.
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The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. Swing forward with a high-to-low motion.
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Release the racquet with your left hand as you do this. The latter has been a key element of Roger Federers defensive game for a number of years. 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. The slice serve is perfect for opening up the tennis court. To help, give yourself a moment before you go to serve. As the ball approaches and you rotate your shoulders to your left, bring your racquet back above your left shoulder.
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Your 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. 4. He enjoys competing in county tennis leagues and ITF Seniors events. Turn the racquet face as you bring it back so that the hitting surface ends up facing upward, as shown in Figure 1.
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This position makes it easy and natural to brush your strings under the lower portion of the ball, producing backspin. This is known as a squash shot and a good one will fly low and fast over the net. There are many variations of the topspin forehand where players will choose a desired Western or Eastern grip depending on their style of play. The slice can be used effectively in several matchplay situations. Slice shots never travel with a lot of pace. What is the difference between tennis slices and tennis tops? However, flat shots with little topspin won't bounce high - they'll almost skid across the court. When 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. Turn the racquet face as you bring it back so that the hitting surface ends up facing upward, as shown in Figure 1. There are several advantages and disadvantages of clay tennis court surfaces, including using red clay and green clay or Har-Tru. Required fields are marked *. Since youre looking to hit the ball flat or without any spin, youll want to try to strike the ball directly from behind without brushing up on the ball or hitting the side of the ball. A "tennis slice" is when the ball hits the ground and bounces back into play. A tennis slice is a means of hitting or returning the ball that puts a particular spin on the ball. If you havent had the chance, Id highly recommend you check out our post on the serve trophy pose, which will show you how to get the most out of your serve while incorporating your legs to help you generate power. Follow through until your racquet arm is fully extended, with the head pointing toward the ground at a moderate angle. Tsvetana Pironkova and Monica Niculescu have both enjoyed success using this tactic, particularly on grass. There are a few disadvantages of using a slice in tennis. Because of this added spin, the ball will bounce with significantly less height when reaching the opponent's side.The ball bouncing with less height then makes it more difficult for the opponent to return the slice, since they will have much less time to reach the ball from where they awaited the return. There are many different types of forehand slice shot, all of which have their uses. Table tennis forehand smash. Its strength lies in its speed and difficulty to return. Not a Team Sport. Those two qualities can catch your opponent off guard and screw up her timing.

Slice shots travel in a flat trajectory. You don't have to lift the ball over the net in an arc and then get it to drop back down inside the boundaries of the court like you do with your other shots.

A word of caution: Slice backhands make poor passing shots. The flat serve gets its name from the fact that minimal spin is applied to the ball when making contact. This is basically a drop shot played at the start of a rally, so the same arguments set out in the previous paragraph apply. The essence of a slice is that it is the opposite of a topspin. Rallying. Within tennis, the serve is a bigger weapon for men than for women, in part . Rookie Road may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. The slice backhand suited their approach to the game, which was based on control rather than power. But don't use it as a substitute for your flat or topspin forehand. Some professionals hit virtually all of their forehands with slice. When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent to really stretch to get to the ball. The first thing you need to do is grip the racket properly. The major difference is that the racquet shouldn't be pointing straight up, at a 90-degree angle, like a bat. 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. The major difference is that the racquet shouldn't be pointing straight up, at a 90-degree angle, like a bat. You can see it coming, as it is obvious where the server is hitting the ball to impart the sidespin. 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. The drawback of a slice serve is that it is easy to read. For this reason, they are vulnerable to attack if not hit with enough spin or placement.

Michael Kernicki is currently the Head Professional at the Indian Creek Country Club in Miami Beach.

","authors":[{"authorId":10669,"name":"Michael Patrick Shiels","slug":"michael-patrick-shiels","description":" Michael Patrick Shiels writes frequently for golf magazines and is the official golf writer of the PGA of America's Michigan section. When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent to really stretch to get to the ball. The flat serve is one of the most popular and most useful serves in tennis. 3. Related Tags. Your email address will not be published. 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. Hopefully, youve enjoyed this post on the three different types of serves. 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. We are compensated for referring traffic and business to Tennis Warehouse, Amazon, and other companies linked to on this site. If something isnt clear or you have questions, please feel free to submit a comment below wed love to hear from you! 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. A slice serve is a fantastic weapon on any court surface. Underarm (Underhand in the US) Serve. 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. But don't use it as a substitute for your flat or topspin forehand. The best choice is, using a continental or Eastern grip, to cut sharply under the ball with a high-to-low action, following through either straight up the court or cutting across the line to impart additional side-spin. Advantages of Clay . It's a defensive shot that you should use on only three occasions: If 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. Rallying with a sliced forehand is mainly done by players who lack confidence in their topspin game, but it can nonetheless be very effective in the right conditions. At the start, youre content with just hitting the ball flat but as your skill level progresses you need to add variation to your game. An out-to-in movement can be incorporated to add side-spin. We both feel like tennis has given us opportunities that we would have never had otherwise, so we started myTennisHQ with the intent of helping more and more people become familiar with the sport. Your opponent can do almost anything he wants with them, especially from a position up at the net.

Mastering the forehand slice

Slice always imparts control. 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. The slice backhand suited their approach to the game, which was based on control rather than power.

The slice backhand offers the following practical and tactical advantages:

The slice stroke is simple. You hit under the ball, instead of through and over it, as you do on the flat backhand. On the other hand, if youre down 15-40, a big flat serve can be a considerable risk. Ultimately, the greater variety of serves you can hit, the more you can adjust your strategy to compete at a higher level against different players and on various court surfaces. This can put the person slicing very much on the defensive and makes the game extremely hard work. This will allow you to hit the ball with a slicing action. Return of serve. Figure 1: Hold your racquet at a 45-degree angle to the fence when you slice your backhand. Reference: tennis slice vs topspin. For example, if youre up 40-15 when serving, you might throw a big flat serve in to try and close out the game. Second, it can be difficult to generate power with a slice. The major difference is that the racquet shouldn't be pointing straight up, at a 90-degree angle, like a bat. Without some of Hi there! 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. Ive included brief stops to help you get a sense for toss placement, contact, point, and racquet angle. 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. Heres a video that showcases the kick serve, including the toss, contact point, and racquet angle necessary to generate topspin. However, with practice and the proper technique, you shouldnt need to swing considerably harder to create more spin. About a 90-110 degree bend at the elbow. Follow through until your racquet arm is fully extended, with the head pointing toward the ground at a moderate angle. easier to learn and to apply slice shots, and have better feel and control . 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. Tennis is at the top. He used the slicing technique very often to outdo his opponents at the highest international stages of the sport. Like all slice shots, the forehand version is hit high-to-low, with the strings brushing under the ball. 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. Defensive Lob. I went with that for a bit then went back to try and develop topspin, at which point it was infinitely easier because I could get clean contact and not have the racket face twist back on me during . Heres a video that brings together all the different pieces of a slice serve and once again includes a pause so you can see the toss placement, contact point, and racquet angle as part of the entire service motion. Dummies helps everyone be more knowledgeable and confident in applying what they know. The underarm serve is most widely employed by players with big serves and a good touch, such as Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Bublik. My slice backhand is more dangerous than my topspin backhand to some of my opponents. Slice shots never travel with a lot of pace. Tennis toe. A "slow" surface such as clay will interact with more of the ball's surface area and there will be more friction placed on the ball. The same can be said about Federers use of the backhand slice. 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. Key points about the tennis forehand slice: The forehand slice is a little unfashionable, but it is certainly not obsolete. 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. With the topspin, he forces Federer and other opponents to either be pushed too far backward or to take a risk and hit the ball extremely early. 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. It always adds to the entertainment value when it is played well. Your opponent can do almost anything he wants with them, especially from a position up at the net.
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Mastering the forehand slice
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Slice always imparts control. Speed: The faster a serve is hit, the less time your opponent will have to react, which can cause players to make contact with the ball late or mistime their shot. 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. Lets take a look at how to hit a slice serve with proper technique. For example, if youre 6 tall and playing a 54 opponent, then you might be able to take advantage of their height by hitting a kick serve thats way out of their strike zone or even over their head, making it challenging for them to return. This leads to a higher bounce and less spin on the ball after contact with the ground. The most common variations are the slice and the topspin. Its consistent, provides players with a significant level of control, and can be used to attack a returners weaknesses with precision. Both arms should be out in front of you. Slice shots can be good for making an opponent really stretch for a ball, but it is difficult to hit them with much pace. When you reach it, the ball may only be a few inches off the ground, meaning that a topspin is not a realistic option. This requires care, however, as the ball may be low, and will not rise off the racket as readily as a ball which comes to you with topspin. 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.
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Make contact with the ball, with the racquet \"slicing\" under it, when it's at a point about even with your right shoulder. 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. Low bounce: as the name suggests, flat serves have minimal spin. Up a set and a break, Medvedev served into the deuce court to . In-depth Resources To be a complete tennis player and to be competitive you need to master every shot and you need to know when to use them. 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. The ball will follow a low, flattish path through the air and then bounce up (but not far forward) on a grippy court surface like acrylic. Its subtle, but hopefully, compared with the flat serve, you can tell the racquet is coming toward the ball at an angle with a bit of upward motion. 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. To hit a slice, you need to strike the ball with a high-to-low movement, thus imparting backspin. The problem with this mentality and a low first serve percentage is that it takes a great deal of pressure off your opponent. A "tennis topspin" is when the ball is hit with a lot of power, speed, and spin on it. Once again, Ive provided a view of this serve in slow motion so you can easily see the nuances of the different pieces. While you should strive to maintain an identical toss for your flat and slice serves, the kick serve falls into a category of its own, with a different toss that allows you to generate the necessary topspin.

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