Learn the Serve that Loves the Heat

When the temperature tops 100 degrees, as it did in Maria Sharapova's first round match at Rod Laver arena Tuesday, most of us will head for water instead of asphalt or Rebound Ace, but a lot of tennis players are quite happy to be out on the courts with temperatures in the 80s, and that's plenty hot to take full advantage of the best hot-weather serve, the twist. One of the key factors making the twist serve hard to return is its high kick, and every degree added to the on-court temperature boosts that kick higher. As you see a ton of twist serves at the Australian Open over the next couple of weeks, you might be inspired to start learning the twist with this photo-based, step-by-step lesson.