watch WMV video (129 KB)
watch RM video (114 KB)
Key points: Aspects of the toss and windup that are the same as for the topspin-slice serve are covered in more detail in that video lesson.
- Stance: Stand with your right foot parallel to the baseline and your left foot pointing roughly toward the right net post.
- Grip: Use a Continental grip, holding the racquet loosely enough that it will pivot in your hand as you close your outer fingers just before meeting the ball.
- Toss: Toss the ball lower and farther to your right than on your topspin/slice serve and barely forward at all.
- Wind-up: Use your normal wind-up.
- Swing: Use some upward thrust from your legs as you would on any serve, but don't lean into the court. You'll generate enough forward force through the turning that begins at your feet and continues through your legs and upper body into the rightward swing of your arm.
- Point of contact: Meet the ball 1-2 feet below the full upward extension of your reach, roughly 2 feet to your right, and barely in front of yourself, as measured by where your head is at the time of contact.
- Striking the ball: To hit pure slice, try to brush across the right side of the ball, at what would be 3:00 on its face if it were a clock. Your racquet face will naturally turn toward the net and brush across the back of the ball from its center outward toward that 3:00 point, making the ball spin around a vertical axis, like a perfectly balanced top. If you keep your wrist too tight and force the racquet to stay in its initial edge-forward position, you will hit the ball much too far to your left (if at all).
- Follow-through: Follow through to the left side of your body (for right-handers). You won't step into the court nearly as much as on the typical topspin-slice serve.
