From Jeff Cooper,
Your Guide to Tennis.
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This video of the twist serve remains useful, but for the best, step-by-step explanation and clearest view, I recommend the newer Photo Lesson: How to Hit the Twist Serve.

Page One of this video lesson introduces the twist serve and its uses and shows a full-speed video. Page Two analyzes the twist serve and shows a slow-motion video. At the bottom of each page is a link to an article with further tips and an animation of a ball with twist spin.

Of the two best known, free video players in which you can watch the videos that illustrate this tennis lesson on the twist serve, the Windows Media Player (for WMV) has an advantage over the RealPlayer (for RM) in that you are free to replay a video without reloading the clip. These tennis videos take only seconds to download.

watch WMV video (116 KB)

watch RM video (102 KB)

The twist serve is one of the two kick serves. The other is its close cousin, the topspin serve. At the pro level in tennis, more than 90% of second serves are kick serves, primarily because of their reliability. The "kick" in these serves is the high bounce created by their heavy topspin, and that bounce makes them more difficult to return. Heavy topspin also creates a generous margin of error over the net, providing the safety needed for a second serve. The twist serve is more difficult to return than the topspin because it curves in the air to the receiver's right (from a right-handed server), then bounces up and to the receiver's left. Where it will end up is hard to predict even for an experienced receiver. The twist serve is also more difficult to generate than the topspin.