Marcin Bieniek

All points in tennis start with the serve. It doesn’t matter at which level you play every time you have two balls to make one of them into the service box and begin the competition. When players think about the serve they mostly focus on power. On ability to hit a spectacular winner. However is it the best and the only option to get an advantage on the court? Definitely not. Let’s not forget about the slice serve.

There are three major serves that players can choose while stepping to the baseline. Flat serve is the fastest one but it is also the one with the biggest risk. Kick serve is mostly used as a second serve but it can also be used with the first delivery to hit the ball to the backhand of the opponent and make him struggle with a high bounce. The last one is the slice serve which for right-handed players is more effective from the deuce side than from the ad side but it can offer many tactical advantages to build the point or to force the opponent to make a quick mistake.

The characteristic of slice serve is related to the low bounce and ball curving to the right side of the returner. It means that it is really difficult to attack this ball even while using stronger forehand because the opponent will always have to use more spin to take the ball over the net. Additionally, the ball curving to the right side of the opponent can be problematic to achieve a clean point of contact especially for players with a semi-western or western grip so being aware of the opponent’s technical habits can be helpful while choosing the most effective type of serve.

The modern game is based on power but it doesn’t mean that we have to use this factor in all strokes every time we hit the ball. Precision, variety, or surprise are factors that have to be considered too because a stressing opponent with different factors will always be more successful than using just one area repetitively. There are a few areas that all players should think of before using slice serve. Understanding these possibilities to dominate the rival from the beginning will help to plan their own actions in advance and maintain a high quality of serving games.

1. Opening the court

For right-handed players, slice serve provides a great opportunity to open the court from the deuce side. By being able to place the ball close to the sideline with a sidespin opponent will have to move outside the sideline to respond to serve. It is a great way to open the whole court for the next shot and for most of the rivals it will be quite difficult to hit an effective shot with a backhand on the run. Only really-well prepared players both from the physical and technical perspectives will be able to stay in the point and maintain at least a neutral position for the next ball.

2. Using the body serve

This scenario is used with more effectiveness from the deuce side but it can also bring some benefits from the ad side. Hitting the ball into the body of the opponent is always a good option to surprise the returner but adding sidespin and making the ball curve to the right side of the opponent will make the response even more difficult to achieve. Especially on faster surfaces where ball accelerates after the bounce returner will have big problems with dealing with time pressure and necessity to move away from the ball and maintain a high level of control.

3. Limiting offensive possibilities

In the modern game players look for every opportunity to hit the offensive shot. It is visible also while returning so servers should pay attention to their own choices to limit an opponent’s chance to hit return hard with control. Slicing the serve will make the ball bounce low so it is really hard to hit that ball offensively especially for rivals who don’t tend to apply a lot of spin into their own shots. It is also a great weapon against really tall players who want to use more upper body to hit the ball than to bend legs every time they return. By keeping the serve low we force the opponent to make more physical, tactical and technical adjustments so it is a big chance that these challenges will have negative impact on the returner’s performance.

It is always better to have more weapons than your opponent. The more strengths you have the biggest tactical variety you can use against a particular opponent. Serve doesn’t only start the point but it is also the only stroke that we can fully control. It provides significant opportunities for players to use it to own advantage. As we can see on top-level players who have high quality serve make it much easier to win their own service games and they can definitely feel less pressure while facing rival’s service games.

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