HOW DO YOU DO A SPIN SERVE

Tennis CoachCoach

There are various ways to spin a serve and different types of spin, however, I am just going to introduce the simplest way to bigin this process. It must be kept in mind that the serve is the most difficult stroke in the game to master, it is therefore necessary to break the teaching down into sections and then put them all together again. I am only going to deal with one sector and this is the most important element when you actually hit the ball. To commence it is a good idea to start at the service line, set yourself up correctly (feet etc) - hold the racquet over the shoulder with the elbow up, the edge of the racquet should be pointing to the sky and this will put the palm of the hand facing the player's head - the first thing to get used to is pronating and this incorporate the whole arm, from the shoulder. The ball should the placed up in the air at 1.oclock, the racquet should go straight up - edge on (i.e. as though hitting the ball with the edge of the racquet) and as you go to strike the ball the racquet is turned slightly out and as hitting the ball the arm continues the movement so that the palm is now facing outwards. Having practiced this a number of time to get grooved into the object of the hit, you should now aim to hit the ball at it's peak slightly off centre to the right of the ball; keep working on this and it will provide an important element of spin. One important point is to hit the ball up in a slight loop, it is not important at this stage to get it in the service box. Gradually move back to the baseline and finally put the whole serve together. Not only will you impart spin but you will gradually develop a formidable serve. Other forms of spin are topspin & slice and if you would like me to comment on these, would be happy to do so. coach john

Tennis CoachCoach

A spin serve is acheived by altering the contact of the rackethead on the ball, and also by adjusting the toss slightly. For a slice serve the racket must come around the right hand side of the ball, and the toss can be slightly further to the right. (for a right hander, the opposite for a lefthander) It is helpful to think of the ball as a clockface with the racket meeting the ball at 2 o clock. For a topspin or kick serve the racket must brush up the back lefthand side off the ball from left to right, and the toss can be adjusted to be thrown slightly further behind the head and to the left. The racket should be aimed to make contact with the ball at 10 o clock. It is important to keep accelerating the rackethead on a topspin serve, as the height over the net and the spin on the ball will provide the safety of the shot.