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Slice Serve & Twist Serve
The Slice Serve
In the slice serve (for a right-hander) the ball would spin, as seen from the player's viewpoint, from left to right, as if it were rolling forward on a wall to the player's left. As a result, the ball curves toward the left of the server, it skids a bit, and it doesn't bounce high. This is mostly the serve used as first serve on grass.
The American Twist Serve
The American Twist serve is similar to hitting topspin on your groundstrokes, except that it is more difficult in the serve to get the ball to roll forward and still clear the net.
Players achieve this serve by tossing the ball slightly behind themselves or to their left, then bringing the ball up and forward with a closed racket face. The ball gets a combination of topspin and some sideways rotation, curving down and slightly to the left during flight, but then jumps to the right and up on the bounce, curving again to the left.
This serve is very safe, because the ball drops very quickly, even while clearing the net by as much as three feet.
Top players use it abundantly for second serves, not only for its safety, but also for its effectiveness in keeping the opponent from attacking the serve due to its kick, except on grass, where it tends to sit up.
Professionals use different degrees of spin according to the surface and the score situation. Most first serves spin over 2,000 RPM, while second serves go many times above the 4,000 RPM mark. (Source, Advanced Tennis Research, http://www.advancedtennis.com/results/servemen.htm)
Only on grass does the American Twist lose some of its efficiency. The ball
slides and doesn't grab the surface on the bounce, losing the characteristic
high kick that otherwise makes it so difficult to return.
Modern groundstrokes
Modern topspin forehands and two-handed backhands are very similar. Players
find the ball from below and lift it up, swinging across the body, and finishing
over or close to the opposite shoulder.
It is this constant finish that gives the player his or her confidence. The
player swings slow up to the ball, and much faster thereafter. Acceleration
from the ball up to the finish is the most important trademark of these players.
Notice how the forehands of these four players in the Wimbledon finals are quite similar, as are their backhands. Their approach to the ball is a bit different, but the finish of the stroke is quite alike.
They also hit the majority of the groundstroke balls below the center of the racquet, which creates a torque that maintains the racquet covering the ball, rather than forcing it to open and having the ball fly out. This also helps to get more feel and more topspin on the ball.
Research has shown that top players play with tremendous ball rotation. Go to http://www.advancedtennis.com/results/ballspin.htm to find out your favorite player's topspin rate.
Modern Tennis and Topspin
After a Wimbledon with so many surprises and wonderful matches, the hard court season is coming up in a hurry.
There is a misconception that top players play flat on hard courts. The latest research, which was done during tournaments on hard court surfaces, which you can see in www.advancedtennis.com, a non-profit endeavor, will show you that top players included on that study, such as Agassi and Pete Sampras, Venus Williams, hit their groundstrokes with plenty of topspin, well above the 1,500 RPM.
This week's lesson is from Chapter One of my book:
Modern Tennis and Topspin
In the last two decades professional tennis has taken a big jump technically with the acceptance and use of topspin among most players.
Topspin is a forward roll, just as if the ball were rolling forward on the ground. It is created by brushing up on the ball while stroking. You lift the racket much higher than the intended line of flight of the ball.
The air friction on top of the ball will be considerably higher than that on the bottom. The air below the ball will escape much faster, creating a zone of lower air pressure that will also slow the ball and pull it down.
That, in addition to the force of gravity, makes for a much more pronounced downward curve. The ball will drop much sooner than if it had no spin at all (a "flat" ball). The faster the ball rotates forward, the more downward force it gets.
Although still not widely taught at the beginner and intermediate levels, topspin is a tremendous advantage to any player. It allows you to hit the ball with great force, well above the net, knowing that it will come down in the opponent's court. The ball is also going to take quite a jump, making it difficult for your opponent to advance to the net or to hit a winner from the backcourt.
This happens very often at the professional level. You see many rallies between the top players in the world where the ball doesn't clear the service line by much, but it is still very effective in keeping the other player back.
High Topspin
A ball hit high with a lot of topspin slows down as it goes forward and up. Then it accelerates as it comes down, making it difficult to judge how the ball will bounce. Such a ball usually kicks high and toward the backcourt. That makes high topspin effective, even on hard courts, in keeping your opponent back.
Confidence Builder
Topspin is a great tool and also a confidence builder. When you are afraid of missing you don't have to hit a softer shot to be safe. You know the ball is going to drop in the court if you rotate it enough. Your fear doesn't show since you don't need to slow down play to keep the ball in the court.
With topspin, you can also clear the net by a wider margin. With practice you get the feel that the more you hit up, the more the ball comes down. That is why I teach this technique to the beginner, the intermediate, the advanced player, and the pros who haven't mastered it yet. It encourages them to hit much harder, even under pressure.
When to Learn Topspin
The techniques used in this book to teach groundstrokes develop topspin naturally, right from the beginning.
Although this learning is done at slow speeds at first, the swing developed is the same low-to-high stroke used by the pros.
I consider this a very basic part of learning to play tennis well. Topspin requires that you apply much more upward force to the ball than the intended path of your shot.
If, on the contrary, you learn from the beginning to apply your force coincident with the intended line of flight of your shot, it will become an instinctive habit, something that will be difficult to shake in the future. You hit the ball with a certain direction of effort and you relate this action to the speed and height of your shot, and to where the ball lands. If I later tell you to lift your strokes with topspin, you'll probably panic. You'll be afraid of hitting the ball too high and too far.
You may understand it intellectually, but deep inside you are conditioned differently from your prior experience. You haven't instinctively built the feel that comes with topspin: the more you hit up on the ball and the more you roll it, the more it comes down.
Players who have hit flat most of their lives and now want to hit topspin, may need hundreds of hours of practice to master this new feel.
For all these reasons I like to see beginners hit up and use topspin to bring the ball down in the court, rather than forcing the ball down as soon as they develop some faster shots. Their tennis instinct is virgin territory. A beginner needs to get the feeling from the start that lifting the stroke causes the ball to curve down.
Not one of the beginners I taught with topspin was afraid of hitting the ball out. Whenever their shots went beyond the baseline, they rolled the next ball more.
Topspin builds up your confidence. Flat hits cause innumerable errors, lessening your confidence.
As you progress as a topspin player, you'll learn to rotate the ball more and more efficiently, whether on your forehand, backhand, or serve. The safety factor in your shots will always be in your favor. Should you decide to risk a few, you can hit some flatter shots, but you can always revert to safety when needed by going back to topspin strokes.
You also need to get used to seeing topspin balls coming at you. Because of the rotation, topspin balls jump on the bounce, making them more difficult to handle. Getting used to it as a natural thing, right from the beginning, will make anyone a much better player.
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