We Can Teach You To Improve Kick Serve In Tennis


How to Improve Kick Serve in Tennis

Improve kick serve in tennis and be one of the most formidable players seen. This will give you an edge above your opponents. Be firce on the court and win.

When it comes to tennis one of the most effective thing you can work on is your kick serve. It’s considered to be a great way to get an edge when serving, but even newbies is capable of figuring out ways to add to their kick serve in the best way possible.

So what exactly is a kick serve?

the kick serve is also commonly known as the topspin serve and it is one of the most popular serves in the game of tennis. For a kick serve, a tennis player hits the ball “up,” with the contact point high above the net, this is done to decrease the chance of an unforced error and it is perfect for second serves. When a kick serve hits the tennis court, it spins forward, forcing the returner back or off to the side. Kick serves are slower than other serves, which gives the opposing player more reaction time to plan their return

It is said to be one of the most sought after serves that all players want to learn, this is because It is consistent, it provides players with a significant level of control, and can be used to attack a returner’s weaknesses with precision. But it is quite a challenge to learn it well.

The Difference Between a Kick Serve, Flat Serve and a Slice

The main difference between the three types of serves is the way the tennis ball spins.

  • Flat serves have very little or no spin.
  • Slice serves have a sidespin causing the ball to move from right to left (for a right-handed player).
  • Kick serves spin up and out causing the ball to jump up high and to the side.

In this in depth article, we will take a close look on how to improve kick serve in tennis. Being able to do this, players will have the chance of taking their game to the next level, holding serve with ease. At first some of these serve might seem relatively easy, but it is definitely worth putting in the effort.

When to Use a Kick Serve?

Base on experience on the court, kick serves are mostly used as a second serve. The first serve is usually flat and hard, while looking for an ace or a easy set up so that you can land the second winner shot. While landing a good first serve will contribute to a lot of points, it’s not always considered as the highest percentage shot.

The kick serve is well known to be a consistent second serve. Instead of just randomly hitting a flat ball towards your opponents, there is a good amount of spin on the serve which cause it to have a higher net clearance. What the ball does is spin back into the court, and then actually kicks off the ground which will eventually cause the opponent problems.

You’ll realize that some kick serves will kick straight up, while some of them will have spin one way or the other. There is literally no one way to have a decent kick serve, as most people tend to go with what feels more natural to them.

How to Improve Kick Serve Gives You An Advantage

What you’ll notice is that some of these tips are very easy to learn but hard to master at the end of the day. Whenever a player get things down just right, they will eventually feel a lot more confident. The key factor when it comes to providing a first or second serve is confidence and that usually a lot of reps to get to that point.

1. Grip the Racquet Properly

A player usually have the chance of using one or two different grips that will certainly help in terms of hitting a consistent kick serve. Players that are new to the game likes to use a continental grip which is known to be very flexible so that you’ll be able to hit with a good amount of kick while still being able to keep the ball in the service box.

5 Steps to a Supersonic Serve | ACTIVE

If you’re an advanced player you might have a better chance with using a eastern backhand grip, as it does a pretty good job of forcing a player to relax at the right times, and accelerate the forearm and wrist. This is exactly where most people get the opportunity to generate their spin and have success.

What you can do is use both grips and see which one works best for you. Over a period of time we have seen most players upgrade from the continental grip to the eastern backhand grip, but it all has to do with what feels more comfortable.

2. Tossing the Ball the Right Way

When it’s your first serve it is required that the player toss the ball in front of their body. If you decide to hit the ball at the peak of the serve, you will definitely set yourself up for a margin of error overall. That’s certainly different with kick serve, the toss needs to be more behind the head in order to get that extra bit of spin. Not only that, but if you decide to it the ball when it is still on it’s way up is a key.

The doesn’t have to be so obvious that your opponent knows exactly what you are doing right away, which is why you have to have a unique of tossing the ball. You should keep in mind that no one is going to hit the ball the exact same as the next player, this is why you need to be creative and work on your own craft.

Players will also have the opportunity to decide exactly where they want to hit the ball, whether it is the right or left. It all comes down to the type of side spin they want on their kick serve. A lot of players will find it more comfortable to toss the ball to the opposite side of their own serve hand.

3. Hiding the Kick Serve

If a player ever give their opponent a hint of the type of serve they are planning on landing, they will lose an advantage. It is very frustrating for any players out there when this happens to them. In order to hide what serve is about to hit, you have to make sure that the two look as similar as possible.

It helps a lot with masking the serve, not only that but it also helps with consistency. It’s very much impossible to actually make both serve look exactly the same, but you have a chance of making them pretty similar from the beginning of a toss to right about when you make contact with the ball. An opponent will unable to see if the ball is tossed slightly behind the head, and by time a player decide to make contact, it becomes challenging for them to read the serve as they would.

7 Steps To Improve Kick Serve In Tennis (With Pictures)

Tennis is way different from other sports such as baseball where the pitchers needs to hide their differences pitches as best ad possible. With that said, a tennis players normally know that the first serve is going to be way harder than the second serve, and the second one usually comes with tons of spin. However, keeping them a bit confuse and making the serve will similar is going to be beneficial.

4. Make the Forearm go Back, Then Pronate

A player need to develop the right formation when hitting a kick serve. One common mistake a lot of people make is not dropping the forearm back properly in order to generate the right amount of speed and spin. You need to correctly drop it in the middle of the motion, because of you decide to add another stop to the serve then you will experience a lot of problem.

Top Spin Tennis Serve And Pronation - How To Master It | Feel Tennis

Another thing you should keep in mind is how important the forearm is during the second part of the stroke, as player needs to pronote the forearm as they prepare to make contact. If you take the time out to properly drop the forearm it will create a great way opportunity so that you hit the ball with a lot more spin and speed, what needs to happen is that the forearm must pronote so that the ball is hit right on the sweet spot. This will create an awkward twist motion for a lot of people, but it is known to be one of the main keys to a kick serve.

5. Keep Racquet Speed the Same

You should keep in mind that a kick serve is never going to move as quickly as a first serve, but that doesn’t signify that the speed of the racquet needs to be decreased. It is just a unique way of swing the racquet and when hitting the ball you have to make sure that there is a good among of pace on the ball.

The difference will always be relied on where the ball is actually going to make contact with the racquet itself. A player should try an brush up the back of the ball when hit, and adding the right amount of spin will help keep the ball in.

6. Brush Up and Out On Contact

As mentioned earlier, the player should brush up the ball in order to have a successful kick serve. A lot of people tend to hold back a little bit when they are hitting kick serve and the main reason for this is because they don’t want to over hit the ball.

If there’s a way in which everyone could have the right form and technique, then it would have been perfectly fine to take a full swing at a serve and simply trust the process. They main reason why it still stays in is because of the player ability of brushing up on the ball and out.

Simply hitting the ball at a certain angle will determine how the process will be. You have many players who tries to make contact before it reaches the peak which makes brushing up a little bit more comfortable. You should try and accentuate the outer part of the swing, especially at the start, this will help most people when it comes to getting muscle memory down.

7. Keep the Body Sideways

A very common problem that many people face when starting out with kick serve is opening up their hips and torso a little bit too early. You should avoid this since it will place the ball all over and kill consistency. Practice to keep your body sideways and in a locked in position during the toss, as this will help you out a lot in terms of control.

Make sure to hold off on opening up until the serve is done, and the next thing you should do after is move into the court. If players practice this technique, it will provide them with easy access anywhere on the court as they play.

How to Put it All Together?

As you can see these tips are amazing, but in order to get the best kick serve you have to utilize them as much as possible. Practicing serve on a regular basis is by far one of the easiest ways for players to actually get better, because they literally don’t need anyone to practice. All you need is a bucket of balls and a nearby tennis court to practice first and second serve.

Players main goal is to build up their kick serve so that they have the opportunity to hit it with a very high percentage every single time. We highly recommend that you take some time out of your day to practice serves.

Conclusion

If you have read this article so far, you have now learned all there is to know about a kick serve and why it is so sought after by all players. I hope the above techniques and points discussed will help you improve your game. after all the most important thing to learn or master anything is practice so make time every day to practice and master your kick serve.

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Gaurav Mongia

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