The mental imaging of the scoop action and palm up finish is invaluable, I managed to get very nice slice doing this. Thanks again Nick I just love your tuition!
@Jaime Medina 'In valuable' is just an upgraded version of valuable. For example valuable is useful. Invauable is better than useful. Either term fits the instruction Nick gives here.
Now that I actually HAVE a slice serve I can relate to the detailed explanation of why, where and how. Thanks for keeping it simple and covering everything off: stance, grip, toss, contact, angles, ad side, deuce side, curvature. Love this.
Very fine, in depth coverage, Nick. Thanks! I find I can substantially increase the slice if, instead of holding the racquet face perfectly straight up-and-down when I'm preparing the ball toss (both hands in the lowest position), to tilt the racquet face about 10 or 20 degrees away from my body (10 o'clock for lefties, 2 o'clock for righties).
Best explanation of pronation. Many confusing videos regarding pronating during slice serve. I finally understand what to do!!! For me no pronation. Great Point about how hard it is to get the ball to bounce to the left on add court. Helpful to know what we should be expecting from our serve.
Tom, Thank You. Yes don’t worry about continuing pronation, it might happen or not. The ad side is tough, interestingly if you serve slower you can curve the Ball leftwards on ad side. But with pace it becomes increasingly difficult as the ball has more momentum on its slight rightward trajectory
Thank you Nick. It works perfectly!!! Another textbook instruction video from you and with no weird "innovative" and wrong guidelines as hundreds we find on RU-vid.
seen many youtube video's on this subject - this is one of the best. I like his comments about pronation & non-pronation. Many instructors will tell you that you must pronate to hit a good slice, Nick correctly states that it's ok to do either but focus should be more on feel - 100% agree. stance & toss comments are also spot on. Cheers Nick !
GREAT STUFF - I am talking about all of your videos I have seen so far (5). Thank you. You cover a lot of details that other sites don't. Such as how much forearm intensity when hitting a forehand on contact and be on balls of the feet when receiving serve.
This is great Nick, I love the way you break down the mechanics of the serves, I've just mastered (sort of) a good Kick serve and now i'm off to the garden to try the slice. Thank you!
i made the expirience that when i consciously exaggerate the pronate a bit, but in a relaxed way then it gives me a better straight flat serve and a bit extra power on it but you right it mess up pretty much the advantage of the slice the video cover up all the important questions of this topic with good examples not to short and not to long! over all a great video! very well done, thanks a lot!!!
Nick just like the previous comment by Jo, your emphasis on the necessary finish position for the racket face and palm made all the difference for my slice. Have been getting great slice serve results since I incorporated that.
Alen, the interesting thing is that with low pace it is easier to make it curve to the left on ad side, but if the serve is sliced very hard the rightward trajectory only becomes stronger. It takes a real master to hit the crap out of it and curve it to the left on the ad side (for right-handers).
Hello Doc, Pronation might occur on the slice or it might not. You won’t know either way if you accelerate properly. Scoop and palm will give you slice 👍👍
Hi Nic. You're instruction is straightforward and very well explained. You present very complicated material so simply. It's rather ironic your channel is named Intuitive Tennis, when tennis technique and skill mastery is anything but intuitive. Would you please clarify in the video description whether you believe there is any pronation on the slice serve for all players at the higher levels? I've replayed your opening example slice serve many times and I see pronation. I just want others to benefit from my question, as some viewers are commenting that you stated, modeled and prefer a slice serve using no pronation and just a neutral forearm cutting action around the ball leading to the scooping action. I've found when just using the "cutting and scooping" method with no pronation, that the result is wicked slice, but very limited penetration and pace. Please clarify. Thank you!
Chris, thank you! At 4:05 I discuss continuing pronation on the slice. Continuing pronation will occur at times and other times not. Even at the highest level of the game on all serves kick, slice and flat. My other videos where I cover pronation and continuing pronation in detail: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_FSrdt4zUZE.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0mrat6fpa8k.html
Also when doing a slice serve, you can toss EVEN Wider (like 2:30) and then weave the racquet around so then the ball's path will go with raw sidespin, thus bringing the ball even further out of the court. This is from experience, for I have been using a slice serve for 2 years now
Good lesson. Still trying to get this serve to work with consistancy, especially down the T. I learned a version hitting the ball 8 o'clock 2 o'clock which if hit correctly touched down then crosses in front of the receiver.
Great vid. Also when serving down the T on the Ad side, one will likely add a bit of topspin unknowingly for control and margin. The topspin would counter sideway movement of the slice. Anyway, I’m happy to take a straight down the T any day.
Assume was above you looking down when you hit a slice and we had a flat clock around the ball. Where on the clock would you make contact with the ball ?? Thanks in advance for your help. Love all your videos.
Thank you Pedro There’s no correlation between the palm up and continuing pronation not taking place. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_FSrdt4zUZE.html
Great video @nick. I remember Giles Muller had a nasty slice down the T which would regularly end up on the other side. I didn’t watch him a lot but he beat Rafa Nadal at Wimbledon serving like this. He also made contact virtually at the center
hi Nicky you give out great info.....because i noticed variances you talk about in serves topics and had no idea which one is correct, but realizing that tennis technique is like this a lot of small details with big impacts sometimes;) and there is no one way of doing it thanks so much....btw did you notice that you bounce of the ground 2 times with your left foot..heel goes up then down then up again...not sure if that is correct?
pronation and internal shoulder rotation are 2 different things, pronation you have on every serve ( if not, you hit it with the frame ), but continiung ISR not always. the combination will give more power ( watch zverev slice around 175km ). As trainers we call the whole swing toward contact and after pronating to not make it to difficult for the students. You yourself keeps pronating
Looks like I'm part of the GOAT club. I can do the slice down the tee ;-) I aced Jason this way! He had the look of 'what the heck was that serve' on his face!
Is the slice to the T by the right hander on the Ad side is a function of shoulder rotation? This serve is really difficult to do as you said because of the geometry. Do you have tips on how to acquire and to improve this serve? Thank you
Yeah, agreed, Nick. Pronation on a slice serve = flat serve. How RF manages to avoid it is a $1 billion secret of this greatest of all time (who was that bastard who coined GOAT? Instead the term might be GF = the Greatest Forever and it would rhyme as RF = GF 😂).
@@IntuitiveTennis For sure, Nik. Nole can beat anything. Afraid however he'll never be loved by the fans as RF. Pardon for saying this (for you must be proud of Nole) but too much showoff from him and too often esp in 2011 and those years, some tricks as well with bouncing balls too long and several tries, toilet+medical breaks to break the opponent momentum, praying to the skies and thanking the Allmighty and kissing the cross (which is not welcome on the Orthodox culture and by any true believer). Parodoxically all these "pecularities" are almost totally gone, some for an objective reason (25 sec limit), some because of the age, maturity and personal problems to be overcome (as in 2018), but the reputation is still here... Apart of these subjective things Nole is still unconvincing at the net. Even Becker didn't help much with this. It's much much better then before but the true GOAT must not look that way at the net. Maybe in the future (near future?) with the rackets, balls, courts technology serve and volley would die altogether (even now it's a low percentage bet) and the baseline ONLY game would be considered as a new normal, then Nole would be much more appreciated? But GOAT with such a moderate net game level hardly be a real GOAT for the time being.😲 Again pardon for this stuff, Nik. 🙏
Omar, well said. I’m actually a die hard Rafa fan, always have been. These 3 guys have brought tennis into the superlative level that most likely will never be matched. You could make an argument for each one of them as being the GOAT, purely looking at the numbers. If you looking for the most complete player of all time, you are right, that’s Federer.
@@IntuitiveTennis great to hear that Nik! Rafa is the greatest warrior on the court (probably ever, at least I'm convinced so).🙏💪 He is the ultimate epitomy of bushido and honour. The one who fights till the last drop of his blood (pittbull, not the horny stinky animal). My reading of why RF lost to Tsitsipas is that RF was subconsciously afraid of seeing Rafa next. Cause what Rafa was doing until the final of the AO-19 was literally intimidating. The memories of the Wimbledon final 2008 (and many others save RG) are too dip in the Roger's psycho I'm afraid...😓
Thank you, Nick can you confirm whether for slice-serve contact will be at 3 clock and to hit on outside of the ball rather than hitting back of the ball?
I am still unsure about the contact point. Shall I hit the side of ball for slice serve? I've researched it on youtube but it is controversial. Some say not, some say yes. Could you please give some guide ? where is the exact point on the ball shall I hit ? thanks a lot Nick
Superb video nick.i have one query pls. Do we hit the slice serve at the apex of the ball toss or is it ok if the ball drops a lil like on the kick ? My reason for asking this is becoz my leg drive and racket drop gets affected if I try to rush into contact
Hi Nik, as someone who is trying to get the serve mechanics right from the start, do you recommend practicing only the flat serve first, and moving on to the slice & kick after mastering it? I'm especially thinking of the second serve. Should I do a slowed-down flat serve for the second, to continue getting used to the flat serve or should I start working on the flat and say the slice simultaneously? Thanks a lot!
Hi Nick! I seem to be having a hard time getting the first bounce of my slice serve in the service box (the ball usually goes wide in the doubles alley). What do you think I should do to try and fix this? Many thanks from Brasil!!
If you change your toss according to the type of serve, then the opponent may read your serve earlier. Is it really a good idea to change your toss on the slice serve?
I have a tennis player that's learning to hit a slice serve, but she is leading with the racquet too much, as if she is literally hitting the right side of the ball and isn't going over the net. How can I help her fix it?
Not the best performance, esp when it comes to the ad side. Also not enough dwelling on the RF pronation on the slice serve - if it's not the best idea why then Roger sticks to it. GOAT can do anything it's clear, still there must be some idea behind, no? Still got a very good advice which much overshadows all the moments above - the finish of the slice serve. Very very useful! Many thanks! 😊
I noticed when watching the pro's second serve, their back seems to be more arched (e.g., humpback whale) , is this due to the scooping action you refer to.
I'm sorry, you are wrong. They both had pronation as you can clearly see the other side of Murray's strings after serving in the example clip you provided.
Interesting concept on pronation. I haven't watched your pronation video yet but i will. As I saw it on the slow motion continuing pronation example, the ball was long gone from the strings when he pronated(dwell time on strings roughly 3 milliseconds). You definitely pronated on the opening serve in the video. The main difference was the direction os swing when compared to you continuing pronation example. So what's the explanation as to why he would produce kick? Thanks for making this video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nCeJ5lLxDYE.html
g10’s, thanks for your comment. The forced pronation on the slice serve is interesting. You will not see a scooping action around the ball (either with or without continuing pronation), but rather an abruptly stopped action to the right (similar to the kick serve). The reason for this is that the player is consciously trying to pronate and is therefore abruptly stopping and slowing down his motion. Continuous pronation must happen intuitively with the player not being aware that it happened. Only then the player will have his/hers maximum acceleration.
LEFTIES ADANTAGE??? Leftie against rightie deuce side no advantage Leftie against rightie ad side advantage Leftie against leftie deuce side no advantage Leftie against leftie ad side no advantage 1 advantage 3 no advantage.... for lefties Rightie against leftie deuce side advantage Rightie against leftie ad side no advantage Rightie against rightie deuce side no advantage Rightie against rightie ad side no advantage 1 Advantage 3 no advantage.... for righties And you would think thats is equal....but no, the rightie has a small advantage because the first serve start on the deuce side.
I really used this scoop today and it worked most of the times..the thinking of making a scoop under the ball with the racket sending it in angle was funny..any angle....
catalin, not sure what you mean by under the ball. Just make the metal image of having you racquet go to the right (towards net post) and then back around the body with the palm facing up.
