disadvantages of slice in tennis
The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. Some people love the camaraderie and sense of interdependence that goes with being part of a larger sporting group, like in a football, soccer, or basketball team. Slice is also an underrated shot, again thanks to that Bollettieri talent-destroying-nonsense. The slice backhand suited their approach to the game, which was based on control rather than power. As the ball approaches and you rotate your shoulders to your left, bring your racquet back above your left shoulder. What Is A Slice In Tennis? - Rookieroad Since a big flat serve has a lower margin for error, its worth being thoughtful when you choose to use it. Another essential element to the kick serve is racquet head speed. Key points about the tennis forehand slice: The forehand slice is a little unfashionable, but it is certainly not obsolete. What makes the slice serve unique is the sidespin applied, which causes the ball to move from right to left (if youre a righty) and continue to move in that direction off the bounce. If you look at the top players in the world they know exactly how to use topspin and slice shots to their advantages. For an in-depth review of the serve toss, be sure to check out our post on perfecting your serve toss technique. When youre scrambling to retrieve a good, angled shot by your opponent you can swipe the ball back with a slice and buy yourself a little time to get back into position. Not a Team Sport. There are several advantages and disadvantages of clay tennis court surfaces, including using red clay and green clay or Har-Tru. Dummies has always stood for taking on complex concepts and making them easy to understand. The slice backhand suited their approach to the game, which was based on control rather than power.
\nThe slice backhand offers the following practical and tactical advantages:
\n- The slice stroke is simple. You hit under the ball, instead of through and over it, as you do on the flat backhand. This leads to a higher bounce and less spin on the ball after contact with the ground. Slow pace and the flat trajectory give your opponent two big advantages: more time and an ideal height, at about a foot above the net, to smash away a winner.\n
Basically, you hit the slice backhand just as you would hit your standard backhand (both one-handed and two-handed backhands), changing only the following things about your stroke:
\n1. The kick serve gets its name from how the ball jumps or kicks up off the ground as a result of heavy topspin applied to the ball. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The last comment and 5 other comment(s) need to be approved. To be successful with this tactic, you will need to stay low and develop plenty of racket-head speed, to allow you to control the trajectory of the ball. The 5 Unique Spins For A Winning Tennis Serve Aerodynamically it will appear to rise and then dip, kicking forward and up off the court surface when it lands. As a result, most players hit flat groundstrokes sparingly. The answer to this question depends upon whether you are aiming to reply in kind with a slice, or to hit a topspin. On slice shots, the racquet doesn't come around and up, making an arc. It is possible to play every single forehand shot as a slice, but this is unlikely to be the most effective way to play. Hitting a very high lob with some slice, by cutting under the ball with a flattish swing, can give you time to get back into a rally. Tennis may not be right for you if you suffer from heart disease or have high or low blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis or osteoporosis. Slice Forehand & Backhand As a result, the overuse of a hard flat serve can lead to giving away too many free points or forcing you to rely heavily on your second serve. As for the angle of your racquet head, youll want the edge to be roughly parallel with the baseline. The underarm serve is most widely employed by players with big serves and a good touch, such as Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Bublik. On the other hand, if you were to try that same serve against a 65 opponent, then you may find it lands much closer to their strike zone, allowing them to hit an easy return. The racquet head instead should be pointing at the back fence, at about a 45-degree angle.
\nWhen your backswing is complete, your right shoulder is close to your chin, and your right elbow points in the same direction as your right foot.
\n2. The flat serve uses a minimal amount of spin which allows the ball to travel faster and bounce lower. Over the years, many techniques have been developed in tennis to make shots more difficult to hit. When executing a tennis slice, the player will swing downward in a slicing motion, angling the racket anywhere between fully flat and entirely diagonal.When the racket and the ball make contact, the racket should be continuously moving in a direction close to perpendicular to the ball. ), your position on the court and the direction you want to hit. The slice serve is a highly effective serve that can become a huge weapon when perfected. Sources: rio2016.com, itftennis.com. Babolat have been producing tennis equipment since 1875, and today they manufacture a range of rackets that offers something for everyone. Slice shots that are hit from lack of confidence or in a desperate attempt to just get the ball back tend to float, and they travel through the air slowly. Of all the serves, the kick serve is arguably the most valuable and highly sought after for players to learn. The ball will follow a low, flattish path through the air and then bounce up (but not far forward) on a grippy court surface like acrylic. Swing forward with a high-to-low motion.
\nRelease the racquet with your left hand as you do this. After all, if you have a question, its likely another reader does too, which helps our entire community. Reference: tennis slice vs topspin. How To Hit The Perfect Tennis Forehand Slice In 5 Simple Steps Implementing finesse into your shots when competing against other tennis players is a great way to throw off your opponent by forcing them to change their game plan on the fly. After watching some players in action, you could be forgiven for thinking that the answer to this question was no, but of course this is far from the truth. We're Gui and Karue. Rallying with a sliced forehand is mainly done by players who lack confidence in their topspin game, but it can nonetheless be very effective in the right conditions. The Austrian said: "Very difficult because, I mean, I . In-depth Resources Last but not least, another element that will help you produce a fantastic serve is going for it and hitting with confidence. Third, it can be difficult to keep the ball in the court. I got a chance to play junior and professional tournaments across the world, and in 2015 I began playing as the #1 player for Pepperdine University, a great division 1 school. what is a backhand slice in tennis; how to return a slice in tennis; disadvantages of topspin in tennis; slice serve in tennis Topspin shots are used by most tennis players as their general groundstroke because it forces opponents to go backward. In contrast, a sliced groundstroke will appear to be rotating anti-clockwise. Wrist strains. When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent to really stretch to get to the ball. Table tennis forehand smash - Table tennis - BBC Bitesize To slice in tennis, a player must angle their racquet and swing downward in a slicing motion.The manner in which the player angles their racquet while slicing downward can be anywhere between fully flat and entirely diagonal. To hit a slice, you need to strike the ball with a high-to-low movement, thus imparting backspin. A low margin of error: Easily, the biggest downside of the hard flat serve is that its challenging to keep it in, let alone place it well in the service box. However, it makes it challenging to get under the ball and apply maximum topspin for the kick serve. Straight flips can be much easier and quicker as the pips are less sensitive to spin. Let us know about your experiences via the comments. Thats where variety is king and why learning the three different types of serves is crucial. On your side, there is pressure to hit your second serve in, which forces you to take some pace off the serve and subsequently gives your opponent more confidence in their return. If you miss, the pressure is still on your opponent to hit a great return off your slower second serve. Here are a few tips to help execute an effective slice serve: When youre learning the slice serve, it can be relatively easy to overhit as you attempt to generate side spin. Make contact with the ball, with the racquet "slicing" under it, when it's at a point about even with your right shoulder. Since many modern tennis players rely on their topspin forehand to dictate the pace of the match, the slice is most commonly seen as a defensive shot that can be used as a last-ditch effort. Rookie Road may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. One of these techniques is the slice, which gives a confounding backspin to a serve or return.Find more information on slice strokes in tennis below. Sometimes, especially on a low-bouncing court like grass, your opponent may hit a low, short ball. Upper Body Exercises Safe for Tennis Elbow, How to Choose a Grip Size for a Tennis Racquet, How To Handle The High Bounce To The Backhand Side In Tennis. It doesn't break your bank. One of the biggest challenges of the game of tennis is adjusting your stroke according to the incoming ball (high, low, topspin, slice, fast, slow, etc. However, if you do adjust your toss, keep in mind that a good returner might pick up on the change in your toss and give them a hint of the type of serve and where you might be inclined to hit it. Lets dive into the proper technique for hitting a kick serve. Slice shots that are hit from lack of confidence or in a desperate attempt to just get the ball back tend to float, and they travel through the air slowly. Join the conversation with other members of the community. What Does Game, Set, Match Mean In Tennis? Required fields are marked *. The first thing you need to do is grip the racket properly. Your email address will not be published. 3 Types of Tennis Serves: Flat, Slice, and Kick - TennisCompanion However, with practice and the proper technique, you shouldnt need to swing considerably harder to create more spin. The essence of a slice is that it is the opposite of a topspin. Are short pips still relevant in the game of table tennis in the 2020s? This is basically a drop shot played at the start of a rally, so the same arguments set out in the previous paragraph apply. Do you like to hit a forehand slice? Grass is tough on the arm, though, because the ball hits the racquet with more speed, and more speed generally means more shock and torsion. 3. Rafael Nadal for example knows that with his extreme spin on the forehand he can make it difficult for a player like Roger Federer with his one-handed backhand to generate power. Using this technique, you can make it very difficult for your opponent to return your shot with topspin, making the slice a great defensive shot. Rallying. By common sense, it is known that in tight situations players have to use larger body parts to lessen the impact of their muscles tightening. It moves forward and down, coming around to your right side only at the tail end of your stroke, long after the ball is gone.
\nMake contact with the ball, with the racquet \"slicing\" under it, when it's at a point about even with your right shoulder. First, if youre using an eastern grip, youre most likely overcompensating for poor technique. The result will be a more fluid motion that helps you achieve a better serve. If youre short, the flat serve is more challenging to execute because you have less clearance over the net, which reduces your margin of error. Turn the racquet face as you bring it back so that the hitting surface ends up facing upward, as shown in Figure 1.
\nThis position makes it easy and natural to brush your strings under the lower portion of the ball, producing backspin. Like all slice shots, the forehand version is hit high-to-low, with the strings brushing under the ball. It should go without saying that your legs are critical to your serve, but unfortunately, its not second nature to most players. link to The Best Babolat Tennis Rackets (for Every Type of Player), link to The Top 3 Best Babolat Tennis Rackets Under $100. Nonetheless, the shot can be very useful in a variety of situations, and some professionals have enjoyed quite a bit of success using it as their main option on the forehand side. The drawback of a slice serve is that it is easy to read. Advantages of Clay . The truth is, a continental serve grip is highly effective for all types of tennis serves. Its subtle, but hopefully, compared with the flat serve, you can tell the racquet is coming toward the ball at an angle with a bit of upward motion. If players like to attack the net and volley, they slice a lot. Your opponent can do almost anything he wants with them, especially from a position up at the net.
\nMastering the forehand slice
\nSlice always imparts control. A slice serve is a fantastic weapon on any court surface. If you hit this shot from a comfortable, set position (at about the center of the baseline), your racquet should be pointing toward the right netpost. Slice, or backspin, causes the tennis ball to spin back toward the source of impact (you). Modern tennis is dominated by the use of topspin shots. Slice shots don't bounce as high, either. Many players will want to take the initiative from the slicer by hitting an aggressive topspin. Related Tags. Initially, you may be inclined to toss the ball a little farther right than you do for your flat serve to make contacting the side of the ball a bit more pronounced and establish feel. The slice backhand offers the following practical and tactical advantages: A word of caution: Slice backhands make poor passing shots.
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\n![\"figure\"](\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/fg0-7645-5087-X_0903.jpg\")
Figure 1: Hold your racquet at a 45-degree angle to the fence when you slice your backhand.\t
3. During a slice shot, the racket travels in a downward motion, before slicing underneath the tennis ball. Slicing does have disadvantages, so ideally it is used as a variation or in specific circumstances. Those two qualities can catch your opponent off guard and screw up her timing.
- Slice shots travel in a flat trajectory. You don't have to lift the ball over the net in an arc and then get it to drop back down inside the boundaries of the court like you do with your other shots.
A word of caution: Slice backhands make poor passing shots. As a result, it can be beneficial to avoid overusing a big flat serve and to use other types of serves that have a higher margin of error while focusing on quality placement to put the pressure on your opponent. Your email address will not be published. You can find his 2020 book: ', Seniortennisclub.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to. This requires care, however, as the ball may be low, and will not rise off the racket as readily as a ball which comes to you with topspin. In fact, hitting a slice serve at 75% of your max swing speed can be a great tactic because the sidespin combined with the change in pace will often throw off your opponent. Slice always imparts control. Think of your racquet face as an elevator that you need to move to the right \"story\" or height to pick up the passenger, a bright yellow tennis ball!
\n4. Disguise is key, so you will prepare as though you intend to hit an aggressive topspin, and, at the last second, cut under the ball with a high-to-low action, perhaps adding some side-spin for good measure. Follow through until your racquet arm is fully extended, with the head pointing toward the ground at a moderate angle. Release the racquet with your left hand as you do this. Additionally, if the forehand slice has been hit with side-spin, you will need to recognise this and allow more space if you aim to reply with a forehand, as the ball will spin into your body if your opponent is right-handed. You may want to be slightly lower for a push as usually we play this shot against lower, backspin balls. To generate the necessary topspin for your kick serve, you need to brush the side of the tennis ball from low to high. This leaves it tough for the opponent to hit it back with much pace. Your opponent can do almost anything he wants with them, especially from a position up at the net.
\nMastering the forehand slice
\nSlice always imparts control. Slicing can also be used as a means to aid in the return of difficult or powerful shots.By slicing the ball, this will counter the effects of a powerful shot or one that has a lot of spin, thus making the return much more feasible than with a standard attempt to return. Disguise is crucial, but if executed well against a player who is standing a long way back, it can be very effective. He enjoys competing in county tennis leagues and ITF Seniors events. Once again, when hitting a kick serve, you should rely on your continental service grip, which is ideally suited for this serve. Another instance when you are using a slice is if you want to surprise your opponent with a drop shot. Slice shots never travel with a lot of pace. When executing a tennis slice, the player will swing downward in a "slicing" motion, angling the racket anywhere between fully flat and entirely diagonal. The racquet head instead should be pointing at the back fence, at about a 45-degree angle. In this article I will tell you what you need to know about how and when to play a tennis forehand slice by answering some of the commonly asked questions. Hitting up is counterintuitive to many players at first because theyre afraid the ball will sail long. Believe it or not, when the pros hit a kick serve, their racquet is traveling at roughly the same rate or faster than their flat or slice serve. Slice shots don't bounce as high, either. When youre first getting started with tennis, your primary goal will likely be to develop a single reliable serve that allows you to begin a point and play the game. The shot is executed with a flowing high-to-low action and a continental or Eastern grip, using a neutral or semi-open stance. What Is A Slice In Tennis? - Tennis Information Slicing and Dicing, Tennis Style - dummies For example, if youre lucky enough to have access to grass courts, keep in mind that the slice serve is a fantastic serve for this surface. A player can add topspin to a shot by hitting the ball in a down-up movement, which causes the ball to rotate towards the opponent. It's a defensive shot that you should use on only three occasions: If you have trouble effectively hitting the flat backhand, you can use a slightly different stroke that carries many players far in the game the pure slice backhand. While some players and coaches might suggest that you can use an eastern grip for your slice serve, Id recommend against it for two main reasons. 19 Advantages and Disadvantages of Table Tennis Here, well share as much knowledge and experience as we can, so we hope you enjoy it! Create a free account and explore my latest videos below. When a slice shot bounces, the ball stays low, forcing your opponent to really stretch to get to the ball. Many players assume behind means you need to toss the ball toward the back fence, i.e., behind the baseline. The same can be said about Federers use of the backhand slice. 5. The slice can be a useful weapon, but it does have some disadvantages. Oh, and I had lunch with Brad Gilbert once. A flat groundstroke is usually more challenging to hit while keeping the shot within boundaries of the tennis court since there isn't much topspin. Low bounce: as the name suggests, flat serves have minimal spin. However, assuming you have the correct serve stance, behind you is parallel with the baseline and an important distinction when it comes to the kick serve. Knees should be slightly bent and the body should be leaning forward. Follow through until your racquet arm is fully extended, with the head pointing toward the ground at a moderate angle. Heres a photo that shows the contact point against the ball as well as the correct racquet face angle, which is flat to avoid putting spin on the ball. I seldom make a mistake with my slice but it is very effective at creating UE's from my opponents. However, youll also want to hit up slightly to give the ball a bit of topspin so that it drops back down into the court. If you havent had the chance, Id highly recommend you check out our post on the serve trophy pose, which will show you how to get the most out of your serve while incorporating your legs to help you generate power. Within tennis, the serve is a bigger weapon for men than for women, in part . Turn the racquet face as you bring it back so that the hitting surface ends up facing upward, as shown in Figure 1.
\nThis position makes it easy and natural to brush your strings under the lower portion of the ball, producing backspin. The result will help you generate even more topspin. With the slice serve, youll want to make contact with the outer edge of the ball to generate sidespin.