Tag: kick serve

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Kick ‘Serve’ Some Butt pt.2

Last week we discussed how the kick serve can help you win more points. This week we look at the mechanics of actually hitting the kick serve. This is a tough serve to master if you’ve never tried it, but well worth the effort in terms of winning results. Here are the general mechanics of the shot.

  •  Your feet should be pointed, roughly, at the net post (the more side ways to the court you can stand, the better)
  • Use the continental grip (like holding a hammer)
  • Hit up and forward on the ball (imagine the racket face going from 6 to 12 or 7 to 1 on a clock face)

I know this may be hard to visualize, so here is a good series of videos from YouTube that will help.

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Kick ‘Serve’ Some Butt

Most of us think that the harder we can serve the better. That’s not usually the case. Of course if you can crush the serve every time, place it where you want, and get it in the box, then read no further. Ok, now that the mere mortals are still reading, lets look at a good serve option, the kick serve.

There are a couple of advantages to the kick serve, especially for doubles.

  • It allows the server more time to get to the net in a serve and volley situation. Since the ball is traveling slower from server to returner, the server has more time to move forward for a better volley position.
  • It makes the returner hit from an uncomfortable position (increasing errors or pouch opportunities). The higher bounce of a good kick serve makes the returner more prone to miss-hit the return.

Think about the opportunities that the kick serve can create as mentioned above and next week we will talk about how to hit a kick serve.

Here is some video from YouTube illustrating the flat serve versus the kick serve.