Wow, those serves at the end were very impressive. I really appreciate how clearly and thoroughly you teach everything. I used your other video on slice... the one with the stick in the net and that really helped me visualize what I want to do... even though I'm not as consistent as I want. What I notice with coaches teaching slice is that they never seem to teach the one that swings into the opponent's body... they only teach going out wide. Although you weren't teaching it, I used the greater understanding and control I developed because of your video to jam my opponents and get many free or cheap points. How do you think that this video differs from that other one you did? Meaning, what should I add from this video to what you taught in the other one?
Really like your channel. Always appreciate your straightforward and concise explanations on technique. Wish it was as easy as you make it look but that is why you were a pro and the rest of us are not. I use both of the serves you describe but I would not discount the value of slicing around the ball as another serve in one's repertoire . I call it the "sidewinder". The "sidewinder" serve for me exits the serve box very shallow versus the serves you described exit deep in the service box. It is also traveling at a much slower speed. Having variation in location and speed is an asset at least at the amateur ranks. There is much less disguise in the sidewinder compared to both methods you described but I think it is still has some value. Again, really like your teaching style and your content is great. Good luck at getting to 10K.
Oh the sidewinder is definitely an option. I only overlooked that one because of the title of the video 😁 "how to slice with speed" but I would never discount the sharp angle 👌
Thanks for presenting both approaches to the slice - as I’ve heard both ways before. I didn’t know which one was best, so good to hear your opinion that you prefer the first one. I definitely appreciate your approach of keeping things simple. Tennis is difficult enough so it’s good to minimize thinking when improving and hitting shots.
I use both of these serves to keep the returner honest. I will hit the hard slice more into the body and the lower paced slice out wide or up the middle to try and get the returner to generate the pace and force them to adjust to the spin.
Personally going to work on that Novak style slicer out wide! I find the hardest part is managing the impulse to swing as hard as possible. Thanks for the lesson!
I get some really good spin on my serves, both kick and slice by hitting the ball on the upper half of the string bed. Maybe not the easiest thing to do, but it gets more consistent with practice and works well.
Will! So, I worked on your 2nd slice serve tip today and WOW! I really like this method of getting a slice serve and the sound is awesome. My serve is still in the happy-accidents stage, so I'm more connected with the flat serve. I'm able to notice the difference in the bounces, though, and your flat-serve-out-wide-slightly-rotating tip kept my ball low and curving after the bounce. WhooHoo! I'm gonna bake this in when I do my upcoming 10K practice serves challenge. Thank you SO much. Your channel ROCKS! ❤
I don't now how to start. I am so amazed by this channel. The things you are covering are so specific and unique. The real enigma is why do you have just 8k followers. Probably because you must have a certain level of intelligence to understand the core of issues you're trying to explained. I am not sure about your success on the internet, but I wish you all the luck in real life. Sorry if I miss spelled something. A huge respect and best wishes from tennis fanatic from Serbia! 👊🦾🙏
Thank you for such a huge compliment 😁 I recently started really working hard on the channel. It's growing a lot faster now. Even though the channel is technically 2 years old it's actually about 8 months old
I really love your videos and this is great again! But you may want to check if turning off that Autofocus on your camera would improve your videos. If you have to set it to manual mode I would recommend an aperture of 8 (up to 12 max depending on the look) to have everything in focus all the time.
I have always had an Eastern g up on the serve and always, “pronate”, my wrist snap. Is Continental grip superior to or easier than an Eastern grip? (I am a 4.5 player and have always used an Eastern grip. People have always said that it is just preference between the two grips; but are there any advantages/disadvantages)?
@@ironwilltennis That's what I thought. Unfortunately, I learned (by which I mean I DIDN"T learn😁) by doing a forehand grip, but I'm getting used to the continental and slowly phasing the forehand grip out. Thanks for clarifying.
Obviously a great player and good coach. Just dont get to big my man. Might start getting some phone calls on that tiger woods logo your half sportin.. lol keep with the good stuff tho.
Hi, Charlie from London. The big question that’s not usually explained well is this; on the slice serve; do we PRONATE, up and out, or do we CARVE around the ball? Do we contact at 2 and PRONATE, or do we contact 2-8 and Carve? I’d love to know your view on this, I try both, and Pronation gives me a cleaner faster hit and a hard slice, what you think? Cheers, , Charlie
The pronate is the way I lean with teach but tye carve will work. It's just usually slower and readable in my opinion where as the 2 o'clock contact has more Disguise
Hi Will You focused on angle of path and angle of rotation, is either one of these affected by where I make contact with the ball? For example, racquet contact at 1 0'clock versus racquet contact 3 0'clock?
Yes but there's 2 things to consider. If you strike the ball squarely on 1 or 3 vs hitting around those locations like 7-1 or 9-3. If you hit squarely "path" you will have a good flight angle but less curve. If you hit around "rotation" you may have a softer flight angle but bigger curve
To aim down the T for a slice you'd have to be semi-pronating before contact. Difficult to judge it right. I normally aim well to the right of the T to avoid hitting wide.
I've got accidental McEnroe serve. I can't fully pronate yet so I'm on mild Eastern grip. When I came up with it I lined up the racket at contact point and moved my feet till the racket was pointing into the service box so by accident ended up standing sideways on like Mac does. So my serve always has slice and some topspin. When I get it just right it actually sometimes ricochets at bounce rather than bouncing normally - impossible to return but only happens occasionally - I wish I could work out how to repeat it. Because its a slice its not as fast as my old pancake serve. A really good one is 80-90mph I reckon. To get it faster I throw it out front and lower - I think this gives a flatter contact. However this is quite hit and miss. To get it in very reliably I throw it nearer to me and hit more up. At rec level its effective but against our A team guys I need more pace and its inconsistent - I have to play for about an hour to get my eye in enough to really go for it. Thanks for the vid I'm studying it now :)
great! i have so many issues with my slice serve. learning so much from your explanation, especially the 1st type of slice serve (i never thought of this type), i'll give it a try! +1 like & subscribe!
I once played someone who had slow slice serve that never passed the middle of the service court . it always pulled me way out of the court .Do you know how to do those ? can you do a video on it ? Thank you so much ...love your content
Any plans to do something on the platform versus pinpoint, not form "which is better," but from the perspective on what's different about the way the feet and weight transfer works. My intuition is that the weight transfer on the platform stance is a bit like "leap from" from the back foot to the front foot but that with the pinpoint both feet play the role of the "front foot" after the step forward. There's also a subtle point about how the kinetic chain differs in the two. Most coaches just teach the platform, but the majority of competitive players use the pinpoint, and this divergence is kind of odd to me.
Will what's your string and tension? I love the pop sound of your strokes and the hardness you hit. Do you put (at least a small) muscular effort to hit hard?
I try my best to not make the serve too efforted, because it makes it tough to maintain. But to answer your other question: I use HEAD Hawk Power strung at 50lbs
I figured one out by myself and used it for the first time in a match. It wad nuts and I had my opponets frozen because either they thought it was out but it cut back into the box or they were fooled because of where the ball ended up on the outside edge. I still have to work on my flat serve though before I can fully master my slice serve.
@@ironwilltennis thank you 🙏 I am having problems flattening my first serve. I pronate but it's often way too late so my first serve becomes more of a slice. I think alot of it comes from the fact that I had a pancake serve for some time. To fix it I changed to the proper continental grip and forcefully always lead edge first till the very last moments but often ends in a slice.
Hi Will Can you please explain how to handle lob (topspin or slice lob)? You know the one that goes above your head and out of reach while standing at the service line. When the first bounce is inside baseline and depending whether it is top spin lob the second bounce is close to the back fence, or if Back Spin lob the ball second bounce is just outside of the baseline. Can you suggest a drill for self-practice to chase the ball and hit it while your back facing net (excluding tweener shot).
if we just need to adjust the racket face, why not adjust the grip a bit to make it a bit closed from the continental grib and hit a flat serve to make it spin?
It is not the curving around the ball when you watch the pros. What they do is to pronate through the ball, and beginning the contact at 9 or 8 o clock and then to the right for rightis
I like your videos. However I watched to see how I cold add 25+ mph to my serve. I serve mid to high 90’s first serve so getting back to 120’s was of interest. Unfortunately I do most of these things so adding 25+ mph to my serve is unlikely. I probably need to figure our where I can get a younger body (I’m 66) if I want to get back to the 120s.
I tried the first one (serve a normal flat serve but hold the pronation so you hit at an angle) and find it loses too much pace. I find I am more effective when I try to hit flat but manage to mess up the follow thru pulling the racket around. Then it accidentally turns into a very fast slice, and aces them.
I saw this yesterday, played someone right after and found success immediately. Now I’m hooked to your channel
Happy to have helped 😁 welcome to the team 👍
Wow, those serves at the end were very impressive.
I really appreciate how clearly and thoroughly you teach everything. I used your other video on slice... the one with the stick in the net and that really helped me visualize what I want to do... even though I'm not as consistent as I want. What I notice with coaches teaching slice is that they never seem to teach the one that swings into the opponent's body... they only teach going out wide. Although you weren't teaching it, I used the greater understanding and control I developed because of your video to jam my opponents and get many free or cheap points. How do you think that this video differs from that other one you did? Meaning, what should I add from this video to what you taught in the other one?
Really like your channel. Always appreciate your straightforward and concise explanations on technique. Wish it was as easy as you make it look but that is why you were a pro and the rest of us are not. I use both of the serves you describe but I would not discount the value of slicing around the ball as another serve in one's repertoire . I call it the "sidewinder". The "sidewinder" serve for me exits the serve box very shallow versus the serves you described exit deep in the service box. It is also traveling at a much slower speed. Having variation in location and speed is an asset at least at the amateur ranks. There is much less disguise in the sidewinder compared to both methods you described but I think it is still has some value. Again, really like your teaching style and your content is great. Good luck at getting to 10K.
Oh the sidewinder is definitely an option. I only overlooked that one because of the title of the video 😁 "how to slice with speed" but I would never discount the sharp angle 👌
Such great info and clean!! Thanks so much!
YES! New camera (or aspect ratio) looking good! Well done!
Took a while but finally got it sorted out 😁👍
Thanks for presenting both approaches to the slice - as I’ve heard both ways before. I didn’t know which one was best, so good to hear your opinion that you prefer the first one.
I definitely appreciate your approach of keeping things simple. Tennis is difficult enough so it’s good to minimize thinking when improving and hitting shots.
You are very welcome 😁 I try to keep things as simple as possible that way you can actually use the information easier 👍
Well done Will, impressive tuition.
I use both of these serves to keep the returner honest. I will hit the hard slice more into the body and the lower paced slice out wide or up the middle to try and get the returner to generate the pace and force them to adjust to the spin.
Solid strategy 👌 many players do even think that far ahead
Personally going to work on that Novak style slicer out wide! I find the hardest part is managing the impulse to swing as hard as possible. Thanks for the lesson!
Very happy to help 😊
Cutter vs slider. Thanks for the great lesson!
Happy to be able to help 😁
Helpful, enjoyed this. Great job!
Live how these are developing, please fix your autofocus! Can’t watch what we can’t see, keep the great ideas coming
Yea the auto focus issue with this camera is a problem I intend to upgrade soon 😁
Good information thank you
Hi coach. I was wondering if you can recommend few basic drills to work on this? Thx in advance
Great video!!! I really want your serve!!!!
@steveboom9175 easier than it looks lol 😆
Great content once again coach, Thanks 👍🏻
Very welcome 😁 thank you
I get some really good spin on my serves, both kick and slice by hitting the ball on the upper half of the string bed. Maybe not the easiest thing to do, but it gets more consistent with practice and works well.
Thanks for the video, I found this extremely helpful ❤
You're welcome 😁 let me know how it goes
Great video, thanks for posting
You are welcome 😁 hope it helps 👍
Great insight. Thanks.
You're welcome 😁
Thanks, Will! I'm totally gonna try this today!
You are welcome 😁 let me know how it goes 👍
Will! So, I worked on your 2nd slice serve tip today and WOW! I really like this method of getting a slice serve and the sound is awesome. My serve is still in the happy-accidents stage, so I'm more connected with the flat serve. I'm able to notice the difference in the bounces, though, and your flat-serve-out-wide-slightly-rotating tip kept my ball low and curving after the bounce. WhooHoo! I'm gonna bake this in when I do my upcoming 10K practice serves challenge. Thank you SO much. Your channel ROCKS! ❤
@@teewoe2972 I love that I was able to help even a little👍 good luck on the challenge
I don't now how to start. I am so amazed by this channel. The things you are covering are so specific and unique. The real enigma is why do you have just 8k followers. Probably because you must have a certain level of intelligence to understand the core of issues you're trying to explained. I am not sure about your success on the internet, but I wish you all the luck in real life. Sorry if I miss spelled something. A huge respect and best wishes from tennis fanatic from Serbia! 👊🦾🙏
Thank you for such a huge compliment 😁 I recently started really working hard on the channel. It's growing a lot faster now. Even though the channel is technically 2 years old it's actually about 8 months old
Big fan!!
Happy to hear it 😁 hope this helps
I really love your videos and this is great again!
But you may want to check if turning off that Autofocus on your camera would improve your videos. If you have to set it to manual mode I would recommend an aperture of 8 (up to 12 max depending on the look) to have everything in focus all the time.
Yea I noticed the focusing issue when the camera is on me and the back curtain. I'm working on a solution 😁
Great video as always. Thx
Thank you 😁 let me know if it helps
Thank coach. This brother coach is awesome!
I have always had an Eastern g up on the serve and always, “pronate”, my wrist snap. Is Continental grip superior to or easier than an Eastern grip? (I am a 4.5 player and have always used an Eastern grip. People have always said that it is just preference between the two grips; but are there any advantages/disadvantages)?
Good stuff, Coach. 👊
Thank you , very well explained
again thanks
As always, great video, Will. This may be an obvious question, but when you say "flat" serve, are you still using a continental grip?
I am always in continental for my serves 😁 although I do know people who make slight adjustments from 1 serve to the other
@@ironwilltennis That's what I thought. Unfortunately, I learned (by which I mean I DIDN"T learn😁) by doing a forehand grip, but I'm getting used to the continental and slowly phasing the forehand grip out. Thanks for clarifying.
Obviously a great player and good coach. Just dont get to big my man. Might start getting some phone calls on that tiger woods logo your half sportin.. lol keep with the good stuff tho.
Thanks for the compliment and warning I'm gonna take care of the legal work😁👍
Hi, Charlie from London.
The big question that’s not usually explained well is this; on the slice serve; do we PRONATE, up and out, or do we CARVE around the ball?
Do we contact at 2 and PRONATE, or do we contact 2-8 and Carve?
I’d love to know your view on this, I try both, and Pronation gives me a cleaner faster hit and a hard slice, what you think?
Cheers, , Charlie
The pronate is the way I lean with teach but tye carve will work. It's just usually slower and readable in my opinion where as the 2 o'clock contact has more Disguise
Hi Will
You focused on angle of path and angle of rotation, is either one of these affected by where I make contact with the ball? For example, racquet contact at 1 0'clock versus racquet contact 3 0'clock?
Yes but there's 2 things to consider. If you strike the ball squarely on 1 or 3 vs hitting around those locations like 7-1 or 9-3. If you hit squarely "path" you will have a good flight angle but less curve. If you hit around "rotation" you may have a softer flight angle but bigger curve
Top video!
@gabrielcoutinho503 greatly appreciated 🙏
To aim down the T for a slice you'd have to be semi-pronating before contact. Difficult to judge it right. I normally aim well to the right of the T to avoid hitting wide.
I've got accidental McEnroe serve. I can't fully pronate yet so I'm on mild Eastern grip. When I came up with it I lined up the racket at contact point and moved my feet till the racket was pointing into the service box so by accident ended up standing sideways on like Mac does.
So my serve always has slice and some topspin. When I get it just right it actually sometimes ricochets at bounce rather than bouncing normally - impossible to return but only happens occasionally - I wish I could work out how to repeat it.
Because its a slice its not as fast as my old pancake serve. A really good one is 80-90mph I reckon. To get it faster I throw it out front and lower - I think this gives a flatter contact. However this is quite hit and miss. To get it in very reliably I throw it nearer to me and hit more up.
At rec level its effective but against our A team guys I need more pace and its inconsistent - I have to play for about an hour to get my eye in enough to really go for it.
Thanks for the vid I'm studying it now :)
You're welcome 😁 hope it helps you out a little 👍
great! i have so many issues with my slice serve. learning so much from your explanation, especially the 1st type of slice serve (i never thought of this type), i'll give it a try! +1 like & subscribe!
I once played someone who had slow slice serve that never passed the middle of the service court . it always pulled me way out of the court .Do you know how to do those ? can you do a video on it ? Thank you so much ...love your content
please dont mention my sir thank you
I think I can add that to the list 👍
Any plans to do something on the platform versus pinpoint, not form "which is better," but from the perspective on what's different about the way the feet and weight transfer works. My intuition is that the weight transfer on the platform stance is a bit like "leap from" from the back foot to the front foot but that with the pinpoint both feet play the role of the "front foot" after the step forward. There's also a subtle point about how the kinetic chain differs in the two. Most coaches just teach the platform, but the majority of competitive players use the pinpoint, and this divergence is kind of odd to me.
I can definitely add that to the list of things to cover 😁👍
Will what's your string and tension? I love the pop sound of your strokes and the hardness you hit. Do you put (at least a small) muscular effort to hit hard?
I try my best to not make the serve too efforted, because it makes it tough to maintain. But to answer your other question: I use HEAD Hawk Power strung at 50lbs
I figured one out by myself and used it for the first time in a match. It wad nuts and I had my opponets frozen because either they thought it was out but it cut back into the box or they were fooled because of where the ball ended up on the outside edge. I still have to work on my flat serve though before I can fully master my slice serve.
That's awesome I hope the flat one comes soon😁 good luck 👍
how to get better timing on forehand ? i am hitting a monster forehand but its like 60 percent over the net or 40 percent into the net
very impressive
@sanjaybillore8718 thank you 😊 hope it helps 😁
How do I hit a slice serve to the “T” on the deuce or ad court?
Like your videos they are awesome!!
Using the method that I just showed in this video, you would make your target 8-10 feet to the right of where you actually want it to go
Good vid as always.
Thank you 😁 let me know if it helps
@@ironwilltennisDefinitely. Can you do a flat serve next? With emphasis on the take back and pronation? 🙏
@@tomk5238 I will add it to the list 👍
@@ironwilltennis thank you 🙏 I am having problems flattening my first serve. I pronate but it's often way too late so my first serve becomes more of a slice.
I think alot of it comes from the fact that I had a pancake serve for some time. To fix it I changed to the proper continental grip and forcefully always lead edge first till the very last moments but often ends in a slice.
Hi Will
Can you please explain how to handle lob (topspin or slice lob)?
You know the one that goes above your head and out of reach while standing at the service line. When the first bounce is inside baseline and depending whether it is top spin lob the second bounce is close to the back fence, or if Back Spin lob the ball second bounce is just outside of the baseline.
Can you suggest a drill for self-practice to chase the ball and hit it while your back facing net (excluding tweener shot).
if we just need to adjust the racket face, why not adjust the grip a bit to make it a bit closed from the continental grib and hit a flat serve to make it spin?
It is not the curving around the ball when you watch the pros. What they do is to pronate through the ball, and beginning the contact at 9 or 8 o clock and then to the right for rightis
Good stuff thx
Hope it was helpful
I like your videos. However I watched to see how I cold add 25+ mph to my serve. I serve mid to high 90’s first serve so getting back to 120’s was of interest. Unfortunately I do most of these things so adding 25+ mph to my serve is unlikely. I probably need to figure our where I can get a younger body (I’m 66) if I want to get back to the 120s.
The point of the thumbnail was to get people to understand that they are actively taking away their speed by going around the ball too much
Unfortunately, your ball at the top of the toss and racquet head are out of the picture when you strike the ball 3:15 - 3:30.
I tried the first one (serve a normal flat serve but hold the pronation so you hit at an angle) and find it loses too much pace. I find I am more effective when I try to hit flat but manage to mess up the follow thru pulling the racket around. Then it accidentally turns into a very fast slice, and aces them.
You will lose a lot of pace if you over angle it but if you find that perfect spot it really moves. But it definitely takes some getting used to 😁
Nice explanation, too many videos over complicate the serve, it's actually an easy motion.
I totally agree 👍
thank you.
Very welcome 😁
👏👏👏
😁 hope it helps
Sock game goes hard
Always matching the socks 😎 never catch me slippin
❤
😁💕
Find it easiest to toss farther away to the right vs worrying about racket path. Good videos, as are all the others.
As i said in the video, some people do that and it works just fine 😁 it's all preference👍
too much talk, can't see the contact because of your camera angle,