A lot of recreational players believe that pronation does not occur on a high-level slice serve. But is this true? Find out in today’s lesson with Brady.
Published on 04/02/2020 by Brady
It’s not just a question of where contact is on the ball. The two other components are Ulnar Deviation and where in the long axis shoulder pronation process the ball is struck. On the latter, the slice is struck earlier in the long axis shoulder pronation than the flat. That makes sense also for where the ball is struck. The racquet face hasn’t turned all the way parallel to the net as in a flat serve. A bit of extra ulnar deviation at that point increases racquet head speed for spin while the long axis component is contributing power.
When you’re doing both things comfortably you can start to vary the proportions of spin and speed to keep your opponent from getting dialed in to your serve. The other great thing is you get speed and curve variation while keeping your racquet head speed and subjective serve effort pretty consistent between first and second serve or flat and slice first serves. That helps with serve consistency over all.
My understanding is that contact point on flat serve is around 1 o’clock, while contact point on slice serve is around 230 o’clock. Is that accurate?