It is hard to believe that a complex game like tennis can be mastered in an easy way, but if you focus on the right things, it is possible. Of course, you will have to put a lot of hard work into it to become a pro but learning can be made easy if the right things and correct ways are taught to you. This article is going to put forth an easy drill, in front of you, to learn the Kick serve and Slice serve effortlessly.
This drill is called the ‘Popcorn Drill’. It is going to set you up for the success right away. For learning a serve, it is very important that you practice shots. Practicing shots will give you a readiness for success. It will not be easy at the beginning and that must not discourage you because you will be learning something new. But practicing persistently will ultimately make you good at it. Ways are simple but they need to be practiced continually.
It can be really overwhelming for a player to start directly from the baseline trying to execute the serve with new continental grip. Best way, is to breakdown the procedure into simple steps and then, to execute the final serve shot.
Steps to follow:
- First thing to do before starting up, is to get comfortable with ball. Until and unless you get the feel, you’ll never be comfortable while playing.
- After that, grip the racquet properly, make moves with your wrist by pulling in the racquet and kicking it out(do this without the ball).
- Now, initially, just practice a few shots from inside the service box to get comfortable, see if the ball is really hitting the right place. For kick serve, toss the ball behind your body and hit while it is still moving for a high bounce. For slice serve, toss the ball in the front, then hit the ball by brushing the strings in a sideway motion with the ball, for changing the spin.
- Next step is to practice the shot for a fixed number of times without taking a break. Say, you set a target to make at least 5 serves correct, in a row.
- Successively, increase the distance and move to the back line of the service box, practice the serve shots from here.
- Then shift to the quick start line and start practicing shots from here. Make sure that the ball still obeys your racquet, that is, it is still going up to the right place in the opposite court.
- Finally move to the base line and start hitting the serve shots with complete sincerity to master the serve. This will make the delivery of the ball really nice.
Gradually increasing the distance in a step by step manner will make you comfortable with the ultimate destination. Do not lose focus when you are changing positions, from every position you have to aim to hit the ball on the right target. You can go back to previous step if you feel your confidence is low or you need to get more comfortable before practicing the actual shot. Repeat the same steps with different techniques for Kick serve and Slice serve respectively.
So, this step by step progression for mastering the serve shots will definitely help you. Don’t entangle yourself with complexities and also don’t be really hard on yourself, rather follow this lesson for an effective learning. You will get better at it, eventually.
