hey guys in today's video i'm going to show you some of the biggest kick serve myths and
we're going to start off with the idea that we should let the ball drop on a kick serve lower
than we would for example on a flat serve and this stems from the idea that we're supposed to
hit up on a kick serve so people think that by letting the ball drop lower we have more range
of motion to hit up so the idea is that a lower contact will allow us to hit up further therefore
imparting more kick on the serve and i covered the subject of hitting up on a kick serve in great
detail in my hit up or down on the kick serve video and it is absolute fact that we are hitting down
on a kick serve because if you take a look at the trajectory of the ball the ball is traveling
downwards there's absolutely no way that we can hit a serve that's going to travel up and then
down for example like we do on a ground stroke see on a forehand topspin ball the ball goes up and
then down we have to hit the serve however inside the service line there's absolutely no space to
hit the ball up and then down that's going to land inside the service line this is simply not
possible the only way you would be able to do that if you tap the ball in now it's flying up and then
down but as soon as we put more speed on the serve if we're indeed hitting up this will send the ball
way past the service line and hitting up or down on a kick serve is something that you
don't have to worry about in fact you don't have to worry about hitting up or down on any serve for
that matter and the reason is that that part of the serve happens in milliseconds and naturally
if you execute all the fundamentals of the serve correctly the movement is going to be down now
interestingly on a kick serve the racket does travel up and this has to do with the angle of the
racket face at contact so while our whole system is going down the racket will travel slightly
upwards imparting kick on the ball but since the entire system is going down this is how we achieve
a downward trajectory even on a kick serve that's very necessary for us to be able to get the ball
inside the service line so if you try to let the ball drop lower on your toss in order to hit up
on the serve you will first of all not be able to get the ball inside the service box because
indeed you will be hitting up from this position to this position so what you need to do instead
if you want to have any chances to get your kick serve consistently inside the service line
you need to have full extension at the moment of contact and there's a minuscule difference between
a flat serve contact and a kick serve contact let me show you this is a flat serve contact
you can see where i meet the ball there and now here is a kick serve contact
so the difference is that on a flat serve the racket is more positioned vertically
towards the sky and on the kick serve more positioned to the side so the difference is
from here to here so we're talking about maybe one centimeter difference this is
going to happen naturally if you execute your kick serve fundamentals correctly
so do not under any circumstance try to let the ball drop it will result in a bent arm
at contact which will significantly reduce the range of motion you will not get any power and
you will be forced to hit up which then in turn will give you almost zero chance to get the ball
inside the service line at a higher speed if you watched any of my toss videos you know that i'm a
proponent of a higher toss which gives you several advantages on a serve and indeed if we toss the
ball higher we will have to hit it when the toss is falling down so what you have to manage to do
is while the ball is falling you need to have full extension of the arm and it is crucial
that you accelerate your serve fast enough so that when you meet the ball the arm is fully extended
at contact this is true for the flat serve or the kick serve the next kick serve myth is the
lateral ball approach and let me explain it to you in this way so when we approach the ball
on any serve the racket from the acceleration of the racquet drop that's executed in unison
with many other power sources from this little acceleration the racket will whip
backwards like this now some people believe that on a kick serve the swing path is more
lateral on the approach to the ball and there are many drills where players will execute a
kick serve in this fashion the racket will have a lateral approach to the ball and then a lateral
continuation after the moment of contact i'm sure you've seen drills where players are kneeling down
and then doing a serve like this this will give you spin but the problem with this type of serve
is that there is indeed a lateral approach to the ball and you're going to be hitting the ball
extremely thin so you will create top spin but there's going to be almost no power it's going
to be very difficult to get enough penetration on a kick serve like this take another look i'm
going to have a lateral approach to the ball and i'm getting a very little pace
and the reason why a kick serve will result in a lateral approach to the ball
when players are doing drills where they're kneeling down or sitting in the chair is that
the body is locked so you're not executing enough momentum with the rest of your body
and the racket is not picking up enough enough acceleration is therefore approaching the ball
very laterally so what will happen if you execute your kick serve with the correct fundamentals
the racket will naturally accelerate from a backwards position so when the racket drops
it will not come in this way it will actually whip out backwards from the acceleration
and then have a forward approach to the ball and then a diagonal continuation
after the moment of contact so what you have to do is stay away from drills where the body is locked
and where the lateral swing path is most likely to happen because of a lack of acceleration
naturally if you execute your kick serve with all the fundamentals you will get a forward
approach towards the ball and therefore impart a lot more power on the kick serve
the next myth is connected to the previous myth where some players believe that as a
completely lateral movement of the racket after the moment of contact now if you watch
my american twist video this is where i explain that the kick serve has evolved to more of a
diagonal swing path where players are now getting a lot more pace on the serve therefore resulting
in more rotations of the ball and because of this higher pace the ball has a tendency to bounce up a
little higher and therefore this serve is called a kick so if you continue going laterally across
the ball you will hit the ball very thin and you will not get any kick on the serve you will get
spin so the ball is going to be spinning a lot but it's going to be absolutely no power
on a serve like that and is therefore not going to help your game so what you have to do is again
execute all the kick serve fundamentals correctly and allow the racket to move diagonally
into the court in this way and take a look from this angle my racket is going to go diagonally
into the court and now take a look in slow motion
so when you execute your kick serve in this way you're going to avoid the thin contact
that's going to result in very little power it can possibly be attacked by your opponent
your kick serve will have more pace with a diagonal swing path and it's more viable as
a solid second serve that's likely not going to be attacked by your opponent
and finally and most importantly is the idea that the kick serve is supposed to be a massive kick
or a sick kick it is often labeled as a power serve and this is simply not the case the primary
objective of a kick serve is for it to be a solid second serve this is true even at the elite level
players such as djokovic nadal or federer do not hit their second serves in other words kick
serves with a lot of pace naturally when you put spin on the serve it reduces the power also on
a kick serve we are not generating as much torso rotation as we do on a flat or a slice serve therefore
we're losing a big power source what's so great about the kick serve are the following things
number one when you are kicking the ball as a second serve because the angle of the racket face
at contact we're gonna get a higher trajectory it's still a downward trajectory but the ball
will have a tendency to fly higher at first and then come down which will then in turn clear the
net at a higher level so we're very safe from hitting the ball into the net also a kick serve
that's executed with the correct fundamentals will also have a tendency to land shorter in the
box therefore it's very safe from going long and because of the amount of rotations we're putting
on the ball we can also freely hit a kick serve we don't have to be careful i'm sure you guys are
familiar with the tap serves that are very often used at the recreational level as a second serve
and this is basically a flat serve that's hit extremely carefully in order for it to go in you don't have
to be careful on a kick serve you can swing fully out and naturally there's not going to be a lot of
pace at the elite level maybe 80 to 90 miles an hour on the wta tour it's even lower it's maybe
between 60 and 80 miles an hour and these are sufficient speeds for a second serve even at the
elite level you should never ever worry about getting power on your kick serve sometimes you
can use a kick serve as a change up on a second serve but even then naturally the kick serves are
going to be a lot slower and there's absolutely no problem with that because guess what if you
have a solid kick serve as your second serve even though the pace might be not that high when the
ball lands on the other side it's going to have a lot of rotations in it and it's most likely that
the other person is not going to go for a winner if they do because the ball is so unpredictable
and so lively they're going to commit a lot of return mistakes and are likely not going
to continue doing so therefore forget the idea that you have to develop a massive kick or a sick
kick this doesn't exist there's very few players that can hit the kick serve at very high speeds
what you need is a solid reliable second serve and that is the primary objective of a kick serve