One question that I get very frequently from my students is how to distinguish
between flat and kick serves when watching the professional players. And
often if we're just looking at the player from this side we cannot see the
trajectory of the ball and we only see the swing path. The swing path itself is
not a good indicator on what kind of serve was performed. So even a flat serve will
sometimes have a rightward swing path which will depend on the desired
location of the player. So if a player goes out wide and the racket will often
go towards the right on right-handed players and also it depends on the location
of the toss. So some players who prefer to toss the ball at 12 o'clock for all
their serves will often have a rightward swing path regardless of the serve.
So in today's video I'm gonna help you distinguish between a flat serve and the
kick serve and also how you can use this information to improve your own serve
The key biomechanical difference between a flat serve and a kick serve is the
amount of torso rotation that is occurring on these two serves. And the
kick serve does not have torso rotation. So what you will see on a kick
serve is that the feet are positioned sideways. So as the player is executing
the serve the feet are gonna be positioned sideways until the racquet
starts to go down. Once the racquet starts to go down and then the entire
body is gonna start opening up and the player will land and then get ready for
the next shot. On a flat serve however because there's more torso rotation
the feet will instantly turn and this is an indicator that a player has attempted
a flat serve versus a kick serve.
Another way to differentiate between a flat serve and a kick serve is the
positioning of the shoulders at contact. So on a flat serve the player will
rotate into the contact. So as soon as the racquet drops the rotation starts
and by the time the player makes contact the shoulders are going to be positioned
pointing towards the other side of the court while the right shoulder is going
to be above the left shoulder. And as a result of this torso rotation the tip of
the racket is going to be positioned more pointing towards the sky with a
slight leftward bend. This is another way you can tell the difference between a
kick serve and a flat serve. On the other hand, on a kick serve the tip of the
racket is going to be positioned pointing more towards the side and in my
case as a right-hander it's going to be positioned to the left and the primary
reason for that is that the players are going to be sideways at contact. So if
I'm sideways at contact it's very natural for my racket to be positioned
towards the left if I toss the ball at 12 o'clock. And in that same position if
I rotate it becomes very unnatural to keep this position of the racket. So
naturally and the racket head straightens out. So an easy way to
differentiate between a flat serve and a kick serve is by looking at the tip of
the racket number one and number two by looking at the shoulder position at
contact.
And finally, the easiest way to spot a kick serve versus a flat serve is by
simply looking at the elbow. So on a kick serve because the player is staying
sideways and usually the toss is a 12 o'clock the elbow is going to stay
behind the body as the racket drops. So as the racket drops and the serve
accelerates, the elbow will stay behind. A flat serve, however, will have an
immediate rotation of the torso as soon as the racket drops. So as a racket drops
in here this elbow is gonna come out and you're gonna see it on the outside of
the body. So on the kick serve it's gonna stay in and on a flat serve the elbow is
gonna come out immediately and this is the initiation of the torso rotation. So
as you attempt a flat serve the elbow comes out and then you just simply
continue the rotation into the contact.
And knowing this information can help your own serve. You have to realize that
you should never rotate when attempting a kick serve because what you want to
achieve is the tip of the racket being positioned to the side and then once you
make contact while your hand goes down the tip of the racket goes up over the
ball and that is what creates the spin. And the easiest way to achieve this is
by doing two things, number one you have to get the toss to at least 12 o'clock.
You will have a very difficult time spinning the serve if your toss is
towards the right for right-handed players. So number one you got to toss it
to at least 12 o'clock or maybe even to 11 o'clock. And now most importantly,
you're gonna have to hold your shoulders sideways. Do not allow your body to
rotate. So if you do that, you stay sideways, you will be able to get spin on the ball.
On your flat serve, you must allow your torso to rotate freely.
So the toss can be actually in the same position as your kick serve. You can
leave it at 12 o'clock or if that feels uncomfortable you can
even leave it a little bit more towards your right if you're right-handed, maybe
at 1 o'clock. And now as you accelerate the serve you simply have to allow your
shoulders to rotate and not hold that sideways position. So basically, you toss
the ball and then you're going to accelerate and rotate into the ball.
So the next time you watch your favorite players serve you will exactly know what
kind of serve they're attempting by doing 3 things, you can look at their
feet, you can look at their shoulder position, or you can look at their elbow
position. Thank you guys for watching this video
hope you enjoyed it, if you have any questions leave a comment in the section
below I'll be happy to respond. Hit that like button and subscribe if you haven't
already. I'll see you next time.