For any Tennis player attempting a high level of competition, you are going to need a reliable Kick Serve.
For tennis players, the serve is the MOST important shot. If your serve is unreliable:
You can't hold serve.
You must win all your return games.
Better have a spectacular forehand or backhand.
You will struggle with confidence.
The kick serve is - in my opinion - the most difficult shot to master as it has a very unique set of linked movements incumbent upon each players specific biomechanical framework.
How do we develop a Kick Serve?
First and foremost, you must have a reliable slice serve. This is the entry serve to tennis! If you do not have a reliable and technically sound Slice serve, then you have no business learning a kick serve.
The foundation of a kick serve lies in understanding the components that make a serve "Kick" or have topspin that accelerates up and towards the right (R-handed players) or left (L-handed players).
Right-Handed
Toss
11 o'clock and slightly in front of you (Left-handed is 1 o'clock)
Without too much momentum of ball going to the left
Loaded Position (Trophy pose)
This will ensure a strong kinetic chain that can release into the contact point.
Non-dominant arm must be lengthened upward following the toss. Staying lengthened until just before hitting arm accelerates upward.
Leg drive > core release > upper body release (shoulder, elbow, wrist) > body weight transfer (up and forward).
Racket acceleration
Like a seesaw, non-dominant arm begins to bend with elbow dropping at the same time the hitting arm begins to accelerate up towards contact.
Up (racket coming from underneath ball contact point - 6 o' clock)
Right (in a waving motion to to right to impart spin that drifts to the right after the bounce)
Followed by body weight landing in front of you (not falling to left).
The steps above are quite simplified, yet extremely precise for kick serve development. Here is a video that can help elaborate the steps above.
youtube.com/shorts/nypxqiabwUU?feature=share
Email puretennissense@gmail.com for a kick serve analysis and steps for improvements.
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For me, the kicker is the most important serve to get going early!!! This is the main serve I’m gonna hit in warmups!!! If I can’t land a first serve once the match gets going, I find I can take some pressure off my service games by using a more aggressive kick (ball toss more into the court) as my first serve. May not tally up a bunch of aces doing this, but I see a lot of missed returns and short ball opportunities with it!!!