The following tennis slice serve drills help you develop better slice on the ball, hit the slice serve at a better angle and develop more power.
To hit bigger slice serves, work on the following drill progressions:
- Develop a feel for the slice serve
- Improve slice angle and intensity
- Increase power and gradually introduce accuracy.
Note that it may take a a few weeks for these slice serve drills to really start working so stick to them and practice these drills at least twice a week for 20-30 minutes.
Drill 1: Develop Feel For The Slice Serve
Refining your slice serve begins with a simple exercise that helps you develop a feel for the slice.
Level 1: Hit A Slice On The Bounce
Start by gripping your racket with a continental grip. Now practice hitting a slice on the bounce. This helps you feel the slice's mechanics and understand how to manage the racket face at the moment of contact.
You must focus on how the racket head interacts with the ball, aiming to strike precisely to induce that side spin.
This drill improves your precision of movements required to hit clean slice serves later on.
Level 2: Hit A Slice With No Bounce
Next, transition to slicing with no bounce. This variation challenges your timing and racket speed, pushing you to maintain control over the ball's trajectory while having to precisely maneuver your racket.
Maintaining the racket head angle becomes paramount as you adjust your body and racket in harmony to slice through the air and hit the ball accurately.
Level 3: Alternate Between Backhand & Forehand
The final part of this tennis slice serve drill intensifies the challenge: alternating between forehand and backhand slices.
If you're framing the ball too often during this segment, it's a sign to keep working at this drill, refining your hand-eye coordination until your slices come naturally and with precision.
Follow these progressions to develop a good feel for slicing the ball.
Drill 2: Develop More Slice & Better Angle
Once you have warmed up and developed a feel for the slice, it is time for the next progression of tennis slice serve drills. In this drill, you aim to find the right balance between slice and angle.
Begin this drill very close to the net, standing in the doubles alley and aiming towards the opposite doubles alley.
As you toss the ball, your initial goal isn't just to get the serve in but to magnify the slice's effect, exaggerating the side spin to understand how it influences the ball's trajectory and your contact point.
Start the drill by exaggerating the angle and slice on the ball.
This exaggerated angle helps you gauge how the racket face hits the ball on the side, which is crucial for hitting a perfect slice serve. Choke up on the grip slightly, which allows for quicker wrist action, essential for enhancing the spin without a full power swing.
Gradually, move back toward the baseline, increasing the distance with each set of serves. This physical and strategic progression requires you to adjust the blend of power and spin.
These progressions from the net to the baseline improve your slice serve without over-thinking.
Here, you start incorporating more of your upper body and engaging your core, uncoiling through the serve to generate the necessary force that drives the ball across the court.
The drill concludes with moving towards the center of the court. Here, the challenge is maintaining the slice while also looking to hit into the service box.
Stop 'Carving The Ball' For Tennis Slice Serves
If you're finding that your tennis slice serve lacks the punch it needs, you might be falling into the common trap of "carving around" the ball too much.
This could result from poor coaching when some tennis coaches advise you to 'carve the ball' or 'peel the orange' the ball as you contact it. This will result in the racket head not really driving the ball forward and giving it enough speed.
The idea of "carving" around the ball tends to produce poor results.
Instead of carving around the ball, try this drill: start by rolling the ball sideways between your hand and the strings of your racket.
As you roll the ball, focus on pushing it away from you with the racket while you pronate outwards - see the pic below.
This motion teaches your muscles the exact movement required to hit the ball with some power while at the same time giving it sidespin.
This drill can also help you feel better when slicing the ball and feel confident about your ball's trajectory, even if the racket moves in a different direction than the ball.
Drill 3: Develop More Power
Another issue with trying to hit a tennis slice serve is power. Many players may try too hard to aim the ball in the court, controlling the serve too much and sacrificing power for accuracy.
This results in a weak serve that uses only the arm, not the entire kinetic chain, from the legs to the hand. This weak serve also makes it easy for the opponent to attack them.
Follow these three progressions to find more power on your slice serves:
a) Serve From Far Behind The Baseline: Position about 10 feet behind the baseline and just try to hit the hardest slice serve that you can.
Again, don't bother with the aiming; just try to get the ball across the court. As you do this, you will notice you are using your whole body to generate more power to hit the serve. Remember the feeling of how you are engaging the whole body and how you generate power.
Start serving 10 feet behind the baseline aiming deep over the whole court.
b) Move Gradually To Baseline: Now try to gradually move closer to the baseline, and continue to hit your slice serves. Remember to continue using the same power as you did just now. Don't worry about aiming; just try to get the ball across the court.
c) Serving From The Baseline Into The Service Box: Finally move to the baseline and try to maintain the whole body engagement into the serve while also now attempting to hit serves into the service box. Prioritize power over accuracy and perform these progressions several times over the next few weeks and you will find the right balance between power and precision.Summary
The above tennis slice serve drills work really effectively if you repeat them 2-3 times per week over a month or so. Your mind & body need some time to adapt to new drills and incorporate new movements into your existing serve technique.
And if you're still hungry for more knowledge about the slice serve, then I suggest you check my Analysis Of Slice Serve In Slow Motion to really understand what happens at the moment of contact and how the slice serve compares to a flat serve.
