Kicker-serve
Slicepong asked 6 years ago
Hi Dan and Tom. Craig Bryant has a serving tutorial on You Tube, and one of the serves is a kicker. It’s much tougher and difficult than a topspin serve. He kindly replied to my question, but even watching him many times I can’t see how he does it. He somehow flicks the wrist up, but it’s done so fast and smoothly I can’t deconstruct it. I don’t see how he goes upward with the wrist and brings the ball down on his side in the same motion. Do you guys use this serve? Thanks.
Tom Academy Coach answered 6 years ago
Hey Slicepong, yes they are tricky serves to return and learn as well, we will be releasing some content on this very soon. I occasionally use these types of serves especially as a surprise element. A really good tip is to think of almost like a mini forehand topspin action with the kicker serve. So if you imagine a small forehand topspin using a lot of wrist, with the main difference obviously you are aiming to brush the ball with topspin softer to land on your side first. If you can build this kind of feeling into your kicker service action, you’ll find it helps. If you’d like any more help with this feel free to send us in a video of you trying it out,or any other questions feel free to reply on here 🙂
SlicepongThat’s a great image, a small forehand top with serious wrist. I’ll work on it..Thanks very much, Tom.
Tom, I’m still struggling. If it’s a mini forehand, do you hit this serve with the forehand grip and hit the back of the ball at a diagonal onto your side of the table to get the kick? At the end of the follow through is your bat about 45 open? Thanks.
Hi Slicepong, I think it will take some time to master for sure. Yes you hit the back of the ball and brush up with the wrist, the bat would be roughly at 45 degrees. I think try to focus on the use of the wrist and acceleration into the ball if your struggling to get the ball to kick. This type of serve will definitely require time and practice to get right though. Would be great to see a video of you doing the serve to help me give better feedback.
Thanks, Tom. I appreciate your patience. I know I need some when it comes to this serve. Your tips help a lot. The problem is I don’t have a table, so I’m trying to figure it out without real world feedback. I think I’m close. Thanks again!
maurice101It seems to me if you slow the video up more he goes up vertical on the back of the ball. Immediately after contact he turns his wrist so it looks like backspin. It is a very fast movement and it would take me a lot of practice to get right. I feel this would be a great serve to pull out on match point. You can practice serving on a bed if you do not have a table. You can see the amount of spin on the bed. Then try some floor serves too.
Hi M. Yes, excellent point. It does look like he does the backspin finish. He is a bit of a magician and if you can pull it off I can see how it would befuddle your opponent. I’ll just concentrate on the forward brush for now. Thanks for the tips. I’ll give them a shot.
Hi S, If you just do the upward brush it is very clear a topspin serve and not effective as most would just loop a fast return at you.. The hand turn is the key to the serve to fool your opponent. I tried it last night and the person thought it was backspin and an ace serve.
