The Kick Serve

CSU Bakersfield Head Coach Dan McCain

In today’s game, whether you are an aspiring young junior, an adult seeking to build beyond the status quo, or a professional, a good kick serve can help take your game to new heights. While there are men on the ATP Tour that occasionally stray from using the kick serve on their second serve due to their high confidence level on their flat or slice serves, the vast majority of the men on tour hit kick serves when they have a second serve opportunity.

Due to the type of technique and racquet head acceleration the kick serve calls for, pros use this serve on the second serve because, when hit correctly, it is a very reliable, high percentage shot that a player can count on as a safe and effective method of starting (and often setting up) a point.

As is with every shot in the game, the top priorities of technique for the kick serve is an understanding of what to do with the wrist, and how to turn the shoulders. An important technical addition to execute within the scope of correct shoulder rotation and using the wrist properly is the location of the toss, and we will see why a good toss is essential for one’s ability to turn and brush up and across the ball with their wrist in the best way possible.

The Motion

The service motion, like many other strokes, differs from player to player. What is important to recognize though, is that all the top pros with the best serves in the world have certain key elements that are identical. By identifying these elements, and understanding why each check-point helps maximize racquet speed and control, then we of course can begin to reproduce them and improve our own serves, including our kick serves.

The service motion itself consists of taking the racquet back and tossing the ball, where both arms start and finish the motion. Traditionally, the ideal motion begins with the notion of both arms moving down and up together. In other words, after beginning in the ready position, with the tossing hand holding the ball near or inside the throat of the racquet and the tip of the racquet head pointing toward the T (middle intersecting line of the service line across the net), the tossing arm drops down to the inside thigh as the racquet drops down behind the server’s hip. Then the tossing hand reaches up as the racquet moves up before swinging up after the ball.

The above-mentioned technical check-points with the right hand (reversed for lefties) include just a couple of simple important ideas. When taking the racquet back, the wrist should stay relatively straight. If the wrist is laid back, then it will be difficult to hit much spin because of where the racquet face then points. The racquet face will point out and away from the server’s head and body with the wrist laid back, and if the racquet face points toward the server’s head and body, with the wrist straight, then it will be infinitely easier to brush up and across the ball to generate spin.

Also, if the wrist goes limp and drops too much, then the next check point will be difficult to achieve for most – which is when the right wrist is be brought up near the right ear – before accelerating up to impact the ball. With the right elbow completely relaxed and very bent – beyond a ninety degree angle – the right fist can move close to the right ear before exploding upward. It is also at this moment when a great majority of players on the ATP Tour, slow down their motion for a brief second before accelerating up toward the ball. This “pause” helps the player coil before springing upward, which aids in racquet head speed, much like when, before leaping up in the air, a person will squat down with their legs bent.

We see baseball pitchers reach back behind their hips with the ball in hand and then move their right hands up to their right ears before releasing the pitch, and the service motion has a number of striking similarities to the throwing motion of a pitcher.  Just like a pitcher throwing, a player with a good service motion will always reach straight up and forward toward the ball for impact from the right fist (right ear position).

Of course, Federer, who does nearly everything right with his technique, executes these ideas with grace and pinpoint agility. With his arms moving down together and up together and keeping his wrist relatively straight during the racquet take-back, his right hand moves up near his right ear before accelerating upward.

Roddick hits the same check-points in a different way, by simply bringing his racquet straight up behind his head. His right wrist stays pretty straight and he brings the right hand straight up from his ready position to his right ear before swinging up after the ball. Both Roddick and Federer have a pause at the same time, as both their tossing arms have reached up and their right fists are near their right ears.

The Wrist

We have already discussed an important aspect of what to do with the wrist on the service motion (keep it straight!) and racquet take-back. But using the wrist to brush up and across the ball during impact can elevate one’s ability to create spin on the kick serve.

Upon reaching the aforementioned check-point where the right fist is brought up to the right ear (with a very bent right elbow), the right wrist at this point should be kept straight. Ideally, it is at this point where the player propels the racquet head straight up and forward toward the ball for impact.

For flat serves, it is at this impact point where players will want to pronate (turn the wrist out to the right and down on top of the ball) their racquet faces and wrist. For slice serves the players will, after swinging upward, brush the right side of the ball on contact. If you can imagine a clock on the tennis ball, players will want to pronate on top of the ball at 12 noon for a flat serve, and brush the right side of the ball at around 1 or 2 o’clock for a slice serve, depending on the amount of spin one wants to hit. These differences are worth mentioning between flat and slice serves, since on a kick serve, the clock analogy can be extremely useful.

While it appropriate for a player to hit on top of the ball as mentioned earlier on a flat or a slice serve at 12, 1 or 2 o’clock on the ball, this is not the case when striking the ball on the kick serve. The player instead will want to use the right wrist and the right arm to brush up the back of the ball and across the ball, starting at 8 o’clock – brushing up and across to 2 o’clock. By brushing up this way and propelling the right wrist up and across the ball, the subsequent spin created can cause a range of problems for your opponent attempting to return this serve. If the ball bounces typically to the left on a slice serve for a right-handed server because of the spin, on a true kick serve, when a player brushes up and across the ball from 8 to 2 o’clock, then the ball instead will “kick”, or bounce to the left.

On most tennis courts, there are lights so people can play at night. And when lining up to serve to the ad court (as opposed to the deuce court), a player will want to brush up and across the ball – and swing toward the lights located somewhere near the middle of the court (any light located somewhat parallel to the net will do, give or take a few meters).

When brushing up and across the ball, the player hitting a kick serve will want to hit only a small fraction of the ball, brushing only up and across the outermost end of the ball in order to generate as much spin possible. It’s important to keep in mind that a good kick serve is one with the maximum amount of spin that a player can create, so the faster the racquet speed a player can generate the better.

Because a player wants this tremendous amount of spin, the kick serve is never a shot with the highest speed or miles per hour that a player is capable of hitting. Just like a heavy topspin forehand becomes safer with the more net clearance and topspin created, thus creating a greater arc for the shot, the kick serve is best hit with great arc, and with a great amount of spin to facilitate the arc. This makes the kick serve a very high-percentage shot and a safe and reliable serve.

The Shoulder Turn

Going back to the baseball pitcher analogy, the shoulder turn on a kick serve is slightly different than the shoulder rotation on a flat or slice serve. Just like a pitcher who throws a fastball, the first serve shoulder rotation involves turning slightly beyond a sideways posture, showing the back shoulder blade to the server’s target, before opening up the shoulders and pointing the chest at the target. So a baseball pitcher reveals his back shoulder blade to home plate while reaching his arm back behind his hip and then moving his right hand up to his right ear. Upon releasing the fastball, the pitcher opens up his shoulders, facing home plate as he propels his arm forward and releases the ball from his fingers. The fastball is released with the right hand above the right shoulder, where, going back to the clock analogy, if above his head is 12 o’clock, then the fastball is released at 1 o’clock for a right-hander.

On the right, Nalbandian tosses the ball at 1 O'clock and opens up his shoulders on a 1st Serve. On the left, we see him tossing the ball behind his head and keeping shoulders closed longer for the kick serve.

Similarly, on a flat serve or a slicea server wants to toss the ball at 1 o’clock after showing the back shoulder blade to the returner, and then opening up the shoulders on impact, facing the chest at the returner. Watch David Nalbandian hit a first serve (above left) and you will see this shoulder rotation on the flat or slice serve executed to near perfection. His shoulder rotation is a large part of why he has such an effective serve on both first (flat or slice) and second (kick) serve (left). Note that Nalbandian, like other pros, stays closed slightly longer on the kick.

It’s important to understand the shoulder rotation of the flat and slice serve to be able to distinguish it from the shoulder turn on the kick serve. What is the difference? Well, simply put, you stay closed (or sideways) longer on the kick. Instead of opening up the shoulders on impact and facing (or pointing the chest at) the returner, the best players in the world with the best kick serves always stay relatively closed while contacting the ball, and then open up their shoulders at the end of the motion during the follow-through as they land on their left foot.

By maintaining this nearly sideways (or closed) posture during impact, the server is fully capable of brushing up and across the ball. The server's chest is facing the same direction at which they are brushing up and out to the right away from the body. 

For practical purposes, most players hitting a kick serve are not capable of staying totally sideways during contact, but touring pros with great kick serves maintain their sideways posture much longer. In fact, on the kick serve they stay almost closed at impact before opening up their shoulders - longer than they would for a flat or slice serve. Like other pros, Juan Carlos Ferrero (below) uses this shoulder turn on the kick serve to perfection.

The Toss

Since we have discussed how to turn on the kick serve and what to do with the wrist, we must also understand that neither of those things will be possible without tossing the ball in the right location.

Once again using the clock analogy, if tossing the ball on a serve would render a 12 o’clock toss, then moving the toss a little to the right would be 1 o’clock, and a little to the left would be 11 o’clock. A 1 o’clock toss (12.30 is ok, but not perfect) is appropriate for flat and slice serves, which could also be said to be located in between the right ear and the right shoulder – and we can see Roddick and Federer use this toss on nearly every first serve (flat or slice) they hit.

And for the kick, the toss should behind the head of the server, at 11 o’clock (11.30 is ok too, for more advanced players). Without the toss on the kick serve at or around 11 o’clock, the server will not be able to stay relatively closed with the shoulders during contact, and the server will also not be able to brush up and across the ball as previously discussed. If the toss is above the head at 12 o’clock or even further to the right, the server will have no choice but to hit a slice serve, regardless of how he or she attempts to brush up and across the ball.

It’s important to note that no serve is best hit with a toss at 12 o’clock. Players that hit a combination kick and slice serve often fail in effectiveness with their serve, and players who attempt to hit flat or slice with a kick serve toss, or a toss above their head often struggle with percentages. A server should totally commit to either a flat or slice serve with a 1 o’clock toss, or a kick serve with an 11 or 11.30 toss, and nothing in between. It’s also important to note that all tosses, for every serve should be located not just in the right location, but also in front of the baseline for greater power, greater forward momentum, and greater racquet speed.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned techniques take time to develop. But with a good throwing motion and a good understanding of how to use the wrist, how to turn the shoulders, and where to toss the ball, a good kick serve is something that everyone can have.