Shots, shots, shots….How are they called?
What are the different shots in tennis? In this article we will help you understand tennis shots by enriching your tennis vocabulary.
First let’s start with what forms the basis of a tennis game: the shots. In tennis there are seven basic shots: the serve, forehand, backhand, volley, slice, overhead smash and lob.
Today we will take a good look at the serve.
A serve is the shot which starts a tennis game. The most common type of serve preferred by the professional tennis players is called an overhead serve; though there had been few occasions in tennis history where even professional players like Martina Hingis commenced a game with an underhand serve (where the ball is struck below the shoulder level). The underhand serve, although may seem unprofessional in competitive tennis, is technically legal.
There are four types of overhead serves; and as you master each one of them and become more confident of your serving skills, you might want to use a mix of them in your competitive games to prevent your opponent from returning your serve. The first type of overhead serve is called the flat serve and you can perform this serve by holding your racket with a Continental grip and swinging through the ball, which you toss forward and a little to your right (if you are right handed). Although a flat serve is considered to be type of serve which you can control fully, it is also the type of serve which has a low margin for making errors. It is said that professional players do not prefer to use this type of serve as a second serve due to such disadvantage.
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The second type of overhead serve is called the slice serve where you toss the tennis ball slightly to your right hand side (if you are a right handed player) and your racket brushes the ball on the right side as you swing through it. Just like an overhead serve, a slice serve has little room for errors; therefore it is generally preferred as a first serve.
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The third type of overhead serve, namely the topspin serve, is one of the most preferred by the pro players as a second serve, due to its being an easy serve for the server with a good margin of error. When performing this serve, you should position your right foot (if you are a right handed player) parallel to the baseline while your left foot should be positioned to point towards the right net post. You should make sure to toss the ball high above your head and slightly to the left and to swing the ball in a sideways direction.
The fourth serve, namely the twist serve, is the other most preferred overhead serve due to its reliability. This high margin error serve bounces higher and renders it more difficult for the opponent to return them. The movements you should do before performing a twist serve are similar to that of the topspin serve though with the twist serve you should also arch your back for preparing yourself for the left to right swing. Do not forget to toss the tennis ball high above your head before you swing it.
In this post we have covered the basics and the vocabulary pertaining to the overhead serve. While you are waiting for our next article on tennis terminology, make sure to watch the games of the professional tennis players and start imitating and practicing their serving techniques in your next tennis game. Remember that practice makes it perfect!
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