I've never been more guilty of being so wrong on a serve that I thought was legal. I was told initially that a legal serve simple needed to occur with the paddle being below your waist. Well that couldn't be further from the truth, ok maybe not further since that is one of the 3 rules that needs to occur for the serve to be legal. Let's review and if you are more of a visual person searching on the internet will yield you several how to's and how to not's videos...
There are 3 rules. I was breaking one critical rule about how the paddle needs to be moving at contact.
1. Rule #4.A.5:
The server’s arm must be moving in an upward arc at the time the ball is struck and may be made with either a forehand or backhand motion.
2. Rule #4.A.6:
The paddle head must be below the server’s wrist when it strikes the ball. The highest point of the paddle head cannot be above the highest part of the wrist (where the wrist joint bends)
3. Rule #4.A.7:
Contact with the ball is made below waist level (waist is defined as the navel level)
My particular serve was a reverse spin where the paddle is slicing from right to left. That's actually an okay shot and can be a very tough serve to return as long as the motion from right to left is moving upward at the same time. A typical slice shot would involve the paddle moving high to low with downward force on the ball to create a spin that moves the ball from left to right all the while dropping quickly to the court. My serve was not moving from low to high and one of my players mentioned to me that was not a legal serve. My return comment was it was below my waist which it was but I was missing that one crucial rule.
I see several players utilizing this slice serve and it's quite effective if done right. I'll be paying particular attention to the motion going forward as his serve is very hard to return. An upward slicing motion while starting with the ball and paddle below your naval is not an easy art to perfect. More power to these players I see doing this, some of them have only been playing for a couple months so my suspect radar is now going off on whether they are doing it right.
The safe serve of course is the standard volley ball lob or just a regular forward motion shot. Many experts will tell you that fancy serves are great if you can get them in or place them right. Most will suggest that a deep standard serve with no fancy english or slice often puts your opponent in more of a precarious position for return which has greater odds of your scoring close to the net or in the kitchen than an ace or fault on the serve would.
So on that note, happy legal serving. Let us know how your serve works for you!
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