Pendulum sidespin serve

Vijay Madge Asked 11 years ago

Hi Alois,

In your videos both Jeff and you are seen doing the pendulum sidespin service invariably down the line. But most of the club level players I have played with do the same serve cross-court. Secondly while you serve short they serve often long with a fierce kick to it. Is it simply a matter of bat angle, stance or do they achieve the kick and spin because they add topspin to it. I am asking you this because if I do it the way you recommend the ball does get a curve but it's a tepid one with not much  spin either. Maybe I have not got the action right yet but in the videos too your sidespin serves do not have that bite which I encounter at the club level. Of course thanks to your tips I can counter them but I am just curious to know the why of the difference.

Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago

Hi Vijay,

When you serve the ball long you give your opponent more opportunity to attack the ball.  Now whether this is a problem will depend on whether your opponent has a strong attack or not.

At the club level you may get away with it however as the game progresses you want to be serving more short because their attack is stronger.

Although the short serves we do may look like they don't have much spin, there is still a lot of spin on the ball.  It doesn't look to be curving because the serve isn't travelling over as great a distance.

To get the ball with a lot of spin and still short take a very fast and fine brushing action.  This takes time to develop.  The best way to start is by swinging through really fast like you are seeing the other players do and then keep working on getting the contact finer to get the ball to travel less distance.