How to Hit a Topspin Serve in Tennis

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Lincoln Ward. I'm a USPTA Certified Tennis Teaching Pro here in Austin, Texas with Lonestar Tennis Company. Today I'm going to talk to you about your topspin serve. I'll tell you, this one's one of my favorite serves. I'm a lefty. All lefties love the topspin serve. Your topspin serve should be your bread and butter for your second serve. A good topspin serve will serve you justice. When you toss the ball, you're going to go through your stroke like you would any other. But, instead of tossing the ball out in front of you, you're going to turn your arm and you're going to toss it right along this baseline, letting the ball arc over your head. You want to reach your racket up to the sky and reach for the clouds, scratching up on the back of the ball. If you're right handed, you want to make contact around seven o'clock and go straight up to about two o'clock. If you're left handed, you're going to make contact, just the opposite, around four or five o'clock and go through about three o'clock. Now, it's real important to throw your racket up to the sky and not forward. If you throw your racket forward you're going to drive through the back of it and your going to create a weak flat serve. This is not a good spot for you to drive through the ball, so don't worry about the power right now. Work on lifting that ball up, use your legs to help you with that lifting motion and the ball will have a very nice arc, dip down, and kick up at your opponent. The faster you spin the ball, the faster you throw your racket up, the more spin you're going to have, and the faster it's going to dip down. That's how you adjust that topspin serve. My name's Lincoln Ward, that's the topspin serve for you. Thank you."