December 14, 2015 - Fast, Quick Motions Disguise a No-Spin Serve

Many players learn to put decent spin on their serves. However, when faced with disguising this spin, they have great difficulty. Why not develop a tricky no-spin serve, with a fast, quick serve contact? Change directions in the split second that the racket contacts the ball, where it is nearly motionless, or contact the ball near the handle of the blade (where the racket is moving slowest) so there will be little spin … but your opponent will be left making a snap decision on what's on the ball. Perhaps exaggerate one direction, often down, then snap the racket up at contact, leaving the receiver to figure where the contact was – and you have three options: on the down swing (backspin), as the racket is changing directions (no-spin), or on the sideways or upswing (light sidespin or topspin). A no-spin serve is just as effective as a spin serve if the opponent thinks there is spin on the serve!