A kick serve is a serve hit with heavy topspin and sidespin, produced by brushing up the back of the ball instead of hitting through it. To hit one, use a continental grip, toss the ball slightly behind your head, arch your back, and swing up and across the ball from low-left to high-right (for a right-hander) so the racquet finishes on the opposite side of your body. The spin lets the ball clear the net with a comfortable margin, dip into the box, then bounce high and jump away from the returner. It is a dependable second serve when it is built on the right toss, and most of the problems I see come from the toss, not the swing.
In my coaching sessions I teach the kick serve after a player has a stable flat or slice serve and a working understanding of forearm rotation. If you are not there yet, start with my guide to serve pronation and run through the serve diagnostic checklist first. This guide covers the grip, the toss, the swing path, the faults I correct most often, four drills, and when to use the shot in a match.
What the kick serve does and why it matters
A flat serve travels in a nearly straight line, so the margin over the net is small and a poor toss or a slightly late contact sends it into the tape or long. A kick serve trades speed for shape. Topspin pulls the ball down after it passes the net, which lets you aim higher over the tape and still land it in the box. After the bounce, the same spin makes the ball rise sharply and kick sideways. For a right-handed server hitting into the ad court, the ball kicks out wide towards a right-handed returner’s backhand and pushes them off the court.
The practical benefits are consistency under pressure, a high bounce that takes the returner out of their comfortable hitting zone, and extra time for you to move forward after the serve. It is not a power shot. Players who try to hit a kick serve hard usually lose the spin, and the ball sits up for the returner.
The grip: continental, held loosely
Use a continental grip, the same one you use for a slice serve and a volley. Some players move the hand a small step towards the eastern backhand side to find it easier to brush up the ball, and that is fine as long as the racquet face can still turn over through contact. A forehand-style grip locks the forearm and makes the brushing action almost impossible, so the first check I make when a player cannot get spin is where the base knuckle of the index finger sits on the handle.
Hold the handle with the fingers, not a tight palm squeeze, and keep the grip pressure light until contact. A tight squeeze stops the wrist from working. Grip size can affect this too, so if you feel your forearm tightening, read my tennis grip size guide.
The toss: where the kick serve is won or lost
Picture the ball as a clock face, with you looking at the back of it from six o’clock. A flat serve is struck at about one o’clock. A kick serve needs the racquet to travel up the back of the ball, so the toss goes further back than for a flat serve: above your head or slightly behind it, and a little towards your hitting shoulder. Many players are told to toss "over the head" but still release the ball out in front. The test is simple. If you let the ball drop without swinging, it should land behind you, close to your back foot or just inside the baseline behind you.
Three details make the toss repeatable:
- Toss with a straight arm and open fingers. Release the ball at about eye level and let it rise without a flick of the wrist. A flicked toss spins and drifts.
- Keep the toss height just above your contact point. A very high toss gives you time to change your mind and makes the ball harder to time.
- Keep the tossing arm up. It helps your shoulders stay level while you arch your back, and it keeps your eyes on the ball.
If you practise indoors, check the ceiling clearance before you work on a higher toss, and keep the toss height inside what the venue allows. My guide to indoor and outdoor court adjustments explains what else changes between the two.
The swing: brush up and across the ball
The kick serve swing has four phases that you can feel and check in a mirror or on video.
1. Load and arch
Bend both knees and let the hips lean slightly back as the ball goes up. The back arches a little more than on a flat serve, and the shoulders tilt so that your hitting shoulder drops. This tilt lets the racquet travel upward through the ball. Do not overdo the arch. Persistent lower back discomfort during or after serving is a reason to ease off, see a physiotherapist or doctor, and ask a coach to check your technique.
2. Drop the racquet and drive up
From the trophy position the racquet drops behind your back, then the legs push up and the racquet accelerates upward, not forward. Think of swinging up the side of the ball. The picture I give players is the racquet head travelling from seven o’clock to one o’clock on the ball.
3. Contact: full reach, brushing action
Make contact at full extension, a touch lower and further back than on a flat serve. The strings should brush the back and bottom of the ball so that it spins forward and sideways. Your forearm rotates through contact as on any good serve, which is why pronation matters here as well.
4. Finish across the body
Let the racquet continue up and across to the opposite side of your body. For a right-hander the finish ends further left than on a flat serve, and the landing foot often lands a little to the side as well. That is normal. Do not stop the swing at contact.
Five common kick serve faults and how I correct them
- The toss lands in front. The ball then gets hit flat or as a weak slice. Fix it by tossing towards a target behind your head, and let the ball drop on a towel or marker so you can see where it lands.
- The racquet swings forward instead of up. The ball goes into the net or flies long with little spin. Cue the upward swing by finishing with the racquet head pointing at the sky for a moment.
- The wrist is stiff. If the forearm does not rotate, the strings cannot brush the ball. Loosen the grip pressure and revisit the pronation work.
- The player stands up at contact. Without the knee bend and the lean, the ball cannot be reached from below. Hold the arch for a count of one before swinging.
- The ball is hit too hard. A fast arm swing at the ball itself kills the spin. Slow the swing slightly and concentrate on brushing, not hitting.
Four drills to build the kick serve
Drill 1: Toss-and-drop
Stand at the baseline, toss the ball up as if you were serving a kick serve and let it drop without hitting it. Mark where it lands. Repeat ten times and aim to land the ball within a racquet length of the same spot, behind your head. Do this at the start of every serve session until it feels automatic.
Drill 2: Kneeling brush
Kneel on both knees about a metre behind the baseline. Toss slightly behind your head and brush up the ball, aiming to clear the net by a wide margin. Kneeling removes the legs, so you feel only the upward racquet path and the forearm rotation. Hit fifteen balls and check that they bounce and kick, not float.
Drill 3: Spin-first serving
Serve from the baseline at about half effort. The goal is spin, not speed: judge each serve by how high it bounces and how far it kicks sideways. Once most of your serves land in the box with a clear bounce, build speed gradually. Accept some double faults at first while the spin develops.
Drill 4: Target-and-pressure games
Place a target in the wide corner of the ad court and one on the T. Play a short serve game against a partner where a miss on the second serve costs you the point, and use only the kick serve as your second serve. This builds the habit of trusting the shot when a point matters. For how this fits into match play, see why you play worse in matches than in practice.
When to use the kick serve in a match
The most common use is the second serve. A kick serve gives you a bigger margin over the net and more depth control than a flat second serve, and it hands the returner a heavy, high ball. I also use it on a first serve when a returner stands very close to the baseline, or when I want to push a right-handed returner back and wide to the backhand on the ad court.
If your opponent stands deep, a kick serve to the body or wide can pull them forward and out of position. If they step in and take the ball early, serve deeper into the box so the high bounce cannot be taken comfortably on the rise. My return of serve tactics guide shows what a returner is trying to do, which helps you predict what will bother them.
In Singapore’s heat and humidity, a serve with a larger margin is also easier to repeat when you are tired late in a match. See my notes on playing tennis in the heat and humidity for how to manage your energy through a long session.
Common questions
Is the kick serve the same as a topspin serve?
They are closely related. A topspin serve usually means a serve with mostly forward spin. A kick serve adds more sidespin and a higher bounce, and it relies on a toss further behind the head.
How long does it take to learn a kick serve?
It varies by player. In my experience, players with a sound flat or slice serve begin to see a bouncing kick after a few weeks of regular work on the toss and the upward swing, and trust it under match pressure later. Practise it in short blocks several times a week, not in one long session a month.
Can juniors learn the kick serve?
Yes, but I introduce it once the junior has a controlled serve and good shoulder and forearm mechanics, and I watch the amount of back arch carefully. Younger players should build the base motion first.
Does string setup affect the kick serve?
Strings that bite the ball can help you generate spin, but technique decides most of the result. If you are changing your setup, change one thing at a time. My string tension guide gives a simple way to test.
Written by Tan Xu Teng (Coach XT), Head Tennis Coach and founder of TAG International Tennis Academy. Coach XT specializes in technical diagnostics, competitive player development, and modern coaching methodology in Singapore.