In today’s video/blog we’re going to go over the five things that you probably didn’t know about the new drop serve.
Stick around to the end of this video/blog because i’m going to show/describe to you a brand new serve that I’m working on.
Fact #1 – You Can Hit The Ball ANY Way You Want
The first thing that you probably didn’t know about the new drop serve is that there are no rules on how you hit the ball.
Now with the traditional serve, there was three criteria that you had to meet.
Number one, you had to contact the ball with your paddle below your wrist.
Number two, you had to hit with a upward motion.
Number three, you had to contact the ball below your waist or your navel.
Now, with the new drop serve, all those rules are void. As long as you drop the ball correctly, you can hit it any way you want.
With those three criteria being void with the new drop serve there’s some different serves that you can try. Obviously, we have the slice serve, that you couldn’t previously do because the slice serve is a high to low motion.
I’ll show you a few of those slice serves. (see video at top of page)
So, along with hitting with a downward motion you could also hit with your paddle above the wrist now and also hit above your waist.
Fact #2 – You Can Drop The Ball ANYWHERE On The Court
The second thing that you probably didn’t know about the new drop serve is that you can drop the ball anywhere on the court.
It doesn’t have to be outside or out of bounds, it could also be inside the court as long as you have both feet behind the baseline.
Fact #3 – You Can Let The Ball Bounce More Than Once Before You Hit It
The third thing that you probably didn’t know about the new drop serve is that you can let the ball bounce more than one time.
Typically, you probably don’t want to do this because you’re going to get a lower contact. But, it’s still in the rules and you don’t have to hit it after one bounce.
You can also hit it after two or more bounces.
Fact #4 – You Can Drop The Ball, Catch It, And You Can Re-Drop It Again
The fourth thing that you probably didn’t know about the new drop serve is that you can drop the ball and then catch it if you didn’t like that bounce for whatever reason.
Let’s say you propelled it accidentally up or down, you can just catch it, restart, drop it again and then serve.
Remember, you cannot toss or “propel” the ball in any way on the drop serve. This includes “propelling” or forcing the ball down on the drop.
Fact #5 – You Can Switch Between The Traditional Serve And The Drop Serve at ANY Time
The fifth and final thing that you probably didn’t know about the new drop serve is that you can switch between the traditional serve and the drop serve anytime you wish.
So you can serve, win the point, and then move to a different serve. Or, while you’re serving, you can attempt to hit a drop serve and then just catch it and not hit it and then hit a traditional serve if you want to.
Alright, so those were the five things that you probably didn’t know about the new drop serve and now you do.
New Serve Technique?
Now I’m going to get to a new serve I’ve been working on and i’m going show you that right now…(see video at top of post).
For this serve I’m going to give a shout out to Zane Navratil. Go search his name on YouTube and find his YouTube channel or click the following link https://www.youtube.com/c/ZaneNavratilPickleball
Because of him I’ve been experimenting with this serve and I just find it really interesting.
He came up with the idea to actually impart some spin on the ball before the serve. I’m going to use two or three fingers to impart some topspin on the ball, rotating forward and then the idea is I’m going to hit the ball with topspin.
So, with this ball already having topspin and my stroke having topspin, it has a little bit of extra kick.
Now I’ve been trying it out and the players I’m playing against, they do notice something a little bit different. This is definitely an advanced serve. It’s very tough.
So, if you don’t have your regular serve down or you’re working on your serve still, I wouldn’t recommend this but this is something fun to try if you’re just having some fun.
Two ways that Zane does it:
Way #1 (see video for demonstration)
The extra topspin comes from the toss. After the ball rises to its peak, I will let the ball drop and strike it on its way down
Criteria #1 – Paddle below wrist
Criteria #2 – Upward motion on swing
Criteria #3 – Contact point below waist line
Way #2 (“The Chainsaw Serve”) (see video for demonstration)
[***Update: Chainsaw Serve Discussed Below Is Now Illegal (as of 2022)***]
Start with the ball on your paddle. The extra topspin will come from pulling my paddle back quickly.
The 3 criteria of a legal traditional serve sill apply (mentioned in previous point)
Hopefully this was a very helpful video for you and it was clear.
There’s a lot of nuances to the new drop serve so hopefully you keep these things in mind and we’ll see you in the next video/blog.
Happy Pickling! Have fun out there!