What is the difference between a Twist serve and a Topspin-Slice serve?

Question

On all the websites I try to lookup, they always describe the two serves so similarly, but they say the Twist does something like create an Axis of rotation out of line with the flight path (I can't comprehend this, I don't know why.)

I can happily do a topspin-slice serve whenever I want, a 1-2o clock spin. However, the websites all describe the twist as being similar to this type of spin as well.

I don't get it. Can somebody explain the difference, and perhaps explain how to do it (in comparison to the topspin-slice serve?)

Answer 1

twist serve bounces the wrong way..

Answer 2

There is a difference in the way you hit the 2 serves and how the ball moves. This is for a righty.

Twist: The racket head brushes up and outward to the right from 8 o'clock to 2 o'clock. Your body motion and direction goes  forward and left for the deuce box and forward and a little right for the ad. This means that for the deuce box serve, the spin is opposite of the direction the ball is moving. The ball travels right to left, but bounces left to right. For the ad box the ball moves in the same general direction, left to right, but the bounce is explosive to the left up and out.

Topspin-slice: As you mention, you hit primarily the top of the ball 1-2 o'clock and continue to carve around as you generate slice so the ball continues to right to left for the deuce box and some right to left for the ad(hard to get as much action as the topspin takes away a little of the slice move).

A well done twist causes an egg like distortion of the ball and the receiver is often surprised by the paradoxical ball movement. On the other hand, you can hit the topspin-slice serve harder since body movement and racket motion are in the same direction most of the time. Sorry for the length of this. Demonstrations work better.

Answer 3

The twist serve is a special kind of topspin-slice serve that "ends with a twist," you might say, because it bounces the wrong way. Instead of continuing to curve leftward after the bounce, it breaks rightward.