Serve - 6.The Service Toss

The Service Toss

The Toss: The toss of the serve, how insignificant one may see it, can play a large role in your game. In order to be able to hit a good serve, you must have a good toss. Some tennis players have problems with their toss, and some do not. If you are someone who has an inconsistent toss, it is well worth practicing just the toss.

When learning the 4 types of serves, many players get accustom to throwing their toss in different places for the different serves. This is not a big deal, but it may not be a good thing either. If you have to toss the ball in different places to hit different serves you have already told your opponent what serve is coming before you hit the ball. Good tennis players will read your toss to be better prepared. My suggestion to those who are learning the different types of serve is to learn to hit all four serves from the same ball toss. This will make your serve much more effective. The same theory is applied to the placement of your serves. If you are going to tell your opponent where you are serving, you might as well not serve at all. When you get a chance to watch the top players pay attention to their serve, see how they toss the ball, and watch the consistency of their toss. John McEnroe was an expert at disguising his serve. You want to be able to hit the ball in the same spot for your serve every time. This will also help in disguising your serve.

Eye Contact: Always watch the tennis ball from the very beginning of the toss. Avoid tossing the tennis ball up and then start looking for it in the air. Keep your eye on the tennis ball until contact is made! If you take your eyes off of the tennis ball and look at the court that means you just dropped your head. Where the head goes the face of the racquet usually follows, and you will most likely not come up with a good serve, but instead a fault. This is where nerves can play a role especially on the second serve of big points. When some players get nervous they tend to look to the court before they hit the ball. You will have to remember to stay calm and watch the tennis ball the whole way through.

Toss Height: Don't toss the tennis ball too high or too low. Tosses that end up too high will be affected by the wind and cause timing problems, and tosses that are too low are subject to all sorts of problems! Not only will tosses that are tossed too high be affected by the wind, they will also test your timing to the fullest. The toss should be high enough so that when you extend to hit your serve you hit the ball at the peak of the toss while the ball is in equilibrium. You want to hit the ball at it's peak of the toss. How high is that for you? It depends on how tall you are and how high you like to jump (assuming you jump) to get to the ball. You should be able to figure that out quickly. Tossing the ball too low, or letting the ball drop too low before you serve, will not let you hit a powerful serve. Instead You will get cramped up because the ball is too close to you and you will be lucky to hit a solid serve! When the tennis ball is tossed, or allowed to drop too low you will lose spin, power and consistency, so make sure you have a good toss!

Practicing the Toss: I have heard Venus William's say that when she or her sister feel their toss may be off they practice by throwing the tennis ball at a spot on the ceiling. If that is what it takes then great, mark a spot on the ceiling and toss like you would for your serves. I would keep your racquet in your hand just to make it like the real deal, toss, bend your knees, turn, just don't swing.