the height of serve toss

how high is your serve toss

  • <0.5 time of your body height

    Votes: 4 9.8%
  • about 0.5 time of your body height

    Votes: 11 26.8%
  • <1 time of your body height

    Votes: 15 36.6%
  • about 1 time of your body height

    Votes: 11 26.8%
  • >1 time of your body height

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    41

TennsDog

Hall of Fame
I'm glad no one said less than half their own body height. Making contact at full extension forces you to at least toss it half of your body height, and that is with no drop at all. I voted less than my body height, but upon inspecting videos from my serve last year, my toss is almost exactly twice my body height above the ground, maybe a little less.
 

wihamilton

Hall of Fame
Tossing about 1 foot above your contact point tends to work pretty well. The toss height will be dictated in part by how long it takes for you to prepare.
 

TennsDog

Hall of Fame
Tossing about 1 foot above your contact point tends to work pretty well. The toss height will be dictated in part by how long it takes for you to prepare.

I agree with the second part of your post. Toss height is varies widely among tennis players. Roddick's toss is hardly above contact point at all, while Henman and others have what seem like unnecessarily high ball tosses. My rhythm dictates that the ball drops a bit over 2 feet from the peak. Higher tosses often tend to lead to inconsistent contact, but it all comes down to timing. If you can time it and have a comfortable motion, no reason not to toss high.
 

njboy

Rookie
i feel mine is little low.

I agree with the second part of your post. Toss height is varies widely among tennis players. Roddick's toss is hardly above contact point at all, while Henman and others have what seem like unnecessarily high ball tosses. My rhythm dictates that the ball drops a bit over 2 feet from the peak. Higher tosses often tend to lead to inconsistent contact, but it all comes down to timing. If you can time it and have a comfortable motion, no reason not to toss high.

i feel mine is little low. abotu 0.5 of my boday height. so i don't have time to drop the racquect more.
 

jck01

Semi-Pro
My service toss is pretty high because if I don't toss it high enough, I tend to try to hit it too early.
 

wihamilton

Hall of Fame
Roddick's toss is lower than Henman's b/c Roddick's motion is super-abbreviated. Henman's windup takes much longer... when he tosses the ball his hitting hand is barely above his waist and the racket is around his knees, so he needs more time to get through his service motion = he needs a higher toss.

As I said before, in general, e.g. w/a classic service motion, a toss ~ 1 foot above your contact point works pretty well. Obviously you want to +/- some height based on your individual motion.
 

LuckyR

Legend
I toss about 18 inches above the contact point. Keep in mind that the higher the toss (assuming that it doesn't mess up your rhythm) the higher percentage of serves you will get in.
 

herosol

Professional
Height is Based on Preference

Contact point is based on your height

Throw it right to the contact point
throw it above or let it drop

really its your call
there isn't ONE exact height to throw it
 

TennsDog

Hall of Fame
I toss about 18 inches above the contact point. Keep in mind that the higher the toss (assuming that it doesn't mess up your rhythm) the higher percentage of serves you will get in.

I disagree here on a higher toss giving more consistency. In my opinion, generally speaking, a lower toss will give you better consistency because it leaves less room for error (between the actual toss location, wind conditions, it's moving faster so harder to time, etc.). I would say that one should toss the ball as low as possible that will still give good consistency. Don't throw it so high you have to wait, but not so low you have to rush your motion either. The key is to make contact at full extention.
 
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