Height of Ball Toss?

[thefan]

The ball toss is the most inconsistant part of my game. How high should the ball toss be for a flat serve? Kick serve?

 

[J.W. North Tennis91]

my coach said the ball toss should be as high as ur raquet when ur holding up ur arm with ur raquet on hand.

 

[bluestreak711]

idk about a kick serve but the basic ball toss for a flat serve is.....hold your tennis racquet straight up...in other words reach for the sky with your tennis racquet in your hand and at the top of the frame is how high your toss should be

this is the most common way but it may vary such in Andy Roddick's case but not every serves like Andy Roddick

and i can't be certain on this and correct me if i am wrong but it seems the kick serve is the same hight but i know you toss it toward you dominent side if you are a righty toss it sorta behind you or over you toward your right

and for a normal serve your toss is a bit out in front of you

but if you are having trouble with your serve i wouldnt be try to learn a kick serve


there is a drill to help you and you can practice this anywhere lay your racquet on the ground where if you would let your toss fall to the ground that it will be in the same place each time so toss your ball and let it fall and try to let it fall in your racquet


here is a sight check out the serve helps



http://uspta.com/index.cfm/MenuItemID/1644/MenuGroup/New-USPTA-Education.htm

 

[LazyAzN]

IIRC, for a kick serve, the ball should be a bit lower than your flat and slice serve. That way, you can brush up (and over?) on the ball instead of trying to over extend to the ball. But as everyone else said, the ball should make contact with the ball when you fully extend your arm and your racquet upward.

 

[Mahboob Khan]

Height of the toss: 1 arm, 1 racket, and 1 foot above the tip of the racket so that it enables you to stretch up.

For flat serve: Same height, but a bit in front.

For kick serve: Same height, but a bit behind and to the left.

 

[LuckyR]

The ball toss is the most inconsistant part of my game. How high should the ball toss be for a flat serve? Kick serve?

"should", of course is the key word here. You can toss the ball anywhere you want. Many try to hit serves at the peak of the toss. They are interested in the ball being as close to stationary as possible to improve accuracy. And I suppose if your service toss is a bit eratic, that might be necessary. However, many folks have almost pinpoint accuracy using tosses that go significantly higher than the hit point and are on the way down when struck. I personally use this technique since it imparts a bit of topspin to serves that are struck flat, therefore improving their consistancy a bit (most say about 10% improved first service consistancy).

 

[ShooterMcMarco]

my coach said the ball toss should be as high as ur raquet when ur holding up ur arm with ur raquet on hand.

I think the ball should be tossed about a foot higher than where you mentioned.

 

[cliff]

Check out some video clips of the pro's and see what they do. there are loads of free service video clips at www.procomparetennis.net
I believe you must toss the ball slightly higher than your ideal contact point and in a position that enables you to move forward after it.