How to toss the ball more into the court with stability

[dannykl]

Hi I have difficulty trying to toss the ball more into the court for my first serve.
I can toss the ball with reasonable consistency for my topspin serve but is really struggling to have a stable toss for a more offensive first serve.What is the tip for a toss for a flatter serve?Thank you very much.

 

[martini1]

straight arm. Pay attention to your wrist and palm movement (which should be none). Do NOT finger roll. Video yourself and you should be able to see what's wrong. You should be tossing it straight and out at 2 0'clock or so.

Do that about 100-200 times a week and you will see some progress.

 

[boramiNYC]

tossing hand: as you toss lay the hand (wrist) back toward index knuckle. Straight arm is better but no need to lock the whole time. Slight adjustments at elbow might help consistency.

 

[sureshs]

LOL I had the same problem. It was completely fixed by using the fingers. Hold the ball with the first 3 fingers counting from the thumb, and throw the ball in line with your body (or your front foot).

Fingers is the way to do it.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

You might try tossing with your hand more on the side of the ball rather than underneath it. This might help you to toss from the shoulder and prevent you from flipping your wrist and elbow. Federer does it this way -- it is a variation of the ice cream cone toss.

Also, do not lift your tossing arm up in the direction of your service target area. Many pros lift their arm nearly parallel to the baseline (for added body coil). If this direction is too extreme for you, try 45 degrees or some intermediate angle.

 

[4sound]

Tossing with your hand on the side of the ball is a good idea.

-Look up and set the exact location that you want the toss to go before you start your serve motion.

-Start your toss from your racket side pocket.

-Keep your elbow straight.

 

[ramos77]

Coach Mauro is the man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssW6aoRfQXM

 

[dannykl]

Thank you all guys for your kind advises and responses. I'll try them maybe this weekend if the weather is fine.

 

[EdVin70]

Lots of good tips here -

Also, you may want to practice your toss with two balls in your hand, use one to push the other into the air. Another way of putting it is imagine you are holding a tall glass of water and you want to shoot the water straight into the air while keeping your arm straight.

Another good exercise is to stand facing to and very close to a wall or fence and practice tossing along the fence or wall as opposed to into it.

 

[Povl Carstensen]

Someone once told me that with more weight on the back foot it is easier, dont know why, but it seemed to work at the time...
Start the toss from the rackethand pocket seems very logical, and something I have not given consideration, thanks! And also like the "shoot water straight up" analogy.

 

[mikeler]

You might try tossing with your hand more on the side of the ball rather than underneath it. This might help you to toss from the shoulder and prevent you from flipping your wrist and elbow. Federer does it this way -- it is a variation of the ice cream cone toss.

Also, do not lift your tossing arm up in the direction of your service target area. Many pros lift their arm nearly parallel to the baseline (for added body coil). If this direction is too extreme for you, try 45 degrees or some intermediate angle.

Tried the Federer toss out last night. Man my toss was much more consistent. Good tip, thanks.

 

[charliefedererer]

The following is reposted from an earlier thread on tossing: http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=418152

The last part specifically tells how to toss further into the court for a first serve, but the intro tells how to have a consistent serve.


Check out the sequence of Sampras tossing below:

Like all the pros, he tosses with his arm parallel to the baseline.
Federer Murray Haas & more ball toss common threads: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIF-UaRUd6k&feature=related

(The reason for this is so as the tossing arm goes up, your shoulders can be well coiled by ball release (pic 7), so you don't feel rushed getting into a trophy pose before having to start the racquet drop/swing portion of the serve.)


As Pete demonstrates above, the arm is kept straight with no elbow or wrist bend. (So the arm moves only at the shoulder.)

The ball is simply released when the hand reaches a point a little above the shoulder, at eye level:

By having kept the arm straight with no wrist or elbow flick, but merely opening the hand to release the ball, the ball will go up and come down in a parabolic shape that resembles an upside down J (hence why they call the toss the "J" toss):

As long as you bring the arm up at the same speed, follow the same path up with your arm, and release the ball at the same point, it should always go in the same place.


If you want the ball to go higher, bring it up a little faster.

If you want the ball to drop more past your body to the left, release it a little later.
If you want the ball to drop more to the right, before it reaches your body, release a little earlier.
(Reverse these directions if you are left handed.)


Now for the trickier part, how to toss more into the court, or back more/over your head:

If you want to toss the ball out into the court for a first serve like Sampras does above, start the toss with your arm closer to your back foot (pic 1), and as you bring the arm up, move your arm ever so slightly forward so that by the time of release, your arm is past your front foot (pic 7). [Note that at about half way through the toss in pic 3 the ball has been moved forward to a position 1/2 way between the front and back foot.]

(And obviously if you wanted to toss a second serve to land directly over your head, just start bringing your hand up with the ball in between your feet (like the position the ball is in pic 3, but starting with your hand lower) and just bring it straight up between your feet.



Hopefully, I've given you a way to help solve your serving woes.


Oh, .... but one more thing. Even if you understand what to do, it will still take practice to really get it down.