Toss falls apart - what to do against nerven?
- Thread starter toth
- Start date
I dont think one would like to play tennis with Xanax.
The question is how to controll motions without Xanax
heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
I do a practice toss and catch it
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2nd Serve Ace
Hall of Fame
Gotten to two bounces with an inhale through the nose and then a slow exhale through the mouth at the start of the toss with a final air expulsion at contact.
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Magnesium supplementation taken with green tea (a source of L-theanine) or chamomile tea might be a good substitute for Xanax. Lemon balm, kava, valerian root, passion flower or 5-HTP (a version of the amino acid, tryptophan) might also help to calm the nerves.
Cut back on the caffeine prior to tennis if it is contributing to your anxiety. Or get your caffeine from a no-sugar energy drink (like 5-hour Energy), on an empty stomach, rather than with coffee. Best to compliment your caffeine intake with L-Theanine to take the edge off the caffeine. Also try 10-20 minutes of meditation prior to tennis.
Before you release the tennis ball on your toss, look upward where you want your ball toss to go. Let your subconscious mind figure out how to get the ball to that location. Hopefully that will give you a decent, reliable toss that does not break down
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socallefty
G.O.A.T.
You are nervous because you don’t have confidence in your serve technique. Practice a lot till you have a lot of confidence in your technique. Your nerves will go away once you have a 1st serve that is somewhat of a weapon for your level and you can even hit your 2nd serve accurately to different locations without worrying about double faults. Don’t play too many matches until you have a solid serve technique from serving many baskets of balls every week.
You are right of cource
But unfortunately i have limited time and money for tennis..
There is a hectic in my toss this is the reason my toss is not reliable.
I suspect the instruction ,,loose" is not good for the tossing grip and tossing arm(?)
Fintft
G.O.A.T.
Your tossing arm should definetly not be loose, imho, but with a locked elbow from the start and keep strecthing it as you point up.
Once coach told me once: the left side of the body stretched, while the right side should be relaxed, during the serve....
Toss slowly and watch where you want to place the ball.
LOBALOT
Hall of Fame
My toss has been complete garbage lately and I can't seem to figure out why. I feel like I am chasing the ball constantly. It is not even close to repeatable.
I realize you guys can't do much without seeing it so will be heading to "serving 101 online tutorials" for that aspect of the game so perhaps you have some links to share.
It is driving me nuts!!!
I realize you guys can't do much without seeing it so will be heading to "serving 101 online tutorials" for that aspect of the game so perhaps you have some links to share.
It is driving me nuts!!!
Happi
Hall of Fame
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Did you try my suggestion in the last paragraph of post #7?
Also more / quality sleep at night. And try the ice cream cone toss -- similar to what Roger F does
LOBALOT
Hall of Fame
Thanks, I will give that a go.
hacker_101
New User
Copy the Isner toss.
So simple yet effective.
Slight shift weight forward and release with a straight arm.
The key point for me is he releases the toss around 12 or 1 o'clock and keeps his hand there palm up AFTER the toss has completed.
Toss at 12, Stay at 12.
Toss at 1, Stay at 1.
So simple yet effective.
Slight shift weight forward and release with a straight arm.
The key point for me is he releases the toss around 12 or 1 o'clock and keeps his hand there palm up AFTER the toss has completed.
Toss at 12, Stay at 12.
Toss at 1, Stay at 1.
Rubens
Hall of Fame
That'll take care of the nerves. And probably negatively affect the performance on all the tasks other than the toss.
Substituting drugs for counselling. Shrinks nowadays...
I do this inatruction,
Not bad, but i have problem with it, too.
It can make the toss too low.
McGradey
Hall of Fame
Yeah if it gets significantly lower when you slow it down it’s still a bad toss, just a different one. I just find it’s easier to see and figure out what is going wrong when you do it more slowly. And then you can at least make the adjustment. If it’s a rushed motion there can be all kinds of things happening and I won’t know where to start.
I suspect what are the point are heve to focus, i experiented a lot with it..
Unfortunately 3 points to focus, seems to be not easy...
I play this evening, i will see how does it work on a match.
Shroud
G.O.A.T.
Prayer was ruled a hinderance.
I fixed it by realizing my fingers would shake and that was messing up the toss. Now i knuckle the ball. Hard to shake when your fingers are bent. It might not be as precise but the amount of caught tosses goes way down
There's often a solution, the issue is usually something is technically off that manifests itself when tension is added. Above post is one example, so need to identify where the tension may be, not always super easy but definitely possible.
I have the same problem with toss under pressure. There is no sure cure, you’re in a pressure situation. My pro told me the nerves were likely because my mind was jumping ahead to other issues. He said “OK, you’re serving at 6-7 in the tiebreaker, you’re about to begin your toss. what are you thinking about? “ Well, I was‘t really thinking about anything specific. My mind was enveloped in a massive fog of nerves and negativity. He told me everyone struggles with these situations but some handle it better than others. He suggested I only focus on making the toss, nothing else. He said nerves make you jump ahead in situations like this. You think about not double faulting, etc. But telling yourself the only think that matters is trying to make a good toss allows you to focus on the now, not the other crap. So think about making a good toss and if you don’t like it, don’t swing at it. ( BTW, I still have problems with the toss but this advice helped a lot. )
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
As I had suggested before... As you start lifting your tossing arm (before you release the ball), look up to the area in space where you want the ball toss to be placed. Visualize exactly where you want that to be.
If you practice this a few times (or a few dozen times), your brain should get pretty good at controlling your toss placement. It should be neither too high nor too low if you really focus on where you want your toss to be.
A bit of a catch 22 because the worse your toss is the more tension you will have during pressure moments which leads to your toss being even worse which adds even more pressure. Somehow have to get over that barrier where your toss feels comfortable so that you can toss with a relaxed arm and you're not thinking about something going wrong, easier said that done of course.
I try to identify the techniqual issue
I experience a lot with it
Now a suspect what schould i improve (toss grip, toss direction, body position)
I try it next time when i play tennis
Wheelz
Hall of Fame
I was going to say practice your toss can help a lot. I always ignored that tip but have been doing it lately. It’s pretty good. You get to know more about your toss then you think. Do a serve basket a day or every few days. Make it land in the same spot (I have a box on the ground)
Handling pressure has to do with technique. Every tennis player has to play under pressure. The better your technique is, the better it will withstand pressure.
Your toss isn't good enough. It is cracking under pressure. Practice it more and more until it doesn't crack under pressure. Make it so strong that no amount of pressure can break it.
Your toss isn't good enough. It is cracking under pressure. Practice it more and more until it doesn't crack under pressure. Make it so strong that no amount of pressure can break it.
BallChaser
Rookie
Agreed with @Pumpkin
Besides all the advice above, when you start lifting your tossing arm, make sure you start low and have a sufficient "run-up" motion. Without enough "run-up," you tend to rely on forearm and wrist that tend to wobble. Many players abbreviate this run-up under nerve and end up losing the ability to control where the ball is tossed.
Besides all the advice above, when you start lifting your tossing arm, make sure you start low and have a sufficient "run-up" motion. Without enough "run-up," you tend to rely on forearm and wrist that tend to wobble. Many players abbreviate this run-up under nerve and end up losing the ability to control where the ball is tossed.
antony
Hall of Fame
You can always toss again? Not too sure what the big deal is.
Interesting I just figured out that locking my arm was one of the main causes of my problems. What I mean by that is keep it extended with no flipping but not lock it all the way.
No, i cant.
None of my friends would play with me if i always would toss 3-4 times...
antony
Hall of Fame
Don't make it a routine. Just try to make a good toss, and if it isn't, abort and try again and you'll get better at it.
Thank you for your advice
I was thinking the opposite: practise it, experiences with it until it becomes a reliable toss(?!)
Happi
Hall of Fame
Excellent, thanks for sharing.
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
I wonder if you flick your fingers and/or your wrist towards you when you toss the ball. That can lead to a very inconsistent toss.
I will try these tips
Jeff Salzeinsein says:,,no more J toss"...
Happi
Hall of Fame
Ok if the Serve Doctor (sorry Serve Surgeon) tells you that, then for sure you can’t use the J toss, no matter if it works for you or not
I spent a couple of years modelling my serve on Sam Groths and ended up with a more powerful serve and a woeful ball toss, similar to his. He just extends his tossing arm from a bent position diagonally forwards/upwards, like he's collecting his change from John Isner. Which is a recipe for disaster as far as toss accuracy goes because you're adding another variable which, if not kept constant makes the optimal release height a variable.
So I ended up with major tossing woes that were accentuated proportionate to the pressure. So I was tossing the ball up as many as 4 times for 1 serve. In hindsight the underarm serve may have been an option. Anyway I got advice from here and I went between icecream cone (favoured on this board) and holding the ball in all fingers (standard technique?), and both were fairly poor for quite a while. Just a disclaimer for the OP, the ice cream cone grip at its lowest ebb was the worst. But I eventually settled on the icecream cone grip and I think it's the best technique for the tossing yips. I think as the OP has discovered the hard way a suspect toss tends to be magnified more than most deficiencies under pressure.
