Handle with Care II

A couple of months ago I wrote a post titled "Handle With Care", regarding the importance of the service toss. In it, I mentioned saving some info about physical help in the tossing motion for a later post. Now is the time to talk about that.

We discussed how the toss location has a distinct effect on the quality of the serve. We also examined how important it is that the server know where the ball must be placed for a given serve. But how to get the ball there?

The first answer is practice. Most young athletes don't have a lot of experience placing balls with their non-dominant hand. This inherent inconsistency transfers directly to an inconsistent serve, so it is very important to practice this motion in order to repeat it the same way every time. Take the time to watch top players serve, but instead of watching the racquet and ball during the serve motion, isolate your vision on the tossing arm and hand. There are many different styles out there, but most share a few physical elements.

1- Keep the toss arm relatively straight. The fewer variables, the fewer things that can go wrong. Try and drop the hand straight down and straight back up, avoiding the crescent -shaped toss and loss of control. Use the shoulder as the hinge in the motion, and avoid tossing by flexing the elbow or the wrist.

2- Try using your palm more than your fingers. If you can accomplish it comfortably, open your fingers like the petals of a flower at release in order to create as little spin as possible. When studying high quality serve tosses, you will notice most players toss a ball that has little spin, and is therefore easier to control.

3- Be aware of the wind, both its direction and strength, as this will have an adverse effect on your toss location. In strong gusty circumstances, it will be necessary to "play " the wind in order to manage the desired placement. In extreme cases, you may want to lower your toss target, sacrificing the full extension at contact, in order to keep the toss consistent and manageable.

4- We have all seen the "club player" motion that utilizes a bounce of the knees to propel the toss arm and ball into the air. Once again, more moving parts are more things that can go wrong. Eliminate leg movement from the toss action, saving the loaded energy in the legs to drive the racquet upward.

As discussed in March, the most important thing, and what has to happen before all these physical elements, is knowing and reminding yourself of exactly WHERE you need the ball to be for a given serve design.If you aren't aware yet, seek the guidance of a Pro or Coach to help you identify where your toss targets should be. Once you know your "toss targets" for your various serves and spins, it's time to practice consistently placing the ball in those locations. Improving your toss skills will have a dramatic effect on improving your serve. Which will undoubtedly, improve your results.