Three Toss Tips for the Serve

During the last three years, probably 95 percent of the serve lessons I have given have worked on nothing but the toss.

Players can imitate the pros all they want or take a lesson that helps with the hips, shoulders, (mythical) “wrist snap” or other part of the serve…but none of this helps if the ball is tossed behind a player, inside the tossing arm or too low.

And if you watch most recreational players, their toss is behind them or to the side.

You can immediately improve ALL of your players’ serves by helping them get the ball in the correct position.

Understanding the Body’s Role

Step #1 — Ask players to warm up their serve.

Step #2 — Have one player put his racquet down and hold up his racquet hand above his head. Put your hand against the player’s hand and move the player’s arm slightly behind his head and ask him to push you as hard as he can. Because the player’s arm is behind him, he won’t be able to get any legs or body weight into the push.

Step #3 — Put your hand against the player’s hand and let the player’s arm press against your hand in front of his hand. Now ask him to push you has hard as he can. The player will now be able to use his legs and push hard against you. Ask which was easier, the first push, with his hand and arm behind his head, or the second push, with his hand and arm in front of him. He will immediately realize it’s easier when making contact with your hand in front of his body.

Step #4 — Have the rest of the group pick a buddy and try this exercise. Everyone should quickly see that making contact behind the body provides almost no power whatsoever. Ask players to push slowly and feel which body muscles they are using for each push.

Step #5 — Ask players where they would rather make contact with their serve, behind them or in front of them.

Where Should the Ball Land?
Your players now know that they want to make contact with the ball in front of them. Have them practice their tosses without hitting the ball. Most players will find that the ball lands on the baseline or behind them when they toss.

Your players will begin to try to get the tossed ball to land in front of them; watch as they begin to abbreviate their toss (the arm will only end up at a 45-degree angle) to try and “place” the ball in front of them.

Getting Unhinged
Why does the ball toss land behind so many players? The arm is hinged at the wrist and elbow. If this two hinges move during the ball toss, the ball will follow the direction they go. So, if the elbow breaks during the ball toss, with the hand moving toward the player’s head, the ball will move toward the player’s head, and eventually, behind it. The same goes for the wrist.

Have your players learn to keep their arm straight during the toss by practicing the “sno-cone” toss .

Step #1 — Have players make a fist with their tossing hand, and place a tennis ball on top of it, similar to placing sno-cone ice on top of a sno-cone cup.

Step #2 — Demonstrate a toss to the group by placing your arm straight out, parallel to the ground, and placing a ball on your fist in the sno-cone manner. Moving your arm straight up, until it’s perpendicular to the ground, watch the ball continue to go up, over your head, after your arm has stopped moving. Give the example of a basketball on top of an elevator. What would happen to a basketball on top of an elevator if the elevator, after racing up 10 stories, was to suddenly stop? The basketball would continue moving.

The word “toss” is actually a terrible teaching tool. You don’t need to actively “toss” the ball; simply let it come out of your hand on its own.

Step #3 — Have your players try sno-cone tosses.

Step #4 — Demonstrate a toss again, this time resting the ball in your fingertips, as for a normal toss, and, as with the sno-cone toss, letting the ball come out of your hand after your arm stops.

Step #5 — Have your player practice tossing a ball with a straight arm, LETTING the ball come out of the hand. NOTE: Make sure players to no “toss” the ball by stopping their arm at a 45-degree angle or by breaking the wrist or angle. Tell your players to point their hand at the sky, not the top of the opposite fence.

Rock or Roll?
There are two predominant ways to shift the weight during a serve: begin with the weight on the front foot, rock back and then rock forward into the serve; begin with the weight back, then rock forward. Both can be used successfully, but rocking back can lead to toss problems if the player tosses the ball on the way back. If she does this, then when she shift her weight forward, the ball will now be behind her. Ask you players to practice a few tosses (without a ball) to see if the start with their weight back or forward. Let them know both are fine. Ask those who rock back, then forward, if they toss the ball when they are moving backwards or forward. Have them practice tossing with a ball to see where their toss ends up. If they are tossing or releasing the ball on the way back, have them learn to toss the ball on the way forward.

One caveat here regarding the two predominant ways to shit the weight during a serve — more and more players are using a deep knee bend and jumping straight into the air during the serve. The ball toss still needs to be in front of them.

Left or Right?
For the rest of this article, we will assume the servers are right-hand.

Using the exercise where players get a buddy and pushed against their buddy’s hand in front and behind them, have players push their buddy’s hand in front of the head, but this time, with the hand to the left of the head, and to the right of the head.

Many players toss the ball too far to the left (even with or to the left of the left shoulder, instead of even with or slightly to the right of the right shoulder), almost as if they are serving an American twist serve. Your players will immediately see that pushing their buddy’s hand is much easier from the right-hand side of their head than from the right.

Have players practice tossing the ball so that it lands not only 1-2 feet in front of them, but also slightly to the right (rather than too far to the left). The toss location may be slightly different for each player, depending on if they have an overhead serve or a side-arm serve, how much upper body rotation they use, if they are attempting an American twist, and any number of other service motion variances. The main point in discussing the lateral location of the toss is to notice if the player is tossing too far to the left, so that their weight is actually falling to the left after they serve. Even when serving to the deuce court, the player should be facing more to the right sideline than to the opponent. To demonstrate this, have a player line up as if he was serving from the doubles position in the ad court. Now, have the player walk over to the doubles position to the ad court — without changing their set up. That’s right, the player should still be facing the right-side fence and tossing away from the deuce court when they serve. The body’s natural mechanics will bring the arm around and the serve into the court.

NOTE: When practicing tossing to the right, a toss too far to the right will lead to an excessive slice serve.

High or Low?
In addition to tossing the ball in front of them and more to the right than they probably have been, players need to toss the ball high enough. Consensus falls on tossing the ball approximately six inches higher than the height of the racquet at full extension for an overhand serve, and no higher than the racquet on a side arm serve. See the articles High Toss or Low Toss?, The Three Sweet Spots, The Side-Arm Serve and How Choking Affects a Player’s Strokes.

Even during the season, working on a player’s toss is easy, produces big improvements and does not require a re-learning of the skill that will negatively affect the player during matches if properly practiced during the week. If you have not done so this season and you are into your conference matches already, have your players practice their tosses every day for 5-10 minutes until they see improvement.