Weekly Tennis Wisdom: The Toss

This week I want to focus on the serve toss, which I think is essential for a solid and consistent serve.

Let’s start by asking what’s the difference between throwing and tossing a ball? They are both often used interchangeably, but a “toss” is more of a light, careless throw. What we are trying to do with our serve toss is to keep the ball in the hand as much as we can and release it only when the arm is fully extended over the head. The ball should get no higher than the top of our racquet. The idea is to keep the distance between the point of release and ball height as short as possible for a controlled and consistent toss. The shorter that distance is, the less it can go wrong.

Another important factor for a good toss will be making sure the racquet is moving to hit the ball and not the opposite. There’s a big difference! That will help us keep the ball in front of the body.

So for the best serve toss, my favorite analogy will always be, “Imagine that your racquet is a building and your non-hitting arm is an elevator, try to bring the ball to the top floor.”

Try it and let me know how it goes!