updated 12/10/01
SERVICE TOSS
- by Richard Wigley

- There are basic fundamentals involved in tennis and there are diciplines to establish these fundamentals. The Toss is one of the least practiced but most important elements in the game of the tennis. It goes without saying that having a Good Serve is extremely important yet the toss is discounted and taught by many coaches in a secondary manner. The toss is a primary, fundamental and crucial to having a consistent and powerful serve.

- First of all there are decidedly different approaches to teaching the toss. We can categorize these into the Two Finger or ice cream cone and the Three Finger or Finger Roll. If any of you have better names for these please use the Tennis Forum to mention it.

- The Two Finger or Ice Cream Cone Toss requires you hold your hand like you are holding an Ice Cream Cone. In the tossing motion you will lift the ball upwards as if you are pushing the ice cream straight up into the air. The Finger Roll has the server hold the ball with three fingers and the thumb and lift it in a similar manner upwards but the ball will roll off the ends of the fingers. Both of these standard tossing patterns work effectively but what we need to discuss is accuracy of toss and the continuity of the toss, motion, hit and follow through of the serve in combination with the toss. The height and placement of the service toss is a variation we will not consider here has much as the primary motion of the ball up out of the hand and into the air consistently.

- A key factor is the positioning of the body in relationship to the net and the opponent's court. This is crucial and a fundamental. The typical set up position is toes pointed towards the right net post and the left shoulder pointed at the left post for a right handed player. This generates the most effective way to produce power and lean into the serve. This is the most adaptive positioning, least difficult and overall the most effective.

- Once the position is defined and the service arm motion is established with a clean and smooth development and follow though then the only factor that will cause inconsistency and errors is the toss. In fact the toss is the single most widely distorted motion in tennis. Some instances are humorous and some are absolutely tragic to watch. The reasons for this problem is caused by incorrectly learning some of the most basic and minor requirements of the toss.

- In all aspects of tennis we wish to stay on the natural bedrock of biomechanics. I know this is a big and intimidating area of physical body movements but primarily we are seeking where there is the least amount of friction.

- To describe these frictionless movements with words is difficult and only impart to you a partial understanding until an experienced instructor. The appreciation of the perfect toss requires the coordination of the feelings with the synchronized kinetics of the actions that produce the perfect toss and swing.

- Imagine you are Mr. Natural or actually standing up, slightly leaning forward with your arms hanging down heavily at your sides. Notice how the hands are naturally open with the palms turned inward and facing each other. Now if you have a ball or can imagine such just hold it softly in you hand. The most naturally way to hold it is with three fingers and the thumb. You can move it and hold it with two fingers and the thumb but it is more natural with the three.

- Now from the stand point of many instructors and many of the best we run a risk of being disagreed with as to the best alignment of the arms. There are a variety of angles that can be produced but we will categorize the extremes, the 180 and the 90 degree angles. The 180 means that the arms move up in the "Stickem Up" position. Many top players have followed this formula of arms up together. The second pattern is tossing the ball upwards on a 90 degree angle from the hitting arm. Either toss can be created using either standard tossing grip, the two finger or three finger. In both these tossing patters there is friction and a resultant higher error ratio and injury risk.

- Utilizing a balance between both tossing patterns and having the arm lift the ball at a 30 to 45 degree position relative to these two extremes presents the optimal tossing/hitting zone for the body to create power, placement and consistency of serve. The tossing arm should be at a relative 120 to 135 degree position from the hitting arm or "right" shoulder to produce maximum velocity, spin and angle. The position of the toss should be as consistent as possible to allow for the creativity of the server to use disguise, spin and surprise as a weapon in serving.

- I will discuss the biomechanical errors produced by extremes of tossing incorrectly, how to correct them and how to determine if you are making these errors. Shoulder, arm, elbow and wrist injuries have a lot more to do with incorrect positioning on the serve than any other shot. The reasons behind this will be explained in an upcoming article.