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TennisOne Lessons 
The Toss is Essential for a Consistent Serve Tom Avery You could have a fantastic, fluid serving motion with your hitting arm, but, if you cannot consistently place the toss in the right spot, it's very difficult to develop a consistent serve. Let me share a story. One of the greatest servers of all time was Pancho Gonzalez. A 1999 Sports Illustrated article about the magazine's 20 "favorite athletes" of the 20th century said about Gonzales (their number 15 pick): "If earth was on the line in a tennis match, the man you want serving to save humankind would be Ricardo Alonso Gonzalez." The noted tennis commentator Bud Collins echoed this in an August 2006 article for MSNBC.com: "If I had to choose someone to play for my life, it would be Pancho Gonzalez. Tony Trabert had this to say about Pancho, Trabert told interviewer Joe McCauley "that Gonzalez's serve was the telling factor on their tour – it was so good that it earned him many cheap points. Trabert felt that, while he had the better groundstrokes, he could not match Pancho's big, fluent service."
So the tour players got together with a Tournament promoter and decided they would get the 'edge' on Pancho. They came up with a tournament where you only had one serve, no second serves, you miss the first , you lose the point. They figured that Pancho would have to take something off his huge first serve and this would level the playing field for them. Guess what happened? It backfired, Pancho's first serve was so reliable and consistent he didn't take anything off his serve, he had the highest percentage of serves in and easily breezed through, winning the tournament. Here's my point, taken from Pancho's book Tennis, he said, "The height of my toss will be that point where my right arm and racquet, fully extended, can hit it. I never toss the ball so high that I have to wait for it to drop." Pancho's toss was most always in the right spot, not out of his reach, where he would have to wait for it to come down, and consequently be dropping fast through his hitting zone, making it more difficult to be consistent. It was also not too low, which would not allow him to fully unwind and extend up into the ball for optimum power. There have been other great server's who did the same, Roscoe Tanner (Wimbledon Finalist, Australian Open Winner), Goran Ivanisevic (Wimbledon Winner). I know some may say, wait a minute this is the modern game. I say, 'baloney'. The type of serve Gonzalez, Tanner and Ivanisevic hit, with the toss, just to the peak of their reach... works, it's been proven, Tanner was hitting 140 MPH with a wooden racquet. Another advantage of this type of 'old school' serve is that many times these players (remember Rod Laver, John Newcombe) step into the court first, with their dominant leg, which is a natural if you're going to the net behind your serve, you'll get there a little quicker. There is no question this type of serve works at the club level, I've seen it in action, whether anyone will be willing to try at the pro level to test it out and see if it will work remains to be seen. Whoever is willing to try, is going to need the speed and athletic ability of a Michael Jordan, considering the speed of today's game. Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Tom Avery's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.
Tom Avery has over 35 years teaching experience. His instruction, which includes The Consistent Tennis Wins DVD Series, has been aired on the Tennis Channel. He has inspired players from the nationally ranked to those just beginning the game. He is the Designer and Founder of the AVERY Racquet Company. Tom is now teaching in Naples, Florida and accepting students. He can be reached at 239-592-5920. Visit Tom's websites at: http://www.TomAvery.com and http://www.AveryRacquets.com |
