<% ns_puts [mkm_getnavbar] %>

The Myth of the Toss

by  John Yandell

Still Photos by J Gregory Swendsen

"Just throw the ball straight up in front of you and hit it at the top of
the toss."

This article really should be titled "myths" of the toss, not "the" myth of the toss, because there are two predominant misunderstandings here that have damaged players at all levels for years.

The first has to do with toss height - the common belief that players should hit the ball at the top of the toss.

The second myth has to do with the tossing motion and the placement of the toss. This is the belief that the toss and the motion of the tossing arm should be straight up and down in front of the body.

To check if the toss is correct, players are often taught to let the toss drop, so that it falls to the court in front of the front foot (for a right-handed player.)

Advanced Tennis (AdvancedTennis.com) high speed video shows that neither of these two beliefs are accurate. They don’t describe what top players do when they toss. Following these two myths can destroy your service rhythm and drastically reduce your body leverage, power, and spin.

Myth Versus Reality

When it comes to tossing height, the fact is virtually every player on tour hits the toss when the ball is on the way down. In most cases the ball has fallen substantially from the top of the toss, up to two feet or more at contact.

As for the motion of the tossing arm, no top player uses a straight down and up motion. This is because virtually every good server starts with his shoulders sideways to the net, or turns them sideways at the start of the motion. This means that the tossing arm turns sideways as well.

With the shoulders sideways, the tossing arm no longer points straight ahead. Instead it points toward the sideline. The more extreme the shoulder turn, the more directly the tossing arm points at the sideline.

In the case a player like Pete Sampras, who has the most shoulder turn in the game, the tossing arm can end at a right angle to the sideline (or parallel to the baseline) at the time he releases the ball.

For top servers, the tossing arm doesn’t move straight up and down, and neither does the flight of the ball during the toss. Rather than moving up and down on a straight line, the path of the ball toss is actually curved like an arc.

Rusedski’s tossing motion. Note how just before the release his tossing arm is angled toward the sideline.

Because the tossing arm is pointing to the side, it’s necessary for the server to toss the ball back towards the contact zone on an arc. For a right handed player, this arc is from the players right to left.

Since the path of the toss is a curve, not straight up and down, there is no way for the toss to land in front of the server’s front foot. Instead, of dropping directly in front of the front foot, the toss would actually land on the left side of the body.

Sampras Versus Rusedski

Let’s examine the toss height, the tossing motion, and the placement of the toss by comparing two of the top servers in the pro game, Pete Sampras and Greg Rusedski. They make good examples not only because of their serving effectiveness, but because of the differences in their technical styles.

Pete, a righty, has a much higher toss, a much slower rhythm, much more body coil, and hits with as much topspin on his first serve as any player in the game.

Rusedski a lefty, with a much lower toss, a very quick delivery, less knee bend and shoulder turn, and a heavily sliced ball.

The two players probably come close to representing the technical serving extremes in the pro game. But they do share two things when it comes to the toss: both hit the ball well on the way down, and also, while the ball is traveling on an arcing path from the release of the toss back toward the contact zone.

Toss Height

Let’s look at the height of the toss first. It has been argued that there are two reasons for hitting the ball at the top of the toss. First, at the top of the toss, the ball is actually stationary for a split second - supposedly, this  makes it easier to time. The second argument for hitting the ball at the top is that it forces the player to speed up the motion and therefore increases racquet head speed.

Neither of these reasons makes sense. The supposed timing advantage of hitting the ball when it is still at the top of the toss is negligible at best. When the ball drops two feet or so before contact, it’s velocity is minimal, 15 mph or less depending on the height of the drop. This is far less than the speed of a groundstroke hit by an intermediate player (about 40mph). So if you have the ability to rally at even moderate speeds, hitting a ball dropping at the much slower speed of your toss isn’t going to be a problem.

Second, regarding the alleged gain in racquet head speed from the lower toss, our studies have shown players with the most racquet head speed, such as Pete, often have the highest tosses.

A side by side comparison with Rusedski, who has a much lower toss and a much quicker overall motion, demonstrated the time from racquet drop to contact was indistinguishable between the two players. If Rusedski’s quicker motion is giving him more racquet head speed, this gain is easily matched by the deeper knee bend and greater body turn used by Sampras.

But all these issues are actually secondary to a far more important issue involving tossing height, one that is not addressed by the low toss advocates. This is serving rhythm. Rhythm is critical to effective serving.

Almost all top players need more time to execute their motions than a super low toss affords. This is the real reason for hitting the ball on the way down. The height of the toss determines the interval of the motion. Without enough time, there is no way to develop a relaxed, comfortable rhythm. To get the time they need,  top players toss the ball substantially above their contact points.

If top pros need the extra time they gain with a high toss, how much more so the average player? This is particularly true when players try to use their legs and increased body rotation for more power and spin. It requires more time to develop more body coil. To get this time, you need a higher toss.

Because there is no oncoming ball (with a corresponding oncoming velocity and oncoming force), the service motion in general is much more relaxed than are groundstrokes or volleys, both of which involve collisions with speeding balls.

It’s almost impossible to do all this with an ultra low toss. That’s why the few players that have perfected the low toss delivery—Ivanisievic or Kevin Curren or the legendary Roscoe Tanner--had minimal bio-mechanical motions relying on the arm swing. Who knows, maybe that’s also one reason Goran has a rotator cuff that is now 80% torn.

It also worth noting that these are probably the only 3 top players over the past 30 years who used this motion! Virtually every other top player on both the men’s and women’s side has had a high toss, with the ball dropping at contact.

I find it amazing that so many coaches, television commentators, and teachers still seem to believe the best place to hit the ball is at the top of the toss (Usually they don’t even serve that way themselves!).

Try it yourself. Hit practice serves and gradually lower your toss. You’ll find there is a point at which you start to tense up and muscle the racquet in the rush to get to the contact point. For most people, this tension occurs at a toss height that is still far above the contact point. That is why trying to lower the toss in the hope of developing more racquet head speed is so counterproductive.

Even if you do have a naturally quick rhythm and a minimal biomechanical motion like Rusedski, the chances are overwhelming you’ll still need to hit the ball on the way down to develop a smooth motion that doesn’t feel rushed and muscled.

Last Updated 4/1/02. To contact us, please email to: webmaster@tennisone.com

TennisONE is a registered trademark of TennisONE and SportsWeb ONE; Copyright 1995. All rights reserved.