It’s been close to snowing outside and I’ve decided to stay in and add to the tennis lessons we already have on the site. This one is about an extremely undervalued aspect of the serve – the ball toss.

There is nothing that kills a good serve more than a poor toss. Pat Rafter had such a magnificent topspin serve in part because his ball toss placement was the same every-time. He was so accurate with this he could hit at full pace with his eyes closed (weather permitting!) – I’ve seen him actually do this!

If you ever watched Rafter play you will remember he often caught the ball if he threw it in the wrong place and would say “sorry mate” – too many club players just hit the serve anyway and make errors. Being able to stop and start again without getting embarrassed is essential if you are to master the serve. Here I’m going to talk about how you can make your ball toss as accurate and consistent and Rafter’s.

Be very careful to place the ball up above your head. I see many, many players become casual with their ball toss – chucking the ball above them with little or no accuracy. I like to imagine I am placing something very carefully on the highest shelf.

The motion should be almost like a lift rather than a throw or toss. Prior to releasing the ball it should be on the pads of your fingers, not the tips and not back in the palm. Face the palm upwards, extend the arm and lift the shoulder.

A key here is to allow the arm to drop so that your hand is just inside the thigh of your front leg; this allows you to gain enough momentum and avoids the need to force the toss. Release the ball as high as possible without tossing it back behind you and over your shoulder.

A tip here is to spread the fingers as you release, this relaxes the hand and makes placement easier. You can practice this concentrating on keeping the ball still so that it doesn’t spin. The high, gentle release will lead to a more accurate placement of the ball on the toss.

There has been a study conducted that concluded that the top players in the world toss the ball somewhere between 8 and 12 inches above their contact point, this height tends to allow better synchronization of the body to the contact point and is the optimal range for solid, consistent impact.

Make sure that your arm extends upwards even after releasing the ball and stays there until the racket reaches the trophy position, this helps to keep the hitting motion smooth and keeps the shoulders closed. When this arm is released it should fold to your mid-rift with the elbow bending at approximately 90 degrees staying there for the remainder of the serve a-la Boris Becker or precede the racket’s follow-though as is more common.