[tennisbiz] Re: Stopping student from leaning in too early on serve
Hello Everyone,
I am going to respectfully disagree with Miguel Hernandez's assertion:
"I have to disagree with the importance people put on the toss."
At EVERY level, a precise toss is VERY important. Of course, since the
serve is the most technique-intensive stroke in tennis, other aspects of the
serve -- "balance, extension and wrist snap", etc. -- are very important, too.
Interestingly, balance and extension are in large part DEPENDENT ON a precise
and accurate serve toss.
All coaches, pros, and instructors know that a toss too far forward or
backward will considerably change the trajectory of the serve so that the ball
will often land either in the net or beyond the service line.
They also know that a toss too far to the left or right will throw the
server considerably off-balance and cause the serve to land typically to the
left or the right of the service box and often lose power, too.
A toss that is too low will often result in serve that will both land in
the net and lose power.
A toss that is much too high will test the timing and coordination of
average and below-average athletes. Often they will mis-hit those serve tosses.
It is true that Graf and Lendl, during parts of their great careers, tossed
the ball way too high and still had excellent serves in terms of power and
consistency. However, these champions were superior athletes whose athletic
talent compensated for their technique defect.
A final point: serve toss precision is precisely what will help all
servers when the wind and sun present problems. Under those adverse conditions,
more skillful tossers will be the servers most able to adjust their tosses with
precision and keep serving at a relatively high level.
Paul Fein
USPTA Pro-1 rating/former Top 10 New England men's open player
www.tennisconfidential.com
Received on Wed Oct 22 2003 - 10:13:46 CDT
