1) a) Hold the ball with your fingers like a glass of water. Hold the
ball in your fingers: not in your palm and not on your finger tips. Keep the tossing arm straight: do not bend your elbow or your wrist as you toss the ball. How high should you toss the ball? Hold your racket up as high as you can. You should toss the ball to the top of your racket.
b) Bring the tossing arm downwards toward your back leg. Hold the ball in such a way that when you release the ball there is little or no rotation as it rises. Keep your tossing arm straight and release the ball near eye level. After you release the ball let the tossing arm continue upward almost to the vertical position. Your chin should be pointing upwards.
c) This is a very important ball toss video because it points out common mistakes and how to correct them.
i) The ball must be tossed so that it would land inside the baseline.
ii) Keep your ball toss arm straight from start to finish.
iii) Release the ball about eye level but continue the upwards motion of your ball toss arm to almost vertical. This will allow you to get into the Power Position where your front shoulder is higher than your back shoulder.
iv) Once your tossing arm is fully extended, quickly tuck your tossing arm into your chest (see the video). This quick motion adds power to the serve as you force your front shoulder downward bringing your back shoulder upward. This shoulder-over-shoulder rotation (or cartwheel effect) adds power to your serve.
v) Excellent video showing the knees bending and the hips pushed over the baseline and into the court.
d) This excellent video shows how you can practice your ball toss. Use a bucket and place it out in front of you.
e) How to get your ball toss over the baseline and into the court.
v) Excellent video showing the knees bending and the hips pushed over the baseline and into the court.
d) This excellent video shows how you can practice your ball toss. Use a bucket and place it out in front of you.
e) How to get your ball toss over the baseline and into the court.
One method is to toss the ball along the baseline and loop it into the court but it might be easier to direct your tossing arm toward the net post. After the ball release be sure to rotate your shoulders and push your hips into the court.
f) The ball is released about head level or slightly higher. After the ball release, the tossing arm continues lifting to almost to the vertical position. At this point your eyes and chin should be pointing upwards.g) The loop (or "J") motion helps some players to get their ball toss
out into the court. Release the ball when your forearm is at eye
level but continue lifting the tossing arm to the vertical position. He develops a service rhythm by starting with his weight on his front foot, then he rocks back to his back foot and then tosses the ball as he transfers his weight to his front foot. Excellent demonstration of how the serve is like the throwing motion.
h) The easiest tossing motion is the diagonal toss in which you use the net post as a reference point. Practice letting the ball drop to the ground to make sure it lands inside the baseline. Note how his knees bend and his hips move inside the baseline.
i) Important tossing fundamentals to get a flat toss out into the court.
The tempo (or speed) of the toss starts off slow then gets faster. Release the ball about head level and toss the ball high to the vertical (12 o'clock or 1o'clock) position. The ball should land inside the baseline if you were to let it drop to the ground.
j) The importance of a 120° shoulder rotation away from the net. This allows for a powerful coil and uncoil motion for your serve. Keep the shoulder-shoulder-elbow alignment with the front shoulder higher than the back shoulder.
k) Slow motion of Roger Federer's ball toss. He first brings his tossing arm from in front of the baseline to inside his thigh. His
tossing arm then moves parallel to the baseline. The ball is released near eye level or slightly higher. His tossing arm then continues to the vertical position. His tossing arm is tucked into his chest as his racket explodes up to contact.
l) How to move your hips into the court as you raise your tossing arm to the vertical to get into the power position.
2) Keep the tossing arm straight and release the ball head level or
slightly higher. Note: When he released the ball, he continued
lifting his tossing arm to the vertical position. He also
has a slight knee bend as he tosses the ball. This helps to keep
the lower back from tightening up which can be painful.
3) An interesting point in this video is the way he holds the ball
with the thumb on one side and the little finger on the other side
(at the 3.31 min. mark). This helps to have the ball released with
very little rotation. Release the ball when your forearm is at eye
level but continue lifting the tossing arm to the vertical position.
4) Develop a service rhythm to get your ball toss into the court.
Starting with your weight on the front foot (with your leg and
back straight), transfer your weight to the back foot and then
toss the ball as you rock back to your front foot.
drop to the ground. When you release the ball, open your palm
and continue lifting the tossing arm to the VERTICAL position.
6) Bring the tossing arm toward your back leg as you transfer your
weight to the back foot. Keep the tossing arm straight and
release the ball at head level (or above). Allow the tossing arm
to continue STRAIGHT UP while tranferring your weight to
the front foot with a knee bend. Even better is to also PUSH
your hips into the court.
7) How high should you toss the ball? High enough so that your
tossing arm can get to the vertical and you can fully extend your
racket arm as you make contact with the ball.
8) Fixing some ball toss problems.
Important: Release the ball at eye (or head) level and OPEN
your PALM as you release the ball.
9) Service rhythm starts with a SLOW ball toss and then
accelerates rapidly as you "throw" the racket UP and OUT
toward the ball.
10) Open the chest UPWARDS as you BEND the knees. This
helps to get the racket drop. Lead with the elbow upward to
full extension of the racket arm as you make contact with the
ball.
11) A consistent service motion can improve your toss motion.
Note that in each serve the weight starts off on the front foot
and is transferred to the back foot. The ball is tossed into the
court as the weight is returned to the front foot while the
knee bends and the hips are pushed into the court.
12) LIFT the ball and allow your arm to continue to the vertical
position. Note: Bend your knees and arch your hips INTO the
court as you release the ball.
13) Keeping the tossing arm UP allows time for the racket drop.
Allow your tossing arm to continue to the vertical position.
For new players start the racket in the "selfie" or ''salute"
position. Bringing your elbow UP will cause the racket drop.
14) Toss the ball so that it would land INSIDE the baseline if you
allowed it to hit the ground. Note how his legs BEND and his
chest opens UP to the sky as the ball is released.
16) Simple progressions to lean to toss the ball INTO the court.
17) Tossing drills for students: Steve Smith
18) Try to toss the ball so that you could "Serve and Volley".
19) The proper ball toss location for different types of serves:
The flat, the slice and the topspin (also called the kick) serve.
No comments:
Post a Comment