Toss

[vmiller]

Hey John,

How important do you think it is to have a straight arm while tossing? I toss with a bent arm and seem to extend my arm as I release, maybe to get a little extra push. Whatever the reason, I know it's not good technique and my toss is far from great. I'm wondering if I should go through the pain of trying to straighten my arm more. For some reason, I have trouble doing it and when I try my toss gets worse. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Vin

[johnyandell]

How are you holding the ball? If with the fingertips, try resting it in the palm of your hand, like Pete. I guarantee that you'll keep your arm straight at the release or the ball will land behind you!

[vmiller]

Like in this picture?

That's actually almost exactly how I hold the ball, but maybe that's the origin of my too far to the left contact point.

Should I try even further into the palm than in the picture?

[johnyandell]

No the other option is to go the other way to the finger tips. Actually though in looking at your motion on the site--it's just too quick down. Watch how slow Pete is droping the arm.

[vmiller]

I think I got it! Slowing down the motion and tossing with my hand more sideways makes it a lot easier to keep my arm straight. I found I have to complete more of my backswing before tossing to slow the motion down.

Thanks for the help.

[replayer]

I toss using my fingertips. I was taught back in the stoneage that this method allows you to toss with no spin on the ball. The idea is no spin means more accuracy in toss placement.

Is this still valid?

[johnyandell]

Definitely. One of the things we found in our study of spin in the pro game was that the only ball that wasn't spinning heavily was the toss! And over the years I have noticed that players who spin the toss out of there hand are the ones who tend to have the most trouble controlling it. You have to release slowly and softly.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...spin_test.html