Tip of the Day: How high do you need to toss the ball for your serve? 

The serve is arguably the most important shot in tennis, and the toss is without question the most important part of it.

Now, before you fault yourself for a failing serve, ask yourself: when in day-to-day living do you throw something up in the air with one arm, and hit it with the other?

The serve motion is unique to tennis (OK, and volleyball), so it’s a learning curve for anyone who picks up a racquet. You’re teaching yourself a brand-new skill that unfortunately won’t come in handy in other parts of life. But hey, you’ll have a killer serve.

First, identify the serve’s contact point above your head—you don’t even need a ball to figure this out. Grab a racquet and extend your arm up over your head as though making contact for your serve. Make sure to really feel that extension in your side when you reach up for your serve. That’s it, folks: the minimum required toss height for your serve.

Key word there being minimum, because the next factor to consider is the serve swing itself. Do you have a long or short serve swing? Are you an Andy Roddick, a Maria Sharapova, or a Roger Federer?

Roddick goes from starting to trophy pose, skipping the notable swing motion of Federer, whereas Sharapova is somewhere in between, with enough takeback to justify that it’s a takeback.

Clearly there is no right or wrong way to have an effective serve, but you need to identify the serving swing in order to know how high to toss the ball.

A shorter swing calls for a shorter toss, and a longer swing calls for a longer toss. Either way, the toss’ peak needs to be higher than the contact point, i.e. identify a maximum toss height that has the ball falling into the contact point at the perfect time with the swing.

You know where your contact point is, and know how long it’s going to take for your racquet to get there. Now it’s a matter of placing the toss just high enough so when it falls from the peak, your racquet is in motion to make contact.

Jumping into a serve adjusts the maximum and minimum toss heights as the contact point moves up. Even serving off the tippy toes requires a bit of adjustment.

The key for toss height is timing, and it will take a lot of practice to get consistent. The most effective way to improve once you figure out your toss height is to ONLY HIT TOSSES IN THIS RANGE.

Even if this means tossing two or three times before serving—be mindful, have patience, and make sure to only hit ones that look and feel correct. This is essential for a successful serve.