IMPROVE TOSS YOUR SERVICE

By Mark DiChiara

Consistency in the toss is the most valuable piece to having a reliable serve. Many people have difficulty keeping the toss accurate because if the elbow, wrist and 14 joints in the fingers aren’t coordinated, the ball toss will be errant.

One of the best ways to improve the toss is to limit the number of moving parts that can alter the toss from where you want it to go. My suggestion to you is hold the ball like you would hold a glass of water in your left hand with your left palm pointing to the right and toss the ball with your hand “on its side”.

Unlike when the palm is facing towards the sky, now the 14 joints in your fingers don’t naturally move up and down when your palm is point sideways. This takes 14 of 16 unnecessary moving parts out of the equation. If you aren’t used to tossing like this this, it will take some getting used to…however, if you have been struggling with toss consistency, this is one of the best ways to limit superfluous movement that can send your toss awry.

Also, if you are going to practice “just the toss”, don’t just move your tossing arm…move your racquet arm in the backswing motion so you get used to how the toss is affected by your arms moving in opposing directions.

Good Luck!!!

USPTA MID-ATLANTIC HOSTS TENNISCON EVENT

The Mid-Atlantic Diversity and Inclusion Committee recently hosted TennisCon, a social outreach event intended to bring together tennis professionals from around the area to help promote diversity and awareness of the USPTA. Diversity and Inclusion’s Chair, Jeremy Carl and committee member, Eddie Davis hosted twenty tennis pros at JTCC at College Park, MD. Participants enjoyed an on-court round robin, music, pizza and soft drinks and many raffle prizes including Citi Open tickets donated by Jeremy and Eddie.