Drills for Practicing Your Toss
As with any part of your game, practice makes perfect. In this section, we’ll cover some of the most popular drills you can use to improve your toss.
Drill #1: Accuracy & Consistency Drill
When players are first learning how to toss the ball for their serve, it can take quite a bit of time to develop consistency and accuracy. This drill is excellent for beginners and will help you develop a more consistent and accurate toss. Here’s an overview of how to perform this drill.
Gear you’ll need:
- Your racquet
- Some spare tennis balls
- A ball basket or hopper
Step 1: Fill your basket
The first step is to grab your basket or ball hopper and fill it about halfway up (or less) with tennis balls. If the basket is full or empty, the ball is likely to bounce right out, so filling it halfway up will ensure the ball stays in place.
Step 2: Place your basket
Next, grab your basket and position yourself along the baseline near the center mark, set your serve stance, and put your basket roughly 12-18 inches in front of your left foot and then 3-6 inches to the right. Reverse this if you’re a lefty.
Helpful Tip:
If you don’t have a basket, you can simply position your racquet or a spare racquet so that the head of the racquet is where the basket would be on the court. You can also use a small container or bucket – you just want to have a reasonably sized target for where your toss should land.
Step 3: Position yourself and set your stance
Once you’ve placed your basket, you’ll want to grab a tennis ball position yourself in front of the basket. Again, set your serve stance so that the basket is still roughly 3-6 inches to your right.
Step 4: Toss the ball
Lastly, with a ball in your hand, you’ll want to toss the ball up in the air and try to get the ball to land in the basket. Be sure to use your full toss motion and technique we covered earlier in this article.
You can change this drill up in a few different ways. First, you can do it standing still in front of the basket, or you can add in the full trophy pose. If you’re a beginner, it can be helpful to practice for a while without your racquet to get a feel for the toss and practice your technique.
Once you get comfortable, I’d recommend you start to incorporate the full trophy pose because your toss will be very different standing still vs. moving your entire body.
You can also change up the goal of the drill – here are a few ideas:
- Number of tosses completed, i.e., complete 50 tosses
- Number of tosses in the basket, i.e., keep tossing until you get 10 in
- Number of tosses in the basket in a row, i.e., keep tossing until you get 3 in a row
Drill #2: Toss Height Drill
A question that frequently comes up with players when they’re learning to toss is how high they should toss the ball. As you learned earlier in this article, the ideal toss height is roughly 2-3 feet above the maximum reach of your tennis racquet.
This drill will provide you with an easy way to practice developing a more consistent toss height on any tennis court surrounded by a fence. Here’s an overview of how to perform this drill.
Gear you’ll need:
- Your racquet
- Some spare tennis balls
- A ladder
- A friend to help
Step #1: Place your height markers
In this first step, you’ll want to mark the appropriate height on the fence by placing two tennis balls. To do this, stand next to the fence with your racquet in hand. Reach your racquet up and touch it against the fence at your maximum reach.
Next, have your friend grab the step ladder and place it next to you so they can climb and stick two balls in the fence – one at roughly 2 feet above your maximum reach and another about 3 feet.
Step #2: Position yourself and set your stance
Now that you’ve marked the fence, you’ll want to position yourself against the fence directly beneath the two balls that you placed in the fence.
With your racquet in hand and a spare tennis ball, position yourself in your serve stance with the front of your left foot about 1-2 feet from the fence. Reverse if you’re a lefty.
Step #3: Toss the ball to hit your target
Next, you’ll want to practice your toss so that the height of your toss falls roughly in between the two balls you’ve placed in the fence.
When performing your toss, make sure you’re using the correct toss technique and assume your trophy pose with each practice toss.
Let each toss fall back to the ground, reset your feet in the correct serve stance, and toss once again.
Similar to drill No. 1 you can change up the goal of this drill.
- Number of tosses completed, i.e., complete 50 tosses
- Number of tosses hitting the target, i.e., keep tossing until you hit it ten times
- Number of tosses hitting the target in a row, i.e., keep tossing until you hit your target three times in a row
Drill #3: Toss Pose Drill
One of the challenges that players face when tossing the ball is not fully extending their tossing arm up into the air and dropping their arm and head prematurely.
The goal of this drill is to help players practice their tossing motion to make sure they keep their arm high and head up.
Gear you’ll need:
- Your racquet
- A tennis ball
Step #1: Position yourself and set your stance
With your racquet in hand and a spare tennis ball, position yourself along the baseline near the center mark and assume your serve stance.
Step #2: Toss the ball
Next, you’re going to want to toss the ball using your full trophy pose.
Focus your attention on extending your tossing arm up and release the ball, but imagine there’s a string tied to your wrist that keeps pulling your arm up towards the sky.
When you reach full extension, pause for a moment with your arm held high, your head up, and your body in your trophy pose.
Repeat this motion 10-20 times, focusing intently on keeping your tossing arm extended with your head held high.
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