How to Avoid Problems in Tennis Serves

Coach Dinoffer gives some tips that might just address a problem you have with your tennis serves.

The first common problem for beginners is the Erratic toss. Although, tossing with that non-dominant hand can be a little challenging. No one is forever doomed to have an Erratic toss and therefore an inconsistent serve. Of course, there are eccentric players out there who make the service toss far too complicated. Let's look at a handful of those unique tossing techniques demonstrated by our friend Biju (ph) who makes brief appearances throughout this series. Now all kidding aside, Biju's tosses maybe a little extreme but I have seen some strange ones over the years myself. All that said, here a few tricks to fix that errant toss that seems to have a mind of its own. The first tip is to stand under the court gate. If you can toss so the ball stays on the other side of the gate, you can control your toss much more easily. In particular, this helps newer players to toss the ball behind them. You can also setup a target like a doughnut and try tossing and letting the ball bounce inside that target. If you have a really problematic toss, you may want to try the Serve Doctor. This kinesthetic aid is simply a ball connected with Velcro to an extension pole. This device not only gives a feel for reaching and extending, it also helps a player feel where contact should be made. Making tossing to that spot easier than ever. Good shot. The second major problem is common at all levels. The tight grip. It probably starts because players are nervous about getting that ball in the box and they start with a tight hold on the racket rather than loose and relax as we saw it earlier. Here are three ways to loosen the grip and the wrist. First, you can just hold the golf ball or tennis ball in the last few fingers of your racket hand. This trick prevents you from squeezing and automatically keeps the grip relaxed and the wrist loose and ready for action. The other option is to simply drop one or two fingers off the bottom of the racket. When you don't squeeze the grip, you won't tighten the wrist. Another issue if you serve with a locked wrist, is that you will probably have a short and tight follow through. To break this habit use a couple of peel off dots from a stationery store. One on the hand and the other on the opposite hip. Then to complete the motion just connect the dots. Good job, good job. You will notice as you watch this entire series that we are filming all ten segments over a period of about a year-and-a-half. In this case, we are nearly a year since the filming of the earlier sections of this single program. Colindy (ph) is now eleven years old and has the start of a kick serve as well as a flat first serve. Although, we will discuss the components of the more advanced serve in a later show in this series, I thought you would enjoy watching a few of each to see how far she has come since the basics were established a year earlier.