Advanced Tennis: Sampras Serve
The Tossing Motion

John Yandell
Page 2

A Model of Simplicity and Consistency

As with other the other elements in his motion, Sampras, unlike a player like Tanner, serves as a great model for developing or improving the tossing motion. His toss is a model of simplicity and consistency.

After developing the basics of Pete's tossing motion, every player can experiment to find the exact tossing height that best suits his or her personal serving rhythm.

Starting Stance

Sampras starts with his tossing arm and racket in front and to his right side. The tip of his racket is pointing directly at the net. His tossing hand is at about the throat of the racket, with the ball touching the frame.

This position allows the motion to start in the simplest possible way, with no extraneous movement. The ball is cradled on the finger tips, with the palm of the hand facing the frame of the racket. Both arms are comfortably relaxed.

Straight Arm Drop

As the motion begins, both arms simply fall together. The tossing arm naturally straightens at the elbow, falling as a unit from the shoulder joint toward the court.

At the bottom of the drop, the tossing arm is pointing almost directly at the court, and is in line with the middle of the front leg. The tossing arm forms a straight line running from the shoulder down to the tips of the fingers.

Note: The palm of the hand is still pointing away from the body. There has been little or no arm rotation.

	The tossing arm drops as a unit straight down from the shoulder to the side of the leg. It then moves straight up to the release and to full extension.

Straight Arm Extension

From this full drop position, the tossing arm immediately begins to move upward. The arm stays straight and moves as a unit from the shoulder. It doesn't bend, almost as if there were no joints at the wrist or at the elbow.

At about shoulder level, the fingers open and the ball is literally lifted into the air by the momentum of the upward motion. There isn't a "throw" or even a moment when the player "tosses." Instead, the fingers open up, so that the ball literally seems to levitate out of the hand. From this release, the ball position is naturally in front of the body over the baseline into the plane of the court.

This straight arm motion continues until the arm reaches full extension, with arm literally stretching upward from the shoulder. Pete maintains this extended, full stretch position for over 1/5 of a second. Holding this extension is critical in creating his incredible body rotation into the shot, as we shall see in a subsequent article.