Tips-Fact and Fiction

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Higher tosses are advised if you need to reach higher to impact the ball. Fact or Fiction? If you need to reach higher and impact the ball high when serving, then toss higher right? Wrong. Here is an example of how Bradley Klahn (red and green models) used to toss excessively high. He is tossing twenty inches higher and still impacting the ball ten inches lower than top ATP players Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez. Don’t be fooled high tosses do not suck you up into the air for a higher impact. After SCiO’s 3D analysis. Klahn lowered his toss 17 inches. He was ranked in the 700s when he received his analysis, now he is 147 and continuing to rise. Way to go BK.

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Here is Klahn before analysis (blue model) with a 110 mph ace and after (red model) with a 123 mph ace. The top graph shows the height of the old Klahn Toss (blue) vs the new Klahn toss (red). The lower graph shows the difference in the velocity of the pre SCiO analysis serve (blue) vs the new faster serve (red). Impact height is nearly identical. Conclusion, higher tosses do not cause you to reach higher for impact when serving.

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Slowing the motion down allows us to detect some important technique changes. The synchronization of his toss arm and hitting arm has changed as well as the timing of the leg motions. Future Tips reveal the biomechanical advantages of these adjustments.