One more question on the serve, please. I've been told to throw my ball toss in 'front of me' but where in front of me?

Yes the common wisdom is to make sure you throw the ball toss in front of you to ensure you can transfer weight/power into your serve. And you're right, this can be confusing since there are several contradictory positions. For example, you can toss the ball out in front of you outside your right shoulder, directly in front of your body, or outside of your left shoulder or variations in between.  Depending on the desired spin, players would often try to change their toss to suit either a flat, kick or slice serve -- and their grip at the same time.  Of course an experienced opponent would pick up on the toss variation and react accordingly causing the server to lose any surprise advantage. The modern serve as illustrated by Federer is to have a consistent and regular ball toss and to adjust the racquet head angle to achieve the desired spin. This allows variety and maintains surprise.

Even so if you recall our previous column, the key to a good serve for ANY player is a repeatable toss to maintain balance and rhythm on your service -- and with it your confidence.

My preference is to toss the ball just outside the right (left) shoulder if you are right (left) handed. Tossing the ball directly in front of your body means that your body gets in the way and you finish up hitting with your arm and not your shoulder/body. [Be warned if you toss the ball over your head and arch your back to develop a kick serve. As we age, we are less flexible and back injuries increase with this motion!  Likewise, arching your back is definitely not recommended for a woman's serve because of the differences in the structure of the spine!!]

Tossing the ball outside your right shoulder allows you to: 1) more easily watch the ball on the hit, 2) allows a simple shoulder-over-shoulder throwing motion, and 3) permits you to easily transfer your weight UP into the ball while maintaining your balance.  And you can still hit a variety of serves (spin, slice, flat). Dan and Julia are good examples of a ball toss thrown just outside the right shoulder.

By all means experiment with your own ball toss to find a position (and height) that suits the rhythm of your own service motion.  A good place to begin is to toss the ball without completing the service motion and see where it hits the ground. The ball should drop in a regular pattern in a two foot circle outside of your right shoulder and in front of the baseline. A little success here will see your serve improve dramatically!

I enjoyed the recent tip on serving but had an additional question please. Should I throw my ball toss low or high?

The ball toss is critical to having a reliable serve. Unless you can place/toss the ball in roughly the same spot every time, you will lose your balance and rhythm on your service -- and with it your confidence.

And I'm sure that you have noticed that there are many variations of service toss even amongst the pros, which is the basis of your question.  For example Roscoe Tanner was the archetype of hitting a low toss on the way up, which is similar to Nadal today, whereas Federer and Djokic have a much higher toss but not as high as Ivan Lendl in his prime.

My preference is for a higher toss rather than a lower one.  The reasons are simple: 1) you have more time to achieve an 'unrushed rhythm' on your serve and 2) a higher toss gives you more time to 'recover' if you throw a less than perfect toss.  Perhaps this is why we are allowed two serves under the rules since serving is perhaps the most complex stroke of all.

If you watch the better players and pros when they serve, they generally keep their tossing arm extended straight upward as long as they can; Simon is a good example of this. Notice this keeps him aligned perpendicular to the net, with his head up and eye focused on the ball, and facilitates the smooth shoulder-over-shoulder motion that characterises his serve.

Today, it is not uncommon for the pro ball tosses to be a metre above their outstretched racquets. Nearly every pro today has a high ball toss, which allows increased bending of the knees and turning of the shoulders, contributing to the increased power of their serves. A higher ball toss allows this to be accomplished in a smooth and simple rhythm.

By all means experiment with your own ball toss to find a height that suits the rhythm of your own service motion.  Perhaps a lesson from one of our pros might help you achieve a faster result here? A good place to begin is to try to keep your tossing arm straight up like Simon. A little success on this simple tip will see your serve improve dramatically!

From time to time, we have a substitute in our doubles competition who is often a weaker player than myself.  How can we play together to protect my weaker partners as much as possible?

I'm glad you said "play together" since doubles is a team game given one player gets to stand in a winning position (i.e. at the net) even before the point starts.  Doubles teams of lesser singles players (eg the Bryan Brothers) often beat the combination of two stronger singles players: 'a champion team will beat a team of champions'! Two weaker players who play to support each other can be a stronger team against two better players who don't play well together. This is the first rule (Rule 1) of the basic doubles rules explained below. So if you can understand the "Rules", you should be well on your way to becoming a much better doubles player, regardless of whether you are the stronger or weaker player.

The real secret to doubles is to understand that about 80% of the balls in play land in a 10 foot (3 m) diameter circle around the centre 'T' (Rule 2). As illustrated, as the stronger player, if you stand closer to the centre you'll have a play on typically 8 out of every 10 hits. Now I can hear you saying but "what about the sideline?"  If your opponents are so close to the net, very often because your partner has coughed up a weak return, they can hit the ball DOWN at an angle anywhere in the court -- yes even down the sideline, and pass you even if you're standing there. If you move to cover the sideline, you are in fact opening up the higher percentage shot for your opponents since the net is actually 6 inches higher at the sideline.  So when faced with a choice of where to move on a doubles court, always move towards the centre (Rule 3).

Here're the basic receiving and serving positions to adopt when you're the stronger player. We are assuming the stronger player is right handed (with a forehand volley in mid court) and takes the game points by playing the Ad court.

·     As the stronger player, your goal is to keep your opposition on the defensive so that your partner hopefully may get weak returns that she can handle easily, preferably at the net. If you cannot attack forcefully, place your shots to make it difficult for your opponents to attack your partner.

·     Conversely, if you are the weaker player, your goal is to keep the ball in play as much as possible, so that your better partner gets more chances to get into the game. When the easy ball presents itself, you should attack it by all means though. But forget about trying to impress anyone by hitting balls that you normally wouldn't try to hit. Just stick to trying to keep the ball in play to set up your partner.

Return of serve is one area where weaker players often try to overdo it. Failing to return a very weak second serve is a huge mistake. Remember that since you are playing with a better partner, you have to try to allow her to get into the rallies as often as possible. Getting the ball back in play consistently creates huge advantages.  Likewise when you are serving, you need to make a consistent and reliable first serve if possible. If you are serving faults you are preventing your partner from getting in the game.

Encourage rather than criticise (Rule 4). Nothing makes a partner more tense faster than giving her a hard time about her mistakes. Accept that both of you are going to make some mistakes along the way, but as long as you are both following your overall strategy that's fine. If your partner is making mistakes because she is trying to do something that is not part of your strategy, just remind her of what the plan is, and focus on both of you getting back to doing what you should be doing. Mind you, in the heat of battle, this can be difficult!

·     If your partner is having a particularly bad day and is making a lot of mistakes, the question arises as to whether you should try to compensate. This usually means playing more aggressively, taking more risks than normal in the hopes of getting back into the game. This is not easy to do and it is usually better to give your partner more time to get her game together, but if she continues to make errors, at some point it will be up to you to try to lift your own game up to try to win the match. Give your partner plenty of time to try to get back on track, but don't wait until you are several match points down before starting to play aggressively! Above all, no matter what you decide, communicate to make sure you let your partner know what you are going to try to do, so she can adjust her game accordingly (Rule 5).