Keep the Tossing Arm High

Fight the tendency to let your tossing arm drop. It will cramp your swing.

Most players rarely think about it. But when you’re serving, the position of your non-racquet arm after you’ve tossed the ball can be critical.

What you should do with that other arm is keep it up. The natural tendency is to let it drop in order to get it out of the way as the racquet swings over your shoulder to meet the ball.

But you’ve got to fight that tendency.

If you drop your non-racquet arm after your toss, you’ll pull your body down with it. You’ll cramp your swing and, very probably, meet the ball sooner than you should, sending it into the net.

But if you keep your non-racquet arm up, you’ll avoid that. And there will be other benefits, too. For one thing, it will help you keep your eyes on the ball, which is absolutely vital. It’s hard to look down when both your arms are pointing up.

Keep your non-racquet arm up after it’s released the ball when you serve. It won’t get in your way. In fact, it will do a lot to help you get your way on your serves.