Serving into the lights

Serving

Damon S Asked 10 years ago

Hi Alois,

I have trouble serving if there is a ceiling light in the way when I serve. I'll sometimes lose the ball, but even if I track it through the serve, I'll see flashes in front of my eyes for a few seconds, making my third ball reaction very difficult.

I've tried serving from different positions, but it doesn't seems to help. I can do a low toss serve, but it throws off my timing. I can do a backhand serve, but my main set of serves is based on the forehand, so I feel adding another serve might detract from the time I spend practicing something else.

I guess my question is what do you think the best approach would be? Learn to do my main serves with a low toss? Add the backhand serve to my repertoire? Learn to just deal with the lights? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Damon

Alois Rosario Answered 10 years ago

Hi Damon,

The lights can be a problem. Try to find a place where you can throw the ball up without losing directly into the lights. Before you serve take a look up and try to find a position. It can be difficult to start with. The other option is then to do a low toss serve as you suggested.

The other thing is to really just focus on the ball. The more you think about the lights, the more it seems to effect you.

Often at major championships, players on the first day will complain about the lights and the positioning of them. As the tournament progresses, no one mentions it.

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Thoughts on this question (3)

Johan B Posted 10 years ago

If you have practiced the toss really well, you should be able to hit the ball without looking, but that obviously isn't advisable.

Just compromise and stop tracking the ball for a little bit at the top of the arc. Given some practice, It is not that hard to continue tracking it again once it drops down low enough that you won't be blinded, since the trajectory is completely predictable and you know exactly how you threw it

Damon S Posted 10 years ago

Thanks Alois, that is a good point. Come to think of it, the lights perhaps bother me a little more in closer matches where I'm struggling a bit.

And thanks for the suggestion Johan. I will have to give that a try.

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 10 years ago

No problems Damon.

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