Tomahawk serve corrections

Hi Alois
 
One of the effective serves for me is the tomahawk. I am able to confuse the opponent using tomahawk backspin and topspin alternatively and win points. I do not have a very high toss for these serves and wanted to make sure that they are legal because of the height . Could you please guide me as to how i need to practice increasing the height and also if I could see a video of the minimum height i could use for these serves or how i could increase the height,  it would be helpful.

The reason being that it is difficult to bend down and at the same time watch the ball if i had a high toss and also for the tomahawk topspin, i thought that getting the ball to move across the top surface of the ball with a high toss is tricky.

Thanks
Grenville

Hi Grenville,

It is good to make sure your serves are completely legal so you don't get into arguments during an important match like we saw in the final of the Olympic Women's singles.

Try to even use your phone to get a video of your serve and then watch it back to check the height of your throw.  The guide is that it has to leave your hand by at least 15 cm or 6 inches which is about the height of the net.  You can see the net and make a comparison as to how high the ball is going up.  Even get your friend to watch you and make a critical appraisal of he height of your throw.

You should err on the side of throwing it higher rather than lower.  You will not get called for a fault is you are consistently throwing the ball up a lot higher.