Tomahawk Topspin & Pendulum serve toss

Mark van Leeuwe Asked 12 years ago

Hi Alois & Jeff,

I'm practising all kind of serves, Pendulum, Pendulum reverse, backhand and tomahawk but you do not show how to serve the tomahawk with topspin. It would be nice to have a video response for this one?

Another question: it's now the second time during a tournament that my opponent tells me he can't see the ball clearly when I do my Pendulum serve. I'm right handed so my left arm/hand is in the way when I'm serving. It was in the final so I lost concentration because of it...maybe I didn't lose because of that but it certainly didn't help. Can you tell me how to get my arm out of the way at the right moment. Maybe my basic stance doing the Pendulum serve is not ideal.

Thanks in advance,

Mark

Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago

Hi Mark,

For the topspin Tomahawk serve you just need to alter the angle of your bat slightly.  So we show you the backspin where you lay the bat back, for the topspin you turn your bat slightly the other way so you are coming over the ball on contact.

To make sure you are getting your hand out of the way, work on this during training.  Throw the ball up and then get your hand to touch your right pocket or right hip as soon as you throw the ball up.  This will get your hand out of the way.  Try this first before changing your stance.  You can get someone to stand at the other end and check if they can see the ball.