Measuring the height of the toss and contact point of Tour Professionals

A unique visualization of the measurement of ball throw height and contact point height is shown below. 27 players were measured at the Mutua Madrid Open. This is not an evaluation, but certainly gives an idea of the range in the margins.

See the table and then the Key Education Factor (KEF), the summary for your everyday training.

Player	Body Height	Toss Height	Contact Height	Difference
Dolgopolov, Alexandr	1.8	2.99	2.96	0.03
Fognini, Fabio	1.78	3.06	2.94	0.12
Almagro, Nicolas	1.83	3.07	2.79	0.28
Nadal, Rafa	1.9	3.26	2.95	0.31
Anderson, Kevin	2.03	3.61	3.28	0.33
Giraldo, Santiano	1.88	3.24	2.89	0.35
Isner, John	2.08	3.61	3.26	0.35
Seppi, Andreas	1.9	3.29	2.94	0.35
Lopez, Feliciano	1.88	3.31	2.93	0.38
Nishikori, Kei	1.78	3.21	2.79	0.42
Dimitrov, Grigor	1.9	3.51	3.05	0.46
Ramos Vinolas, Albert	1.88	3.38	2.89	0.49
Robredo, Tommy	1.8	3.36	2.84	0.52
Bautista Agut, Roberto	1.83	3.36	2.81	0.55
Nieminen, Jarkko	1.85	3.51	2.94	0.57
Thiem, Dominic	1.85	3.44	2.87	0.57
Verdasco, Fernando	1.88	3.51	2.87	0.64
Wawrinka, Stan	1.83	3.46	2.79	0.67
Ferrer, David	1.75	3.53	2.83	0.7
Murray, Andy	1.9	3.59	2.86	0.73
Carreno Busta, Pablo	1.88	3.55	2.78	0.77
Gulbis, Ernests	1.9	3.92	2.96	0.96
Monaco, Juan	1.85	3.61	2.76	0.85
Janowicz, Jerzy	2.03	4.19	3.15	1.04
Youzhny, Mikhail	1.83	4.11	2.81	1.3
Berdych, Tomas	1.96	4.34	2.92	1.42
Delbonis, Federico	1.9	4.46	2.87	1.59

What is the “KEF” (Key Education Factor)

First of all, without wanting to evaluate it exactly, we see very big differences in the range of the ball throwing height. In the extreme case, from almost exactly at the highest point of the ball throw (0.03 for Dolgopolov) to dropping the ball 1.59 m (Delbonis). Both are extremes and hardly suitable for imitating young players in education.

What can be said for sure, however, is that the good players throw the ball well beyond the contact point. A margin of about 40 to 60 cm is a factor to aim for in player education. A little more or less, depending on how much the players use their legs. Jumping towards the descending ball can certainly be passed on as an image for the performance. Provided, of course, that we are in tournament tennis and the transformation from forehand grip (beginners) to continental grip (serving grip for advanced players) has already taken place. Morphological movement characteristics certainly also have an influence, is one rather a tall and lanky type and a swing player or rather a strong, smaller player with a powerful short stroke movement. These considerations must also be taken into account when advising players. Advising a short stroke movement on a low ball throw to a player with a height of 1.95 m does not make much sense. But then again, what if you get exactly a player with these characteristics, would you want to change it? More of a philosophical question. It certainly depends on the phase and age at which you start training players and how much you can still influence their development.