The serve is often referred to as a throwing motion. However, a throw is biomechanically different from a strike. When we strike the tennis ball on the serve we are utilizing different power sources compared to throwing the ball. One of these differences is the position of the elbow on the release. The release starts when the forearm begins to extend. You can see in this video that on the throw the elbow is pointing forward, while on the strike the elbow pointing upward. Even if we attempted to throw the ball forward at a higher trajectory, the elbow would still point forward prior to the release.

Another difference between a serve and a throw is the timing of torso rotation. All throwing actions, whether it's a baseball pitch, a javelin throw, or a shot put will have a rotation of the torso that starts prior to the release of the forearm. In other words, the dominant shoulder will get ahead of the non-dominant shoulder prior to the extension of the forearm. This does not take place on the serve. The torso rotation on flat and slice serves will be delayed and the dominant shoulder will never get ahead of the non-dominant shoulder. In other words, we are simultaneously rotating the torso and extending/pronating/releasing the forearm into the contact. At the moment of contact, the shoulders will be parallel to each other.

The only way to accurately mimic the serve by throwing would be to get on the toes, bend the knees, get the chest pointing up and throw the ball straight up towards the sky.
You can try this out at home. Get into the above-mentioned body position and throw a ball at the ceiling. What you will find is that it feels very uncomfortable to do so and in addition to that, you will get absolutely no power behind this type of throw.

And the reason is: This is not how we throw, but is exactly how we serve. The serve is biomechanically a much more complex body action involving multiple power sources. We can effortlessly generate power form this body position when we serve, but we are unable to generate any power when we throw.

Are people who can throw well good servers?
I'm sure they are. People who can throw accurately and powerfully are most likely good athletes and this can be beneficial for the serve.

The important question is:
Does throwing improve the serve?
It absolutely does not. In fact, if you throw too much as a recreational player you might be further ingraining common technical serve flaws such as the waiter tray position and many other problems.

Is throwing a good way to learn how to serve?
It absolutely is not.
By throwing a beginner will learn nothing about fundamental aspects of the serving action.
The correct grip, the toss, the racquet drop, pronation into the contact, the timing of the torso rotation and most importantly the striking of the ball.

When we strike the ball, we mentally go through a completely separate subconscious mental processing compared to when we throw the ball. This subconscious mental processing is what the vast majority of recreational players struggle with when serving. This is for example why the racquet face will open up too early on the approach towards the ball, without the player being aware that this action is taking place.
These problems only take place when there is a ball to be struck. Recreational players will not go through this subconscious mental processing when throwing the ball over the net.

While there are similarities between throwing and serving and it is, therefore, logical that one would think that these two actions are the same. However, we can not ignore the biomechanical differences that far outweigh the similarities and we, therefore, must conclude that the serve is not a throwing motion.

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