A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Big Guy on Tennis Channel: Lean, Load, Leverage

He is a teaching pro. And what he says contradicts the immediate unit turn espoused by the tennis teaching world. His "leverage" equates with what other persons might call body turn or turns.

So, should we include this teacher in our rocket pointed at the Andromeda Galaxy along with all the politicians we have already put there? Or should we give his idea a try?

[bottle]

Against Easy Satisfaction

This is see see exploration, not ego massage. Decision: Scapulation at end of the down-and-up. Decision: Relax the shoulder to swing the elbow. Decision: keep scapula retracted during the swing. Decision: Right left right footwork. Decision: No extra load of right leg other than the bend the natural footwork can provide. Decision: Don't swing from shoulders or hips or both-- not in this shot. Decision: Don't fire outside leg either. Decision: Let the footwork determine desired compass setting so that elbow can swing away from the body to slightly open the racket face.

Decision: Try these decisions to see how they work and with what followthrough.

[bottle]

Slight Deception

If you cross with left hand on every forehand except for a see see, even a dull opponent who is not trying to read you will be tipped off.

I nevertheless would like to get the left elbow up on left side of body for slightly more upward angle to the subsequent uppercut.

Both forearms therefore bend inward from the two elbows. And the hitting arm backswing now changes from the easy down-and-up of a McEnrueful to a kind of inverted stirring of a pot that severely turns the racket tip down toward the court while closing it even more than strong grip dictates.

The feel of sidearm scaling of a flat rock now comes into play. Psychologically, such childhood memory may be all there is left to cling to in that the shot has been evolving more and more toward arm only.

Arm only. That sounds awful. But a baseball pitcher or person who has ever undergone strength testing from a chiropractor may know that the arm is stronger from some positions than others.

To try, from the inverted stir position with scapula retracted: Elbow comes into body before it goes out while twisting racket to a more square position by contact.

If one can twist elbow over a tennis ball one can twist elbow downward as well, perhaps with the result that strings zing sharply upward at a good contact point.

Followthrough: Release of scapular retraction combined with arm straightening after the ball.

Whole shot feel: Swing of both elbows around the still body so that distance of hands from one another (about shoulders' width) remains constant throughout.

[bottle]

Continued

This seems promising. The whole concept derives from one highlighted shot of Steve Johnson pulled way wide in a recent match with Kevin Anderson. Steve brings the ball back into the court behind Kevin in improbable fashion. With delicacy!

But a discovered shot may take days (maybe days and days) to come into full focus.

To the previous post I add this: In baseball there are more pitchers with good curve balls than screwballs. It may be easier for somebody-- maybe even me-- to crank the arm one way rather than the other when in a situation requiring utmost precision.

Utmost precision is the reason I call the topspin angle a "see see."

I'm thinking, you crank the arm hard as you fling elbow down into your side. (Well, it doesn't stop or HIT it.) Rising elbow on the other side then is what administers controllable spin to the ball. Most important, contact point may now occur where it occurs in one's body-driven forehands.

[bottle]

Continued

Once one has settled on exactly how wants to hit the see see, the whole subject may become about where one's body is and how it is arranged in relation to the ball (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...nt_of_contact/).

Nobody is perfect, so one will often have a need for fine adjustment, one example of which is sending elbow out from body on a slightly different angle. You might that way close on ball a little even though you thought you didn't want to do that any more.

Or vary the amount of cranking the lower edge of the racket forward as elbow accelerates in toward body. Or combine all factors without being aware of any particular one.

That would be "letting go."

[bottle]

This Serve Probably Won't Work-- Gonna Try It Anyway

Down and up gets racket close to hitting head. Fingers relax and wrist performs radial deviation (SIM) to miss skull: the end of the backswing. Everything then accelerates from slow-fast with the two halves of the arm pressing together and the hand opening from forearm (SIM). That's two kinds of wrist movement happening quite close together. Talking things through nevertheless helps. Remember PBA (paralysis by analysis) is no worse than PBNEA sort of like an apnea (paralysis by not enough analysis).

I've kept elbow way back, remembering the time, that, to impress my Swedish girlfriend I threw a rock at a telephone pole in Eastport, Maine.

The fact that I missed the pole (and the girlfriend) is not germane to this discussion, but the elbow held back is.

Everything now flings-- hips and elbow especially, but how do the hips turn? And how does the elbow turn? And what else is going on other than triceps muscle mightily straightening the arm as wrist drives perfectly straight?

The hips turn into flat left foot since I am old. They do not turn as natural part of a rocket lift-off. Old men should not jump up in the air.

This uniquely old-fashioned hips turn offers these interesting options. Whirl a lot for a flat serve. Whirl half that much for topspin slice. Whirl not at all for kick. Just one way of approaching fine control.

But where were we in our sixth of a second? With everything unloading at a telephone pole (in Eastpole with a Hungarian girlfriend in my novel). But it's time to reverse direction-- to turn EUAR into IUAR (internal upper arm rotation) and send energy straight up as when John McEnroe's racket slipped from his sweaty hand and flew right up to the sky.

Okay, so the sudden reversal may naturally spring elbow slightly backward. But here's what I want to try: to arch upper body sending shoulder backward just then.

[bottle]

Banking on Banking: Too Small to Fail

The first "banking" here refers to investment, the second to aeronautics. In SECRETS OF A TRUE TENNIS MASTER: WELBY VAN HORN AND HIS TENNIS TEACHING SYSTEM by Edward Weiss, Welby applies banking to a good eastern forehand which means he discovered it there first.

Taking this information, I found banking in the composite grip forehands of John McEnroe. The most basic example sees bending of outside knee during the up of John's down and up backswing. Then, as John drives upward on that leg, his wing tip or hitting shoulder banks down and up by contact, something that I at 75 (for three more weeks) can only do with occasional success.

The rest of the time I am better off keeping my knees loose and relaxed with butt kept low. The down and up backswing works well then if I blend it immediately into downward banking with knees still bent followed by banking up to level by contact.

Psychologically, I have conditioned myself to think only of getting solid and feel the shoulder get connected with the shot and bank down.

The time may now have come however to be aware of shoulder rising up to ball. I think that over-emphasis on kinetic chain has led players to think of body segments as sequenced horizontal discs. But if shoulder is rising it's not part of an old 33 & 1/3 rpm vinyl record. I don't see much reason either for sequencing in one's mind hips and shoulders since that either will or won't happen.

Additionally, I should not rely for more topspin on the first method of McEnrovian banking in pressure situations-- better to hit an abbreviated Federfore or ATP3 forehand with different grip.

[bottle]

Quality of Volley Demonstrations

As a believer in the magic of indirection and natural personal discourse over scientific tract (although ST can be very very good and even could save the world if it didn't destroy it), I have to think that the real breakthroughs in tennis technique come to us as oblique surprise when we are focused somewhere else.

This is what I now feel about the TP articles by Dennis Ralston. Both have fabulous texts-- the first on slice serve, the second on conditioning best ground stroke and volley contact points.

But the easy technique of Dennis Ralston in the accompanying videos is what most ignites me.

Take the volley section at the end of this article (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...nt_of_contact/).

I look at the backhand volley and say, "Omigod, that's the way I hit backhand slice only more compressed." I look at the forehand volley and say, "His wrist is straight. Then he lays it back as part of the hit same as the mondo in a modern ground stroke."

To consider both shots at once, they consist of small hand drop and level section characterized by heavy leverage that brings tip around fast followed by easy rise of racket to finish.

Reader, you may call that hitting down on a volley (if you must) but I won't.

When you realize that Dennis Ralston was half of six Wimbledon doubles championships, you know that his volleys were good. When you see him hit them now you know they still are good.

When you reflect that one of the six championships came when he was paired with Billie Jean King, you know she probably wouldn't have consented to play with him if he hit down on basic volleys.

For in her books and instruction she is passionately partial in espousing volleys that go perfectly parallel to the court while hitting the ball.

I am enough of a realist to admit that volleys get hit in countless ways during any given set of doubles.

The simplest of these is a solid block. But the best volleyer I ever was paired with (Patrick O'Kelly) was a former national seniors champion in Canada and had a small drop at beginning of his forward hit.

Would that waste time? Not if the drop were part of the forward hit.

[bottle]

Once one has settled on exactly how wants to hit the see see, the whole subject may become about where one's body is and how it is arranged in relation to the ball (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...nt_of_contact/).

Nobody is perfect, so one will often have a need for fine adjustment, one example of which is sending elbow out from body on a slightly different angle. You might that way close on ball a little even though you thought you didn't want to do that any more.

Or vary the amount of cranking the lower edge of the racket forward as elbow accelerates in toward body. Or combine all factors without being aware of any particular one.

That would be "letting go."

Another form of this could be simply cranking arm one way in order to load it for cranking the other way. But how about doing this with a westernized grip and a straight wrist? This would be prime example of "bend the stick the opposite way" philosophy. But don't abandon this idea just there. Why not be imaginative at combining elbow travel with the opposite crankings? Elbow comes down right now with a curveball action as if to slap right thigh. But one could send it farther to the outside for a sharper turn around right edge of the ball. There are two actions now at work in this scheme-- "curveball" and "screwball"-- and different elbow positions can be combined with each. One needs to be flexible for once and play around.

[bottle]

What is the Relation between Filling your Lungs with Air and Arching your Back?

If that is a good question, reader, you should answer it yourself.

I agree with you, reader. Maybe that is why Boris Becker always looked like a bloated mummy at the top of his serve.

Now, of course, he looks like a bloated mummy at the bottom of his serve.

[bottle]

Pabba and Papnea: Two Ultra-Important Terms for those who want to Play Tennis

Up till now the two most important acronyms in tennis, derived from the scripture of Bill Tilden, have been NCAWG and ACALG: never change a winning game and always change a losing game. Since Djokovic can beat you, you should change your game. But note the perfect correspondence between each letter of the acronym and its explanation-- a bad idea.

If one follows that prescription, one becomes too clear. And if a teaching pro becomes too clear he may get fired.

This happened to me. I was teaching footwork to a Harvard graduate. "We're athletes," he cried (perhaps referring to all varsity oarsmen, and we had raced against each other), "so we don't want to be told where to put our feet!"

And he fired me. The event though not devastating was disconcerting. We had shared half a dozen lessons after he chose me over another teaching pro who was better and had taught me over a couple of years and even had accreditation superior to my own (USPTA over NTA).

What could I do other than enjoy the liberation that any firing provides? I and those dance instructors this dude may have had are glad to see him gone.

But we learned the value of staying obscure. And Pabba is more obscure than PBA, which stands for Paralysis By Analysis. Similarly, Papnea is more obscure than PBNEA (Paralysis By Not Enough Analysis) although Papnea alludes to New Guinea as well as apnea. Papua is spelled differently but this is a joke!

If you have more than x number of apneas per hour, reader, you should go for a sleep evaluation. You will lie in a big comfortable bed with pretty nurses.

[bottle]

McEnrueful and John McEnroe Forehand Adapted and Adopted

"Language is thought," stated the famed writer Peggy Noonan even though she is a political idiot. Reversed, thought is language. It's great to name things. Once you realize that naming something or someone not only is inventive (even though George W. Bush liked to assign personalized nicknames) you may also come to understand that putting a name on every new invention is the start of new exploration. If you follow this line in tennis, you may develop some powerful shots unlike those of anyone else. With certain similarities of course.

The day may come however when you named something that you want to change thus creating a McEnrueful 1, a McEnrueful 2 and a McEnrueful 3 . Don't go down this self-referential road. You become incapable of communicating your idea to another human being.

The McEnrueful I now have in mind comes in equal parts from watching TP videos of John McEnroe and out of a book.

The book is SECRETS OF A TRUE TENNIS MASTER: WELBY VAN HORN AND HIS TENNIS TEACHING SYSTEM by Edward Weiss.

One emphasis in that book is on low, connected and maximized turn of the hips. So you get the book and learn this stuff. Then you apply it to the John McEnroe forehand what with its easy down and up backswing. Finally, if you still are interested you go on to hitting a certain forehand more like John McEnroe himself, a shot that depends on hearty upward leg drive from the outside foot.

I. McEnrueful: Swing the arm down and up like John McEnroe but keep the knees at a single level of bend. Now, with a very similar notion of motion in mind (connect the dots) swing the shoulder down and up like a banking airplane. Imagine that the plane abruptly tips its right wing down then restores it to level for contact. The arm is entirely solid with the whirling body to contact, I would argue, although there may be departure from this on some shots farther along the developmental mystery: a departure from principle in that there is a slight difference in actual departure from the ball.

II. An unnamed variation more typically seen in a forehand video of John McEnroe: On the up of the down-and-up backswing compress the outside leg an extra amount. Then while springing from outside foot perform the one-two banking sequence. The total banking is faster, isn't it? But this shot wasn't working for me as well in doubles competition-- why not? Did I forget the Van Horn/Weiss prescription of leaving leg somewhat bent even though driving upward from it? If you keep extending leg you move your eyes too much. To my mind, a McEnrueful is a forehand hit like either the I or II descriptions/prescriptions here.

[bottle]

Would it Really take three to five years to Learn this One-Hander?

The backhand in mind occurs in the third furniture in this article starting at the top and counting down (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...nt_of_contact/).

Why not learn it the exact same way that Dennis Ralston is hitting it here?

[bottle]

Level of Racket Tip in Waiting Position

I haven't read much on this subject which now seems important to me.

In GETTING STARTED IN TENNIS, a continuing subject if one gets out of bed each day, Arthur Ashe seems to propose keeping racket parallel to court or "level" for ground strokes, racket tip up at 45 degrees for volleys.

In ED FAULKNER'S TENNIS the 45 degrees holds for both ground strokes and volleys. In the TP videos of John McEnroe however John holds racket level for both. We know about his upside down backswing for ground strokes but what is the implication for volleys other than probably making mine slow? Does commitment to rise in backswing help explain the greatness of the JM volleys?

This little distinction or identification of two basic ways of waiting for the ball could become very significant as one gets older and wants to reduce the size of one's Federfore.

Suppose that one decides to raise from level the racket tip one half as high as Roger Federer does? Well, Roger's waiting position has racket tip already raised somewhat, so perhaps the amount of raising motion will remain roughly the same.

Combining Nick Wheatley's 1-2 rhythm with Luke Digweed's three check points for a wiper and NW's recommendation of thinking about two items only, one could contemplate first the one-half raised racket tip as end of the backswing and second the third checkpoint for wiper, which is with racket forward from body but pointed at left fence.

This conscious decision mentally groups the items of dog wipe, mondo and windshield wipe into a single act. The Zen Buddhism of this will make it fast, i.e., 1) the backswing will have occurred; 2) the racket tip will be pointed at left fence.

After that one will follow through around left shoulder but don't waste brain cells thinking about that right now since the arm is decelerating anyway.

[bottle]

A Formula for Racket Head Speeds in a Given Serve

Part I. The formula: G, G/2, G/4, Infinity.

Same thing now with explanations: G (racket falls at 32 feet per second per second). The speed is whatever a natural fall can establish.

G/2 . The racket rises twice as fast as G ending with fingers loosening combined with radial deviation of the hand. An image comes to mind of a snake finishing its coil with small movement of its head. This whole section may be quicker than one thought.

G/4 . The two halves of the arm squeeze together as the hand opens from the wrist while the elbow stays back. This section is twice as fast as the previous section.

Infinity. The racket goes as fast as it can. The many things that happen include scapular adduction and muscular straightening of the wrist and arm and external rotation of the upper arm followed by internal rotation of the upper arm combined with scapular retraction (arching of the back).

But one must not take the divisions established here with pedantic seriousness. The seminal division is between backswing and forward swing. Backswing concludes with G/2 .

Part II. Incorporation of breathing should be the last thing to include in one's development of a serve according to some wags.

Let's believe them even though we know from past history we'll be adding other stuff.

If one uses a slight rise of both hands and racket to start one's motion one probably wouldn't want to begin a full intake of air just then.

Through G, G/2, G/4, and pre-contact INFINITE SPEED however such a prolonged intake could make good sense since filled chest makes a last instant arching of the back more possible, brief, doable and timeable. The goal is to send racket energy straight upward rather than forward. But the elbow does get to fly forward first with considerable delayed power in this particular version of a serve.

Reader, suppose that every bit of information given here is of great personal use to you. Would you want to absorb it all at once? Of course not. Training the formula part and the breathing part, e.g., could be separated into two different but consecutive days or weeks or months.