A New Year's Serve

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Having Fun with One's ppffutt

The ppffutt is a noise caused by sudden exhalation with a bit of voice chimed in. It is also code for external rotation of shoulder, external rotation of forearm, extension of wrist, elevation of elbow, passive straightening of arm at elbow, ulnar deviation, internal shoulder rotation and wrist flexion.

These are the seven upward rotations many of us have recently reacted to, designed to happen in .1 second. I choose my own words to possess them.

Seven is a lot of rotations to accomplish in .1 second. We abet the task by combining (1 through 3), (4-5) and (6-7). Now we have only three items to implement-- turning out, javelin throw and ulnar deviation.

Some might say I've left out the most important motion, viz., internal shoulder rotation and wrist flexion, but that must be unconscious so yes, I did leave it out. I hope to do all seven of the original items in one ppffutt.

I think I want to include lowering and bending of left arm in the .1 second ppffutt. What most initiates the ppffutt exactly when toss arm reaches Top Dead Center, in the form I'm using, is a big spring from rear leg with front leg still bent (though not for long).

[bottle]

Breaking one's Horrible Habit of Failing to Orient Properly

You will have to have viewed the pertinent video and read along on this topic. The solution will not reveal itself from one post alone.

Remember, we (I) are committed to Kramerserve. Which abbreviates the beginning of the toss by directing it sideways.

Both arms straighten on the down of downtogether-uptogether. And both arms do go down. But not very steeply. More away from the core.

The hitting arm (ha) also rolls open to square. The tossing arm (ta) cannot do that and must remain simple. The ta hand is in the shape of an ice cream cone holding one scoop.

ha next should rise two inches while ta rises a yard. Ball is released at half a yard with a half a yard more continuing in no-hesitate magnetized follow through.

From release one uses index finger to begin pointing at sky.

If you have a good one hand backhand, use the same scapular clench with which you conclude that stroke. The clench, along with lengthening of the sinews between shoulder and hip will add agency to your previously too lackadaisical toss.

To repeat, straight ha goes up two inches while straight ta goes up a yard.

Get a good body turn as hands go down. That adds swinging force to the toss as well.

Sorry for the hortatory tone-- almost a necessity, it seems to me.

When anybody decides to do how-to whether oral or written, they can use third person "one" or second person "you." Once you're in that "you" mode you are half-way to screaming at the person.

[bottle]

October 12, 2018 . I'll be happy to keep this short. Recently, however, I spoke of the death of Thomas Wolfe, one of America's great novelists ever. I know we don't do politics here now, but one of the strong points of this forum, in my view, is that it has permitted tennis players to explore areas of biography and other stuff that wouldn't normally seem a part of tennis discussion. And not just Stotty and I have discussed writing from time to time.

I recall from my pre-computer days reading that when Wolfe was dead and they opened his skull there was grotesque pressure inside. From that I connected to Oktoberfest and what I had heard of Wolfe and it. This direct account by Wolfe himself contradicts some of what I thought, so there could be other discrepancy too. And I don't claim to be a literary historian, e.g., I was off by ten years-- the beating apparently was in 1928, not 1938, which was the year of his death.

http://theamericanreader.com/4-octob...ine-bernstein/

[bottle]

Editor in Two Ways

Can you edit moving sculpture? Can you edit your own words? For you will have to do both to become a teacher of stroke technique to others or to yourself.

Stroke technique? What a bad idea! Fake the dropshot and lob over the opponent's head.

A great idea that no one can carry out unless he has 1) a dropshot and 2) a lob and 3) the temperament of a fiend.

[bottle]

Small See See

Small lift to outside, small to inside. The word "small" also means relaxed.

Then a more pro-active wipe. You never get rid of the spot if you don't put some force into your wipe.

A difference of several inches between purchase points on the racket handle helps.

Swi-i-i-rrl wipe.

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More Powerful or Faster Toss or Both

ha and ta are straight. ha now to rise four inches, not two. ta stays at rising a yard.

[bottle]

In the rear-leg serve here envisioned the toss is almost violent and the leg drive controlled and precise.

The rear leg in fact will start to skate from a flat foot which will turn heel up as hips rotate into front leg stayed bent like a Tai Chi master whom one can't dislodge.

Orienting properly to the serve is more important than slowness of preparation which I have always thought paramount. Since initial downward action shallowly away from bod is part of toss strength, go fast. Make both arms go fast. The roll to square in ha keeps unwanted racket head momentum from becoming a problem. That roll neutralizes. The body turn backward lends force to ta. The arms straightening lend force to ta. Wanted: a speedier toss.

As a result of this, better and speedier upward orientation becomes possible. The real serve now begins with tossing arm a confident hold, not a miserable quaking wretch of a ta struggling from willpower alone to stay pointed upward when it really doesn't want to and would rather plunge early as it has done a million times.

Well maybe the bad plunge can now be used to advantage in which case it will be bad no more.

The starting place is ta's backward transition from 12:30 to 12:00 o'clock: That is a feel that needs to be perfect. When and only when it is perfect, reverse engineer from there. Speedy action will generate more time for perfect feel at the top.

Something needs to be slow in any serve but not what you (I) have thought. The serve begins from TDC. One count to TDC! All you know compressed into a single count and there you are at TDC (top dead center) with the ball starting to drop.

1 ppffutt two where two is the follow through.

At the end of 1, both legs are coiled. The rear leg now fires. Better, mentally speaking, to put front leg extension with the follow through even though it happens precisely at contact.

1 ppffutt 2 is rhythm for the serve. The ppffutt is many things but also a maximized short somersault from two different fulcra, 1) foot and 2) gut.

Correction: Brian Gordon just indicated in forward rotations thread that cartwheel comes first. Just before the ppffutt, my noise. I'm thinking that leftward lean must also happen just before the ppffutt. In the example of Federer. he seems to lean both forward and sideward, i.e., across the net at left fence post in a single outdoor court.

[bottle]

Grizzly Bear Swipe? Forearm a Sickle Bar? Upward Length of Toss Arm Motion Modified to Four Feet instead of Three? And Going to 12 o'clock and then 11:30 as Hit Arm Bends?

Besides these notions, I'm trying to find the sensory image that best expresses adduction (a shove of arm to inside) combined with abduction (raising of arm to prescribed 100 degrees at the armpit) combined with twist of torso on a forward axis tilted toward left fence post on other side of the net.

One needs enough power from this to whip passive arm straight.

The discussion is about personal outcome, i.e., how high and far one's serve will bound.

At the Friday night tennis social, I got one to bounce cleanly over the head of a girl but it hit a divot in the clay.

I seek serves that bounce that high every time I attempt one.

On flexion of wrist to neutral (straight): That seems the percentage thing to do. But there are effective servers who continue to flex after the scrape. More uninhibited flexion? Greater risk of spoiling the serve by pushing the ball? Too challenging a degree of precision for most players?

[bottle]

Held Serve this Morning in Doubles when Tried to Apply New Ideas to my Normal Serve

Lost Serve when tried to apply same ideas to a rear-foot serve with front knee straightening late.
Is there a lesson in this? Certainly put ball in court in the second case, but ball after the bounce was just not as effective. Took several rounds of holds before I even realized what I was doing (going with a version of the serve I used all summer).

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Admittedly, the Process by which I Reach a Service Conclusion can be Extremely Painful

It is, most simply, try and try-- you'll succeed at last.

But I read too. And watch videos. And listen. And watch good servers through the fence. And participate in tennis conversations.

And look for "teachable moments."

A most extraordinary one occurred at our last indoor tennis social: each Friday night session consists of three sets with different partners then a Spanish dinner. Spanish in that it is fashionably late. Then if you want you can play one more set with a partner of your own choosing.

Not me. I'm old. I don't play after dinner.

My middle partner was Aziz, a teaching pro I got to play with once last year. The score: We won 6-0 . The score this year: We won 6-0 .

But one of our opponents couldn't serve. All of his serves went into the net. I was tempted to tell him to serve at mid-ceiling rather than at the bottom of the net. On the other hand I thought it would be cool if we won. And the guy appeared to have a powerful throw, might even be a pitcher in baseball. If the serves start going in, I reasoned, they could be a problem for me. Besides, I was playing with an excellent teaching pro. Let him do any talking and be the one to give advice.

Aziz did, finally, give the advice. And the serves did begin to go in. I didn't hear what Aziz said but can imagine it.

For the guy's toss arm (ta) went up no higher than the point where he released the ball.

He thought a service motion directs out, not up.

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Progressions of Certain Thought in the Development of a Kramer Influenced Serve

1) Downtogether uptogether suggests that both arms go up an equal amount.

2) Revised to ta rising twice as far.

3) Jack Kramer and Pancho Gonzalez spent a lot of time together. And both had horizontal dimension built into their service wind-up despite the difference in how it looked.

4) Downtogether uptogether form suggests a narrow gorge.

5) Pyrimidal cone is a more effective image, wide at the base and coming to a point at contact (the top).

6) Body can adjust itself so that ta ends pointing straight up. Welby Van Horn in Ed Weiss's book even suggests pointing at the sky with one's index finger.

7) Roger Federer goes slightly beyond that.

8) A major sin would be to go less than that.

[bottle]

Upward Inward Lift of Coiled Elbow Must Feel Powerful-- No?

That is why I suggested a grizzly bear swipe.

But the powerful motion needs to be light and quick to snap arm straight.

Of extreme interest, in my view, is when it happens or where begins, where ends, and how long or short it is.

My thought right now: Starts with elbow on line with the clavicles. Ends with 100 degrees at the armpit.

Note: the powerful feel imagined and referenced here can only happen while one mimes and slows down various parts in the .1 second upward linkage in order to learn them. The whole linkage put together will have a separate feel or "no feel." Who among people who haven't mastered this yet can really know how it will feel? The closest one can get-- in the meantime-- is talk to somebody already there, i.e, somebody with a corker of a serve? And somebody also good at describing the feel of ANYTHING? Such a rare corker possessing person could maybe give us the helpful cue we need? To add to his rarity even more, he would be unselfish enough to want to pull others onto his boat so as to join him.

[bottle]

The "L" Finish on the Backhand

Happens on page 183 of SECRETS OF A TRUE TENNIS MASTER by Edward Weiss. The text there is written for both one hand and two hand backhands.

"Finishing with an 'L' on the backhand groundstroke will help your stroke because it prevents the wrist(s) of the racket arm(s) from collapsing. If the player finishes with the racket butt closer to the side wall on the backhand finish, the 'L' will be a slightly tilted 'L'."

A photo of a one hander's finish reveals that her arm is slightly bent, her hand about even with her right eye.

Me, I'm told I have a good one hander, but I feel the wrist is too stiff, both concave and locked when I look down. I'll try something different (again!) this morning, a straight wrist, which Is going to be either better or worse. (I'm a guy who uses a J. Donald Budge thumb brace rather than a thumb wrap.)

Playing with the three guys I am about to play with will be a pleasure. But conducting the experiment, particularly in the warmup, will be a pleasure all by itself, and may even get my mind off of the competition so that I then compete better. One never knows.

[stotty]

We get a reasonable view of Don Budge's thumb position here:

https://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/golden_legends/donbudge/donbudge_sa.html?DBBHRear.mov

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Gigi Fernandez Poacher's Triangle as Demonstrated by Peter Freeman at Tennis Con 2

There seems no doubt that most terminators at the net don't terminate enough because they aren't in early movement in weird and varied ways.

The little steps that Freeman uses in each leg of a triangle look very nice and no doubt should be emulated some of the time.

But they suggest another more shrink-wrapped movement also to try if you know how to dance the Fox Trot box step.

Squish it at its baseline side to form the rear point of the triangle.

Mirror your server-partner's ball placement with your own bod placement working from this hopefully conditioned pattern (how many dance lessons did you take?).

Left right skip onto right foot to cover the left alley.

Box step broadly to the right and keep going to poach in the middle.

Improvise a backhand volley when ball comes straight at you.

P.S. The alley BHV I just suggested is for a slow oncoming ball. Take fewer steps or no step most of the time. The oncoming ball is usually fast and very soon.