A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Adding Finesse to the Federfore

No one is ever going to tell you just where in the big circle of life to bowl from one intersection to the next.

That is supposed to be empowering, to tell you to try different short tracts of
independent arm acceleration at end of which the hand actually slows down or stops (which allows hand to be pushed by body only once again).

Also, remember that mondo occurs right in the middle of the bowl, and that mondo is so complicated an action that most human beings can't even contemplate it much less describe or do it.

Many teaching pros (most?) shy away from this tour word, "mondo," associating it in their mind with anthrax.

Teaching pros would prefer for the sake of comfort (their own), that each student wear a plaster cast on his right arm with wrist molded underneath to the desired degrees of lay-back.

(Please note I didn't say that for lefties you would put the cast on the left arm.)

[bottle]

A Still Different Read of one of the six Budgian Backhands

I've embedded this video in a post before, but bear with me (patient reader).

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

The first difference from what I'm trying to do occurs with racket behind the body. I'm remembering from Talbert and Old, THE GAME OF SINGLES IN TENNIS that Don Budge supposedly changed grip behind him, that his backhand take-back therefore was with his forehand grip.

That's for him, not for me, and must have involved some clever shifting back and forth of right and left hand function.

I'm not below a little of that myself but in a different way. Recently I took a few days off from tennis for a lot of theater. When I returned to my game, my backhands were lousy. I wasn't getting my arm straight on time. Not only
did I hate this but I hated that it could happen! So I took corrective measures (see post # 149, "Budgian Backhand Back-swing for the Overly Schematic").

The next thing I want to examine is the natural racket and body sequence in this video. First the racket swings around in a slow, wide circle. The body opens a little (naturally) but the bigger happening is extension of front knee up into contact.

From contact immediately onward (always the most important part of any ground stroke) the arm keeps going, extending out to yardarm position only higher. Legs have been extending the whole time and feet have left the ground.

Before they come back down the biggest body turn in the stroke occurs, entirely from the hips, during which the arm bends and wrist becomes concave again (the "comfort" position).

[bottle]

What the Left Hand Shows

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

Observe the video once again, concentrating this time on the left hand. It goes out quite a bit. Then falls down close to Don Budge's body. That can only mean one thing. That he ripped with his shoulder blades, which also kept the upper body edge on a little earlier than in some modern backhands. Ingredients for this stroke: Free-wheeling, easy, slow, mono-speed swing slightly down and up from the shoulder joint abetted by leg extension and clenching together of shoulderblades, but proceeding past all that to a high, full-blooded, dramatic and straight-armed finish. With comfort device at the end consisting of three simultaneous elements: 1) pivot from the hips, 2) arm bend plus return of wrist to concave, 3) left hand, which had thrust out toward rear fence, sliding naturally (and no doubt unconsciously) down by the side.

[bottle]

Invent your own Private/Public Language for all Discussions of Tennis

Question: Isn't a language public or private but not both? Answer: Wrong. Find the cusp between them.

Question: What's wrong with the present tennis language we all use? Answer: It's impoverished and doesn't provide enough names for things.

Example: We need reference points besides net-strap and net-post. So, if we imagine a single court centered symmetrically within a neat chain-link fence on a mountaintop somewhere out in the woods (but not in West Virginia-- too much removal there) we can conjure it up each time we say something like "Point the racket at the opposite right fence post." This imagery doesn't work if the teaching pro and his student can only envision multiple courts surrounded by a single fence.

Question: What if the student or reader doesn't recognize your terminology?

Answer: You must anticipate this likelihood by defining your terms (but not too often, or even your best friends will find themselves becoming bored).

[bottle]

Two Backhands, One Rhythm, Two Entirely Different Weight Transfers and Recoveries

1) Backhand from TENNIS OUR WAY (old VCR), where Vic Braden demonstrates deceleration-acceleration by abruptly stopping his swinging wide shoulders and letting his arm continue. I have orchestrated this with short beginning but maximum separation like the more famous Don Budge version and continue to maintain that it feels accurate and easy to control and similar to a well-played billiards shot.

2) Budge backhand from Lloyd Budge, TENNIS MADE EASY; Don Budge, A TENNIS MEMOIR; Talbert and Old, THE GAME OF SINGLES IN TENNIS; and the six videos of Don Budge's topspin backhand here in Stroke Archive, TennisPlayer.Net. A description of this student's present Budge-influenced backhand exists at post # 153, "What the Left Hand Shows" and in bits and pieces and false tries earlier in this same string. The rhythm I have in mind for BH 1) and BH 2) is five counts, the first two of which are a slightly twisting take-back same for both shots.

On count 3, the racket tip turns slowly down for the flatter shot. The shoulders begin a slow swing (4). The arm, slightly accelerating, continues (5) to a balanced finish. I then recover toward center on step-out footwork only in reverse-- backward and then to side.

On the more heavily top-spun shot the racket tip can turn quickly down on count 3. Quickly? Why? Because the forward swing, about to happen and from the shoulder joint this time contains a slight downward component before it rises up to contact. So why not combine the two "downs" so that counts 3 and 4 are a simple ski jump down and up to yard-arm position only higher? I've done it but the further complication is a huge amount of body force exerting itself in the contact area, i.e., the legs (primarily the front one) and shoulderblades clenching together along with body straightening
sideways and backward, i.e., on a rearward diagonal to increase topspin. Count 5, as I envision it, then is a gathering of the body back into itself (for more detail see post #153 again) combined with a gravity turn toward center of court.

Maybe it's all too hurried. I didn't do well with it in a first match other than one spectacular set point. But I want to stay with it until I reach an informed decision-- mainly because of the advantages I foresee. If I have to back off, however, I'll keep the racket tip lowering during count three separate and slow.

[bottle]

Modifications of Previous Post after a New Court Session

1) Old men shouldn't jump up into the air.

2) But one can finish with weight on back foot, which frees front foot to return you toward center.

3) Slow twisting down of racket tip for both of the mentioned backhands makes them identical for three out of five counts.

4) Don Budge doesn't say much about his backhand in his autobiography other than that it is a free swing and natural and a confidence shot.

5) One hesitates to make any departures from such beautiful videos. Adaptation to one's own needs, however, is the name of this story.

6) If you finish on back foot, some of the actions which cause that were already in effect by contact time.

7) The down and up part of the arm swing must not be exaggerated or "too deep." The arm is swinging around at the same time. Without this added element, the arm action is too frail.

8) One can practice the stroke to full extension with both arms out, freeze, and declare that you took five counts to get there. THEN you can add the recovery.

9) I see the fourth and fifth counts as a down and up of the arm (while it goes around as I said). In contact area, however, the gross body elements chime in. In a Federfore there is a big body sweep punctuated by a short stretch of arm acceleration. In the topspin backhand here the big arm sweep is punctuated by a short stretch of body acceleration.

10) I worry about the "application" of my posts when the reader, say, has an entirely different backhand. But Federer's, for instance, is wide like Budge's, and so many modern full-loop one-handers seem about establishing the big separation. In the Budgian version as learned here the elbow starts already out in the slot-- you don't have to work to put it there.

[bottle]

Sorry: It just goes on, but what doesn't?

This backhand discussion is driven by things happening on the court, not by my wish, which is that it be over. I tried swinging down with arm slowly, feeling for the ball. Then I found a video which shows that, I think:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/golden_legends/donbudge/donbudge_sa.html?DBBHSide.mov

Question: Do you swing arm left to right or right to left as total stroke becomes fast with all the body elements chiming in? Most likely answer: Both. Reasoning: Body movement in general is powerful but slow. Arm movement in general is weak but fast, going far. The double movement of the arm dovetails well with a single burst of body energy. And may dovetail better than only one arm direction would.

So, counts 1 and 2, take-back, slightly turning racket tip down to the inside.
Count 3, keep tip turning down. Count 4, racket head comes smoothly around because of A) wrist straightening, B) arm knifing slightly in toward body, C) a personal commitment to swinging the arm around the body (whatever else it does!) from the end of count 3 onward, but easy at first.

One can only swing the arm fast by relaxing the shoulder combined with a dose of will. And strength of will is related to perfect understanding of one's intention-- a succinct hook from slightly before ball and below it to yard-arm plus position out to right, having accelerated that whole way (5).

Tennis pundits occasionally speak of great extension on a one-arm backhand.
Could it come by lifting hand hard toward the opposite left fence post before
winging it right?

In his autobiography Don Budge tells about the time in the early rounds at Wimbledon when his famous backhand started to go sour on him, for the first and only time. He restored it by strolling to an outlying court, where he watched two women playing a veterans' singles match, and began, unconsciously, to focus on one of the player's technique. He says, in his best Cary Grant way, "That old girl moved over and reached out and hit this gorgeous zinging topspin backhand."

As a close reader, I find significance in the phrase "reached out."
It's useful for sure, and I recommend that all patient readers try it.

[bottle]

Who Should Hit Easy Serves?

People who are flexible enough to produce upward spin that will bounce unpredictably, and even then they most likely shouldn't do it all the time.

As for inflexible servers, they still can have a rich tennis life if they will focus on hitting the ball very hard, so that their sidespin will convert into topspin when it hits the court.

[bottle]

Another Look

On two of the Budge top-spin backhand videos the upper arm starts closed to the body (with no air visible in between); on four of them it starts pointing out in the slot, similar to the body-first-arm-second flatter big separation backhand I have often described in these posts.

The difference now is that shoulders and arm shall swing around independently yet at the same time. This combined with 45-degree hand wag as wrist straightens puts the strings square to the target slightly before contact about a racket's width under the ball.

As Donald Budge delivers the stroke, the racket angle stays constant and follows the ball from early to late, i.e., during a stretch embracing contact.

Arm roll fans the strings upward through the same stretch and can only be muscular. There's no great COD1 or COD2 (abrupt Changes Of Direction) to generate passive roll as in a Federfore.

Arm rise is a swing, not a lift or jerk, and the swing itself is non-accelerative if we can believe the authors Talbert and Old.

However, it could well be that slowed UBR from suddenly clenching shoulderblades together helps accelerate the hitting arm. And it could be that even then no arm acceleration from slowing body occurs if arm isn't in easy motion beforehand, i.e., is exerting some INDEPENDENCE.

One can hit shots this way or with the clench not happening until arm is up
high-- more conventional, I think, but a weaker shot. But there are always times when you don't want to hit hard. Another additive for more topspin, lifting upper body to finish on rear foot can now go straight back rather than on a diagonal as in my previous experiment with a double-direction fast arm
swing. I ended up with more side-spin than I like.

[bottle]

Federfore: Watching the Ball

Many teaching pros, in the beginning, thought the way Roger Federer watched the ball was the one thing a normal tennis player could take away.

But when one gets the notion firmly in mind of bowling from one intersection to the next and then continuing the original body swing circle, so that racket head from the changes of direction continues passively to unfurl outward to the right,
one naturally watches the contact even after the ball is gone.

The essence of the Federfore, I think (and of course this phenomenon is not limited to this one kind of balletic shot) is swinging in one direction while hitting the ball in another. Doing that holds one's eye on contact, which is very deceptive.

[bottle]

A Change of Grip!

In DON BUDGE: A TENNIS MEMOIR, the author says, “For the best backhand grip, I advise turning the hand about a one-eighth turn farther behind the racket than with the forehand—and remember the forehand is the shake-hands, flat part of the hand upon the flat part of the racket. Turn your hand the one-eighth turn and you are ready for the backhand.”

One can see this grip on the book’s rear cover: a photograph from Don Budge’s famous
match with Baron Gottfried von Cramm at Wimbledon in 1935. The thumb on a diagonal up panel six is even with forefinger and big knuckle, which is on panel one.
Don Budge doesn’t say where the heel of his hand is situated, but it appears to be on
top panel (eight). The top of his wrist is just past straight, i.e., is barely convex. The photograph captures him just before contact.

I’m not about to put my thumb back up panel six but am willing to seek other information—especially since I broke my forearm at fourteen schussing an Indian mound in Granville, Ohio and it still may be funky. I’ll turn to the green book with a forward by Arthur Ashe, ED FAULKNER’S TENNIS since my undergraduate major was in American Literature. Ed Faulkner, not William, has maybe the best sections on backhand grip ever written in all of tennis literature.

He says things like, “One of the most astonishing things in all tennis is how few people can hit a topspin backhand.” And doesn’t care at all where the big knuckle ends up. For him, the grip is about where heel of the hand is. He advocates 7.5, which is the sharp
ridge to left of top panel. In a list of 34 backhand problems and what to do about them, he has the singular grace to say which of these most important things is MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, which he describes thus:

“Problem: use of continental grip. Why it is a problem: Heel is too far right, face too open, to permit a hard, topspin drive. Biggest backhand problem there is. What teacher should do. Show player correct eastern backhand grip and correct pattern of motion. Warn him his shots will go down until he gives up his customary forward wrist roll to control height. Hold ball for him to swing against, move to easy feeds, then gradually step up difficulty.”

My interpretation of expression “wrist roll”: roll of whole arm at shoulder and forearm.
Faulkner likes a 45-degree angle between racket and forearm at contact, not 90 degrees since this necessitates contact too far forward. “Have player bring arm back parallel to sideline before swinging forward,” he says. All these suggestions have moved my preparation, swing and contact backward (and more out to side) without altering the stroke in any more significant way.

[bottle]

Right Braining the Federfore Over to the Backhand Side

I guess I should leave things right there, not say another word.

I won't, though, because I believe in left brain function, too. Sure, most of the world's jerks are excessively left brained, but that doesn't mean we should all wallow around every day in a puddle of romantic nonsense. Right and left lobes need to work together with the corpus callosum mediating well between them.

The two biggest things I learned in acquiring my Federfore were 1, delaying the second half of upper body turn so as to prolong the wonderful feel of left arm slowly punching across at the right fence. When I hit a forehand I don't like, this is the first corrective; and 2, learning to hit the shot with no independent motion of the arm A) and then B) adding a short bowl from one intersection of the body arc to the next while scissoring arm or not, and finally C) playing around with different stretches of this accelerative bowl though keeping it at the same length.

My curiosity to take these lessons across to backhand has led at first to a dive-bombing preparation where arm first soars up then shoulders finally turn backward then arm dives to three-fourths of being straight, at which time the shoulders start rotating forward and then the shoulderblades clench "naturally"
(Don Budge's favorite word) rather early in the entire cycle of the stroke.

My design in this is to maximize body rotation of the hitting shoulder. Huge body rotation is the secret of the Federfore. It allows you time to string a series of actions along the way. Obviously, one can never replicate so much body rotation on the backhand side; but, one can maximize it with splayed left
foot and extremely closed large step-out parallel to baseline and then a reconceiving of shoulderblades clench as mere continuation of the body rotation, and hit strokes this way with under-extended arm. The result might not be as bad as you expect. But when you get this junior stroke down you'll be ready to add a short bowl from one interesection of body-racket arc to a next. The straight bowl at a section of broad arc chosen by you barely goes to inside of said arc (broader arc than on the forehand side) but nevertheless is there.

These experiments are coming furious and fast as a result of the grip change (heel of hand on 7.5) and determination to get arm parallel to sideline. The nature of the back-swing may or may not change in the near future. Those tennis instructors who have always told us to yank the racket back with the left hand to get our shoulders abruptly around are becoming villains in my mind. And a quick check of Don Budge and Roger Federer backhand videos reveals relentless slowness of shoulders wind-back especially when running.

[bottle]

Five-Rung Design for 1HTSBH

All five are decent backhands. So, choose one and play the match with it. Or go up or down the ladder depending on age, mood and the last point.

1) Take arm back, waist high, keeping your bead on the ball with your right hand but leading this back-swing with your racket tip always turning slightly inward. Then use that same smooth hand to continue an easy body punch backward, i.e., turn the shoulders with it. With shoulders stopped, the arm then goes briefly down, straightening to three-fourths of its range. Hit the ball then with no independent swing of the arm whatsoever. You won't reach full extension at end of the followthrough but neither does John McEnroe. You got the forearm parallel to the sideline. Now rotate the shoulders and keep the front one going by naturally clenching your shoulderblades, i.e., you are using two kinds of body rotation but the body doesn't know any difference.

2) Like 1) only add some bowl with elbow or hand, using the reference you prefer. You figure out the broad body arc then bowl from one intersection along it to the next, with both chosen by you. Rejoin speed and direction of broad body arc. You experienced the opposite of a speed bump in a car-- a slight bump of acceleration followed by return to road speed.

3) Like 2) only add muscular extension from elbow as you bowl it, this before contact. If you want to keep same contact as on 1) and 2) simply row body on a diagonal to move head back to make more room. Or you can keep head still and take ball farther out to your left.

4) Start arm up to shoulders, again delaying them but using hand finally to turn them back. They stop and the arm loops down to three-fourths extension. The shot from there is like 3); at the same time the whole thing is more like Roger Federer's forehand than his own backhand.

5) Like Roger Federer or Donald Budge, gradually lift arm in synch with shoulders slowly turning back as you run. Your confidence is so perfect, your knowledge of where the ball so precise, that, you don't much care where the hand is in relation to the ball which you will find with consummate ease. The shoulders stop, arm extends to three-fourths-- from there the stroke is same as 4).

[bottle]

Option for these Backhands

Once shoulders have completed their backward wind, extend arm straight instead of to the three-quarters mark.

Note: Each shot is to be hit at an easy road speed. Adding accelerative bowl then is like passing another car, after which you return to your cruise speed.

Finishing extension-- at end of follow-through-- happens as a result of the short accelerative bowl, without which the shot is still sound and easily produced but under-extended.

After a bowl, attenuated body rotation takes you around with arm far out at head height.

[bottle]

Honor Ideas

Maybe one of them will be really good.

Term: "Speed bump": Slows you down in driving a car but speeds you up in hitting a tennis ball-- return to original speed in either case.

Preliminary action for all backhands: A slight lean combined with slight body turn combined with flying grip change that keeps hand as close as possible to where you think ball might come.

Slowly take racket back at waist level, straightening arm and twisting racket tip completely down and winding shoulders back (SLOWLY) and doing all of this in one synchronized movement as you run including the final hitting step.

Drop straight arm and hit the ball. Right now I prefer this to any upper-lower register full loop shot. The drop then is a long-levered timing drop, utilizing gravity, simple as possible, with nothing to complicate it.

"Concave, straight, concave" along with any arm roll happens during the actual swing, which comes entirely from the body while you maintain the option of a slight bowling speed bump for extra topspin and full extension.