A New Year's Serve

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Roll Press Lift, or, Let's Give this VBRBH a Hand

VBRBH: Vic Braden Redux Backhand.

Roll Press: Can happen as sequence sim with hip-driven step-out. The term "roll" however has a private meaning here that is very tricky. For as the stationed elbow rolls it straightens whole arm. The term "press" here is tricky too in that it only refers to the hand. Body press will come next.

Total Hand Action in this Highly Topspun Version of PetraKordian: down forward lift or in other words a "U."

Don Budge advice, best and worst as it applies to this specific version. Best: more thumb behind handle. Worst: just swing at the ball. For this more vertical version (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...DBBHFront1.mov) is a Don Budge backhand too.

Final Judgment. This shot is pure fantasy. Of course. First comes the vision then the shot if it comes at all in this case with two legs and transverse stomach muscles and shoulder abduction system all driving racket in a single vector up.

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Another Idea for where the Power comes from in a Petr Korda Backhand

What about if both hips and shoulders are proactive and simultaneous and slow? With ragtime Alexander's accordion opening out (from toes to high racket tip) in the same simultaneity? And arm swing pushing both ends of the racket at same slow speed again in the same simultaneity?

Not many tennistas conduct the simultaneity vs. sequence discussion, but Martina Navratilova is one, arguing one time on television in her announcer's role for simultaneity rather than the other whenever possible on the grounds that simultaneity will break down less often.

It's fun to self-feed these shots using strict sequence as in the Vic Braden Redux, although this extreme becomes ridiculous if one buys into a final stoppage of the shoulders that shoots the arm forward and up. Deceleration-acceleration at the end of a kinetic chain is what I guess one would call that.

I saw Vic in a film once allegedly demonstrating this d-a although the only body power he demonstrated to set it up was from the transverse muscles of the stomach. And staff members from his first tennis college in San Diego wrote a similar argument to me in a letter. Sorry, I don't believe in it. Much better to be sinuous all the way to end of the stroke like Petr Korda. But there could be some sequence, e.g., hips then shoulders combined with other simultaneous stuff.

Finally, it's fun to hit an abbreviated version by incorporating slow arm roll through the latter three-fourths of the stroke as in the Stanley Plagenhoef Basic. Whether I'll hit the SPB with hips then shoulders sequence or shoulders being the active agent to pull the hips around or both shoulders and hips being active and simultaneous with arm swing is yet to be determined.

No sequence anywhere seems very good in that it allows all the elements to proceed more slowly. On the other hand hips-shoulders marginal sequence can be very good for an inside out swing as in golf.

Eventually, I suppose, I'll choose one of these three backhands and discard the other two. I have lots of backhand slice choices and just want to keep the one-handed topspin shot that is best of the three.

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Racket Not Pointing on a Perpendicular at Rear Fence

When one re-visits the backhand section photos of VIC BRADEN'S TENNIS FOR THE FUTURE one may be surprised like me by how little the racket is viewed as turning around from the shoulder in the administration of this shot.

In larger risk virtuoso one-handers utilizing roll-over the racket butt first points at the ball "like a flashlight" in Nick Bollettieri's words.

On page 83 frame three showing Richie Ley in full accordion to achieve a low low low point the racket is somewhat open to the ball rather than pointing on a perpendicular to rear fence as usually is taught.

Creating perfect racket position at contact is absolutely essential. If racket position is correct, Braden/Bruns wrote, one's body can do weird things and still produce a good shot.

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Surveyor's Scope

An effective cue indexes and focuses a plethora of intentional experience in any sport.

On the VBR (Vic Braden Redux backhand) one can simultaneously use the pad of one's thumb tip, the tip itself, the index finger knuckle and all four biggest knuckles at once.

Using only the healthiest magic marker, one inks a dot on the thumb pad. The dot will point at the target and so will all four knuckles taken together as a unit.

Thumb tip and first knuckle however will-- at the same time-- point at left net post for a down the line shot or at the left fence post for a cross-court.

The agents of aim shall be the dot and knuckles with these aim positions to happen at contact.

The agents of swing however-- the thumb tip and first knuckle-- can site either of the two posts to create one's inside out swing path.

In this way one hits the ball rather than pushes it.

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Korda Curd

The one teaching pro who ever worked with me for a long time, Jim Kacian, advised me not to imitate but to create.

And so, reader, I regret to inform you that my topspin backhand has had triplets:

1) The Woulda Korda

2) The Basic Stanley Plagenhoef

3) The Vic Braden Redux

The VBR does exactly what Vic Braden says not to do in TENNIS FOR THE FUTURE, starts with a Petr Korda backswing. Petr Korda, the Czech, was born but hadn't happened yet. His namesakes, Michael Korda the publisher of Simon and Schuster and Alexander Korda, producer of THE THIRD MAN starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard and Alida Valli were distant history. It was Alexander Korda who said, "If you have a Hungarian for a friend you don't need an enemy."

So here we are with the Petr Korda backswing but wanting to hit all body like Uncle Vic. I can hear Vic's voice now: "You will have a hard time stopping the momentum started by the wrist so that arm and body can become a solid and seamless blend." But for how long and well did Vic Braden really know me?

To hit the shot I'll yield to the hated New York Times Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman and past number one American tennis player Dennis Ralston: As Dennis advises I'll start forward hips rotation BEFORE my step-out.

That leaves nice opportunity for double leg drive since the two knees now are close together.

And length to outside will increase through a bit of shoulders turn chiming in with arm press also inside out and up.

The Basic Stanley Plagenhoef

This backhand (see attachment), hit improbably from Petr Korda backswing, will use two different speeds of arm roll-- fast to slow in sequence-- to abbreviate the scope of the shoulder swing and enable unique follow-through off to the right thus restoring weight to back foot for an interesting recovery.

The Woulda Korda

The two preceding innovations should in no way be permitted to inhibit ongoing tweak of The Woulda Korda itself. How much and fast and when does Petr really turn his hips? The answer, reader, may be not what you think but rather what you see (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqpARpkF8WA). Possibly, these old Czech golfer-guys Petr Korda and Ivan Lendl even believed-- in tennis-- in letting the hips be turned by the shoulders.

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Petraccordion

Sorry I got fancy in my evaluation of the Petr Korda backhand. It's such a cool and minimalist one hander, however, that one wants just to keep talking about it, although better would be to hit it and every time like Petr himself.

Because of age and a partial knee replacement, I play doubles not singles any more. And know that if I want to keep my head still, a sliced backhand is the way to go.

But the minimalist backhand of Korda and Vic Braden has always intrigued me. There is an accordion aspect to each. One could speak of Korda's body extension on his forehand and serve in the same context. And then move on to a discussion of Alexander's Ragtime Body Extension, I mean The Alexander Technique. (Alexander Korda the movie-maker is an entirely different subject.)

Ground force after all is supposed to go down then come up (maybe not up from the magma at the earth's center but nevertheless up she comes).

How much do or don't knees extend? How much or little does the hinging back, having lowered accordion-like now open out? And how much does the head move (up)-- three inches? Six?

And how about hips turn? Does it really occur AFTER contact? Should it be fast or slow? Is there a difference in hips turn in shots springing from the ground, that start while the shot is grounded or shots that do a bit of both? Should the turning of the hips be entirely different for a shot down the line, down the center, crosscourt? These still are worthy areas to explore.

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Vic Braden's Sit and Hit, although Ridiculous, Won the 1998 Australian Open

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqpARpkF8WA)

Reader, you probably know my method, which is exactly like that of Donald Trump: Shoot first and revise/reverse later, the reason you should elect neither one of us president.

But my car is out on the street this Sunday morning pointed toward the left tennis court at Pier Park on the bank of Lake St. Clair in Detroit.

As soon as I arrive there I shall attempt in self-feed on backhand side the old sit and hit of Vic Braden.

The difference shall be that where the Vic Braden students curved left hand down to just above left knee, I shall do the Petr Korda move instead.

Simultaneously as body crumples like an accordion but still is turning back the hand will reach similar position but in a propulsive rather than repulsive way.

Instead of following the handbodhandbod formula I apply to my BAM! forehand, I shall use handbodbod with a smidge of forward hand press thrown into the final bod.

(http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sport...pen/53058240/1)

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Let's Smudge Formula as it Applies to Woulda Korda Backhand

The handbodhandbod formula I've been exploring carries a fairly strict correspondence between each syllable and specific part of the BAM! forehand stroke.

The trickiest part in making this special forehand a success is the second "hand" which I have compared to a chip shot in golf.

Elbow stays back as keying arm, neither right-angled or straight but in between, could greatly change the angle of the strings within a small space but doesn't because of the mondo ("flip") simultaneously going on.

The racket head topples under the mondoeing hand to start the body supported elbow thrust out, up and back as knuckles then decelerate toward left ear.

In Woulda Korda Backhand, the shoulders may still be turning backward as arm straightens/rolls/SIM, which overlap thus makes handbodhandbod formula somewhat inexact.

This shouldn't matter if we value a good stroke over some verbal construct that might or might not sound clever.

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Youth Wants to Know

Does Petr Korda turn hips to straighten arm/roll arm/SIM or does he delay hips so that they become part of bod application to overlap his backhand contact?

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqpARpkF8WA)

Am I wrong in seeing handbodhandbod sequence here? For me the two questions are exactly the same, namely, the shoulders are still turning back at a time when players of another philosophy keep shoulders back or even are turning them forward.

Note: The video of Korda hitting with his son is just the beginning. Several years ago one had to do a lot of secretarial labor to assemble sufficient camera work of Korda's backhand. By now YouTube does this assembly for you. First you see Korda at present. Then, if you just keep watching, more video of Korda appears and starts to run through no conscious action from you. Suddenly Korda is young and playing at top of the game at the top of his game once again.

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Tennis Social: Good Partners and No Loss ever

A good thing since this was the last indoor tennis social of the year. Now comes plenty of outdoor doubles through a summer in which Michigan stays cool, hopefully. And there will be a week at Chatham, Cape Cod when 10-year-old Cate comes over from England. I wouldn't care what anyone said. She is coached by Viktor Roubanov and Luke Digweed and is a kind of tennis prodigy.

I love the way The Woulda Korda is cracking up, a shot that lends itself to being soft and hard, high and low, slow and fast but ever hit with less arm and more bod.

The Bam Forehand too has been coming along. It leant itself to a number of short angles against the hardest of the hitters on the other side of the net. Windshield wipe is over-rated. Time to delay then loosen the elbow. And the late bit of backward shoulders turn conceals one's intent. No one has yet tried to poach on this handbodhandbod shot.

The best shot I hit all night however was a sidespin lob. Just as the dude started to smash it the sidespin kicked in and it veered and he whiffed.

It's awfully nice in doubles tennis when you can lift some partner instead of that partner pulling you down.

I'd say there's a great potential in inventing new tennis shots. The pay-off may come late but it's worthwhile. All strokes are in flux. Better to push change than to resist it.

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Examples of Woulda Korda

Kenny De Schepper, 6' 8" and 143 in the world, who just qualified for main draw of French Open by defeating Igor Sijsling, 6' 2" in less than an hour, has a backhand like Petr Korda. So for that matter does Sijsling.

Funny how once one focuses on a certain genre of shot one then starts seeing examples of it everywhere even though it may not normally receive much print, talk or acclaim.

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Restoration of Lead Elbow Reversed

"Lead elbow" used to be one of the most sickening phrases ever foisted upon some androgynous youth as mommy and daddy drove him/her home from the big tournament.

Nowadays one doesn't hear the phrase "lead elbow" as much since most topspin is administered through a turn of the elbow rather than a lift of it.

Yes, in that old paradigm of the BAM! forehand everything was about pushing open a stuck cellar door with the rod of one's arm perfectly aimed like a train piston for structural strength.

At the same time though the piston was attached to a well lubricated wheel that took the strings up and even returned them back over the shoulder.

So, the child just lost. Shoulder wasn't relaxed enough. Certainly there was no correspondence between what the elbow was doing and what the body was doing.

Same thing on the backhand side with the Woulda Korda if one has a one-hander in imitation of Petr Korda (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqpARpkF8WA).

One doesn't roll over the ball at contact having already gotten one's silly roll out of the way.

On forehand and backhand both we now have both ends of the racket traveling at the same low and relaxed speed that permits one's body to administer topspin and pace at the same the arm does.

What is the opposite of lead elbow? Helium elbow? But that might be too light and hurried.

Too slow or too fast, lead or helium, neither is good.

Most important, when one rolls on the ball like Wawrinka or Thiem, one is apt uncontrollably to change pitch while sandwiching contact unless one is a circus performer like them.

But even they can screw up their contact on a big point and lose the match that way.

The average player-- let's say anyone under tour level-- could be kinder to himself by not rolling over the ball on either side.

He can roll at contact if he wants. No one is adamant about stopping him, I've noticed.

Oughtn't he though to raise the percentages in his own favor?

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Report

I went for left arm to propel waggle up-- in my Don Budge imitation serve.

And noticed significant change, I think for the better, if I then slowed down very much the straightening of hitting arm to initiate the pointing of racket at rear fence.

This is not something to analyze very much. I simply report.

Note: While this was going on, a lady came over to speak with me. She was girl's coach for the Grosse Pointe Academy with a sister who played for Princeton.

I thought she came over to kick me off the Academy courts since my club's rental of those facilities doesn't begin until June first, but she just wanted to chat.

She suggested 1) a hitting partner for myself and 2) a ball machine.

But I said I wanted neither because of my high valuation of introspection both in tennis and in life.

We had a nice talk during which I assured her that I would play tennis tomorrow.

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I'm Sure the Answer will Matter

What provides the "muscle" for the waggle up-- both arms, right arm, left arm (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...stSFront.mov)?

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Progression: Backhand to the Future

The backhand in this video one should pay most attention to-- perhaps-- is the one where Petr Korda short hops the ball while hardly swinging his arm (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqpARpkF8WA).

Recently, I wrote in this forum about the tennis of my fellow Hollins College graduate Annie Dillard, who received a Pulitzer prize for the first of her many books, PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK.

Tinker Creek ran behind the college, and as you can imagine since I received a Master's Degree from that place I must know those waters well.

Later, Annie was on the board of the Ossabaw Island project whose varied ambitions included the running of an artist colony in an old hacienda ten miles from Savannah across the inland waterway in Georgia.

In fact, I know I was the first person to tell Annie about the Gullah population and snakes and wild pigs and feral donkies and bulls on Ossabaw, which I did in letters. You might think of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM or SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT or the world of THE MAGIC FLUTE or even Illyria in TWELFTH NIGHT.

But there have been other commonalities or should I say parallels other than that we both might show up at the same reunion.

During the time Annie was a professor of English at Wesleyan University, as my partner Hope's father in other years was too, she bought the house previously lived in by Bud Crampton, the university physician and obstetrician and deliverer of my two brothers, a nice house under a mound atop which are the university tennis courts.

Since Annie and her husband wanted to learn tennis they obtained a copy of VIC BRADEN'S TENNIS FOR THE FUTURE and climbed the embankment.

I know those courts well-- the place where Steve Crampton used to quell me with his Don Budge serve.

And while I have never witnessed Professor Dillard's tennis (she once insisted that I call her "Professor" Dillard-- I must have threatened her somehow), I know it couldn't be any good. Nobody who learned their tennis from VIC BRADEN'S TENNIS FOR THE FUTURE has ever had tennis that was any good.

On the other hand, as Vic Seixas attests in the worst most self-aggrandizing tennis autobiography ever written, Vic Braden had a good backhand.

I'll say. I witnessed him hitting it for six hours straight-- from self-feed under a tent in Winchester, Virginia as the rain pelted down. Hit, talk, hit, talk-- Vic Braden's way.

Vic Braden's famous sit and hit drill, introduced in that first and best of all his books, proposes backhands in which arm is little and body is much.

Petr Korda's backhand is similar only Petr doesn't have to sit down to hit it. His knees are already bent, his body is loose (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqpARpkF8WA).