A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Could a Serve Become More Effective as it Falls into Dis-use?

Found, this morning, with this unique or old-fashioned or both serve, that bound went higher and farther when the coiling elbow helicoptered to point directly at the ball. But if I wanted the lower bound I previously declared as my goal, I needed to helicopter the elbow a bit PAST the ball.

I also found good utility in one or the other of the old saws to hit the ball on the chin or in the seat of its pants, depending on when one feels more cerebral or more visceral.

The Washington, D.C. Beltway Bandit head-hunter who first taught me to ghostwrite resumes, Richard K. Irish, urged everybody to write them "in moose blood."

Similarly, a serve which is slightly different from everybody else's (including one's own other serves) may at least earn one an interview whether its mechanics are old-fashioned or not.

[bottle]

Disappointment

So how did the new serve work in actual doubles play? Not as well as I planned. The day before, I had hit three beauties in a row to complete my practice. Today, in two hours of play I hit maybe one.

Something basic is wrong. Maybe when one goes the "complete detail" route, one gets in trouble if a single little detail is wrong?

My first guess is that I'm trying to be too sequential about the horizontal and vertical body rotations. That delineation will remain, but not with links to something specific done by the arm.

Think I'll try to push out to the ball with both upper body and extending arm which will establish body and wrist carve from body vertical, i.e., from a hurling and ephemerally straight up and down position.

But Maxine, 10, fresh from her tournament successes, is coming over tonight to visit her grandmother and wants to hit. Hitting with Maxine and talking with her about her theater would restore anyone's spirits.

Note: Perhaps I'm being too hard on myself. Actually, after a slow start, I played pretty well. (Such judgments are important, reader, don't you think?) Besides, with Scherzer on the mound, the Detroit Tigers just won 11 games in a row as Chicago and Cleveland went down.

[bottle]

Not Ready Yet, Brad

Brad Gilbert, in his Rogers Cup coverage, suggested that anyone over 70 start playing with foam balls on a reduced court. Tomorrow, I may ask the senior seniors group with whom I play three times a week just what they think about that. I expect a vote of 40-0 against.

But aging tennis players, even the ones who have ceased to play, are an interesting phenomenon. On Saturday my partner Hope and her 99-year-old aunt by first marriage, Aunt Frieda, came to watch me, 73, and Hope's granddaughter Maxine, 10, have a hit.

Frieda was extremely complimentary about Maxine's promise but less so about mine. "Why does he keep hitting the ball so high?" she griped to Hope.

(To keep it deep and encourage Maxine to do the same. To make sure Maxine got a lot of balls to hit. To get Maxine used to high-bouncing balls since the best kids tend to hit a lot of topspin these days.)

Never mind. Was like taking Frieda to a dance class where she criticized my timing. "It's one two-three, one two-three! It's simple! Can't you master that?"

No, actually it was one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight since we were doing the tango.

The instructor, who looks and dances like Fred Astaire, then asked Frieda for a waltz. "He's a terrible dancer," she said afterward.

"Keep your head down," Frieda told Maxine. Which means to keep one's head still-- Jimmy Evert's advice-- I later explained to Maxine. But if your body comes up as you hit do you REALLY keep your head still? Your head would get pretty droopy.

At the senior seniors annual summer picnic by the edge of a golf course, I ate a lot of hot dogs and drank some wine and went through four scrapbooks of my 88-year-old friend Wally's life and that of his eight kids with him, along with his experiences as a tank commander in the World War II Pacific.

At some point the president of the club asked the members who no longer played to stand up for photos (four persons). Then eighty or older but still playing. About 10. Then 70's and older. Maybe 15. And 55 to 70.

Some of the 70-year-olds looked as young as the 55 to 70 group. I especially knew the ones who hit the ball well. Until then I had not been as much aware of anyone's age as of individual styles except for the really old ones.

Frieda herself gave up tennis at 70. She and her husband went to big motorcycles which they drove conspicuously around Michigan from 70 to 82. Her hundredth is on Jan 4 and there will be a big party.

Maxine, meanwhile, reported to her parents that she LOVES to hit with me.

A sweet girl, that, and somebody who is way beyond foam balls and reduced courts, I'd say, as I think I am, too, although I may be heading that way.

[don_budge]

Pickle ball, the Tango and Keeping your Head still...

Brad Gilbert, in his Rogers Cup coverage, suggested that anyone over 70 start playing with foam balls on a reduced court. Tomorrow, I may ask the 40 members of the senior seniors group with whom I play three times a week just what they think about that. I expect a vote of 40-0 against.

Frieda was extremely complimentary about Maxine's promise but less so about mine. "Why does he keep hitting the ball so high?" she griped to Hope.

(To keep it deep and encourage Maxine to do the same. To make sure Maxine got a lot of balls to hit. To get Maxine used to high-bouncing balls since the best kids tend to hit a lot of topspin these days.)


"Keep your head down," Frieda told Maxine. Which means to keep one's head still-- Jimmy Evert's advice-- I later explained to Maxine. But if your body comes up as you hit do you REALLY keep your head still? Your head would get pretty droopy.

Frieda herself gave up tennis at 70. She and her husband went to big motorcycles which they drove conspicuously around Michigan from 70 to 82. Her hundredth is on Jan 4 and there will be a big party.

Maxine, meanwhile, reported to her parents that she LOVES to hit with me.

A sweet girl, that, and somebody who is way beyond foam balls and reduced courts, I'd say, as I think I am, too, although I may be heading that way.

I love the "memoir" feel of this post. Clearly the exercise of a literary person that means everything to him and tiny glimpse to anyone else that is paying the least bit attention.

So what is there to say...and that is a question that I ask myself every time I read you. My answer usually is...not much. It is what it is. It is the goings on in somebody's mind...and thank you for sharing by the way. It's always interesting.

But funny enough...this time I just would like to say that you might just look into a game called pickle ball. My father is playing three times a week at 84 years old. He was a fantastic athlete and took up tennis at the age of 37. I could never beat him until I went to the Don Budge Tennis Camp at the age of 18. If you go to the tennis courts at The Dearborn Inn I think that if you listen closely you can still here me screaming as "Hammerin' Hank", as he was known when he was playing for the Toledo Mud Hens, routinely wore out my patience. Playing the continental gripped game with a Bancroft Player's Special.

Keeping the head still...or more importantly keeping the chest on the ball. An interesting tip given to me by a golfing buddy here in Sweden...Sten. I shot 68 with this tip in my head on the last day to win the trophy at 53 in a 35 and over league. Oldest player in the tourney. My claim to fame in "The Kingdom of Golf". I can play tennis with just this thought in my noodle. Pass this little pearl onto the dear little Maxine...she will always remember you for it. Via don_budge, via Sten, via tennisplayer.net.

High balls? Nah...give it to her in her comfort zone. Just let her feel the good shots over and over. In a couple of years you can torture her, but for now...just feel good balls. You will teach her the love of the game. The good times.

The Tango? The temptation is to try to dance with your life partner but try not to take it too seriously. It is the kiss of death when it comes to relationships. You see...it is too close of a metaphor for life. The man must lead and the woman must follow. His job in leading is to make her appear beautiful, elegant and graceful. Her job is to make him look competent...firm yet gentle. This sort of philosophy will wreak any household in the year 2013.

Google "El Flete"- Juan D'arienzo. Try one of the youtube picks on for size. What a dance! Look at that footwork. The melancholy music. Aye yie yie. Dance bottle dance. I used to be johnny_tango in a former life.

What the hell...try this one on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_Rx1JXg80g

Good Luck!

[bottle]

Incredible film. And post. I'll take EVERY DETAIL into account.

[bottle]

Mental Talent Is Invisible

(From page 27 of RACKET WORK: THE KEY TO TENNIS by John M. Barnaby)

"When a teacher starts out a group who have played little or not at all, these players are unable to reveal themselves except in a physical way. Those who are glib physically will look the best at first and will out-perform the others. One tends to make unjustified long range predictions based on these early impressions. Such tendencies should be resisted because they often lead to error. After some years when all these people have acquired a considerable technique so they can put into execution the thoughts that come to them, then and only then can an intelligent estimate be made of the total ability: physical, mental and moral (the ability to take pressure).

"One often hears of 'made players.' This is usually a person endowed with unusually good mental and moral qualities but with physical shortcomings that could only be overcome with a lot of work. Other more 'natural' athletes look better at first but may be surpassed by this player in the long run. The 'natural' athlete has immediately visible talent. This 'made' athlete has obvious shortcomings and his talents are hard to perceive. It does not always pay to leap to the conclusion that the 'natural' is better."

[bottle]

Real Time

Detroit batter flails at Chicago pitcher and takes a strike.

Rand Paul, named after Ayn Rand whose first name, as she said herself, "rhymes with swine," shares his father's sensible ideas about war but applies Ein Schwein's batty ideas on selfishness to the domestic scene.

Finally carve an ace out wide from the deuce court. Where has this serve and the information needed to support it been hiding all these years?

[stotty]

(From page 27 of RACKET WORK: THE KEY TO TENNIS by John M. Barnaby)

"When a teacher starts out a group who have played little or not at all, these players are unable to reveal themselves except in a physical way. Those who are glib physically will look the best at first and will out-perform the others. One tends to make unjustified long range predictions based on these early impressions. Such tendencies should be resisted because they often lead to error. After some years when all these people have acquired a considerable technique so they can put into execution the thoughts that come to them, then and only then can an intelligent estimate be made of the total ability: physical, mental and moral (the ability to take pressure).

"One often hears of 'made players.' This is usually a person endowed with unusually good mental and moral qualities but with physical shortcomings that could only be overcome with a lot of work. Other more 'natural' athletes look better at first but may be surpassed by this player in the long run. The 'natural' athlete has immediately visible talent. This 'made' athlete has obvious shortcomings and his talents are hard to perceive. It does not always pay to leap to the conclusion that the 'natural' is better."

I like this excerpt a lot.

[bottle]

Thanks.

[bottle]

Two One-Handers with Double-Rolls that are Different

1) Roll through the ball but with as much of an inside out racket head trajectory as possible. The topspin may sometimes be mixed with something unwanted but this shot is exceptionally easy to hit and keep in the court.

2) Finish the second i.e. forward roll above or in the vicinity of inner edge of the right thigh and from there swing whole arm out and forward before up. Contact: 12 inches in front of front leg with foot splayed to permit knee travel. The last part of inside out racket trajectory is achieved with racket on edge (yes, it stopped rolling). The elbow finally goes. It just swings. Racket stays on edge.

Most of the world's one-handers fail to transmit accumulated energy through the hand. Here's a chance to do that right.

Grip: Eastern backhand.

Hips: You can make your hips in this shot turn forward in the space of the entire double roll. And continue toward the net without pivoting any more thanks to the splayed foot. To describe then the total hips movement that gives structure to the shot, one could say, "Hips rotate next go out toward the net."

[bottle]

Don't Carve Your Serve

"I saw you out on the court, working on your serve!" a tennis-playing friend of mine said to me.

"I was developing a serve that I never ever plan to use," I said.

That would be the carved serve with pave-loader finish I've recently written so much about. When I combine it with my back foot load, I don't get a high enough percentage of great serves and do get an unacceptable number of double-faults.

So I'll use kick slice for anything short and out wide from deuce to deuce court. What is it that Chris Lewit says about that in his Tennis Player articles on kick? Arm going into court on a 60-degree angle for kick slice, I believe, on a 45-degree angle for a topspin serve, on a 30-degree angle for true kick which abruptly veers out from the bounce.

[bottle]

Lucky Enough to be Challenged

Skunk-tailed slice is a very fine slice, and mine was really zinging for a period of three weeks this summer.

The skunk tail is a special constellation within The Rosewall Galaxy.

It takes its name from what a skunk does just before it sprays-- lifts its tail.

We lived between four and five of a nine-hole golf course with the three front door columns open to a brace of har-tru tennis courts.

We had a golden retriever who one day had to start sleeping outside of the house which had been an abandoned hotel, The Riversea Inn at the mouth of the Connecticut.

The skunk who skunked him, I'm sure, lifted his tail first just the way the best players out on the courts lifted their racket straight up to unleash a flat shot that carried a modicum of slice for control.

Half a century later, in Michigan, I find myself trying to get back to those three weeks of zing and may do it today.

What happened in between?

Well, I started turning over the racket more on the backswing to produce the extreme and muscular spin of good double-rolled dinks and drop-shots, then couldn't get back to the easy pace.

[bottle]

Hips Fire, Shoulders Fire

You've decided when Roger's hips move (at bottom of dog). So when do his shoulders move? Also at bottom of dog?

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Arm_Action&stroke=RFFHInsideInArmActionRear2_250fps.mp4

To put this another way, how soon do his shoulders get parallel to the net?

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Arm_Action&stroke=RFFHInsideInArmActionRear1_500fps.mp4

To re-phrase (again), hips fire, shoulders fire, arm fires.

Note the new technology that makes such observations more possible. In the following clip make sure to click the icon to the right that fills the screen.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Arm_Action&stroke=RFFHShortArmActionSide_250fps.mp4

[bottle]

Full Screen Study to Put Strings on Ball at Just the Right Time

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Arm_Action&stroke=RFFHShortArmActionSide_250fps.mp4

Note how the racket head winds up during the unit turn. If you DON'T do this, the racket head will have too far to go as you swing forward.

But won't this open the strings too much? Won't you (I) hit the ball up to the moon?

This is where nudge comes in-- the nudge with elbow as you point across with your opposite hand.

We've been told that Federer closes his racket an extra amount during his backswing, and I'm sure that's true most of the time. But one can put the pitch anywhere one wants simply by playing with the race between elbow and racket tip.

The racket tip winding up during unit turn just went farther than the elbow.
The elbow could now go farther than the racket tip creating a serpentine effect.

Sounds complicated but really isn't. You just did two similar things. All I know is that control increased during self feed, and I think my old guys (fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties) are not going to like this newly tweaked forehand tomorrow.

[bottle]

Innovation in Detroit

CAROUSEL is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on a Ferenc Molnar play and transplanting its setting from Budapest, Hungary to the coast of Maine.

A carousel is also a merry-go-round, "a tournament or exhibition in which horsemen execute evolutions," and a circular conveyance on which objects are placed say in an airport.

The last definition is the one that intrigues me right now. I had heard about the carousel format in doubles tennis before and figured it was common to every part of the United States.

That may or may not be true. I don't really care. Maybe an innovation is best when connected to a specific region or place.

The guys I play with, in their fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties are proud of the history of their physical carousel and brought its prototype to one of our two hour three-day-a-week sessions.

This carousel is a series of varnished wooden boxes set in a perfect circle and with a movable pointer that revolves from the center like a clock hand.

Each box is just large enough to hold a racket butt. So a bunch of tennis rackets set in this contraption bristle upward to form a display.

One might think of old naval exercises in which sailors detach their oars and hold them vertical to perform a salute. Or of a late nineteenth century rowing novel in which the author, Oliver Optic, had a crew north of Boston detach their oars for such a parallel pointing at the sky at which time their boat tipped over.

The place here being Detroit or Grosse Pointe which though in Detroit I guess is slightly different, there soon was an engineer among the tennis players with access to a plastics manufacturing facility, and he updated the carousel to the svelte version which the guys now use; i.e., the holes for the racket butts are round not square.

It's easy to see who plays next-- the person who belongs to the racket nearest to the pointer.

If there are six substitutes, four guys open a new court.

"Player on six!" comes the cry.

You run out to court six and serve one game. Then you shift over to ad court on same side for one game. And then to opposite deuce court for one game. And then to opposite ad court for one game. And then go back to the benches and stick your racket in the carousel.

Tennis this way feels very different from conventional sets. The rest intervals are different. There's a new player in the group every game. The flow is excellent, and for some reason-- and this is my point in writing this post-- the whole format is a wonderful learning environment.

The evidence is one player, a former restaurant Maitre d' who with his partner just won the seniors doubles championship of Grosse Pointe. Upon retiring from restaurant work, he took up tennis and was the weakest player in the group.

But it's maybe five years later, don't you see.