A New Year's Serve

[stotty]

Buster Mottram

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZM_-u0S3cc)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Fdt4-TLsk)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH-5G-VJ1Eg)

Nice. Great to see Frew McMillan. Strange ball toss he had, the way he 'shoved' the ball up like that. Frew was a great timer of a ball. Frew, Bob Hewitt, Tony Lloyd and Miroslav Mecir are the best timers of a ball I have ever seen. Lindsay Davenport is also very good and maybe the best of the lot.

[bottle]

Buster Mottram

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZM_-u0S3cc)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Fdt4-TLsk)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH-5G-VJ1Eg)

[bottle]

So great.

[stotty]

I recognize the cover. I used to own that book. Maybe I still do. I'll look around. It only would have had to survive 20 moves. The one from Virginia to Hungary was the killer. The one from Hungary to North Carolina wasn't as bad since I'd already thrown away most of my possessions.

(bottle, hurling, into the Virginia dumpster-- CRASH! Neli, Hungarian girlfriend, CRASH! One for one and all for one.
An American possession and then a Hungarian possession until my old G.M. pickup was empty after a couple more loads and drives back to her house. CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!)

The idea of approaching contact from high rather than low now intrigues me although necessity may dictate the same thing (with necessity often being the big dampener of one's spirit).

Thanks for your post.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlcVqEn3v2s)

This video is super, but do read the comments and the comments under the comments afterward, particularly the ones about the Tony Mottram book which I've called "the Arco book" in recent posts.

That one did survive and I have it right here to my right on this table. I attribute its survival to its exceptionally small size. It's a bit worn but riffles as well as ever.

Mine is the third printing, 1974, 45 years old, 48 from copyright which is why I said it is a half century old.

Amazing that people from different countries value it so much-- a common experience, it would appear. And those who lost it wish they still had it. Well, if they immigrate I'll show it to them.

In the video above, the two arms go up together. In the Mottram book Newk's ha starts up first, then the ta seems to catch up and both arms then proceed higher like parallel feelers on the forehead of an insect.

I seem to remember that book. I think the front cover has him standing alongside his own children, Buster and Linda Mottram?

Tony died only a year or two ago in his mid 90's. Nice player by all accounts, and Buster became a pretty fine player too. I saw Buster play at Wimbledon when I was 13. He had huge feet and walked like a duck. He had a wicked sense of humour and deliberately mishit a serve in the hope it would land in the royal box and hit a Royal. A handful of insiders knew about this and waited for it to happen (I think he was playing McEnroe). Sadly it landed a foot shy of the royal box, and Buster thought it would look deliberate if he tried again...shame.

[bottle]

Sometimes You Don't Have to Wait for Long When You Want to See More Video

You wait a day, and because of where you clicked the day before, your computer serves you up some more. "Tennis will come to you."
Who said that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI-zHsPvtTw

[bottle]

I recognize the cover. I used to own that book. Maybe I still do. I'll look around. It only would have had to survive 20 moves. The one from Virginia to Hungary was the killer. The one from Hungary to North Carolina wasn't as bad since I'd already thrown away most of my possessions.

(bottle, hurling, into the Virginia dumpster-- CRASH! Neli, Hungarian girlfriend, CRASH! One for one and all for one.
An American possession and then a Hungarian possession until my old G.M. pickup was empty after a couple more loads and drives back to her house. CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!)

The idea of approaching contact from high rather than low now intrigues me although necessity may dictate the same thing (with necessity often being the big dampener of one's spirit).

Thanks for your post.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlcVqEn3v2s)

This video is super, but do read the comments and the comments under the comments afterward, particularly the ones about the Tony Mottram book which I've called "the Arco book" in recent posts.

That one did survive and I have it right here to my right on this table. I attribute its survival to its exceptionally small size. It's a bit worn but riffles as well as ever.

Mine is the third printing, 1974, 45 years old, 48 from copyright which is why I said it is a half century old.

Amazing that people from different countries value it so much-- a common experience, it would appear. And those who lost it wish they still had it. Well, if they immigrate I'll show it to them.

In the video above, the two arms go up together. In the Mottram book Newk's ha starts up first, then the ta seems to catch up and both arms then proceed higher like parallel feelers on the forehead of an insect.

[stotty]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tennis-Strokes-Strategies-Magazine-Editors/dp/0671242016

There is a great photo sequence of Newk's serve in this book. I love Newk's serve. It's one of my favourites.

[bottle]

A Big Humbling Lesson for the New Year

If you have a trick shoulder like Pam Shriver or me, then get the elbow as high as you can as early as you can, like John Newcombe whether he had to do that or not.

I played this morning with old guys who had nice strokes but couldn't move particularly well.

Their strokes were good enough to beat up on three of the four different types of serve I tried. But by the end I was holding at love.

The lesson, re-stated, is that although you think you have things figured out, you probably don't know nuthin.

I was so lucky to have a good partner, so that we were always way ahead-- a great time to fool around and try new stuff so long as you don't try to do that to every single stroke in your arsenal all at once.

[bottle]

Becker-Edberg Backhand with no Don Budge Alteration of Racket Plane, Continued

It's the same unspoken provocation of Virginia Wade in the famous instructional video VIRGINIA WADE'S CLASS.

(You can get it on line but sadly not for free since it's considered a collector's item. Maybe someone will pirate it-- won't be me.)

Virginia, sponsored by Oldsmobile, starts off teaching her Hilton Head students to golf the ball with an upright swing on the backhand side.

But then, when she decides supposedly to hit more topspin, she reverts to the loopier, more classical figure eight of Don Budge and everybody else including most golfers.

Even Petr Korda uses it.

The most extreme version I've ever seen is Evonne Goolagong in the half century old Arco book where you riffle the pages to produce movement.

Evonne figure eights all the way to her left hip way around the back of her body.

This discussion either amuses or disgusts me in that it never happens.

People don't even try or bother to make the distinction with Becker and Edberg, who roll the racket directly forward in front of them instead of backward behind or to the side of them before another roll this one forward in front of them. Complicated but worth thinking about, even talking about, even writing about.

I'm thinking that today, although I will be playing with a different group of seniors men, I'll roll a wee bit earlier so that the inside out nature of the stroke will come with arm just "barred" to use Geoffrey Williams' term.

[bottle]

Bend the Stick the Other Way

"Whether it is a pendulum windup, whether it is an abbreviated windup makes no difference."-- Brian Gordon

If one has a trick shoulder that makes the challenge of getting elbow high uncommonly difficult, why not go with my abbreviated ta-ha sequence?

I did it for years in which I was in and out (mostly out) of excellence. The pattern therefore is engraved deeply enough for a return to it with more knowledge in old age-- if I want to. I do.

Begin with toss while partially bent ha goes back a foot, level.

As bod adjusts under the ball lift elbow straight up.

Stop. Think. What have you got? This is blueprint.

Toss arm is vertical, straight at elbow. Hit arm also is very high but still half bent as it was at address through level take back.

Now, finally, the two halves of the hitting arm are permitted to drop squeezing together on the leg drive.

To quote Brian again, the shoulder is "incredibly relaxed." The racket tip effortlessly sweeps to right as a result of what core body does.

Remaining question: Is elbow too high for the adduction necessary to fire passive arm straight before the release of ISR?

It seems like there should be a way for high, high elbow to breathe downward into firing position as part of the racket drop.

Time to return to the half-century-old green Arco book PLAY BETTER TENNIS and riffle its little pages once more. Yuppety-yup, here's John Newcombe with elbow very very high.

Look, Ma, no computer but I still can go frame to frame. But where am I? What is my vantage point? To Newcombe's left and slightly toward net. I'm a side viewer.

First frame: Newcombe's elbow is even with top of his head. Next frame: Newcombe's elbow is disappeared because it is going backward and down and is blocked by his head. Next frame: It's reappeared, is almost back to top of his head. Next frame: It's still bent but higher than his head and forward with upper arm perfectly vertical to the court.

That's what I need to know. But can I do it? Probably not. Will see.

[bottle]

One Wants to be a Tough Guy

That would be somebody who eats an avocado right out of its shell-- something I now often will do to start a meal.

Then and only then will one be ready to completely fold one's arm together while tossed ball is still on the rise.

[bottle]

How Lustily can You Throw when Your Arm is Completely Bent?

More so than when it isn't bent. Or am I just speaking of my own trick shoulder, which has no relevance to the larger tennis world?

Herewith a New Year's Resolution: to answer the title question.

To begin with, therefore, in my trial serve called "The Grigorian Chant," one tosses when and where Grigor Dimitrov does but then immediately clamps the two halves of the arm together while the ball is still on its way up.

Oh, does Grigor do that? Does Roger do that? If so it's just coincidence.

[bottle]

An Alternate Topspin Serve (Small)

When I used to play singles I sometimes would be down love-40 and win the game with this serve.

Senator Laxalt once praised it while walking past his mountainside tennis court up in the Virginia woods. I was serving a basket of balls to my wife, the Front Royal city champ.

But I don't think I ever won a point with it in our (Paul Laxalt's and my) frequent matches against each other.

So, was the praise to set me up?

Not a chance. Paul was too interested in anybody's possible future game for that.

And as I say, against other opponents, I could be down love-40 .

Why would anybody abandon such a serve? 1) It wasn't big enough for me. 2) It blew hot and cold and I couldn't figure out why.

I'd start with racket perfectly vertical (on edge). In unison one arm would go straight up, the other a short distance backward parallel to the court.

Don't know what I did then. Now I'll try a total windup, cochleate, of the ha.

That could be arm squeeze first before elbow rise or these elements could be reverse sequence or SIM.

The beginning of the serve was all arms. Bod would then wind and compress and unwind all at once.

I do remember thinking these words to myself: "Toss. Press. Hit." Success came when the contact was very clean.

[bottle]

Tennis Will Come to You

I need something really good for the new year. I call it "The Grigorian Chant."

One starts with slightly open racket face although mine is quite a bit higher than Grigor's. This allows me better to rock and roll. I enjoy the extra rhythm.

My favorite tennis writer John M. Barnaby (from reading him) had me starting with a neutral face then opening it a bit as racket dropped past right shin so as to avoid the subsequent complication of in-and-out curlicue.

But good result could occur if one starts with a slightly open face then lets it close as it falls by right shin.

The difference is that a natural palm down loop is facilitated without the handicap of subsequent over-complication.

This seems a good example of the Barnabian proverb "Bend the stick the other way."

My second thinking point in tweaking Grigorian Chant is to achieve a needle early and hold on to the needle until late.

"Oh you push the second valve down. And the music goes round and round. And it comes out here." (https://www.google.com/search?q=the+...hrome&ie=UTF-8)

That would be needle at three o'clock at which point you accelerate the needle upward.

That's two ideas-- more than enough. One can blend them in a continuous figure eight.

[bottle]

Am Looking for a Different Model

Just a few more days until New Year's Eve. My serve doesn't look right. Grigor Dimitrov is somebody who needles a lot. (https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...1%20240fps.mp4)

What would I have to do? Toss higher for sure. One way or another I have got to see elbow above top of head as happens eventually in Grigor's case.

Have camera and tripod set up indoors. Am not recording in Hudl "technique"-- as did earlier-- am just watching myself move in selfie mode.

It seems, in Grigor's more normal looking serve, that the needled elbow winds to a certain point-- about 3 o'clock-- and then leaps.

"You use what you have." Would trying to imitate Grigor be the best way to get the most out of limited flexibility or is there a more suitable way?

P.S. Quite a lot of needling here too (https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...ar2_250fps.mp4).
Well, if HE can imitate HIM, then why can't I imitate HE? The only reason I can see is that I am an English teacher.