A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Speculation as Ever: More Speculation, Folks: Speculate for a More Creative T-World

My favorite tennis writer, John M. Barnaby, always has advocated an opening out of the strings as they pass by the right foot. By "always" I mean that this advice in two different books never changes if I re-read them.

I'm thinking that tennis writers in general don't write enough about the relationship between inhalation and arching the back. One could try separating shoulders early-- way early-- as one way of opening out the strings by right foot.

Then the feeling could arise that one was shaping a bag before one inflated it-- a reversal of previous way of thinking about this subject.

Anyway, I tried some serves this morning after feeding a pointer dog on the other side of town at the request of her absent owners. Momentum of racket head didn't seem to break and I think I was getting some pretty good serves, but will find out pretty soon through human involvement on the other side of the net.

For a while I'm just going to be conscious of the exhalation part of my serve.

Here's how I got my Christmas shopping done. Through the assistance of these two of my partner Hope's four granddaughters.

[bottle]

Racket Head Momentum in Serve

Ball on string told me that when I inhaled followed by an arch with all of this happening as racket went up for the second time, I was breaking momentum of the racket head. Moral: Start filling lungs earlier preparatory to the big inflated cheeks exhalation. Find combination of inhalation and arching that doesn't mess with the momentum of ball at the end of racket length cord.

[bottle]

Why?

Steve Navarro's father Hammering Hank asked me why, when there are so many subjects in the world I could fascinate myself with, I choose the intricacies of tennis stroke technique to write about every day.

One part is that I'm interested in how subtleties of language affect motor movement.

For instance, there is a difference between "sling the racket at the ball" and "sling the racket head at the ball."

I'm not different from a multitude of tennis players who spend decades and maybe their whole life trying to perfect a one hand backhand.

Three years, five years? What is the span of time in which the perfection is supposed to occur? And why should I even bother when I play doubles only and have good drive slice, good chop slice, good cross-slice-- sufficient for my doubles needs?

Maybe I just can't believe that a reliable one-hander is as elusive as it has proven to be.

So this week I want to work on a compact McEnroe backswing but keep the hitting shoulder down rather than return it to level like Mac.

The grip: composite and laid back/up to start-- what I use for my slice.

But I'm going to send the racket out under the low shoulder toward side fence as hips straighten the arm. I'm going to "feel for the ball."

Then I'm going to blast from clenching shoulderblades and rolling racket and an almost noisy prolonged exhalation. Is there still anything subtle in here? Yes. The wrist will gradually straighten. The racket tip, having made so much effort to get around fast, will seem to temporize to stay for longer on the ball.

[stotty]

Don Budge, the real J. Donald Budge, thought Steve was good looking; so did/does Hope.

The truly great thing about Hope is she is honest and straightforward. This comes across in under a minute. She is also a great conversationist.

What a fascinating meet for you and don_budge. Life is so short. It's wonderful you made it happen instead of hoping one day you might. I think we can say this about many things in life: "better to make things happen than to wait and hope".

I was searching for drop shots played with wooden races which I was convinced weren't played as the are today...locked arm affairs. I had no luck finding drop shots played with wooden rackets, but I did chance upon this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amoPp1-Vtck

Interesting how McEnroe isn't always looking for the outright kill. He is happy his opponent reaches the ball and unable to do anything with it. You get the impression McEnroe likes to watch his opponent loose control of his run and ability to control the ball....and just be there to slot a gimme away. That's cool.

[bottle]

Make Yourself Small

"Make yourself small." I love it. Just the opposite of Cageman's waterfall backhand where your racket head tumbles down first to the inside and then you accelerate to give the ball a high spinny ride.

That's a good shot, too, but I think it takes more time to get off.

[bottle]

McEnroe-like Backhand

Try holding elbow in so far that it is connected to your body. Later, move it out a little to where it feels more natural and comfortable (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...enterFront.mov).

The idea of this exercise is to teach oneself that first and second moves with the shoulders, backward-downward and forward-upward-to-level are entirely connected to the racket whether the elbow is out a little or not.

This design pre-supposes three-part rather than two-part rhythm. Thank you, Steve, for helping me to understand this. (But you didn't have to say much, did you, just had to have an opinion.)

Note: See where John's mouth opens? That's maximum effort-- precisely when he exhales.

[bottle]

"Reality"

A great guy. The father, Hank, too. Steve taller than I thought. And reminding me of other alpha males I have known.

Don Budge, the real J. Donald Budge, thought Steve was good looking; so did/does Hope.

We'll see the family again. Steve and I may do some "self-feed" to use his expression, at the Pier Park here if there isn't a couple of feet of snow on the courts. The guys at the park out over Lake St. Clair keep up one net for me-- for my self-feed-- then I go inside twice a week to play doubles.

We touched on many subjects just as I did with Stotty when I was lucky enough to meet him (and Steve spoke well of Stotty).

Hank the father seemed more philosopher than ball player although he and Steve had just played pickleball for three hours.

Each was very complimentary of the other's game. Steve had never played pickle just as I haven't-- but when the father, 87, loosened up he got 30 years younger, Steve said.

"I'm just trying to be clinical," Hank said. He asked me why with my varied background I am so intrigued with tennis stroke intricacy that I write about it every day. Together we asked why anybody writes fiction and then he asked how seeing Steve in person compared to reading his persona on line.

I made a try at answering these and other substantial questions. To say that we had a great and complete time in Marcie's See Pizzeria and Sports Lounge would be understatement.

[stotty]

At midnight tomorrow I'll turn 76-- time to breathe easier. Better to eliminate any thought of closed mouth puffery-- that distracts. So snort air through both mouth and nose during uptake of the racket, then form Trump mouth (a small nozzle) as part of a long cheek-puffed exhalation. Adjust mechanism of the serve to this natural breathing cycle rather than vice-versa which would cause the breathing to become unnatural.

Today we drive to Dearborn Michigan to meet Steve (Don Budge) and his philosopher father Hammering Hank Navarro the former infielder of the Toledo Mudhens. Will bring along a photo of Stotty. Should prove interesting to say the least!

Be sure to give Steve two hugs; one from you, and one from Stotty...

[bottle]

Easier Breathing and Meeting the Navarros

At midnight tomorrow I'll turn 76-- time to breathe easier. Better to eliminate any thought of closed mouth puffery-- that distracts. So snort air through both mouth and nose during uptake of the racket, then form Trump mouth (a small nozzle) as part of a long cheek-puffed exhalation. Adjust mechanism of the serve to this natural breathing cycle rather than vice-versa which would cause the breathing to become unnatural.

Today we drive to Dearborn Michigan to meet Steve (Don Budge) and his philosopher father Hammering Hank Navarro the former infielder of the Toledo Mudhens. Will bring along a photo of Stotty. Should prove interesting to say the least!

[bottle]

Varying Length of Backswing in a McEnrueful

Very advisable, but only if one has decided to adapt John McEnroe's backswing and straight wrist to one's own purposes. One should vary length of backswing the way a golfer does for different situations and clubs. A chip shot is not the same as a mid-range iron or a wood.

Abandon the golf analogy there however and assign instead a connection to bowling. One bowls down and up. How far down? Not much if one started with racket parallel to court like John McEnroe-- level with court and cheated over to backhand.

It is the body turn caused by pointing across with opposite hand that turns what might seem a bowl across into a bowl back.

How far back? Well, how closed or open do you want the racket face to be? That decision will affect not only the height of your shot but its direction.

For the right-hander: Higher equals more closed equals a shot that flies lower and more to left. These could be low passing shots, deep hard drives, even the topspin angled see see.

Lower by contrast equals shots with more margin including deep down the line and even reverse short angle, an almost startling new opportunity.

What else varies however? You can't vary length of backswing without affecting everything else. Point of contact no longer is the great constant for which you may have striven.

The design principle here is a solid shot more body than arm in which the body-pushed arm always goes down-- for the second time-- the same amount just in a different part of tract.

[bottle]

How Much is Guide Hand a Training Wheel; How Soon Could One Take it Off

I want to find out in a minimalist backhand somewhat like that of John McEnroe. Having decided that there need be no loose arm motion in the backswing, I want to see what would happen if I more or less left the racket where it was as hitting shoulder went down and around. By saying "more or less" I mean to suggest a range of adjustment in which the imagined shot would or would not feel good. Purpose of the scheme: to generate weird angles.

From a learning standpoint one would build on the training that one already had through repetition instilled in guide hand. In other words guide hand would go to exactly where it did before and in the same manner; in self-feed and subsequent play one could alternate full versions of the shot with the new one.

The thinking is that there is more body involvement in a John McEnroe one hander than in many others. I just want to see if the idea could apply to different beginning arm positions to create more elegance and freedom of choice or would it result in too much tip-off and instability?

[bottle]

Getting More Basic than Fancy with an Old-Fashioned Serve

Fancy is walking with outside foot before one pivots it in mid-air.

Basic is keeping rear foot down but let the heel spiral up.

A fancier version of basic is to start rotating the hips and knees before you let the heel come up.

Fanciest version of basic is to let heel come up (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...DB1stSRear.mov) at second cross-hatch plus five and finish coming up about ten frames after that and rotate out for five more frames with whole foot only getting airborne after the ball is hit.

How high or low is hitting arm at toss? Another aspect of serving altogether.

[bottle]

Alternative for Hitting this Shot that Doesn't Want to Go Crosscourt More Crosscourt

I've never hit this proposed shot in my life but certainly will try it at my next opportunity for self-feed.

One golfs under extremely low shoulder realizing that tilt of the shoulders affects pitch just as much as one's hand placement on the racket stalk or amount of roll of the arm.

The farther the racket bowls out from under the shoulder the more it will open. Since converse is true, too, this easy backhand should work when dealing with a low ball.

But we want to use it now to hit a waist high ball more crosscourt than it wants to go.

Before the racket gets too far out and up and to outside of the ball try a big clench of the shoulderblades to rip the ball more sideways.

Much later: I'm becoming disenchanted with the clench idea. If too much body rotation spoils a one hand backhand by taking strings off ball too soon same thing ought to be true of a big clench of the shoulderblades unless it happens after contact.

[bottle]

A New Backhand

Sorry to complicate my posts, my tennis, my life; but, the fact that one good backhand leads to another is immutable.

If you are trying to hit a John McEnroe backhand with depressed wrist (the opposite of John) and with bent thumb on Bottom of Back of the Racket Handle Ridge, you might as well try a backhand with bent thumb on Composite Ridge, a much nicer name for a ridge.

You prepare for this shot the same way by simultaneously rolling shoulder down and around.

The difference is that you don't then bank shoulder back up to level like John McEnroe. You just golf the racket under the lowered shoulder. This leads to a "topped" shot that might not go as much to crosscourt as you would like. If hitting crosscourt with it you might want to turn shoulders in that direction but just a little. It's a totally relaxed and gravity assisted shot so don't snort.

[bottle]

Right Brain, Left Brain: The Accelerative Breathing Program (ABP)

Reader, this breathing business is going to cure you of two terrible diseases that have plagued you for your entire life but only if you follow my directions precisely as I give them (note the influence here of Donald Trump).

The first disease is apnea by analysis (PABBA), the second apnea by not enough analysis (PAPNEA). Some people substitute the word "paralysis" for "apnea" but not I. And what can I say? I thought it cool when Martina Navratilova revealed a container of Metamucil in her Bag Check.

One wants to suck in air through both the nose and mouth so as to absorb twice as much oxygen. Some people again think you ought to breathe in through the nose or mouth but not both. Left brain nonsense.

As one snorts in all this air one can be lifting a tennis racket in order to serve. So the chest puffs out. Toward the end of the puff you can clench your two shoulderblades an extra amount the one toward the other.

So you blew up your body as if you were an inflatable doll. Don't stop there. Now blow up your cheeks even though that is the clue like it or not that the most active part of the serve has begun.

As the cheeks puff out the fingers relax and the hand performs radial deviation-- another clue or cue that speedy motion has begun.

I thought a lot about this closed mouth puffing out of the cheeks. It does waste a bit of air, but the idea here is prolonged exhalation to relax all the muscles involved in the most crucial part of the serve. And one will obtain more elongation this way rather than just blow a blast that has to both puff up cheeks and accomplish relaxation. So puff out the cheeks early. Well puffed cheeks will offer more resistance than half-puffed cheeks. Now form a small nozzle at the mouth through which to continue to exhale like that of Donald Trump.