A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Intriguing shot that FV of McEnroe's. His upper arm is often wedged a little closer to the body than other players. Sometimes he almost sticks it to his side and uses it as a post to deflect or steer the volley. One such example is in the archive somewhere...wait a minute, it's here: http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...evelFront2.mov

I have never seen any other player do this as McEnroe does. It's a deft trick...

Thanks, Stotty. One can perhaps learn something from this rather than consider it just as anomaly, i.e., use a bit of the racket tip toward center of the body trick even when elbow is farther out. Wow again: there's some upward banking of the hitting shoulder in this shot. And Mac's head goes up in relation to the crowd behind.

[bottle]

Is John McEnroe's Down-and-Up Backswing the Same on Both Sides?

Not at all. First, in Mac's low waiting position his racket is cheated toward backhand. Second, for a forehand, he bowls backward from the shoulder. All arm in other words no matter what else he is doing with his body.

For topspin backhand, he is more connected, which is another way of saying that the backswing comes much more from lowering of the hitting shoulder.

Is backswing all body and no arm then, similar to something that Virginia Wade used to do? Probably. Judge for yourself by clicking on the six backhands here (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...enterRear2.mov).

If this hypothesis is true, the only loose arm motion occurs after the hitting shoulder has re-banked up to level.

Moral of the story for imitators: Lower shoulder fast for a close ball or lower it slowly as part of your travels.

[bottle]

Intriguing shot that FV of McEnroe's. His upper arm is often wedged a little closer to the body than other players. Sometimes he almost sticks it to his side and uses it as a post to deflect or steer the volley. One such example is in the archive somewhere...wait a minute, it's here: http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...evelFront2.mov

I have never seen any other player do this as McEnroe does. It's a deft trick...

Wow. The racket cuts under the ball in that one as his forearm twists toward center of his body on a level plane.

[stotty]

Wait with composite grip and straight wrist and racket parallel to court.

BHV Hit ball with a steep chop during which bent elbow straightens to add to the force. The upswing prefigures the downswing.

FHV If using same steepness of upswing cut angle of downswing by half: still swing down but swing out too. Or use a shallow upswing and hit level for speed.

Opinion: Forward body turn on both sides reinforces the arm work rather than the opposite, although in this one he does punch with his shoulders a little (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...evelFront3.mov).

Note: Of the dozen FHV's featured in the TP vault, here is one (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...armUpFront.mov). Of the 10 BHV's here is one (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...armUpFront.mov). In these, it would seem that his turning under of the lower frame supplies some of the forward force.

Here is one that most adheres to my description (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...evelFront3.mov). But there are others hit more level and one where he pulls across.

Clicking through all 22 of these volleys is a painless task which I recommend. (I don't include half volleys in my count.)

Intriguing shot that FV of McEnroe's. His upper arm is often wedged a little closer to the body than other players. Sometimes he almost sticks it to his side and uses it as a post to deflect or steer the volley. One such example is in the archive somewhere...wait a minute, it's here: http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...evelFront2.mov

I have never seen any other player do this as McEnroe does. It's a deft trick...

[bottle]

Banking on Banking in the Backhand

One may have developed a one hander which although looking good is characterized by too much arm.

To work from this idea, we take the solid body-arm connection developed for McEnruefuls (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...enterFront.mov) and bring it across to the backhand side (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...enterFront.mov).

John McEnroe bowls down and up for a forehand then banks down and up in the actual hit. Conversely, during actual hit in the backhand, he only banks up-- he already turned that shoulder under. This becomes troublesome if one banks the shoulder too high while still wanting to squirt the arm out beneath it. All depends I suppose on chosen design. It seems to me that JM stops his shoulder dead thus creating a can opener.

What is the real principle of rhythm in all this that will improve one's shot?

One can be perfectly content with one's army one hander, I suppose, but I have noticed it sometimes gets picked off, which encourages me to hit more slice which Pat Blaskower recommends anyway in her splendid book THE ART OF DOUBLES.

But we've recently made progress through slightly changing the rhythm of our grounded McEnruefuls. The right shoulder drops slowly even though this drop is a hitting drop as opposed to a backswing or transition drop. There is no transition from backhand swing to forward swing if using 1-2 rhythm. But within that parameter the drop is slow, the upward banking extremely committed and fast.

So, finally, should such commitment be brought across? Is the upward banking equally fast? We know that John McEnroe's curled wrist is impossible for nearly all tennis players, but does that mean everything else he is doing here is unavailable to us, too?

[bottle]

An Every Day Change in Service Production

The racket goes as fast as it can. The many things that happen include scapular adduction and muscular straightening of the wrist and arm and external rotation of the upper arm followed by internal rotation of the upper arm combined with scapular retraction (arching of the back).

Would it be okay, reader, if I expunged from the celestial record the parts about "scapular adduction" and extremely late arching of the back? The line of exploration here still will include intake of air through the down and up. This puffing of the chest will end with further retraction of the hitting arm side scapula. The idea is for lowest possible racket tip even though the player very likely is less flexible in the shoulder than the greatest stars in the game.

I'm working now on the premise that back is already arched in a leftward lean as the elbow adduces on an upward-forward diagonal. And then the elbow retracts as upper arm rotation reverses direction. I'm simply out to put more of my serve behind my back. The ultimate idea is that if one released handle the racket would fly straight up.

A friend of mine in Winston-Salem used to say, "They tell you to hit the ball out front. Well, out front is even with your forehead."

Note: One won't be fully carrying out this scheme if one doesn't look as if one is choking to death in the area of contact. I've always assumed that Boris Becker-- in his heyday-- was holding his breath. I want to try this and not let the air out until the ball is gone. I know that others have used abrupt exhalation to relax at contact but think in my case it's more important to get the racket tip as low as possible, i.e., to "work with what you (I) have."

[bottle]

Smarter Volleys (That Would be John McEnroe)

Wait with composite grip and straight wrist and racket parallel to court.

BHV Hit ball with a steep chop during which bent elbow straightens to add to the force. The upswing prefigures the downswing.

FHV If using same steepness of upswing cut angle of downswing by half: still swing down but swing out too. Or use a shallow upswing and hit level for speed.

Opinion: Forward body turn on both sides reinforces the arm work rather than the opposite, although in this one he does punch with his shoulders a little (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...evelFront3.mov).

Note: Of the dozen FHV's featured in the TP vault, here is one (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...armUpFront.mov). Of the 10 BHV's here is one (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...armUpFront.mov). In these, it would seem that his turning under of the lower frame supplies some of the forward force.

Here is one that most adheres to my description (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...evelFront3.mov). But there are others hit more level and one where he pulls across.

Clicking through all 22 of these volleys is a painless task which I recommend. (I don't include half volleys in my count.)

[bottle]

A Formula for Racket Head Speeds in a Given Serve

Part I. The formula: G, G/2, G/4, Infinity.

Same thing now with explanations: G (racket falls at 32 feet per second per second). The speed is whatever a natural fall can establish.

G/2 . The racket rises twice as fast as G ending with fingers loosening combined with radial deviation of the hand. An image comes to mind of a snake finishing its coil with small movement of its head. This whole section may be quicker than one thought.

G/4 . The two halves of the arm squeeze together as the hand opens from the wrist while the elbow stays back. This section is twice as fast as the previous section.

Infinity. The racket goes as fast as it can. The many things that happen include scapular adduction and muscular straightening of the wrist and arm and external rotation of the upper arm followed by internal rotation of the upper arm combined with scapular retraction (arching of the back).

But one must not take the divisions established here with pedantic seriousness. The seminal division is between backswing and forward swing. Backswing concludes with G/2 .

Part II. Incorporation of breathing should be the last thing to include in one's development of a serve according to some wags.

Let's believe them even though we know from past history we'll be adding other stuff.

If one uses a slight rise of both hands and racket to start one's motion one probably wouldn't want to begin a full intake of air just then.

Through G, G/2, G/4, and pre-contact INFINITE SPEED however such a prolonged intake could make good sense since filled chest makes a last instant arching of the back more possible, brief, doable and timeable. The goal is to send racket energy straight upward rather than forward. But the elbow does get to fly forward first with considerable delayed power in this particular version of a serve.

Reader, suppose that every bit of information given here is of great personal use to you. Would you want to absorb it all at once? Of course not. Training the formula part and the breathing part, e.g., could be separated into two different but consecutive days or weeks or months.

[bottle]

Level of Racket Tip in Waiting Position

I haven't read much on this subject which now seems important to me.

In GETTING STARTED IN TENNIS, a continuing subject if one gets out of bed each day, Arthur Ashe seems to propose keeping racket parallel to court or "level" for ground strokes, racket tip up at 45 degrees for volleys.

In ED FAULKNER'S TENNIS the 45 degrees holds for both ground strokes and volleys. In the TP videos of John McEnroe however John holds racket level for both. We know about his upside down backswing for ground strokes but what is the implication for volleys other than probably making mine slow? Does commitment to rise in backswing help explain the greatness of the JM volleys?

This little distinction or identification of two basic ways of waiting for the ball could become very significant as one gets older and wants to reduce the size of one's Federfore.

Suppose that one decides to raise from level the racket tip one half as high as Roger Federer does? Well, Roger's waiting position has racket tip already raised somewhat, so perhaps the amount of raising motion will remain roughly the same.

Combining Nick Wheatley's 1-2 rhythm with Luke Digweed's three check points for a wiper and NW's recommendation of thinking about two items only, one could contemplate first the one-half raised racket tip as end of the backswing and second the third checkpoint for wiper, which is with racket forward from body but pointed at left fence.

This conscious decision mentally groups the items of dog wipe, mondo and windshield wipe into a single act. The Zen Buddhism of this will make it fast, i.e., 1) the backswing will have occurred; 2) the racket tip will be pointed at left fence.

After that one will follow through around left shoulder but don't waste brain cells thinking about that right now since the arm is decelerating anyway.

[bottle]

Would it Really take three to five years to Learn this One-Hander?

The backhand in mind occurs in the third furniture in this article starting at the top and counting down (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...nt_of_contact/).

Why not learn it the exact same way that Dennis Ralston is hitting it here?

[bottle]

McEnrueful and John McEnroe Forehand Adapted and Adopted

"Language is thought," stated the famed writer Peggy Noonan even though she is a political idiot. Reversed, thought is language. It's great to name things. Once you realize that naming something or someone not only is inventive (even though George W. Bush liked to assign personalized nicknames) you may also come to understand that putting a name on every new invention is the start of new exploration. If you follow this line in tennis, you may develop some powerful shots unlike those of anyone else. With certain similarities of course.

The day may come however when you named something that you want to change thus creating a McEnrueful 1, a McEnrueful 2 and a McEnrueful 3 . Don't go down this self-referential road. You become incapable of communicating your idea to another human being.

The McEnrueful I now have in mind comes in equal parts from watching TP videos of John McEnroe and out of a book.

The book is SECRETS OF A TRUE TENNIS MASTER: WELBY VAN HORN AND HIS TENNIS TEACHING SYSTEM by Edward Weiss.

One emphasis in that book is on low, connected and maximized turn of the hips. So you get the book and learn this stuff. Then you apply it to the John McEnroe forehand what with its easy down and up backswing. Finally, if you still are interested you go on to hitting a certain forehand more like John McEnroe himself, a shot that depends on hearty upward leg drive from the outside foot.

I. McEnrueful: Swing the arm down and up like John McEnroe but keep the knees at a single level of bend. Now, with a very similar notion of motion in mind (connect the dots) swing the shoulder down and up like a banking airplane. Imagine that the plane abruptly tips its right wing down then restores it to level for contact. The arm is entirely solid with the whirling body to contact, I would argue, although there may be departure from this on some shots farther along the developmental mystery: a departure from principle in that there is a slight difference in actual departure from the ball.

II. An unnamed variation more typically seen in a forehand video of John McEnroe: On the up of the down-and-up backswing compress the outside leg an extra amount. Then while springing from outside foot perform the one-two banking sequence. The total banking is faster, isn't it? But this shot wasn't working for me as well in doubles competition-- why not? Did I forget the Van Horn/Weiss prescription of leaving leg somewhat bent even though driving upward from it? If you keep extending leg you move your eyes too much. To my mind, a McEnrueful is a forehand hit like either the I or II descriptions/prescriptions here.

[bottle]

Pabba and Papnea: Two Ultra-Important Terms for those who want to Play Tennis

Up till now the two most important acronyms in tennis, derived from the scripture of Bill Tilden, have been NCAWG and ACALG: never change a winning game and always change a losing game. Since Djokovic can beat you, you should change your game. But note the perfect correspondence between each letter of the acronym and its explanation-- a bad idea.

If one follows that prescription, one becomes too clear. And if a teaching pro becomes too clear he may get fired.

This happened to me. I was teaching footwork to a Harvard graduate. "We're athletes," he cried (perhaps referring to all varsity oarsmen, and we had raced against each other), "so we don't want to be told where to put our feet!"

And he fired me. The event though not devastating was disconcerting. We had shared half a dozen lessons after he chose me over another teaching pro who was better and had taught me over a couple of years and even had accreditation superior to my own (USPTA over NTA).

What could I do other than enjoy the liberation that any firing provides? I and those dance instructors this dude may have had are glad to see him gone.

But we learned the value of staying obscure. And Pabba is more obscure than PBA, which stands for Paralysis By Analysis. Similarly, Papnea is more obscure than PBNEA (Paralysis By Not Enough Analysis) although Papnea alludes to New Guinea as well as apnea. Papua is spelled differently but this is a joke!

If you have more than x number of apneas per hour, reader, you should go for a sleep evaluation. You will lie in a big comfortable bed with pretty nurses.

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What is the Relation between Filling your Lungs with Air and Arching your Back?

If that is a good question, reader, you should answer it yourself.

I agree with you, reader. Maybe that is why Boris Becker always looked like a bloated mummy at the top of his serve.

Now, of course, he looks like a bloated mummy at the bottom of his serve.

[bottle]

Once one has settled on exactly how wants to hit the see see, the whole subject may become about where one's body is and how it is arranged in relation to the ball (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...nt_of_contact/).

Nobody is perfect, so one will often have a need for fine adjustment, one example of which is sending elbow out from body on a slightly different angle. You might that way close on ball a little even though you thought you didn't want to do that any more.

Or vary the amount of cranking the lower edge of the racket forward as elbow accelerates in toward body. Or combine all factors without being aware of any particular one.

That would be "letting go."

Another form of this could be simply cranking arm one way in order to load it for cranking the other way. But how about doing this with a westernized grip and a straight wrist? This would be prime example of "bend the stick the opposite way" philosophy. But don't abandon this idea just there. Why not be imaginative at combining elbow travel with the opposite crankings? Elbow comes down right now with a curveball action as if to slap right thigh. But one could send it farther to the outside for a sharper turn around right edge of the ball. There are two actions now at work in this scheme-- "curveball" and "screwball"-- and different elbow positions can be combined with each. One needs to be flexible for once and play around.

[bottle]

Quality of Volley Demonstrations

As a believer in the magic of indirection and natural personal discourse over scientific tract (although ST can be very very good and even could save the world if it didn't destroy it), I have to think that the real breakthroughs in tennis technique come to us as oblique surprise when we are focused somewhere else.

This is what I now feel about the TP articles by Dennis Ralston. Both have fabulous texts-- the first on slice serve, the second on conditioning best ground stroke and volley contact points.

But the easy technique of Dennis Ralston in the accompanying videos is what most ignites me.

Take the volley section at the end of this article (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...nt_of_contact/).

I look at the backhand volley and say, "Omigod, that's the way I hit backhand slice only more compressed." I look at the forehand volley and say, "His wrist is straight. Then he lays it back as part of the hit same as the mondo in a modern ground stroke."

To consider both shots at once, they consist of small hand drop and level section characterized by heavy leverage that brings tip around fast followed by easy rise of racket to finish.

Reader, you may call that hitting down on a volley (if you must) but I won't.

When you realize that Dennis Ralston was half of six Wimbledon doubles championships, you know that his volleys were good. When you see him hit them now you know they still are good.

When you reflect that one of the six championships came when he was paired with Billie Jean King, you know she probably wouldn't have consented to play with him if he hit down on basic volleys.

For in her books and instruction she is passionately partial in espousing volleys that go perfectly parallel to the court while hitting the ball.

I am enough of a realist to admit that volleys get hit in countless ways during any given set of doubles.

The simplest of these is a solid block. But the best volleyer I ever was paired with (Patrick O'Kelly) was a former national seniors champion in Canada and had a small drop at beginning of his forward hit.

Would that waste time? Not if the drop were part of the forward hit.