A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

To "Rotorded" Servers (those with inflexibility in the shoulder)

Why couldn't you exaggerate highness of elbow to achieve racket lowness then lower the elbow to re-establish its alignment with the shoulders line? Feels like part of a throw to me.

[bottle]

A Self-Feed Program to Make the New Shot Work

# 1 Hit some double-bend forehands. Laying back hand on wrist gradually during the backswing is a nice option with elbow to stay in. Keep elbow in for about half of the forward swing too with racket to re-trace its tight radial path.

# 2 Now hit the same shot with a straight wrist to notice the change in aim. Just don't lay back the wrist.

# 3 Now hit the same shot (# 2 this time) but don't keep elbow in during forward part of the swing. Release it through the hit instead.

# 4 Add forearm roll to the elbow swoosh. There can be no sequence in this. Life is too slow for that.

# 5 Employ the footwork that will take # 4 suddenly and sharply more sideways.

Observations: See see is the end. The shots in between may prove interesting to one or not.

[bottle]

Elbow Only but with Smarter Variation in Hand Pressure

Conscious before unconscious before semi-conscious.

Am talking about a see see (who would have thought it).

The stroke begins with elbow lightly touching side.

Because of previous investment, the footwork consists of one left-right-left skip and one cross.

The racket slowly loads ("keys," you could say) throughout the ditditdit&cross footwork. But hand tightens somewhat on the cross to prevent mondo.

The racket now is in position to hit the shot. There is no reason to reverse-key it.
The elbow, pointed down, shoots toward the ball. This gets the racket tip around farther than any other way while in the same instant making the strings zip up. The elbow probably twists naturally a little in this case but doesn't-- unusually-- threaten stability. It naturally closes the racket face just a little. Hand pressure lightens for contact. Naturally.

Subtractions include ulnar and radial deviation. They have gone into the delete file. Rain will keep me from performing this experiment for a while.

Note: Can envision a three beat version of this. Left foot moves a little. Right foot moves a little. Elbow hits the ball with slight additive of pressure from right leg whether extending or not. Dit-dit-dit. Winner. Should work on one step, two step, three step, four step, and five step etc. variations. Much depends on which foot moved first. Does this sound like a dance class? If so, I hope it's a good dance class. Fred Astaire knew what he was doing on a tennis court, it has been said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R1pqjNvYlk

https://www.google.com/search?q=fred+astaire+tennis&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS519US519&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CB0QsARqFQoTCMHRi_e45cgCFcZJJgod6EYH1A&biw=853&bih=474

[bottle]

Home, Home on the Range, Where the Deer and the Antelope Play

A slightly different correspondence between foot and arm is required. And first step doesn't have to be so long, doesn't always have to be Betelgeuse the Hypotenuse. The dit-dit-dit can gradually rearrange the body more toward the target while one keeps in mind the idea that shoulders at contact will remain in various degrees of being closed. One wants a good swing but not to hit through the ball, not in this particular skill shot.

If default or wait position puts elbow slightly out from body, one will have to bring it in. How? When? During first step.

The idea is to get racket tip around, so tell it, "Racket tip, you get around!" Elbow coming in at same time takes it farther around. That is the first step.

During second step racket tip gets farther around with elbow already in.

Third step is when ulnar deviation occurs-- hard to remember if you have never before assigned U.D. its own time slot.

The forward swing is now ready to begin. It was necessary to give this part longer length than first imagined.

Racket farm gates before one releases the elbow, which can go in a number of subtle directions though always somewhat toward the target. Elbow goes out before the brush.

I'd like to try out this very tender see see this morning in actual doubles. On the other hand I'd like to try to win which may dictate that I play the backhand side. Maybe I can hit one down the alley, early, to keep the opponents honest.

[bottle]

Third Possibility to Take to Court

I simply don't have enough ideas (weak joke). I guess the man through the fence was right. Get the use of a ball machine. Or employ brute strength? That's no answer, Escher. You didn't mean that anyway. You meant roll the forearm as you bring the racket around as if on a farm gate. The forearm roll makes the racket tip go farther than your farm gate guided hand. Or for same purpose you could turn the free-wheeling elbow in two directions at once. I wonder if that would make any difference.

Many of these experiments, it would seem, work fine in self-feed but fizzle the moment one uses them in actual play.

Arm work is too delayed. That must be the reason. Also, four steps is one too many. Let's adapt the arm work to the three steps of dit-dit-dit.

The inchworm variation we choose, culled from watching Stan Smith's square stance forehands in the old VHS TENNIS OUR WAY but a little different from what we saw there:

First step with left leg, say, puts that foot close in front of the other. This is the time to key racket on 90-degree bent arm to right with elbow brushing side all the way. The foot and arm work was not perfectly in tandem? Why not? Try shorter or longer arm work? Get the two simultaneous elements to happen at exact same speed.

Second step, with right foot can just be in place-- just unweight it and set it down. Other times when doing this you may want to splay it. Forget that for now. Well, you just did something dramatic with foot, re-planted it on a slant, at the end of Betelgeuse the hypotenuse. Time then to do something undramatic-- you step in place. Similarly the arm work was pretty dramatic when you consider that most people just cling to their racket like a security blanket while asking their body to do all the work. Dramatic, undramatic-- a good pattern. Undramatic can be with hand only: ulnar deviation.

Time now to be more dramatic again. Wind racket (close farm gate) to left as you step to left. Hey, in which direction does this foot go? Forward, sideways, backward? "Find the ball." Then comes elbow release and brush (with radial deviation). The elbow release with arm still bent but with no added twist by you should close the racket face the precise amount you need. But to achieve that effect the shoulders will have to be somewhat closed to the target. For sadly or interestingly, I guess, elbow going straight out on a perpendicular from the two shoulders opens racket face, and elbow going out to left of that closes the racket face. Where are you in the court? Nearer toward net means shoulders more closed. Farther back means get them more open.

[bottle]

A Brute Wearing Brut but Using a Surgical Incision Upward to Hit his See See

I guess I should apologize for pursuing my see see like a Kochroach pursuing Hillary Clinton.

On the other hand there are strong financial (and military) cords on Hillary, too.

On the other hand again I want to play good tennis and this is one way of doing it. Give me a great see see-- the key to everything.

Using bent arm strategy, keep a stiff upper lip, chest out, gut and elbow in!

Well, I don't know about the first parts, but elbow in offers unimaginable possibility.

Already, before I even have tried the Steve Johnson influenced see see of the previous post, I am on to the next thing, a brute strength see see.

Elbow in provides stability. As we already discovered, it enables upper arm rotation to close a gate without affecting racket head pitch. But we want to close the strings! We want to rotate (twist) the upper arm! We want to maintain stability! We want it all, and the answer, since we were not really born as a farm gate, lies in unbridled strength.

Ask first: Is the elbow brushing one's side actually attached to one's side? Of course not. There is not a farm gate hinge down there. The elbow is free to rotate any way it wants. If you keep it in however, there is more stability than if you let it prematurely fly.

So simply crank harder to bring the racket tip around. Maintain right angle in arm-- that's important-- but crank harder than you would to keep racket face at constant angle.

Footwork the same: dit-dit-dit and the cross. Relaxed ulnar deviation during the cross sets up kinetic radial deviation after the crank. The progression is from brute strength to extreme delicacy. The radial deviation is like a surgeon or painter drawing a loose but confident straight line.

Note: I should see in a while whether I want to release (throw) elbow just as I brush or afterward or halfway through. Answer from hitting garage door before going to court: All three, along with a fourth, which involves starting release of elbow just before the brush.

[bottle]

Steve Johnson vs. Kevin Anderson-- a One-Shot Lesson on TV

Kevin has pulled Steve way off the court. Steve is a mile or maybe ten miles outside of the net on his forehand side. There is no way he is going to make this shot. But he is fast to it. And his racket head begins to swirl downward. He looks like a Weird Sister stirring counterclockwise in a pot of stew with eye of newt as one ingredient.

He leads with his elbow but in what direction? Let us say the right fence post. And as the racket tip swirls down, it closes an unbelievable amount.

His upper and lower arm is at right angle to itself, but skewed. His elbow is way higher than his racket tip. Will he be able to put his strings on the ball much less on the outside of the ball? Doubtful.

Now comes a small loop but in what direction? Again toward the right fence post. And a flick. But from what? Forearm, upper arm, 3) radial deviation of the hand? I vote for 3) .

The soft topspin shot lands inside of the sideline as Kevin Anderson watches.

What a chance this is for a see see hit under different circumstances but exactly the same way.

[bottle]

Out to Right

Now for a new see see that places contact where one makes it for ordinary forehands.

No one will be confused if they understand that my see sees are trial balloons.

To start, one keeps elbow in close. Arm, right-angled, farm gates racket to right but not far this time. Slowly continuing the momentum of this little move, two things happen SIM as part of the continued and cohesive backswing: 1) elbow moves slightly out on a path perpendicular to the right fence. This closes the racket face more. 2) arm slightly extends.

Elbow movement away from body seems pretty dramatic but actually happens every time someone hits a reverse forehand. Instead of finishing over right shoulder I want to finish over left but with some first half structure of a reverse forehand.

I think of this elbow movement as "temporization," a subtraction of power from the shot which now I want to perform early.

To start forward stroke one clenches arm to return it to its right angle. The clench activates ulnar deviation which is mondo since it is reactive.

One immediately uses radial deviation to brush the ball. After that the elbow lifts as the arm extends for a second time for conventional followthrough over the left shoulder.

The hope in this is sharper angle because contact point was normal or farther right than previous attempts. One thinks of successful angled volleys enabled through contact more to outside than directly in front.

One assumes perfect footwork first.

[bottle]

A Small But Potent Forehand

Here's a good look at some Don Budge forehands starting at 2:05 and 2:18 and 3:10 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_jT...ature=youtu.be).

If one hits every possible kind of forehand from self-feed, and one would be nuts not to, one will eventually learn that straight back forehands, though easy to hit, are not as fast and hard hit crosscourt as those hit with a big elbow lead that springs the racket back for a long radius whirl. Such shock and awe forehands are huge but economical because 1) they stay solid for so much of the tract and 2) they include a time saving mondo.

A small loop forehand also probably doesn't get around as fast same as the straight back one.

But Don Brosseau was interested when I discussed forehands that throughout one's backswing take wrist back a little at a time.

For a Don Budge type forehand I choose to start bending hand back on wrist roughly at the point where racket points on a perpendicular at right fence.

Backswing is level, and if the player is an early separator like Don Budge, Chris Evert, Tracy Austin, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe with racket hand departing from opposite hand right away one will have time to burn.

The very minimal loop can consist of nothing other than a two-inch hand drop combined with backward forearm roll.

P.S. Nobody can come up with a new shot without the new shot affecting the potential of other shots for better or worse, e.g., if one still hits any straight back forehands, one can now try smooth wrist layback as described above rather than as something sequential and separate then simply drop the hand two inches and hit the ball. Should one save all one's forehand variations in one's tennis computer to bring them up as needed or always just hit the same old boring shot?

P.P.S. I now see that Don Budge's backswing starts with racket parallel to court, goes back level but then rises a little to start a loop. And that the drop part of the loop (4:14) sometimes blends into a more forward low point.

P.P.P.S. Here are some other good ones. Make sure to watch all three (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...DBFHFront1.mov). Older Don raises racket sooner.

[bottle]

Which Makes a Better See See: Square Stance Inchworm or Semiopen Cockeyed Tramlines?

Nothing wrong if an older player counts his steps. But he only has 85 per cent of his former power so needs to value deception.

A lot in geezer doubles depends on the nature of the right-hander's deep forehands from the deuce court.

Is he hitting a lot of square stance shots? Then square stance see see is best choice.

Is he hitting a lot of semiopen shots deep into his opponents' deuce court? Then he needs to puff up his chest for a slightly heavier see see.

Remember though: square stance see see requires four steps, semiopen see see only three steps.

On the other hand the opponents may be more confused by the extra step; and, the perpetrator may find more perfect position with that extra step.

[bottle]

"Alexander Technique": Too Dry And Sterile For Anyone's Tennis Lexicon

"Alexander Ragtime" with its jazzy connotation is better as is "The Alexandria Quartet" after four novels by Lawrence Durrell with their very good lovers Justine (sorry, Justine), Balthazar and Clea.

I only remember one specific and very cruel line from this literary opus which I last read more than 50 years ago: "A woman without breasts is like a ship without sails."

But the word "quartet" could bring us back to classical music or jazz or the four legs of a stable stabled horse.

The thing being described in tennis whether one belongs to Alexander's Ragtime Band or not is not exactly a child's toy but is something for a visiting child to sleep upon, a rubber, plastic or reinforced cloth mat which inflates either from an electric motor or a human adult blowing through a tube.

In tennis one uses drive from one's outside leg to inflate one's chest while making one's back become concave: Perhaps this is all one needs to know in order to hit heavy topspin.

[bottle]

Two-Shot Orchestration of Deuce Court Service Return in Doubles

One hits one's see see with a straight wrist. So what would happen if one hit the same shot but with a laid back wrist? A light spinny shot that lands at the service line can be surprisingly effective, likewise if it lands deep near the baseline.

Would such shots get clobbered? Maybe and maybe not. If so, time to alternate the see see with heavy forehands.

[bottle]

She's a Girl

Ceci the CC see see is not Stella Artois but is a beautiful and defiant thing. Presumably, if you have played tennis for a long time, you have very masculine strokes which climax then fizzle.

Nothing to be ashamed of but you had to learn not to hit a forehand decel that pushed the ball stupidly after which you accelerated up and over the opposite shoulder and either bruised your back or hit it so hard you had to go to the hospital.

The Ceci is all about 1) getting weight transfer done and divergent before contact and 2) arm work that decels the racket so that "radial deviation" becomes a term that means something, an accelerative finally permitted to come into her own followed by lengthening arm acceleration over the shoulder but which started out slow enough not to bruise the back or back of the shoulder.

In fact I think that you (I) should make a conscious effort to smoothly brush the back to show that you brushed the ball.

To look at the whole stroke in pantomime, its early separation allows body turn and racket takeback to be simultaneous additives which applied to all of one's forehands could take the schoolmarm (left hand clinging to the right-hander's racket throat) out of the tennis equation once and for all.

Reader, here's a Bottle caution: Ben Ford, a tour technician who knowingly spells the word "technition" once observed Bungalo Bill and I go at it here and in another forum and accused both of us of knowing enough tennis technique to be positively dangerous.

Well dangerous is what I want to be but at the same time I don't want to inflict my mind games on the wrong person.

The early separation players-- Evert, Connors, McEnroe and Austin-- do things very differently from the bulk of worldwide tennis players in my view.

One can swing racket backward as one turns one's body same as a shortstop in baseball. Listen, the shortstop does not have time to turn his shoulders first, then take his arm back second, and neither will you if tennis gets any more quick. It does quicken as you age, I assure you.

But one forehand, The Ceci, is the subject here, a buggywhip with conventional rather than same side followthrough.

[bottle]

Two Options for One's Famous CC ("The Topspin Angle&quot

1) Hit the ball starting from square stance as in # 2738 . Slight arm straightening after contact can lead to traditional wrap over the shoulder. But the elbow temporizing during contact could easily turn the shot into a reverse forehand or buggy whip or whatever you want to call it. Which will prove more consistent? I bet on over the opposite shoulder.

2) Use carefully developed fondness for semi-open stance, but how should one arrive at it? I would draw a picture but know that four people would click on it since the rest are fearful of anything that might be a virus sent by the joint council of the Taliban, al Qaeda and Isis. I would draw two lines both on 45 degrees to the net, a cockeyed tramline. Right foot would stick to the right line, left foot to left line. Bip-bip-bip only this time right foot goes first. In the second instance of right foot settling down it drives almost straight up to puff up the chest while making one's back become concave. One probably generates more pace and controlling topspin this way but a bit less delicacy. I use more grip for 1) than 2) .

[bottle]

Ceci, Senor, She is a Beautiful Girl

Elbow in tight, arm right-angled, forearm parallel to the court and batting slowly back to draw a bead as bip-bip-bip leads into the cross. This is the feel and finesse part of the stroke. Just precise mechanics are the requirement from then on:

The brush has to be quick, a single move. Still, if you analyze (your funeral most times but may be necessary now for you to be reborn), there is a several part sequence to the single move.

1) A sidearm curve throw in which two things simultaneously happen, (a) ulnar deviation and (b) forearm rolls down.

2) Forearm stays rolled down but quick radial deviation occurs as tucked elbow temporizes by jumping a number of inches outward to close racket head without closing it so much as to destroy stability.

3) The arm slightly straightens from ball at beginning of the followthrough.