A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Fingers Adjustment for ATP3FH

Thumb and middle finger can offer 90 degrees of pitch adjustment without discombobulating this swing.

In bangboard drill I noticed that the ball was departing on a lower trajectory than I would like.

The bangboard system I use includes two bounces to allow time for more thought.

In actual play, I often find that I want to close the racket an extra bit especially if the oncoming ball is loaded with topspin.

It’s easy to be romantic and say that finger method, starting from a 3.5 grip, affords any pitch adjustment one wants.

One might have a day like that, but more likely the finger rolls, after a period of customization, will produce a 45 degree per shot adjustment in different direction.

From the beginning since I added these silently received schemes to my musings I have urged that one can use shots with or without the finger roll, which occurs when it does occur at the top of a Federer type forehand loop (unlike Lendl, hand stays at level where it started).

Also, from the beginning, the finger rolls have offered rebellion against the very complicated method Roger Federer himself uses for mid-stroke adjustment of pitch.

Whatever that method is I have forgotten having moved on from imitation of it.

So, I was hitting the ball too low against a bangboard. So I tried hitting the shots with no more backward thumb down middle finger roll.

Ball still too low. So I shall push middle finger down thumb instead.

Now the shots should work while opening new possibilities for hitting wide to a right-hander’s backhand.

Will take this notion to bangboard today and play doubles tomorrow.

[bottle]

Is Backhand Slot Determined by Satellite, Compass or one’s Body?

I go with body for today, the better to employ Chris Lewit’s advice to conceal one’s racket work behind oneself.

This abets use of hips while pulling knob straight toward the ball with 45-degree stride set-up, double roll and inside out swing—a bunch of different ideas, but who ever said that people don’t work on 1htsbh for a lifetime.

Concealing one’s racket work behind oneself doesn't have to mean getting racket tight around body and in close.

A slantwise orientation of the whole stroke allows one to keep racket work in the slot and yet bring racket tip in toward body during backward roll and to outside of ball on forward roll.

[bottle]

What's in a Tip?

Self-congratulation.

I know something you don't, so nyah-nyah, and what's this information worth to you? Bend your knees please. That will cost you $198 please and it's payable immediately.

I propose restricting the tennis term "tip" to racket end whether wrapped in lead tape or not. Indulge me also, kind reader, for calling the opposite end of the racket "the knob." That term is taken from baseball, viz., the instructional book LAU'S LAWS ON HITTING by Charley Lau Jr. Well, you see, I noticed a bulge at the end of a tennis racket similar to the bulge at the end of a baseball bat.

And I'd like to save the term "butt," kind reader, for your ass. Everybody will be better off.

As a matter of fact, since tennis interpreters are always weighing in on "what's wrong with American tennis" I'll state unequivocally: "Too many tennis tips."

A more humble and therefore possibly more effective approach although admittedly more wordy than the one syllable of "tip" is "some stupid little thing that might make a big difference."

Those words come from my good friend Frieda Johnston, who gave up tennis for big motorcycles at 72 and just turned a hundred.

If one honors or, better, respects her language, the ring of it can sling one into a more speculative world where there always is intention with surprising result.

[bottle]

On Thumb Along and Thumb Wrap Backhand Slice

One thousandth viewing of the Rosewall, Hoad, Seixas, Trabert clip: Ken Rosewall's wrist goes from concave to straight to concave in the sequences of his backhand slice shown at the end of this post.

Concave to straight to concave is something new for me since I never noticed it before. Does this mean I should try the new thing? Possibly not. I've spent time working toward flat wrist throughout.

But you know me well enough, reader, to say that I will try this small difference whether I SHOULD or NOT.
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I was lucky enough to play doubles against a really good USPTA pro last night. He had a weak partner, I a strong one. The score was 5-5 at which time we went to new partners in the next round of our Friday night tennis social.

As I said to my partner about the pro: He gives you a lesson even when he's not giving a lesson. I like to revise mediocre strokes after an experience like that.

The mediocre stroke the pro helped me identify was thumb along slice with a double roll. I'll save the double roll for my Rosewallian slice with Australian grip (big knuckle on 2.5 with thumb wrapped).

This thought predicts a return to the purity of Emerson's lesson when hitting basic thumb along slice. I'm thinking no roll in the basic version of this shot.

# 2043:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/showthread.php?t=1198&page=205

Please note the flatness of Emerson's wrist (only slightly cocked up) in pantomime, backswing, contact and followthrough. That along with the diagonal eastern grip, I believe, keeps the strings closed enough to let one get away with hitting the ball so far out in front.

[bottle]

Questions to Improve (or Destroy) an Already Good Stroke

Second Roll in Rosewallian Slice

Is it a straightening of Ken Rosewall's wrist?

Is there finger roll involved, too?

A little bit of full arm roll still?

The backward roll is full arm since one can clearly see-- in video-- the elbow turn up, the strings flatten to become a tray (the image most responsible for my adoption of Australian over continental grip).

Study compass positions of elbow in Rosewall and Waltke through second roll.

Is there still mystery in Rosewallian slice? Of course! To deny this, a person would have to be a nut.

Is an attempt to crack the mystery a good idea?

Maybe or not but an idea for sure.

One pulls the knob to initiate last part of the drop and keeps pulling through contact to end of the followthrough.

Here is one's fist at contact.

(Left click on link, right click on picture, left click on "rotate clockwise.")

[bottle]

Changing Views

I'm sad to tell you, reader, that your groans don't count.

This is about MY tennis game and nothing else.

I've got a one-grip system (Australian or 2.5) that's oriented toward backhands. Oh, there is an occasional exception, a Federfore i.e. ATP3FH (3.5 arrived at through immediate manipulation with right hand).

The three basic instruments in my orchestra however are 1) Double roll backhand slice in which the second roll is delivered by the wrist, the arm having gotten barred early in the cycle.

2) Single roll backhand drive from the hip in which arm retains its bend late for a punch as in Roy Emerson's straight-wristed slice. That slice for some reason doesn't work well for me. Some principles at its core however work very well so long as I'm hitting a drive.

WBC has successfully conveyed this stroke to me. It came across intact. Key was his suggestion that strings should face the back fence and also that the shot employ the illegal punch in boxing that sometimes is called a "rabbit punch" and that this punch, whatever its other contributors of power, comes from maximizing straightening at the elbow.

I might not have understood this last part for a long time (my sister to my girlfriend: "Give him very clear directions"). Films of boxers illicitly killing one another when they aren't killing rabbits might be useful-- does the tennis world deserve less?

One great principle in tennis illustrated in this shot and enumerated as such in THE OLD CZECH BOOK, a book so cheaply made that its pages fell apart, is that of swinging an arm that suddenly gets longer for added leverage. I've always thought of a satellite bumped into a wider orbit where it then goes quite a bit faster.

3) Pendulum style straight-wristed John McEnroe forehand hit with Australian grip and single full arm roll to contact just like him.

[bottle]

New Backhand at Bangboard Stage

Almost Ready to Overhaul Backhand Frisbee Stroke (never have been able to throw a Frisbee worth a damn)

Old backhand was pretty good at least for one attempt in doubles against the USPTA pro.

There we were in crosscourt ground stroke duel, slice for slice, when I uncorked a double roll drive hit with fingers spread diagonal grip thumb along and flat wrist.

The pro's entire body, theatrical, expressed amazement. Who ever knew that John Escher possessed such a shot?

That winner was the product of two different sessions against the Grosse Pointe public bangboard. How many shots were delivered-- 200 to produce one backhand winner at the tennis social?

Time for a new backhand, I'd say, one that I will feel inclined to uncork more often.

And I've been hearing about an elderly couple in Florida who record every minute of Fox News so that they can bring their simmering rage to a boil from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. every night.

In honor of their diligence, here is my favorite tennis player Foxie Neuse hitting his no nonsense no hand backhand once again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XryKA3z_uWk

As I seek to modify this shot to my purposes through declaring snake head and my racket hand as one and the same, I say to myself:

How about a horizontal loop parallel to the court? To learn the shot, you take racket head directly to rear hip, even resting the strings there for a bit of exaggeration. But to build up timing and feel, a bit of Foxie Noise like coil of the neck into the body as hips rotate forward might be just the ticket.

Using one grip for all shots except for my Federfore, I flatten wrist immediately unlike when hitting Rosewallian slice.

Although I considered the design feature of a spiraling down loop, I rejected that deciding I would incur too much falling racket syndrome good for another genre of shot but not this one in which the goal of building tension transcends all.

Horizontal loop compressing the two resistant halves of the arm together seems best way to build pressure for the rabbit punch about to unleash.

One does something similar if one pre-loads triceptic extension in a serve, does one not?

I'm working toward the following design:

Hand circles body at a level determined by the oncoming ball. The strings now are parallel to rear fence. Maintaining the parallelism, the arm pulls racket head into body simultaneous with forward hip rotation for maximum compression of a spring and generated feel of the coiling neck of Foxie Noise.

[bottle]

Some More Rosewallian Slice (and a Good Backhand Volley)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aUnSCp64S0

Sequence at .58 : Left hand comes off of racket early. Wrist straightens at bottom of racket drop. Arm extends from elbow throughout the level path to the ball.

Not that he does things this way all the time-- he doesn't.

[stotty]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aUnSCp64S0

Sequence at .58 : Left hand comes off of racket early.

Not that he does things this way all the time-- he doesn't.

Yes, strange that...must be a knock-up manoeuvre. Never seen him do it the other available clips.

I think at .44 he elects for more of a forehand grip (just slightly) for that backhand he hits on the stretch...

[tennis_chiro]

Early swinging volley!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aUnSCp64S0

Sequence at .58 : Left hand comes off of racket early. Wrist straightens at bottom of racket drop. Arm extends from elbow throughout the level path to the ball.

Not that he does things this way all the time-- he doesn't.

I think Ken took that ball out of the air. Must have been a miss by Newcombe

don

[stotty]

Put to rest...

I think Ken took that ball out of the air. Must have been a miss by Newcombe

don

I think you're right. Looking at Ken's eyes, he's looking upwards and the ball comes in descending.

[don_budge]

Rosewall and Newcombe...Practicing for the Bloody Fun of It!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aUnSCp64S0

Sequence at .58 : Left hand comes off of racket early. Wrist straightens at bottom of racket drop. Arm extends from elbow throughout the level path to the ball.

Not that he does things this way all the time-- he doesn't.

The boys are out for a hit. It could be anywhere...anytime. Maybe warming up for a Slam tournament match...maybe just some practice.

Both dressed in all white...collars buttoned up. White balls. Wooden tennis racquets...of course. Rosewall misses a bunny of a forehand volley into the net...cardinal sin. Practice or not. He laughs and playfully retrieves the ball.

Straightening? Extending? Deep turns? Just playing tennis...only for the Bloody Fun of It. The best in the world. Aussie gold.

[bottle]

Opening Rosewallian Racket Past Tray Position

But it’s so much fun to look for the mysteries. Which sometimes are due to one’s own “shortcomings” or “ineffectiveness” in seeing what is right in front of one.

I don’t want to say “failure” since the process of seeing more where before one saw less may be entirely natural and positive. In PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK, a book that won a Pulitzer Prize, Annie Dillard writes about a square yard patch of water where she returns day after day.

And never sees the same thing twice. And notices more. The lesson seems to be that limiting one’s focus can provide incredible results.

Or if not that, at least something different.

In the following clip shown at ordinary speed I somehow came to think that Ken Rosewall opened his strings to form a tray behind him. But the slow motion version (here) reinforces that the strings CLOSE to form the transitory tray.

Does this make a difference for someone exploring this great shot? You bet. You find yourself opening the strings to more than horizontal and put them very close behind you to start, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rws3xyYbthI

Let’s say racket head gets slightly higher than human head. And that the BACK of the strings are toward Rosewall. The racket head then winds down straight toward the court and close behind the rear shoulder. Does pitch change? I don’t think so.

Let’s call this process first roll in a double roll formula.

What’s second roll then and where or when does it happen?

I’m going to say it happens in the first third of the curved level path to the ball. That leaves two thirds of the curved path for a very easy and controlled swing in which there is no further change of pitch. The shot is blocked, in other words, and I’ve heard great tennis pundits call Ken Rosewall’s famed backhand slice “a blocked shot” before.

I think that’s probably true some of the time, not true at other times.

In the slow-mo sequence being discussed here, the two thirds of curved path where there is no significant alteration of pitch flows right into the followthrough. The whole shot may just have become more simple for somebody who wants to try it.

One thing is for sure. This is some of the most effortless slice ever produced and is nothing like Steffi-slice where there is a hugely physical dig with the front shoulder.

I saw a Swiss lady cause her lesser partner to reach the final of a big open club doubles tournament one time. That team sailed through the whole draw. Then, when I discussed the tournament with her or rather asked her about her role in it, she said they lost the final because she forgot to dig with her front shoulder.

There is a guy in my club here in Detroit now who produces similar sizzle with backhand slice produced exactly the same way.

But Rosewallian slice is better because more effortless.

To use such an open faced backswing and then not to close the strings until after they have wound down and started to follow their level path takes some production time at least in the beginning.

One needs more abbreviated forms of slice to use as well. The most extreme version would be simple backhand volley. The same stroke can be used on shots that have hit the court—why not? Some great service returns are nothing more than volleys in disguise.

But when one has time, this Rosewallian example could be a very promising model. I would say that its second roll is more a straightening at the elbow (yes that rolls the racket closed) and a straightening at the wrist (yes that rolls the racket closed too). Do the two things happen at the same time? I think so, can’t see the advantage of a sequence.

There is sequence however between pitch alteration (forward roll) and then no further significant alteration, i.e., next comes pure swing and followthrough.

Anyway, the last two times I’ve played geezer tennis I’ve won with all partners, and the reason has been experiments such as this to keep one curious and fresh.

[bottle]

Summary

Where there has been analysis there must be synthesis. A two-part forward swing then and nothing more. First part: Keying down with racket head as hand may drop a little (backward roll). Second part: Forward straightening of arm and wrist blending into circular swing and effective followthrough. To repeat: Two parts and no more!

Oh, sorry, there are two other parts but since they are separate from forward swing they don't count: 1) backswing in which back of cocked hitting hand gets near back armpit and 2) ice cream cone like recovery that is circular and continuous and returns racket to ready position.

Addendum: Continuous followthroughs that take racket back to ready position are pretty and interesting but may not be necessary. Keeping racket high for an instant could help a right-hander's movement to the right and could keep the racket work brief for movement to the left (as one resumes ready position.)

[bottle]

New Instruments in the Orchestra: FNBH Drive and FNBH Slice

BH stands for Back Hand, FN for Fox Noise.

Here is Fox Noise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XryKA3z_uWk

Remember: Other snakes, some extremely poisonous, only use a coil or two to strike. Fox Noise uses his whole body.

Does he have a soul? Possibly. If so, he puts all of that into every strike as well. But he doesn't care for facts, logic, detail or science.

He must be a good model for something. What? Answers: 1) all body 2) pure reaction 3) shrink wrap pre-load 4) sudden release.

Fox Noise Backhand Drive. Remove politics and metaphysics from further consideration. Use flat wrist thumb along hammer, realizing that this is not a diagonal grip! Save that (including spread of first two fingers) for double roll flat wrist stay-in-the-slot drive. Coil racket until strings are parallel to back fence. Leave a space between racket and body. Maintaining the parallelism, draw racket toward body as you shrink-wrap arm box to build tension for sudden release. This shot will be a chicken wing backhand only if one fails to straighten arm by contact. Subtle variation in elbow level will produce different trajectory and spins.

Fox Noise Backhand Slice is much the same. The big difference is in grip-- flat wrist but Australian (right-hander's big knuckle on 2.5 pointy ridge). Because of the different pitch, the strings slide under the ball. Both of these strokes begin the forcible release from elbow before whole arm takes over the load.

How do these compact shots work in play? I am exploring this subject. They certainly put strings on outside of ball. Rosewallian slice, I find, has a longer forward component but is more of an easy swing.