A New Year's Serve

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Self-Feed Report

Got more spin if I used a pre-shoulders mondo since the taffy turn does not carry enough momentum to activate anything.

The increased spin was a victory though not as great as that of Steve D'Arcis in Davis Cup.

A pre-forward-shoulders mondo suggests to me at least scaling a rock or in baseball an infielder's sidearm throw to first.

Yes there is slow taffy turn but it doesn't begin until the mondo is formed.

A second point is that if one is getting under the ball too much thereby sending it too high one can adjust mondo to go farther away from ball rather than exclusively down.

The more one learns about see see mondo the more one realizes it consists of hand layback and hand turn-down from forearm against a stable elbow.

One could, theoretically, do one or the other rather than both.

And I have it on good authority that in many of the shots delivered by the most accomplished players the hand lays exclusively back.

The dichotomy may be false however. I mean that this is not a one or the other case.

As in so much in tennis there can be varying degrees of mix.

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Taffy Turn Further Explored

A manly sugar-free version of this see see might replace the taffy with molten lava.

The engineers among us could achieve the slow smooth body purpose here through reversing usual 10-to-1 ratio of forward to backward body turn in an ordinary forehand.

Now we use one timing unit to control the deliberate elbow twist through the two phases of its upswing (body and solo).

But should the forward body turn be 10 times as slow as this? Exactly as slow? Two times as slow? Four? Mess around.

Intellectually (a bad word, I know), the significant departure here is from the fast forward body turn in every big forehand we have ever known.

Now, our slowly rotating shoulders allow plenty of time for mondo and forearm wipe and a bit of post contact straightening of the arm still on a clear path into the alley, short.

[stotty]

Yes I came across the book when weaving back to try and find tennis_chiro's post on the shot putters (and our comments around it)...where he says suggests shot putters gain maximum power by keeping their right foot on the ground for a long time after releasing the weight. I wanted to study the clip he posted...just love the way they scissor kick to get back on balance so as not fall out of the circle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfeD7kDOMWo

I read the opening pages on Amazon. I liked the writing style immediately so just had to buy the book.

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I predict that you won't be disappointed. While I was in England I picked out from a shelf in John Cowper's house a book I thought I might be interested in. When I got home I ordered it online, A GLASTONBURY ROMANCE by John Cowper Powys. The only trouble with it (not really a trouble) is that it is longer than either ANNA KARENINA or WAR AND PEACE. And when Amazon asked me to review it I was only on page 64 . So I reviewed the beginning of it. (http://www.amazon.com/Glastonbury-Ro...DateDescending). Still the most recent review.

[stotty]

The New York Times had a trivial article today about whether Roland Garros should be called Roland Garros or The French Open. The article didn't go deeper than identifying Roland Garros as a French aviator. And wondering about the connection between early aviation and tennis since Roland Garros played rugby.

The connection, as far as I am concerned, has to do with courage. If you want to know what I mean, read the book WIND, SAND AND STARS by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. And look for the part where Roland Garros has crashed in the Andes and walks an incredible distance in frostbite producing temperatures and deep snow.

This is the best prose ever on the subject of taking one step in order to take a lot of steps.

I bought the book today. It sounded like the sort of book I might like.

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See See Taffy Turn to Hit the Ball

How many people can consistently hit this shot? One in a thousand. Accomplished players may have great feel and direction in their other shots, but not in this one where their mechanics are suspect because they were not brave enough to alter what they usually do.

I shall go with the mechanics of # 2686 through self-feed on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The one change I envision is taffy turn. Taffy turn is forward turn, self-explanatory description of slowness as platform for the sidearm throw.

I shall work on my serve too, try for the "shoulders banked with shoulder of the hitting arm finishing higher than shoulder of tossing arm" of Van Horn/Weiss. And criss-crossed arms on left side. Those criss-crossed service finishes were characteristic of Charlie Pasarel, a student of Van Horn in Puerto Rico, whose very good serve also had a few other old-fashioned elements I now wish to incorporate in my own.

All this for three sets of doubles early Tuesday morn.

Note: Someone in the tennis teaching industry has been trying to call me, I assume in connection with # 2676 . People should be interested in that. To step up to a wall and take a tennis stroke as if you are hitting into the wall and through it and then two seconds later to see yourself projected on the wall (from behind) hitting that same shot in every particular is a great learning experience. You then hit the same shot only make it look better, watch, try again, keep going, try again.

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And An Iteration After That

Turn over elbow a lot. If one turns it over enough one can use a mild grip, perhaps even the one that one will use to volley the ball to the exact same spot.

The iteration:

1) Mild body turn limited by outside foot step out and combined with keying of racket head down while forming angle in arm.

2) Shoulders are still while elbow continues to turn and rise.

3) Turn shoulders slowly into shot while performing mondo and forearm brush followed by a slight straightening of arm.

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Next Iteration

One thought leads to another. With all of the thought remaining thought until there are trials.

But; if elbow in process of turning up is to rise, give it its own timing unit. Then put mondo and brush with the reversal of body whirls as in a conventional forehand.

This could place contact point slightly more to right-hander's right, a healthy development.

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Finesse to Add to One See See Design

1) Mild body turn limited by outside foot step out and combined with keying racket head down while forming a right angle in arm.

2) Arm only (farm gate and mondo).

3) Brush combined with mild body turn the other way.

I don't care if farm gate is skewed downward because of new compass setting of elbow. The moving gate will close the racket head more. But this will happen BEFORE the ball. Try this this way to find most appropriate grip, the one that sends ball to target.

The finesse: Add slight rise of elbow to 2); this will make the racket head go level rather than down.

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Pull a Rope? Sherlock Asks How

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Novak_Djokovic_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/ND_FH_Center&stroke=ND%20FH%20Center%20OpenStance%20Rear3%20250fps.mp4

In this video the elbow stays solid with the whirling body for a long time, does not "grease" by. But the elbow does bend toward a right angle during this stage. It was quite though not altogether straight.

Sequence: mondo and compress, double-end and wipe, finish.

Can clarity of purpose defeat paralysis by analysis in this one? The wipe starts late when the racket already is far around.

Eggs the ball too, doesn't he.

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Okay, so as I look more at what I put up I see that Gonzalez does live-leg followed by dead-leg every time. And Kramer and Laver use that method, too. It's just Tilden and Budge who hit the ball first, then let the lagged leg as if it's a manikin's leg ghost-lug forward into the court as a save-step.

But if for many decades one drove hard off of the left leg both in rowing and tennis, say, that most likely would be the leg with the replacement.

To preserve the replacement, Golden Legend serves might be the way to go. One still drives with the front leg but not to the extent that one does in a modern serve or full rowing stroke. (In rowing one drives with the other leg just as hard. Andy Roddick should have been an oarsman.)

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Post Knee Replacement Serves

Run through the Golden Legends section of Stroke Archive. Won't take more than a couple of minutes.

Tilden: dead-leg

Budge: dead-leg

Kramer: live-leg

Gonzalez: live-leg

Gonzalez # 3: live-leg followed by dead-leg (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...tlevelSide.mov)

Laver: live-leg followed by dead-leg (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...LevelSide1.mov)

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Welby Volleys, Better Than Every Other Kind

You've got to get the book, I suppose, SECRETS OF A TRUE TENNIS MASTER. Even then you probably won't understand what Welby Van Horn is saying about volleys. Try...try and try...you will fail at last (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...ng_system.html).

These don't feel like one-inch or blocked volleys. But they might feel like one-foot volleys. However these "stringed instrument" volleys feel, they feel succinct, with ball clinging to the strings for a long time.

I'm for combining hips turn with some or more straightening of arm to take racket head from tilted to level at contact (on a waist high volley). Arm work, not body work, then takes racket head up again. (I think so, but the Tennis Player article above stresses that one should keep the rotation and weight shift going right to end of the stroke.)

The finish points: Racket butt points at left hip after the FHV. Racket head points at outside net post after the BHV. Suddenly the FHV and BHV are much more similar than whatever one-you-I did before.

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Three-Part Short Angle See See

1) Mild body turn limited by outside foot step out and combined with keying racket head down while forming a right angle in arm.

2) Arm only (farm gate and mondo).

3) Brush combined with mild body turn the other way.

I don't care if farm gate is skewed downward because of new compass setting of elbow. The moving gate will close the racket head more. But this will happen BEFORE the ball. Try this this way to find most appropriate grip, the one that sends ball to target.

[bottle]

Why Djokerfore Works Better than Federfore for the Ordinary Player

Better than Kuertenfore too. In Kuerten's groundstrokes his foot performs a big goofy heel to toe roll. Works great for him but who needs it? Certainly not Djoker.

You laugh, reader, as you realize why I'm imitating Djoker's forehand just at this moment. Laugh until your teeth fall out. More important than why somebody imitates is whether the imitation works.

Okay, a Federfore works because Roger's hand forms a right angle with his straight arm. And this enables him to roll from the shoulder while on the ball. Maybe that is my personal opinion. Yes it is.

Start your Djokerfore by watching rear window video along the lines of this one (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...1%20500fps.mp4).

Note how Djoker on his unit turns sometimes splays his foot just at the last instant. That might prove useful. Or not.

The big thing is a bit of overhand loop to initiate the hitting drop. "Hitting drop." Something used by Big League baseball players.

Djoker's hitting drop is mostly horizontal to establish big separation between his hand and his body.

At which point hand and body become as one. Is this stiff? Djoker is never stiff. But he is structured. Hand and body move as a single unit through this part of the stroke (the mondo).

Do hand and elbow then spring forward through sudden stoppage of the shoulders? I don't think so. But they do build on that unreserved shoulders turn, adding on to it. This is the small stretch where both ends of the racket travel at same speed.

At the same time the forearm rolls the strings up on elbow that remains pointed down-- my opinion again. Yes that is my opinion.

After that, elbow turns over, i.e., the upper arm does its internal roll.

So, reader, try things this way combined with semi-open stance, one of the biggest tips ever to come out of TennisPlayer or any tennis space.

Semi-open stance increases shoulders turn without blocking it on almost all forehands of any kind.