A New Year's Serve

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The New Article by Rick Macci on Grigor Dimitrov's Forehand in TENNIS

One would be insane, probably certifiably so, to give one thought for one moment to this shot when one will play doubles within two hours.

In fact, to do one's best-- a crazy idea in itself-- one should hit only slice backhands and McEnruefuls and never try a single Federfore or Dimifore.

I don't care though how many times I win in the round robin and am more interested in the big difference between the Fed and the Dim.

Grigor Dimitrov is Baby Fed-- HA! Much to Rick Macci's credit he never mentions the name of Roger Federer, not once.

In fact, Grigor prepares out to the side, Roger close to his ear.

In Grigor's preparation one should to be part of speedy modern tennis start drive at the top of this outward and upward bent-armed to straight-armed move, Rick Macci tells us, followed by a tap not pat of the dog.

I can't be that specific about lift-off on my Federfore but will work on it.

Although they are within the same genre, these two shots are very different.

Eventually, given my tendency, I shall further explore them both.

Is Grigor's path more economical? More versatile? Is hand close to brain a better idea? Etc., etc.

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Re-stating a Ratio

Ratio from the one set of numbers on one shot in previous post: 1 to 1 to 3/4 . The dog shouldn't even yelp, and there ought to be a good forehand lurking in there somewhere.

Rounding off, the new ratio is 2 to 1 or as better cue 1 to 1/2 .

The 1 of racket tip rise and racket wriggle tends to unify those two acts and thereby speed them up.

Although time and reps or anything labeled by admen (Gladwell, Syed etc.) as having the number 10,000 in it speeds up an athletic response, good editing can contribute to the process and when possible should happen first.

How realistic is that, though? How often is the teacher perfect in the first instant of his instruction? Never. Remember this: A lump of too much detail bores. Apply it to myself-- I don't care. My excuse is that I am, primarily, working on my own strokes, sort of a like it or lump it tactic when it comes to communication of my applied idea to another person, and this concept also goes for how I want to receive information. Give me the apprenticeship model of educational transfer any day.

Well, whatever the case, I am a human lab. And I'm advising one count of rise and wriggle here, a single act. With the dogpat to follow to take one half as long.

Ratio is tremendously important in all physical activity and sometimes even is underestimated in competitive rowing, the sport where it is most apparent. Just study the pattern of the "fading footprints" in Homer behind the speeding boat, the cluster of eight "puddles" or marks that comprise the wake. How much run has this particular crew obtained? What is the measurement in feet between each set of puddles?

Applying this concept here, I add the wrinkle that dogpat can go in any direction although that might lead to dogs floating in midair.

My advocacy is that the creation of one very great constant, Federer's rise and wriggle in this case, frees one for true improvisation.

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Reflection on Double-Coin Now

In the light of the multi-direction extension of arm from the elbow outlined above, which certainly has implication for the short angled shot I've written so much about as well, one can again ask if "Double-Coin" is a stupid shot.

I don't think so. But one can certainly shorten descent of the racket behind one to create a half-moon shape before sweeping level toward the ball. Don't drop racket hand so low, in other words, then experiment with shots both hit flat and with more arm roll in both directions for more topspin-- a very different feel.

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Federfore: How Much is Arm Extension to the Side?

(http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...r%20500fps.mp4)

What seems most likely after the sideways extension in this particular video is a very complete wipe from right fence to left fence.

(http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...f_low_to_high/)

By "extension" here I mean straightening from the elbow. And I ask, why always take the racket "back?"

Or "sideways?"

Or "forward?"

All the possibilities are good, it seems to me. Limiting oneself is shooting oneself in the foot.

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Caveat

What makes this shot-- The Double-Coin-- manageable however may be the lowness of the hand at mondo. Once one decides to come in with hand "behind the ball" (or even above the ball) rather than from way below, the straight arm scope may simply be too far out for a human being to handle (a satellite 65,000 miles from earth).

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Is My Trusty Forehand "Double-Coin" even a Federfore?

All the thinking here comes from the ad "Hannah and her Horse." Let us watch it together (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omNifHK_kXM) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q58LLKjoR2I) (http://www.framestore.com/work/direc...-and-her-horse) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4W5fBHK6vk) (http://www.si.com/swim-daily/2015/04...usive-bts-clip).

The true title is "Hannah and Her Twat-Shot" as one can see by the waves that are washing up her behind.

What is being advertised? As with all really good ads, I have no idea. See "Advertising for Love, War and Job Slurping Trade Agreement" at Reader Supported News (http://readersupportednews.org/compo...itart&id=30245).

But when we give a forehand a name, "Double-Coin" in this case, we are in a sense advertising it to other people.

To hit the Double-Coin, start off like Roger Federer by lifting the racket tip during your turn and dance to the ball.

Unlike Roger however, do not take time to create a wriggle to close the racket face. (I think of a snake preparing to strike.)

Instead, let the racket head continue on its rainbow path down behind you.

That's really all there is to it. A coin on edge for the backswing. A coin on its side for the foreswing.

With of course a mondo in between.

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Ratio

Ratio from the one set of numbers on one shot in previous post: 1 to 1 to 3/4 .
The dog shouldn't even yelp, and there ought to be a good forehand lurking in there somewhere.

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On Federfore: Put Arm Straightening with Backswing

Right now I've got it with the foreswing, like a hitter's drop in baseball, but one should experiment. This will not prove as dangerous as Zomblicans and other persons think.

One will have to speed up lift of the racket tip so that manipulation can still be slower than the subsequent arm straightening yet everything taken together will expend the same time as a complete rainbow.

Manipulation: Despite the Latin root of this word, the action here is not done with the hand so much as a drawing in of the elbow. (Arma virumque cano: "Arms and the man I sing.") First line of THE AENEID. "To arms, to arms!" Warmongers everywhere.

Use the hand a little perhaps to force racket tip slightly down but that's all. Re-institute a dogpat even while understanding that it will be a compromised dogpat with yelping dog since no longer will it be the slowest thing in the stroke.

Will this arm work work or will it all taken together be a bit too much? Quick lift of tip, slow manipulation, slow dogpat yet quicker than the manipulation.

(http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...2%20500fps.mp4)

Note: Now I see how the technology works. First you click on one of the arrows. Then you use your keyboard arrow. Immediately, I see that lifting of the racket tip is slower than I thought. But this is not about how smart or dumb I am, but what will be useful to you, the reader. So I suggest that you do your own count and I am sure that Jeffrey Counts who helped develop the counting doo-dad would agree.

Mine: 45 clicks to get tip up, 40 to close racket, 30 to start of mondo.

To return to title of this post: Who knows whether a hitter's drop in baseball is part of the backswing or the foreswing. Both-- no?

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Brave or Silly Change?

I totally sympathize with anyone trying to transition from a rainbowed backswing to close-racket-at-the-top different configuration of Roger Federer himself.

The technical job isn't difficult once one realizes how little hand manipulation is involved. It's a matter of retarding racket tip while pulling the elbow in. (Just took me 15 years to figure that one out.)

The challenge is not to be ahead of oneself now that one has-- courageously or foolhardily-- altered shape of what probably was one's best shot.

Perhaps there is too much temptation to push arm straight rather than extend from the elbow naturally the way one did before.

Perhaps just naturally one gets to the ball sooner than one did before.

Taking it easy now seems paramount.

Clearly, though, if one doesn't like the new direction one can return to what one knows already works.

I am going through this after a four-month lay-off from competitive tennis. (Oh, sorry, I mean from competitively recreational tennis.)

Temporary return to the rainbow can help one better gear up the new shot.

I am in fact surprised and grateful that I have come this far in my long range attempt to learn from Roger and wonder maybe if a rainbowed backswing was not essential for intermediate development.

Note: I really like Don's observation about pulling from high and Steve's advice about sit-down. Other people want to talk about mondo/flip but I consider that part already learned and semi-conscious or in a sense to be taken for granted, and there has to come a time when hip and shoulders rotation can be taken for granted, too.

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How High is Arm at Top of RF's Backswing?

Not very. One can therefore immediately start pulling it around ("horizontal adduction") to add to all the other forces in the shot.

Arm then in a sense can straighten while on the fly.

You will hit ball with good separation out to right as you should but also take it sooner.

Upper arm of course will be traveling in one direction, lower arm in another but so what.

Bi-direction is an old and solid idea in tennis.

Traditionally, body often traveled in one direction while arm traveled at right angles to it.

If that idea was good, it still is good, and can apply to the different halves of the human arm as well (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...2%20500fps.mp4).

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Carousel

Love the carousel. A different composition of four players every game. Moved a little better than the first day (this was the second).

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Federfore: Don't Gladwell the Top of the Backswing

Gladwell: "Ten thousand miles..." Ten of anything.

Temporize: A terrible thing in tennis. One of the worst. Webster's, origin, "to pass the time."

But do break the rule and pass some time up there. And go for spontaneity and feel. Save repetitions for first move toward the ball, distance from the ball, other good stuff like that.

In a Federfore, I figure, a great unit turn has to be a given. While it's happening, though, the racket tip flies up but does not complete the rainbow down behind you.

Instead, the elbow moves in toward the body to close the racket and keep the strings on their initial path. This is the delicate part of the stroke. It is art not engineering. It is Athens (inspiration) over Sparta (regimentation).

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Doubles Tennis Can Perform An Editing Function

Amazing how one playing session, after a lay-off, can edit the experimental player's game.

Trains 1 and 2 of Federfore no longer exist. Only train 3 remains, as described in # 2604 .

Some of these recent assertions may not seem like much.

Getting correct elements together, however, is one thing; the way one then organizes some shot matters tremendously much.

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Federfore Can Be Two Parts Instead Of Three

The Federfore like The Kicking Mercutio, a short angle I describe today, can also consist of two parts but with its own description: 1) Raising of tip and closing of racket on high plateau, 2) All the rest.

Note: Speaking of bromance, there was Romeo and Mercutio before there was Romeo and Juliet.

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Excellent advice. The knee was fine. The sciatica was awful. Time for some chiropractic. The serves were okay but could have used more starch. Attempted one short angle and made it for a winner but don't know exactly how I hit it. Backhand seemed very good. It was TENNIS, and I'm pretty sure that more short angles will follow. Movement should improve.