A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Nah, use a short, barely slanting upward backswing for both short angle and McEnrueful.

[bottle]

ATP3: One Way to Keep Wrist Layback for Longer

Crank faster with the body to fool the wrist into staying back.

In fact, playing (experimenting) with the ratio of arm turn to body turn makes sense at almost all times.

The differences are not a matter of intricate detail that is going to bog anyone down.

The assumption or knowledge plateau here is that body turn and arm turn sum with each other, i.e., are simultaneous, and that wiper, a third element, starts early in order to have time in which to build up speed and get on outside of the ball.

[bottle]

A Canned Furbelow

A player, gaunt, played with his grip
Ball glanced off behind him
More topspin or less
He didn't care
And picked up a second yellow ball
But heard a hell of a racket
His racket no, another racket
So he turned and saw
A tennis ball can dance
End over end
A cheerleader doing flips
Whack whack whack whack
Can a can swallow a spinning ball
And do a can-can?
Apparently it can.

[bottle]

Frank Ruff: No Replacing Him

He played tennis. That's all I know about his tennis. And he would come into my office and read some of my tennis stroke designs up on my big screen. And he was a very good tennis player, I have since found out.

Hope and I did the food and drink after his funeral in his lakeside house which his widow Gretchen converted overnight into a museum of car design.

Frank designed the pentastar, the hood ornament on the front of Chryslers. He was a great sailor and skier and ski instructor (Novak Djokovic also is known to be a great skier).

Gretchen found a box of plexiglass pentastars-- enough for one apiece to everyone who attended the funeral.

Frank's glass-blowing son Jason, speaking in the chapel, told how Frank's boss once told him to submit a certain car design. But Frank didn't like the design his boss had in mind. So Frank submitted another. So the boss fired him. But the next day the boss's boss-- Lee Iacocca-- re-hired him after he saw the design.

The Dodge Charger, second year model, the one that excelled. And it was Frank who had designs of ram's heads all over the place. And Frank who designed a whole line of suitcases with ram's heads on the side of them. And I found and read a hand-written short story by Frank entitled "Rocky the Blue-Eyed Ram" in Frank's studio.

Hope lined up the food. Assisted by Hope's daughter Melissa, I was the bartender as befits my name.

One of Gretchen's daughters, flown in from Maine, saw me limping up and down the stairs. A nurse, she got me some ibuprofen and put out all the arguments for immediate knee replacement, not the least of which is that chronic pain further debilitates and puts a strain on the heart.

Okay, okay-- I get the knee replacement, a partial. And hope that I heal better than Frank. Because a knee replacement was the beginning of the end for my very good friend Frank Ruff.

Note: I was far from the only one affected by Frank's loss. Hope's 12-year-old granddaughter Maxine, my favorite hitting partner and Cameron Diaz look-alike, went up to Gretchen in the chapel and put her arms around her and burst into tears.

Because Maxine couldn't attend the reception due to two Saturday performances of Christmas Carol (she plays Belinda, Tiny Tim's sister), I made sure a couple days later that she got something.

"Hold out your hand," I said. And gave her a pentastar.

[bottle]

Tweaking All Three Forehands

Short Angle

One probably can't study the Djokovic models enough. In this one there is a kind of bobble in the racket work as Djokovic sprints forward to the ball (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...hortFront6.mov). A bobble can show that someone is human, also that he is resilient if he still gets off a good shot. What, though, did the person wish to accomplish? What intention caused him to change horses midstream? I'd guess that Djokovic wanted his racket at a different level (lower) to produce tightest topspin in this forward emphasis shot. Here's another, without bobble, which probably shows what Djokovic always wants (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...ShortSide9.mov). Now I'm looking at this second one again. Maybe what I first saw as a "bobble" is just use of the racket and opposite arm as an aid to good running.


Contrast these dinky little shots with Djokovic's sockdolagers. We all know that most of the time he hits incredibly hard. And if he came forward a short distance as opposed to a great distance he will hit his normal full shot like this one (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...1%20250fps.mp4). Or this one (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...t%20250fps.mp4).

McEnrueful

We (I) have repeatedly asserted that this shot is a slap-shot as in hockey. It is based on the slap-shot I tried to develop at the age of 15 when I was home from school with infectious mononucleosis. The ice floe I was standing on disengaged from the bottom of the Connecticut River and started moving out on a back-eddy into the shipping channel. I jumped and swam for shore and caught pneumonia.

Never mind that, there was penicillin. If the McEnrueful is a slap-shot, does the steepness at which the hockey stick or tennis racket first rises much matter? Surprisingly, it doesn't. Perhaps we should switch horses here to another image, that of a shoehorn. Nobody uses shoehorns any more, just fingertips to ease one's heel into a tight loafer, slipper or dancing shoe. But a shoehorn is a clear image. In the 19th century a person would stick the shoehorn between flesh and the back of a shoe. And pry upward and forward both to get the whole foot in. Precisely what the McEnrueful does. Because of body angle-- one's upper body is not upright the way that John McEnroe's often appears to be but slanted at 30 degrees like Rory McIlroy's-- the pivoting shoulders, specifically the rear or hitting shoulder, goes down. And if that shoulder felt the arm coming down first (proprioception), it goes down even better, producing a flat line drive with a smidge of core produced topspin-- just one way to flatten out one's forehand, in this case through specialism.

Federfore

One ought to play with the dogpat-mondo sequence. Could some sort of body transition occur part way through the mondo? When exactly does mondo occur in relation to the core rotations? "In relation to the rotations"-- almost a song and a very bad one. What if one just mondoed from arm alone and then swung? Or mondoed from the momentum of forward travel on outside foot? Or started swinging during the dogpat and only mondoed later? Which combination in self-feed produces the most solid shot? The spinniest shot? A pre-loaded shot? The best shot?

[bottle]

Multiple Grips

Nobody else says to play with multi-grips. But have these commentators or commentatoes-- whichever the word that best applies-- put in the work on the great thumb change? And if they aren't Thumbelinas, are they qualified to make the judgment?

A person who can change grip as easily as he or she can hit a forehand, a backhand or a volley is in the unique position of being able to reduce variation in the production of some shot.

"Lift your elbow if you want to close the racket more by contact," the coach says.

True advice but easiest to follow? Which is easier to implement-- a small adjustment of the elbow or a small adjustment of the thumb?

And will the small adjustment of the thumb move the whole hand-- like a piece of flexible ectoplasm-- into correct, i.e., the perfect position that accords with one's deepest desire?

Not if one has failed to relax and is holding the racket in a death grip.

[bottle]

Short Angle Egged

The year is about to change.

Therefore, reader, the time has come to ask just what kind of a reader you are.

Do you want to undertake this all grip challenge I urge upon you? Or to resist it in every possible way?

If the latter, you'd better re-view this Tom Avery film (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb_Rch1MOUQ). And this film of Novak Djokovic (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...ShortSide9.mov). And then choose between them unless you have still another philosophy or even methodology which you have failed to share with the world (https://video.search.yahoo.com/video...=yhs-fh_lsonsw).

"When you've figured something out," the three-man said, "keep it to yourself. Never tell anybody."

This was half a century after we both rowed on the same eight-oared crew. He was the three-man, I the four-man, but we still discussed such matters.

Me, I henceforth egg my short angles, which certainly does not mean that I roll over them. And I will tell this to anybody. I do shortest of short angles off of my McEnrueful. Which is like my beautiful Ziegenfuss, only without the attractive but primping loop. And it puts an exceptionally good push on the ball. And topspin can be administered to any quadrant of a tennis ball-- we all should know that by now. No, my short angle is rough and tough, even a bit crude, has plenty of spin but goes fast.

[bottle]

Fear of Alien Grips for Oneself

1) Adopt a scatter backswing (on the forehand) like Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Chris Evert or Tracy Austin.

2) Adopt a beachball push swing in which core provides both heft and spin rather than the arm. This alternative way of hitting a tennis ball frees one to use any grip at any time without retraining the arm.

[bottle]

Thirty Years in the Dismal Swamp of Loupe

What more is there to say? Instructor tells you to take racket back straight. Or set it low. Either one is better than the O so fancy loop you soon will develop. But not better than a scatter backswing set slightly to the outside above the ball.

What does the scatter look like? Like the feelers on the front of a grasshopper.

You ever heard of Ellsworth Vines? He was close. Backswing much too long though. And he could have used the more topspin option too.

About the attachment below: my old youdrawit trick doesn't work anymore. And smartdraw is dumbdraw since everything is sterile and ready made. So I'll briefly see if I can easily convert my drawing to a gif file. Otherwise, reader, you'll just have to imagine long feelers on an insect. They come out of the insect pretty high, slightly outside of the ball and above it.

Hmm. Now the attachment seems to be working. Must have been the screenshot. Whaddayaknow.

[bottle]

A New Year's Puke

Why does everybody want to be a ditto-head? Don't people know by now that ditto machines are outdated?

We went to The War Memorial. How about The Peace Memorial?

[stotty]

How about The Peace Memorial?

http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/index_e2.html

[bottle]

Grip-Change-O-Mania

The new multi-grip system I currently am implementing is all about ease of change. Bent thumb on handle makes a handy pointer.

I don't know your racket holding history, reader, but mine consists of decades of flying grip change (relax fingers and pull racket back). Then while admiring Tennis Player videos of Philip Kohlschreiber, I noticed the minor hand adjustments he makes often while still in waiting position.

Next I read Edward Weiss/Welby Van Horn on the subject: Makes sense often to stay with the grip you just changed to.

Finally, in a Tom Avery video, Tom advises twisting both hands against each other.

My new system offers a slight modification to this precept.

When changing toward backhand hold racket still with opposite hand and twist with the hitting hand.

When changing toward forehand do the opposite: Hold hitting hand still but with fingers loose and turn the frame into it (clockwise OR counterclockwise).

I have to think about this now but not later. For backhand side, shifting the whole hand enables a stroke in which strings can remain square from beginning to end (except for the very end) if you believe in a basic non-rolling form as the late Ed Faulkner did and now I do.

For forehand side one can easily make whatever adjustment one needs with fingertips of opposite hand only.

The idea is not to mess with one's easiest backswing on either side in any way.

One may then start connecting the dots...to Vic Braden's old observation about facing opposite hand's palm downward during a serve. Yes, that recommendation was for serve, not forehands, and my ice cream cone toss doesn't completely implement it, but so what? Could apply to forehands as well, or, could not really matter, thus giving somebody one less thing to think about.

[bottle]

Great Night

Great night at the Friday doubles tennis social. Played four times and won four times. One of my partners, a teaching pro in Durham, N.C. area, but now in Michigan, thought I had "good hands."

A couple of times I got lobbed and he took off like a jackrabbit and hit a perfect towering lob in reply.

I knew I was the one who was supposed to go back and hit an overhead since this occurred in my longitudinal half of the court.

So I said, "I'll cover that one AFTER my knee replacement."

He laughed.

There has to be a lesson any time one has a good performance although the lessons of poor performance seem more pressing and obvious.

The lesson I take is that shortening one's strokes, while still hitting and not blocking as staple, would be a good idea at any age.

[bottle]

Using "What You've Got"

"Using what you've got" is a Vic Bradenism that specifically regards how far somebody can lower racket tip in their serve.

It may pertain however to one's lucubrations as well as one's physique.

A YouTube video that members of this forum recently discussed opined that loosening one's fingers at just the right moment could keep racket from smashing into one's skull.

In other words the edge of the racket was first headed for the skull and the video's author thought this a good thing although he never said so or needed to.

The loosening of the fingers, he pointed out, caused the racket to veer.

I ask, "Just how much and how often does one want one's racket to veer? Once per serve seems quite enough."

Using what you've got then would predict a simultaneous cocking of upper and lower arms, viz., humerus and forearm.

Of course the forearm is more humorous than the humerus.

Cocking (axle-like twisting) of the humerus could provide the greatest power source in the world, according to the most brilliant analysts of the game except when they're lauding legs or some other body part.

Cocking of the forearm-- simultaneous, I said!-- could put the frame on edge toward the ball.

This way at least a right-handed server would get racket tip out to the right but not too far out to the right.

This methodology is the one I forgot to implement at last night's tennis social but I held serve through four sets of doubles nevertheless.

[bottle]

Three Forehand Backswings (Side View)

I'll try to put up three forehand backswings in an attachment at the end of this post. Wish me luck.

The first is what John McEnroe does. The racket head, easy, swings down and up.

The second is slap-shot type racket rise for a McEnrueful (less sad lately that it is not a John McEnroe forehand).

The third, X-shot where the wrists cross for a short angle, is way out front. In initial move the racket zags down instead of up. This is like the beginning of a John McEnroe forehand, but stops just as soon as a backswing does for a McEnrueful.

The hand plunges down then just as in the McEnrueful, but from a lower and more forward point. Am talking about the lower leg of this symbol (>).

The lower racket arrangement allows space for both body lift (shoulder going down to send strings up) and forearm roll (which also sends strings up), with both of these acts SIM.

A bit of mondo may now be advisable during lower leg of the symbol (>).

I won't know until I've hit my first or hundredth X-shot.

I may as well admit right now that (>) is a small loop.