A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Loop or (&gt

Hard to work this out on an ice sheet except for one small patch of bare court. But I went (wind chill at 6 below 0 Farenheit) and ignored the outraged old lady who pointed out that it was cold and the balls were rocks.

It was Grosse Pointe, Michigan by quick-freezing Lake St. Clair (you could see this happening before your eyes). There was free hot chocolate afterwards in front of a phony gas-powered fireplace in the stone warming hut shared with the skaters from the separate ice rink.

I don't want to counter my recent premise applied to other shots that straight short backswing, stopped next or not, provides more subtle distinction than mechanical ergo sense-deadening loop.

The first plan I came up with to use (>) for the X-shot short angle preserves pause and slap-shot ideal.

But this doesn't answer Hamlet's question of whether to flip or not to flip.

If flipping (mondoeing), let arm alone take care of the whole process, i.e., don't involve the body in the "feel for the ball" scene.

The pause at the elbow of (>), whether tiny or big, gives purpose and focus to the shot.

Smoothing the corner could make one more fluid and stylized but nevertheless a dull child.

The truth is that I haven't seen the need yet to choose between (>) and loop-- not for the X-shot.

But if doing loop I don't want any old mistakes associated with loop.

I suspect that other persons also have old mistakes associated with loop.

Of first importance is pure arm motion before body chimes in-- at least in the specific kind of staple shot I now want to hit.

Not far behind in importance is this question of mondo or not.

I think not. I enjoyed more accuracy today with wrist and arm just slightly bent throughout.

[bottle]

Looking Out from Self-Feed

I've done enough self-feed in my life to think that I know ahead of time what any witness will say.

Actually, the people passing by have never said the exact same thing twice. Most often they say nothing at all.

The ones who speak however betray certain constant attitudes.

The woman yesterday whom I described as "outraged" saw me as a disturbance of the predictability of Grosse Pointe.

Tennis is a warm weather sport. Just how crazy was I anyway? My being out there on the congealed syrup ice skirt just wasn't right.

I was one of many things in the world she did not understand. Why didn't I just go home?

"It's too cold," she said. "The balls are dead."

"I'm not interested," I said, "in how high they'll bounce."

Despite the congeniality of all the people in the warming hut, she had nothing more to say to me after that.

[bottle]

A Tennis Opposition of Thought

Summing in tennis is equal in importance to kinetic chain.

Poptop as explained by the Gullickson twins seems a subset of the summing idea. As does Martina Navratilova's urging of players to employ more simultaneity and less sequence in their strokes.

Beveling or hooding the racket face and then letting it open naturally can mean that there still can be top edge of the racket frame coming first into the ball.

Which means in turn that the advanced player with confidence enough to do this is applying topspin higher on the ball than the wise intermediate who always seeks to hit the ball square or even in the seat of the pants.

The player who wants to figure things out-- anathema to the tennis establishment which would prefer to tell him what to do-- always must make tough choices.

Sequence or simultaneity in today's match-- which?

And what is this neophyte-- an anti-intellectual trained assassin no more-- to make of Ivan Lendl in his joint book with Eugene Scott saying that his hips follow his shoulders in his great forehand!!?

Well, the neophyte can choose between Ivan Lendl and Ted Williams.

For my McEnrueful there doesn't seem much of a choice. Brain first, arm second, shoulders third, hips fourth, knees and ankles fifth.

Then there is Jack Broudy, who views the rotating tire of the hips as the source of all radiance outward and downward and upward all at once.

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Our culture tells us that lightning rains down while in physics we learn that electrons first congregate in the earth and then burn up through the air.

Similarly, we can throw all energy into generating racket head speed along a single rising vector.

John M. Barnaby, on the other hand, men's tennis coach for 50 years at Harvard (a pretty good university for those who don't know or believe that) saw two different systems at work always: 1) production of spin upward, crossward or downward and 2) body weight pressed ahead or withheld or administering some mix to determine depth and weight of the ball.

This Harvard information didn't seem to slow down W. Timothy Gallwey or James Blake.

Consider also the J.P. Donleavy novel WRONG INFORMATION IS BEING GIVEN OUT AT PRINCETON.

[bottle]

New Grip Change for the Tennis Social Tonight

A tennis social, not The Hopman Cup, is a very good time to try new stuff after which one can eat.

The rare shots I'll try-- one or two during the evening only with no self-feed or introduction to myself whatsoever, are:

1) Type 3 two-hand backhand.

2) Type 3 one-hand forehand with left hand starting higher in the air than ever before off of a scatter backswing. I want the gentle fall of both hands in unison like Federer and Dimitrov.

My best shot by far-- everybody tells me this week after week-- is backhand slice. In this sense I resemble the tennis theoretician Jack Groppel having plenty to say about everything but then walking out on the court-- backhand slice.

So won't the people be surprised when I unleash a pair of two-handers right out of Novak Djokovic.

From one-hander preparation with thumbpad on side of throat; index, middle (ahem!), ring and pinky tip pads on other side of throat, I'll have to jam the racket, held in composite grip, into my left palm.

Frankly, I see nothing wrong with this.

For a one-hander drive I already push right palm over top of the handle with everything going toward side rather than rear fence. So I won't have to do much different, just push racket into left palm instead of going over the top.

Of course that would leave too much palm on throat, so I'll pull left hand down onto the handle at the same time.

After that I'll follow Brian Gordon's direction and do fine-- you'll see.

Well I hope you'll come and see me in the movies
Then I'll know that you will plainly see
The biggest fool that ever hit the big time
And all I gotta do is act naturally

And there it will be for two out of a hundred backhands this evening taken directly from the Beatles' white album, The Rocky Raccoon.

[bottle]

Coming Down from a Tennis High

That seems as important a topic as any other.

First, you have to remember that you were lucky enough to have the tennis high in the first place.

Second, the things you wanted to try you can try another time.

Third, this was just a tennis social and who cares?

So what actually happened? Played three times with three different partners and had to play ad court so couldn't hit my forehand crosscourt short angles the way I would like, in service returns. Won the first two times but just couldn't do anything with my third partner. Again and again she muffed easy volleys at the net. Could have told her stand nearer to the net, I guess, but my usual philosophy is to say nothing. The flak isn't worth it.

I do remember winning a mountaintop mixed doubles tournament in Virginia one time with a partner who didn't even know the rules of tennis. I told her to lob and do nothing else. She hit beautiful lobs! It worked although her arm seemed damaged at the party in her boyfriend's house afterward.

That woman however was ready to listen since she knew nothing about the game. With half-knowledge people can be hopeless, me included.

[bottle]

Good Advice

"Move the hips to the ball and not the racket." -- hockeyscout

[bottle]

Two Stupid Little Things Either of which could make a Big Difference

They are: Re-structure backswings in The Federfore and The Rocky Raccoon.

1) Federfore. SIM studies of the Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov forehands show that Grigor's is more studied although Roger's has been more studied by other people. (6-2, 6-2 the very recent time they played.)

The key or stupid moment for both occurs right after they lift the racket up. How far and fast does left hand continue upward-- while pointing across-- to make it speak to the right hand, to put both left hand and right hand on the same TennisPlayer page for easy descent.

And what, Bottle, are you doing on a Sunday morning, considering medieval matters of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin when your partner Hope is at church.

You could be working on a tightly reasoned legal brief to convince Jonathan Karp that Beedlebom's victory in The Kentucky Derby eclipses that of Seabiscuit in The Preakness. If neither won either I apologize, but I haven't yet read SEABISCUIT the book. Seabiscuit of course was pre-figured by Dog Biscuit in the Spike Jones version. And SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand established the established shitload of American nonfiction ever since. And elevated Karp from editor at Random House to CEO of Simon and Schuster.

Well, the stupid little thing could make a big difference. In previous forum colloquy, Stotty and I established that Juan Del Potro does a breaststroke at the end of his backswing.

Well, Roger and Grigor do the exact same thing. They just do it earlier.

2) The Rocky Raccoon. The Rocky Raccoon (please note the second c for most acceptable ahem spelling) is an imitation of somewhere between a Novak Djokovic and Jimmy Connors backhand. To be in this number when the saints come marching in, the one-hander should re-define backswing to include what he used to think of as part of his foreswing. That would be the section of his one-hander where hips action straightens the residual slack in his elbow and tugs at his shoulder not to mention his heartstrings.

First, there won't be any "residual slack in the elbow," not possibly. Left arm will already be straight, but there still could be a tug at the shoulder. Relegate it to forward pivot of the hips. Stay away from the sex stores and simply say, "Forward swing does not commence until right hand has tugged on the butt rim."

That leaves the two-handed fanning of the racket as the sole substance of the forward stroke. This is the only way that a one-hander will ever master the thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq2kv-QQhIE

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIBniLJUaBMAyqb7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTBzZnZtb2xyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDMTM-?p=Spike+Jones+Doing+Beedlebom&vid=c647bc66f1b6c427577950b9991fa36d&l=2%3A55&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVN.608026782369122061%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdUynQaBRIZM&tit=edarem+-+Spike+Jones+%28You+Always+Hurt+The+One+You+Love%29&c=12&sigr=11ajoni8m&sigt=11nff8i50&age=58854602438&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av%2Cm%3Asa&hsimp=yhs-fh_lsonsw&hspart=avg&tt=b

[hockeyscout]

"Move the hips to the ball and not the racket." -- hockeyscout

Thank you.

Go for the ball, get to it at the proper pace, time and with speed, and that will determine who wins, and who loses.

I do a lot of your self feeds as well, and it is great I might add because it gives the player a mental picture of where they want their hips to be consistently when hitting the ball.

Rather brilliant this thread sir, we read it, and I want my young one always internalizing just the way you do here with this thread. Its a great find just because its a guy using his imagination, and us, throwing in our two cents once in a while.

Keep up the great postings.

[bottle]

From “Playing John McEnroe” by Trey Waltke

This brings up a point I try to teach juniors: winning tennis is usually boring tennis. To beat someone of equal or greater ability, you must be willing to do whatever it takes over and over again. Too many juniors get caught up thinking they have to beat someone with big winners. The object is to find that small chink and patiently drill at it at like a dentist slowly filling a cavity. And everyone's got some teeth that are weaker than others -- even John McEnroe.

[bottle]

Poor Jerzy-- We Barely Knew Ye

Poor Jerzy Janowicz-- five set points against John Isner in Hopman Cup final, then John has a set point on Jerzy's serve.

Jerzy misses a first serve. He makes a sensational catch of the tossed ball coming back to him. Terrible mistake. He uses up his psychic energy in making the catch and therefore double-faults and a set later loses the match.

The other Jerzy, Jerzy Kosinski, was a great writer. Why did he have to do himself in. THE PAINTED BIRD is my favorite but I am reading and thoroughly enjoying the miss-named BLIND DATE right now with COCKPIT up next. This Jerzy was Polish too I guess but above all an internationalist. Szia (Hungarian).

Aggie upset Serena in three. A very entertaining mixed doubles now with Jerzy and Aggie vs. John and Serena to decide everything.

[bottle]

This was great tennis. I like all four. But whether you like someone or not, you don't have to make stuff up. Sport takes care of all.

[bottle]

Forehands where the Two Hands Speak, then don't Speak, next do Speak again

tennischiro has been arguing/writing/essaying for less or no pause at lowpoint in a looped forehand.

A lot of good forehands but no great ones do this (pause).

The way I personally want to aspire to greatness is by making left hand go faster while right hand goes slower.

Such generality could be helpful although the specifics of the challenge are more complicated.

Both hands to begin with are on the racket and moving upward at the same speed-- fast.

But as the left hand slides off the racket and continues upward it can keep going at the same fast speed.

Here is where the right hand can slow down even before the dogpat.

Comes the revolution or dogpat, the two arms speak to each other for a second time and fall together.

Note: In a New York Times article Brian Gordon was reported as telling the Times reporter who came to visit him at Macci's in Florida to keep pointing across until his hips cleared.

Pointing left hand higher than one used to and then letting it naturally fall to where it formerly established might help accomplish this.

Treating the left hand as a spoilt child who needs to be more occupied with doing something might keep it from misbehavior.

Yes, give the left hand something extra to do.

[bottle]

A One-Hander Learns Two-Handed Philosophy

My age, 75, seems appropriate.

Am partial to III-- the only Type worthy of exploration at this historical point?

Have played against so many mediocre two-handers that I probably distrust everybody who has one.

Still, reader, if you have a good one and can explain the source of your smoothness please do.

I don't plan to use my two-hander once I've learned it. I am doing this out of curiosity only. Of course if the new stroke proved outstanding I might throw it in here and there probably on service returns of high kick serves.

Not enough commitment, you say? Most likely you are correct. But I'll start with right hand function only, swinging my racket around the house with left hand dangling by my side.

By alternating one-handers (which open out with acceleration) with this play version producing deceleration and restricted arc, I hope to stay honest and never see one stroke decay the other. Am also counting on the contrast between them. A too similar stroke is the one that robs neuronal pathways from the other creating an electrified mudpuddle.

Play version one-hander: Arm straight early takes stored power from the shoulder and spears the racket forward.

The racket butt has barely started to spear when arm begins a muscular bend like that of a sculler creating a vacuum behind his blade so that it cleanly pops out of the water.

This produces a restricted arc from left to right in front of my head with arm squeezed to only a right angle.

The whole act feels like a jet plane decelerating on top of an aircraft carrier.

Hope I'm right. That's enough for today.

[bottle]

Expostulation of a Postulation

The Federer/Federfore/ATP3 left arm points and falls but only falls a little. Well, how does it fall, independently from shoulder or as solid connection to a taking of body angle just then, and does that matter?

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_Court_Level_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Arm_Action&stroke=FH%20Center%20ArmAction%20CourtLevelFront%20500fps.mp4

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_Court_Level_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Arm_Action&stroke=FH%20Short%20ArmAction%20CourtLevelFront%20500fps.mp4

What role do the knees play?

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_Court_Level_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Arm_Action&stroke=FH%20InsideIn%20ArmAction%20CourtLevelFront1%20500fps.mp4

[bottle]

How Much of Somebody's Forehand Should Feel Mechanical?

I don't think the answer is all one way or the other.

The mechanical, like a "set-piece" in theater, could be the part that is most repeatable and reliable.

The organic, on the other hand, is the part where one makes distinction and adjustment and expresses oneself.

In the Federfore I've already posed (and this also is a post) that left arm goes high and next falls a small amount whether this comes from overall body action or the arm itself or both.

To summarize: Left arm falls to roughly parallel to court.

That is a mechanical guideline. Imprinting the guideline in one's electrical system may take a short while but with any determination one will get it.

The more complex right arm-- in a Federfore-- performs a loop of distinctive nature not the same as the distinctive loop of Ivan Lendl.

Me, I've been preaching against loop because I think that any loop tends to become overly mechanical, and also because I've developed some loopless alternatives that I know work well and sometimes better.

I now subtract the "against" part but keep the rest.

The challenge here is to sensitize this loop, to slow it down and imbue it with feel.

The irony is that one's loop then may seem hydraulic, but don't be fooled.

When one slows loop from hand separation the loop becomes the agent of one's sensitivity while providing better because more delayed timing for mondo and wipe.

Of course, as Roger Federer points out in his old Charlie Rose interview, footwork is the main determinant of excellence.

He also suggests that footwork should be so natural that no one notices it.

And I suggest that (movement to and from the ball), and, (stroke mechanics and organics) are absolutely equal as two conceptual entities.

So, does my credibility seem the same as Roger's? No since I play at a lesser level. But is marching out some nation's tennis labeling system ever the proper way to determine either credibility or athletic potential? Nope.

What is the truth?