A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Resolved

Whereas, if successful servers of today start with an opened out racket, and successful tennis instructors of the past wanted one to start with a vertical racket with hitting side facing the left fence, and whereas such successful instructors as Faulkner and Weymuller then advised opening the racket during a down together up together motion ending with hitting side facing right fence, and whereas John M. Barnaby believed that one should open the racket as it passed the right ankle, be it resolved that all of these ideas, logically speaking, are more similar than not, and one may conclude with impunity that one should accomplish the common goal any way one wants but with a special eye toward the illogical, the mystical and the kinesthetically good.

Me, I think I'll try a quickly smooth yet not snapped feather from rowing as the two hands separate going down. Will this be significantly different from anything tried in the past?

Indeed.

After that I shall enjoy the unencumbered rise of the hands to best throwing position.

Whether to exaggerate or minimize any pause there seems clear irrational choice which I shall make at least during the period when I consciously think about this serve point.

Regardless, the brainwave that starts internal arm rotation particularly upper arm division must happen right then-- in order to achieve the fanciful bedrock of Brian Gordon's great animation of differently colored circular arrows imposed on upper arm and facing one another in direct conflict.

Racket is to twist down on upper arm while striving to twist up-- until the balance between the forces alters creating a catapult.

If this all seems a bad idea, my reader, try something else. Every tennis player should strive for the perfect serve. See you on the court.

P.S. I wish to relegate "conflict of the arrows" to a moment when delayed elbow, compressing, flies forward. There could be a second conflict of the arrows-- in animation-- depicting compression vs. extension for that one as well. That the two conflicts (arm trying to twist this way while twisting the other way) and (arm trying to scissor closed while trying to straighten) should be simultaneous with adduction (independent throw of the elbow) is a working principle of mine just at the moment.

[bottle]

In Reply to a Private Message Questioning Early Removal of Opposite Hand

The message disagreed with my contention that hand on throat is mere learning device.

Its author pointed out that opposite hand lends stability to the backswing.

This makes me think that some cocktail waitresses are better than others at balancing a tray full of glasses, and that if Tracy Austin had not been a tennis pro she could have been a perfect cocktail waitress.

If too much solo produces the shakes, I concluded, one would do better to choose the down and up pattern of Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe among famous options of increased one-handedness.

[bottle]

Tennis Invention vs. Physical Deterioration

Can the one keep up with the other? Guess which is going to win. In the meantime, I tell myself, keep experimenting with the left (my opposite arm) now that it has twice as much time to point across.

Should it go slightly down and up, straight over or slightly up?

Should it do the same thing for all three basic forehands (Federfore, slap-shot and McEnrueful)? Did I overestimate the worth of having the two arms imitate each other?

Crisp choice of the day: Immediate separation of the arms with left arm going slightly up. Whether straight or slightly bent I won't care so long as comfortable.

That brings us (me) to the right arm. Down and up backward for some slap-shots (flat forehands with a hitting drop). Level around backward for others. Slightly up backward for others: Here the two arms start to mimic each other once again.

I made a choice here concerning left arm. Should I make another concerning right arm for these classically gripped eastern but not Federerian gripped eastern shots? Possibly but if so not yet.

In all the excitement of return to interesting competition and the sprain of un-physical-therapied opposite leg in the first 80 seconds of warmup with the hardest hitters, and the sadness of learning about the death of a good friend, I completely forgot my current adjustment to McEnruefuls, reverted to uninhibited roll continuing after contact.

No, I want to wham roll flush into ball with only enough roll after that to keep the racket frame square-- just to see what will happen.

Note: In this formula all flat shots whether hit hard or soft come to the ball from above. All Federfores come to the ball from below-- hand about level with ball, racket head below the ball:

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

All McEnruefuls come to the ball from below-- both hand and racket head below the ball or hand close to level with the ball:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/modern_legends/johnmcenroe/mac_forehand/mac_forehand.html?MacFHCenterFront.mov

None of this total scheme can possibly work, reader, unless you have thoroughly learned all three grips and how most easily and economically to change from one to the other. Hint: Memorize some thumb positions.

[bottle]

Federfore Improvedissimus

Referring to # 2283: A great up together truly relaxes one, lowers one's blood pressure, improves one's sex life and income, involves the whole body, increases upward component of the sidespin-topspin mix.

Caveat: Up together but no down together for this shot. ("Keep opposite hand high as it points across for the Federfore.") Down together and up together for some others in particular a "lolly." Does anyone, reader, remember the "lolly" that Peter Burwash wrote about in his first book? The lolly was a different way of dealing with a short high ball. You'd come down to it from high and then swing level. More reliable than a buggy whip with all of its improbables? In any case, the tic-toc backswing is good for finding proper level to begin that forward put-a-way.

Measuring board for today's statements: First tennis social of the season at which I discovered that one of my best friends had become dead. I'm very sad but at least "becoming dead" is superior to "passing away."

Also, though rehabilitated right ankle was equal to the social task, arthritic left leg was worse than ever. Persevered nevertheless and did well. Everything was mixed doubles for me with that decision being made by somebody else.

[bottle]

As the Training Wheels Come Off, Chrissie's and Roger's Backswings Fall by Wayside

Forgive me for forgetting the forearm friend who fingered all tennis fabrication in the following format:

Tennis instructors teach the basics to terrible beginners and awful intermediates.

Advanced players then develop or fail to develop tennis individuality by themselves.

When they fail (the most frequent phenomenon), they become "advanced" in name only while remaining in actuality screwed up intermediates.

(You can tell, reader, by my choice of "screwed up" over the similar but more common expression that I am making a half-hearted attempt here to get away from "f's" and "ph's" that sound like "f's." But that said, alliteration is always irritation or fun cf the vice-presidential crook Spiro Agnew's speechwriter William Safire's "nattering nabobs of negativism.")

The training wheel to which I refer is the keeping of opposite hand on racket throat to aid in unit turn.

But once you've learned it, why keep it? Does not a hearty point across accomplish the same task?

So point across like John, Jimmy, Chrissie and Trace.

Otherwise you'll keep the training wheel embedded in your forehand like Roger or Raf only with lesser result.

But I suggested that Chrissie's forehand backswing, besides Roger's, needed to fall by the rumpside, and though I hate to be apologetic on a Friday, here is Chrissie's great instructional video once again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9WOcEIjGJQ

You will see that she takes her racket around level before raising it. The question: what was her waiting position? Moderately low.

If WP is high with racket by shoulder for a stripped down one hand backhand, one is better off either with the down-and-up of John and Jimmy, or the high level bring-around of Tracycakes.

To this I would add a bit of up-and-down for one's Federfore/ATP3 .

Remember, both arms do the same thing: Down-and-up for Jimmy's sidespin or any McEnrueful, round level and high for the Tracycakes, up-and-down with early dog pat to reduce blood pressure through one's Federfore.

[bottle]

Re-Assertion of Upper Register Shots

A byproduct of the introduction of Tracycaked flat forehands is that upper register shots have re-asserted themselves.

"Tracycaked" as everyone knows means that arm circles around level keeping racket head higher than hand so that five scoops of tangerine flavored ice cream would not fall out of a no-wheat cone.

From rearward position, as if to reinforce the frozen milk/juice motif, one delivers a slapshot, most difficult for those who never became sufficiently proficient at ice-hockey.

The racket flies slightly downward on no more or less than a 45-degree angle making imaginary contact with a levelness of ice which in this case got frozen at ball height.

Upon contact with the ice, the hockey stick gets all bent out of shape.

Next, as it springs back into shape, it makes contact with the hockey puck followed by a mighty followthrough in direction of the cage.

Obviously, in tennis, one can't do things exactly this way. A flat stroke hit with bent thumb on top left bevel can nevertheless produce a devastating shot.

Essential to this effort, particularly in the beginning, is 1) no fiddle with wrist or forearm-- leave them where they are, and 2) get behind the ball, not under it, even with the feel of hitting level slightly above the ball although that must not actually happen.

For a Federfore one does bests with a return to old habit, i.e., morph from level, high backswing rather soon, i.e., sooner in the backswing than rear point for the Tracycake.

Morph into a confident dog pat.

Of great import is the basic contrast between the two shots-- Slapshot form (forward) for the Tracycake; Dog pat form (backward) for the Federfore along with subsequent flip, pull and oarsman's roll though supercharged rather than finessed.

Although the McEnrueful may be hit off of same preparation, I would recommend a down-and-up as demonstrated by John McEnroe. Why this configuration should prove slightly superior I do not know. Perhaps because of association with John McEnroe or with one's own previous practice.

So there we are, with the same three shots enabled in either upper or lower register. I suggest sticking with the register that works better on a given day.

I prescribed however lower register only as condition for McEnruefuls. Similarly, I vote for upper register only for Federfores.

Why? Because, in constant development, we attempted to combine a slapshot with the Federfore/ATP3.

Probably worked but what happened to dog pat?

Dog pat as everyone knows reduces the pressure of one's blood.

[bottle]

High Left Ready Position Makes You Want to Tracycake the Opponent

Let's interview Maxim Gorkovich, a hayfield foreman of Count Leo Tolstoy.

"Maxim, is there anyone in your crew who doesn't use the down and up backswing?"

"Oh sure. Osip Oblomov. He reasons that his followthrough has already attained any height that he might want, so he simply circles his body with his scythe."

A whispering sickle is a single handed scythe, one reasons with a sigh. I know I denied something to this effect in earlier exchange with lobndropshot but really he was right, I wrong. His Finnish forebears' sickle-- the one that gave him his tennis forehand-- could be useful again if one were only willing to turn one's arm and one's shoulders perhaps at two different speeds.

Sequence though-- ridiculous! A retarded elementary school shop teacher came up with that harebrained notion and the whole tennis world-- naturally-- followed him down the primrose path including Roger Federer.

This is the corroded paradigm. Turn your shoulders first by keeping opposite hand on the throat. Then separate the hands. Oh sure. Why take one step when you can use two? Why do anything simple when you can anguish endlessly about just where or when to separate the hands?

In a single move, then, one can 1) smoothly point across with opposite hand, 2) smoothly swing the slightly bent arm around with racket head still higher than hand so that four scoops of barber pole striped maple taffy ice cream wouldn't fall out of a cone, 3) smoothly rotate the shoulders.

Time to shift to baseball.

Here's Steve's sidearm pitch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlOttZS9zsc

Dunno. This Duck clearly uses down-and-up. You must admit, reader, he doesn't use an overhand loop like Federer or Lendl but does keep his mitts together for a time.

But he is a pitcher following his own time, not the time of an oncoming ball.

If instead of down-and-up one does go Tracycake, one can still get the sidearm whip. Coming from ground up core rotation. Just don't start the forward core stuff overly soon.

Get the foot down first.

Face it, this is a forehand fast beyond belief. And if you can control it, you are Ellsworth Vines, i.e., good enough.

But the next question is how to add topspin. Or as Steve asks, "What elements of the ATP 3 forehand do you detect?...Footwork? Body Rotation? Motion of the arm? Follow through?..."

My footwork isn't very good today but I've already discussed body rotation. As for motion of the arm, Ducky is cutting a long and broad swatch of hay. Followthrough? Out to side exactly like Chris Evert.

As for this Duck's wrist and forearm action, however, my eyes may not be good enough to see what he has done.

(Escher looks again. He sees flip/mondo. All I would say is remember to rotate frame the full 90 degrees before the followthrough is much underway. And don't do this when hitting the Ellsworth or Chrissie or Jimmie or Tracy or Buffy or Muffy.)

I see real signficance here. It all starts however with taking opposite hand off the racket much sooner than Roger Federer does.

[bottle]

For the Love of me, i.e., in Self-Love, Why not More Tracycakes?

When one looks around, one just doesn't see enough of this style of tennis. But let me take this story from the top.

Once one has mastered the natural forehand turn of Evert, Connors and McEnroe, why not take the final step and learn the device that trumped them all, the ice cream cone backswing of Tracy Austin?

I am not saying Tracycakes beat Connors and McEnroe at the U.S. Open the way she did Chris Evert, except in cleverness. (But Connors and McEnroe played in a different division of the U.S. Open, something hard for dopes to grasp.)

Now Connors and Evert were boyfriend and girlfriend once.

Think of their secret conversations during which they decided to have similar backswings or discovered that they already had them.

Along came John McEnroe.

He bowled slightly down and up if not level and up-- same basic idea.

I do not say that Austin beat Evert with her forehand alone although that is the significant factor we wish to explore here.

There also was the unique relationship Austin shared with her coach, Robert Lansdorp, cemented when the two of them went ice skating together and he fell on top of her and broke her leg.

I have another theory about Tracycakes as well. It has to do not with her girlish twin pigtails but her voice, the squeakiness of which repelled people. It kept them away. It created an incubation zone similar to the Smithsonian's breeding facility for rare and endangered animals on the back of a sprawling mountain in Front Royal, Virginia.

You get rid of people. You have your zoo but without the crowds. In womblike silence Robert Lansdorp and Tracy Austin created her ice cream cone backswing.

Please, reader, do not tell me differently. This is what I want to believe. Moreover, it is what I shall now try. Does that mean I must abandon any of the other shots I presently have? Of course not.

The new decision arrived yesterday or rather in the middle of last night. While hitting with a super prospect yesterday afternoon, I noticed that his heavy topspin was causing my flat shots to fly up in the air or limp back across the net with unwanted backspin.

As we played points however I bowled higher, so the down part of my hockey slapshot attained the ice-like levelness of subsequent stroke I most desired.

Good shots resulted, in other words, hit from on top of the ball.

I was supposed to help the boy but the boy helped me. (Good thing I didn't charge for the lesson-- the parents offered dough.)

Why swing down and up when you can just swing arm slowly, feelingly, deliberately and even gradually around on a path that is parallel with the court?

I certainly shall not abandon my down-and-ups or my attempts to master down-and-up Federfores. I love all of these shots far too much. Once in a while though...a Tracycakes!

[bottle]

Will explore soon.

[don_budge]

bottle...or anyone?

Teach him to sling his forehand sidearm...my father was a shortstop in the Tiger system when Harvey Kuenn was the Detroit shortstop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlOttZS9zsc

John or anyone...take a look at the video of Brad Ziegler pitching sidearm or submarine style and tell me what you think. Or better yet...what you see. What elements of the ATP 3 forehand do you detect? It looks scary similar on a number of different points.

Footwork? Body rotation? Motion of the arm? Follow through? Very interesting...I would venture.

[bottle]

Good Advice

Unfortunately, I think he did this already. Number 2 on his high school team after only one year of tennis. Nice kick on his serve. A powerful two-hander (of course). And everything else except for backhand slice, so I started him on that.

And bequeathed him to Sebastien Foka, teaching pro at Eastside and Indian Village here in Detroit. Sebastien used to hit with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in France, has best winning record ever at Wayne State. Most important, he is a great teacher.

The kid and both parents showed up, then the parents left, returned an hour and a half later. I was proud that I could hit somewhat with this boy, won some points when we played points.

"He's too good," I told his father. But if ideas in tennis are worth anything, the lad now has some new ones.

[don_budge]

Sling it Kid...

Teach him to sling his forehand sidearm...my father was a shortstop in the Tiger system when Harvey Kuenn was the Detroit shortstop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlOttZS9zsc

[bottle]

A First Lesson in Twenty Years

The big baseball coach in Grosse Pointe, Michigan is an acquaintance susceptible to some of my ideas.

A shortstop of his has decided to play varsity high school tennis rather than ball but has never had the sufficiently crazy advisor in tennis who might help him to develop some individual style.

Also, Mark suggested, besides being a great athlete, the lad is smart off the map-- "almost too smart."

Got it. A thinker. The bane of tennis, baseball and life. With the potential of becoming a tennis wonk. Who therefore could be a good match with me.

I scheduled the first-- possibly the only?-- lesson for 2 p.m. with me to bring the balls. In addition to the kid, the kid's father and Mark himself have threatened to show up.

My speculation is that after these three gentlemen realize what it is I propose to teach, Mark's shortstop will return to playing errorless ball.

[bottle]

McEnrueful Followthrough

Followthrough almost doesn't matter-- if one rolls fast to hit square out front then stays square for a short distance after contact.

The roll accelerates the strings forward and up.

Not all big forehand rolls accelerate the strings forward.

But they all accelerate the strings up.

In suggesting that followthrough doesn't matter, I mean that the nature of the followthrough doesn't matter, e.g., some specific amount of roll.

The ball is gone.

Let me be clear: There should be a followthrough. But in this specific shot, let the racket go where and how it wants.

[bottle]

Get Pattern Right-- Then Stay, Shrink or Expand

I'm still on my scything kick. I think a scythe-like backswing can produce the basis for flat forehands and McEnruefuls both without a mondo/flip but also a Federfore/ATP3 and do all of this nicely.

How shrink however and how expand? Keep the same proportion in this down-and-up backswing predicated on a low point nearer the "up."

The basic shot for this scythe-like program will be the flat drive. One wants to be like an old-fashioned field worker who lets his blade do the work and can last all day.