A New Year's Serve

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More Loose Motion Over And Under The Elbow Throwing From Behind The Back

Ed Faulkner, perpetual Davis Cup captain until more brilliant and up-to-date tennis minds (supposedly) decided to roll him into the past, wants you-- reader-- to use a rhythmic up, down and up beginning to your serve.

Beginnings, reader, as you know, are very important, and the one that Ed has in mind for you in the old green book ED FAULKNER'S TENNIS consists of at least one very clear direction.

Start your up down up with hitting side of your strings facing the left fence. Finish the second up with the hitting side of your strings facing the right fence.

I speak from personal experience when I tell you that this easy change won't solve all of your serving problem (I mean challenge), only about half of it.

[bottle]

Subtract One Moving Part

Restored McEnrueful to pristine wonder through a single self-feed session.

The word "extension" plus body lurching too far over front foot had destroyed it.

One needs great extension to make one's staple forehands work but exactly where or when should the extension occur?

This is not a silly question.

It hearkens back to the running debate I hold with myself between my Ziegenfusses on the one hand and my Federfores and McEnruefuls on the other.

A McEnrueful could pretty much be defined by its bowl-back preparation combined with Australian grip-- don't let it.

A more inclusive view seeks one variation with conventional eastern forehand grip-- not Roger Federer's 3/3 but rather the old 2/3 in universal nomenclature in which heel of the hand identified first feels comfortable on right bevel.

Bowl-back can then present a same option for either the 1.5/2.5 or 2/3 shots.

For mild version leading to best balance at the finish one can turn about-to-stride knee slightly inward during the final prop-step.

Then one whirls the pigeon toe thus created into a wall foot during one's hitting stride.

The mental aspect of this is a verbal declaration that hip rotation shall be limited and occur only while hitting foot is in the air.

The hitting foot thus whirls down followed by solid whirling of the gut simultaneous with whirling (rolling) but not extension of the straight arm.

Is there good extension in this shot? Not good but terrific. It is determined mainly from HOW FAR THE RACKET HEAD WAS PERMITTED TO TOCK BACK AND UP IN THE SLOT.

The working principle here is a solid, connected and unified swing. Under no circumstance should one swing from the shoulder in the area of the ball. One can twist the arm there to multiply power while divining correct pitch (a challenge!) but that is different.

Now comes a more extreme version of the same shot complete with a full Hogan hips turn followed by a galumphing save-step.

The long hips turn is very elegant but the save-step is not. However, this shot goes all out for a winner. The recovery component may not be as crucial as in most shots.

This shot again is "connected." This time however there is no concern with swinging from the gut since that either happens by itself or not-- the hips turn subsumes all.

Since this is a clear example of golf on wheels, one is precluded from the perfect on balance finish of Ben Hogan's golf swing. The "wheels" part dictates the galumphing save-step at least in my case.

Mixed with a judicious smattering of Ziegenfusses and Federfores, this type of forehand game can be quite effective.

Shipping butt cap forward from the shoulder-- the famous flip or mondo of the Federfore-- does not need to take the racket overly far toward the net.

There is so much hips and shoulders rotation available in a Federfore that one can ascribe to these two functions the contact or "extension" so far out front.

One's Ziegenfuss meanwhile can get milder and milder-- become a slow finding from the shoulder followed by firm pushing of a beach ball.

Will the easy airborne hip turn described in paragraph nine be effective in this shot? I believe it will. And may-- for topspin-- scissoring arm replace the straight armed wiper of the Federfore while on the ball? Yes again.

And, personally asking, has thumb retreated yet from experimental placement on left bevel back down to left vertical panel in the Federfore? Yup.

[bottle]

A Lousy Idea-- Didn't Work at all

Was ungainly, felt awful, created dying swans that any good player would crunch.

[bottle]

Try

Pendulum-style variation of Ziegenfuss in which straight arm stays close to body while tocking and finding ball and getting shank of arm out front and countering natural pitch change. Arm movement next vigorously to slam to right as shoulders movement vigorously slams to left. Left and right movements to neutralize one another to keep strings on ball.

[stotty]

Jimmy is right

As Jimmy Arias, formerly my most detested of TV announcers but now my most favored, recently said while comparing the forehand styles of John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, "They're both straight back with little to go wrong."

Jimmy Arias is right. There is a lot to be said for simplicity.

[bottle]

Backhand on Edge and Steady; A Good Time to Plunge into the Forehand Labyrinth

I showed 100-year-old Aunt Frieda my new backhand. "Can you win with that?" she asked. "Yes," I said, having already done so. But I didn't show her my revived sit-and-hit, a new backhand I invented a week ago just in case I can't win with the easy one.

Also, I believe that forward hips rotation may be too important a power source to waste on just straightening your arm.

On the forehand side I'm still reeling from keen disappointment at my McEnruefuls in match play.

As I hit the ball 20 feet past the baseline one of the good geezers whom I hadn't played with in a year and had never spoken any word to me about anything said, "You do have to try that."

On a day or two before straining my Achilles, I didn't miss one McEnrueful in three sets of doubles. And very few of those rolled Australian-gripped shots even came back, and those that did were dying swans.

While I'm re-discovering my true McEnrueful, I'll need another forehand to tide me over. If it isn't my Federfore due to the introduced joker factor of thumb on left bevel, it will have to be my Ziegenfuss.

And I'm not talking about some Real Estate transaction in San Diego where Valerie Ziegenfuss (Bradshaw) is a famous agent with Century I believe.

No, I'm talking about the arm first shoulders second sockdolager she used to capture the bronze doubles with Peaches Barkowicz at the Mexico City Olympics.

Valerie had an over the top forehand loop just as I used to. Wearing a lace dress, she would contact the ball with partially bent arm that was neither straight genre or double-bend but precisely in between.

Now that I've let John McEnroe's bowl-back replace my loop, everything is different.

Do I have the opportunity here for a higher level of consistency than I have ever dreamt of? Most affirmatively yes.

As Jimmy Arias, formerly my most detested of TV announcers but now my most favored, recently said while comparing the forehand styles of John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, "They're both straight back with little to go wrong."

It takes tennis intelligence extraordinaire not to point out the extraneous, that Connors is high skunk tail, that McEnroe is bowl-back. The important point is that the preparation is straight back in both cases. So thanks, Jimmy Arias.

I've used skunk-tail in various shots before but right now am building on bowl-back. And though I am the worst bowler in the world I shall proceed.

As arm bowls back close to my body I shall make no endeavor to point the racket at rear fence.

But as I bowl forward, whether using the Australian (1.5/2.5 heel to base knuckle) or classical Eastern (2/3) I shall roll-adjust arm forward to place the shank of my arm ahead of my elbow.

Time now for some truth-telling about forward hips rotation.

When people use this term, they seldom mean the same thing. Sometimes they may mean a small pivot to achieve a dancer's good balance.

At the opposite extreme is the start early and end late full crank of Hogan or Woods.

The Ziegenfuss, as I see it, is a minimalist stroke. But to ensure that the hips rotation therein is solid and emphatic, I'm thinking that during the prop step for a neutral stance forehand one can turn one's lead knee-- the knee that will step out-- somewhat inward in the manner of certain baseball batters who sometimes do that while lifting their leg way high.

No need for this latter part, just turn the knee inward a bit. Now that knee is ready to turn out, indicating or preparing for hips rotation, and who knows but that all these turns can develop a mystical inter-understanding.

In routinely televised observation of some batters in slow motion, the stride is first square to the pitcher and then splays at last instant before setting down.

The trick with a Ziegenfuss is to extend followthrough by turning shoulders near contact-- much later than in other batting styles.

But there is no reason that power cannot be rumbling up from below at the same time.

[bottle]

Relentless Tennis Invention is not as Sweet as it Looks

Maybe my inner McEnrueful is dead stick-- Steve Mizerak in billiards. Use same path both ways. Bowl but out from bod a bit. Take back, pause, cream.

Was the pause a sandwich around the step?

Probably.

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First Summer Play with the Good Geezers

The Federfore worked well, even with the new pendulum backswing and thumb on 8 . So did the Ziegenfuss, the two new backhands, the backhand slice, a few serves.

So what am I griping about? Well, net game was non-existent after a 3-month layoff, but what truly depressed was the McEnrueful.

That is my basic 16-year-old's shot. And during mild tennis a few weeks ago it crackled well, but today I couldn't control it at all.

The down and up backswing combined with extra horizontality of racket work from step out only takes too much time, I suppose. This would explain why this shot works perfectly in self-feed but not in actual play-- at least so far.

I'll just try to hit with someone-- anyone-- a lot, tidy up the backswing, step, let the racket change direction and slam the ball with all timing determined by ground stroke exchange rather than by the conscious me.

That happened on the 4th of July when I started trading groundies with my friend Wes.

The shot is there. I just need to find it again.

[bottle]

New Federfore, New Ziegenfuss

The 3/3 grip called semiwestern in ED FAULKNER'S TENNIS also includes thumb on panel 8, i.e., "left bevel" with that being the only difference from Roger's eastern forehand grip called such by contemporary teaching professionals.

To my eye Roger Federer's thumb is wrapped around # 7 or "left vertical panel" so I have to ask, What difference would shifting thumb slightly upward to # 8 produce?

To be accurate in one's description, one needs to understand that Faulkner's view includes hearty contempt for the semiwestern thus identified. The player using it, Faulkner and Weymuller opine, is not apt sufficiently to extend or hit through the ball.

From that we can project likely more contempt for more extreme grips no matter what for them the decayed terminology of the present age.

Whether Roger's forehand grip is "eastern" or "semiwestern," Roger finds the means to properly extend and so can anyone who wants to imitate him if they are willing to study the necessary methodology a bit.

So what would thumb on 8 mean if it worked at all? A slightly more open string bed for the extension-wiper corollaries that most likely vary to one another in inverse proportion.

Additionally if one already carries thumb on a diagonal across left vertical panel for a backhand, the total grip change including thumb to 8 will prove easy and economical.

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Pendulum Style Ziegenfuss Examined in More Detail

This could be the rare shot that is harder to figure out than to implement. Since arm will tock forward from the shoulder just as it tocked backward, should it follow the grandfather clock idea all the way and tock forward on the exact same path?

I think not-- pantomime a more horizontal swing instead. This will bring contact point back from net toward the body a little whether that will be good or bad.

The more horizontal path will also reduce the amount of string bed closing required for square contact.

But how to close string bed? Shouldn't we always ask that? Should we close first then let the racket naturally open out as it gets farther in front of the body?

Save that formula for any case where the hips start early and arm slams through the hitting zone later, say I. The slow arm finding the ball allows or can allow plenty of time in which to roll-adjust gradually thus keeping racket on edge or slightly beveled up to the point where gross body takes over.

In a slow arm swing in other words, trust thyself to adjust; in a fast arm swing make sure thou adjusted already. (Admittedly the McEnrueful, a great shot though sad it isn't a McEnroeful, may be an exception.)

But what about the hip step-out in development for hip-dominant or hip early strokes-- so very hip?

Should the hips splay the foot in mid-air? That provides nice landing in dancer's balance with weight transfer continuing nicely from the front foot.

Again, I think not. Better to step with a square rather than splaying foot. Shoulders can then pull the hips which will pull the rear heel up.

Yes Valerie Ziegenfuss Bradshaw and Moe Norman have a few things in common.

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Orchestration

Re-orchestrating re-tooled ground strokes is great fun. I figure that all the tennis instruction that shuns tennis technique nowadays-- cardio, etc.-- could be replaced by firing squads.

Just kill all tennis students in the first minute. They'll never have to think about technique again.

It boggles my mind that I've just re-discovered a real Eastern forehand grip if I ever had one: heel on 2, base knuckle of index finger on 3. A 2/3 then, not a 3/3 which Ed Faulkner calls a semiwestern. Think I'll save the 2/3 grip for a Ziegenfuss (see # 2187), the 1.5/2.5 for the McEnrueful, the 3/3 for a Federfore.

[bottle]

Extension Forever

One line of thought leads to another. The basic form for ground strokes can now be stated herewith (as if no one has ever put things exactly this way before).

No matter the grip and arm structure, the arm and body will act as a solid unit through most of the stroke.

Extension ideally way out toward the target then whether fast or slow will occur from the shoulder. "Arm will take a solo" but do it late with body continuing to rotate at reduced speed.

This latter movement especially in a Federfore-ATP3 feels like an accelerating slam to me no matter the degree of wiper included or excluded.

Modern cars and forehands have subtle controls over wipe, don't you know.

You can wipe fast, slow, medium, sporadically or not at all.

A tennis writer as thorough as Edwin J. Faulkner will also raise an opposite possibility, that independent arm movement may precede delayed shoulders and hips, pulling them into an extension of followthrough.

I see forehands struck this way as a separate genre with separate qualities. I call them Ziegenfusses after a late 20th century pioneer in women's tennis who finally came to hit her every forehand this way.

[bottle]

Finding the Best Shot for Faulkner's Eastern Grip (Different)

According to Fuzzy Yellow Balls, Roger Federer uses eastern grip with heel on 3 and base knuckle on 3.

But Ed Faulkner defines eastern grip as heel on right bevel (translates as 2) with base knuckle on 3 .

So when a teaching pro or anybody is spitting information like grains of barley and says something about an eastern grip, what does he mean?

Reader, you try Faulkner's eastern next Federer's eastern and report back.

Tell me if there was not a huge difference in the forehands you hit and what that difference was if you can say.

The writer is the reader and more often than people know the only reader.
Not receiving immediate answer, I resorted to progressions as I usually do.
Faulkner's eastern for a companion shot to the Australian gripped McEnrueful.
Federer's eastern for Federfores.

Faulkner's eastern is great for neutral stance hips-driven line drives without
arm roll. But all my forehands are hips-driven these days. The distraction of a new grip or rather a grip I hadn't used for decades (if ever) probably caused me to use minimal roll-- not impossible in such a body shot. The arm isn't doing much. So it can have the adjustment task.

Better though would be to close the racket a little within the new grip maybe while still in waiting position. Then during the actual sweeping swing one can be more uninhibited, and maybe I'll remember this at the next self-feed session. Before moving through subsequent steps to match play.

On the backhand front I realized that the pictures in Faulkner's green book indicate a waiting position with TOP of racket even with left shoulder. That means less straightening than I've been doing. Whittling down has occurred.

The alternate backhand I've been theorizing, a Braden sit and hit, went fine.
The one backhand requires no effort, the other great effort but great result too at least in self-feed.

A lot of my inventions over the decades have not proceeded beyond self-feed. This one will. Perhaps because I spent years of trying to use sit and hit from the book TENNIS FOR THE FUTURE. And because I was so impressed with Vic Braden's actual backhand when I saw him self-feed it for five hours while he held forth and maintained conversation with 500 people in Winchester, Virginia one time.

As for serves, I liked very much the forum post which praised the virtue of not thrusting one's lead hip out toward the net the way we all were told. Also, Faulkner writes that one should keep upper arm pointed at rear fence while the forward serve starts...since building momentum is part of a serve, and to throw properly one throws the elbow a bit.

So the new ideas march on. And on the medical front, my orthopedist said, "You tried very hard to rip your Achilles tendon but you didn't succeed." He prescribed 12 sessons of physical therapy to build up muscles around the strain. In the meantime, he agrees, I can play a little tennis so long as it isn't SERIOUS tennis, but if I rip the tendon I will be very, very sorry though such a repair would be nothing for him.

[bottle]

http://youtu.be/dzc2QLmd_MY

Hip rotation proceeds torso rotation....spend much of my time trying to teach people that the body turns from the ground up (A very important/fundamental principle) Defrancesco (through video) shows how wrong Moe was...

Ricky Fowler is another golfer without the foot action of a Nicklaus, leading to more extraction of energy from the gut. So different ways can work even if we all have a personal idea of what's best. I have a friend who taught a lot of tennis but said he never had much luck teaching hips...so everything was more about the shoulders...until he became an editor of haiku poetry.

[10splayer]

Shoulders only pull the hips to pull the rear heel up at the end.

Moe is a great explainer too. In these videos there is all kinds of stuff to pay attention to BEYOND big questions of hips vs. gut or hips and gut vs. hips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGw3YuuevaA

Should one follow Moe Norman down the primrose path of extracting most energy from between the hips and the shoulders?

If one has nothing better to do. Probably depends on how one started out as a kid. In the golf-oriented family from which I come a big and early hips pivot was paramount.

Ironically, although I eventually picked up tennis invention in a big way, I was better at it at 16 than 74.

My primary effort at 74 is to recover my good if somewhat erratic 16-year-old's forehand (which sat up too much for the opponent). To recover it in the light of more knowledge and different grips, etc.

How interesting (and fun) it is to know some alternate ways of hitting a ball-- though I like to see legs push hips rotation to the max. (I am an oarsman so I always think the legs ought to be pushing something.)

As you indicate, Steve, what a character that Moe.

http://youtu.be/dzc2QLmd_MY

Hip rotation proceeds torso rotation....spend much of my time trying to teach people that the body turns from the ground up (A very important/fundamental principle) Defrancesco (through video) shows how wrong Moe was...

[bottle]

Ed Faulkner's Eastern Forehand Grip

The grip system Edwin J. Faulkner and Frederick Weymuller propound in the old green book ED FAULKNER'S TENNIS uses words instead of numbers to describe each handle's eight slats.

From rear view of racket we see top, right bevel, right vertical panel, right under bevel, bottom, left under bevel, left vertical panel, and left bevel.

The alternate numbers more customarily used today offer the convenience of decimal possibility, i.e., 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 5.5, 6.5, 7.5, 8.5 for the eight pointy ridges.

The terms eastern, western, semi-western and continental fail us as helpful human communication in that while each one may imply position of the base knuckle, it doesn't tell where the more important heel of the hand goes, and in fact these heels are all over the place creating huge differences in how someone is going to hit the ball.

Of course if someone is such a natural athlete ("which way to the beach") that he doesn't require any of this knowledge to substantiate his number one standing in the world, he deserves instant coffee along with instant enshrinement in Newport's Tennis Hall of Fame.

According to Fuzzy Yellow Balls, Roger Federer uses eastern grip with heel on 3 and base knuckle on 3.

But Ed Faulkner defines eastern grip as heel on right bevel (translates as 2) with base knuckle on 3 .

So when a teaching pro or anybody is spitting information like grains of barley and says something about an eastern grip, what does he mean?

Reader, you try Faulkner's eastern next Federer's eastern and report back.

Tell me if there was not a huge difference in the forehands you hit and what that difference was if you can say.