A New Year's Serve

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Re-introducing the Normal Learning Progression of Straight Back First, Loop Later

Novak Djokovic hits a lot of straight back shots, I've noticed. Heck, sometimes if he's got an open court, he hardly takes his racket back at all but just massages the ball, something open to smart women and tiny children as well.

Ever since I decided to make the see see my signature shot after the 70-year-old I once saw using it to defeat the 30-year-old town/city open champion in Virginia, I've gotten much more interested in straight back shots and not just for concealment of my see see.

One can hit a modified straight back Djokofore or even a Federfore with pretty close to full power.

Then, if wanting to go all out one can lead with the elbow like Djokovic or James Blake and spring the racket head back and around for extra racket head speed melding into the same mostly solid and therefore baseball-like swing. (Winston-Salem Davis Cup story, his opponent Richard Gasquet: Watching James Blake hold his racket by the rim with both hands and hit a crowd thrown ball into the rafters of Joel Coliseum.)

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At the Park

For instance, to return to "Figure 47" (don't watch it twice but rather 12 times) note that during step with front foot the rear heel stays down (frame one). In frame two the arm has circled around staying level and the non-turning right heel has just raised. So what did the body weight do just then? Consolidated as if you just stepped across a small creek and are getting settled on the other side.

A semi-professional or professional tennis player just came up to a fence and wondered what I was doing, why wasn't I using a ball machine? I explained to him the reasons why I hate ball machines and he looked faintly amused. He offered to go to his car and get his racket and have a hit with me but I told him I had a doubles match tomorrow morning and felt I was getting somewhere with the self-feed and wanted to continue with it.

It was a decision I never would have made in the old days. I used to believe it was a sin if anybody offered to hit with you and you refused.

But I always am on the lookout-- there is my present focus-- on about to be 102 Aunt Frieda's "stupid little thing that might make a big difference." For me, personally, as of today, it is the raising of the see see back heel without turning it out as in a normal square stance forehand.

As that heel comes up the straight wristed racket arm comes round till it coincides with the point to one o'clock toes of the front foot. That's when stroke gets solid even though body weight will veer off to right as described by adjustment foot's diagonal step across.

The solid stroke is a spin from the hips with radial deviation upward by cross-bone action of the hand occurring during the contact. One needs to be physically and psychically centered for this, but it will work. Although one cannot expect anyone to understand what one is talking or writing about if one has taken more than 10 years arriving at some point. The poet and assistant men's varsity coach at Penn State, Theodore Roethke, said that.

Well, reader, whether you understand me or not, I feel I am coming into command of this shot-- again-- and even though I'm American, am, as the Brits say, "chuffed."

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See See Cont'd: A Banana-Shaped Swing

Take racket back or rather away on estimated level of where the ball will be.

Swing elbow around a racket's width below this estimated level.

The slight descent occurs from beginning of forward arm swing.

I think of this as simple change of direction rather than loop but perhaps this is semantics.

The slight descent from what otherwise would be levelness coinciding with backswing occurs only from body tilt caused by heel rise in adjustment foot.

The forward elbow started from outside with good separation from the body.

The elbow keeps same separation out front even though it went slightly down thanks to the entire body tilt.

An alternative would be that elbow ran into body-- not good.

Elements that create subsequent upwardness of brush: 1) tilted axis of upper body and 2) radial deviation, i.e., abrupt hand movement toward radius bone.

1) will not work unless rotation of upper body is simultaneous with rotation of centered hips which is intimately related to diagonal step of adjustment foot.

Note: I advise left right left inchworm to initiate the shot but realize one may not have time for that in returning a serve say that is quicker than anticipated. Turn and one step will be the rule then. But don't sell yourself short, reader, in the jitterbug department. The more small steps possible the greater the likelihood of perfect positioning and rhythm.

Questions: Do I overthink? My answer to that question is another question. Reader, do you already own this shot? If you are an average player or even an average player on the tour you sure as hell don't.

To my mind the shot is intrinsically more complex than my ability to cerebrate. That is why I try to master it in a series of daily increments similar to the Bill Murray film GROUNDHOG DAY.

Eventually, I think, this shot will become no more difficult than any other.

Also, putting one's overthought into a shot appropriate to it may save one from overthinking other aspects and strokes of one's game.

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Backhand Slice Lob for a Double-Roller with Composite Grip

Forget the second roll-- the one that closes the strings on the ball.

Keep the first roll, which seems to combine arm straightening with opening of the racket face (now that I look at it) with all of this part of forward swing rather than backswing or transition.

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Use Replacement Step with See See

I almost can't believe it when the see see works well in one doubles match and not well in the next even though the competition is less.

In an effort to increase repeatability, I work now from the standpoint of dance.

Most of the balls for a good see see are short in some respect, so I start with my inchworm footwork-- left right left in this case.

Now I hit the ball with the exact same rhythm as the inchworm: 1) is lifting of heel of adjustment foot. That is in place of a step. There is just a lifting of the heel. 2) is the part of diagonal step by adjustment foot in which anchor foot stays flat. 3) is part of this diagonal step in which anchor foot becomes a pivot foot.

More time has been taken to hit the shot, which has turned into more of a relaxed brush, and the shoulders now face the acute target.

Note: This kind of writing is weird. I would be the first to admit that. I write the above, and then I ask, Could one just brush with the shoulders already pivoted to their new position? Or does the brush start earlier than that?

Note 2: One can learn to "pulse" when doing swing or jitterbug. One bends one's knee, straightens it a little, bends it again to generate ground force. There is your inchworm rhythm again, a function of listening to internal music. So just pulse like this on return of a serve that is coming right to you.

Note 3: Now I see a semi-open shot where left foot moved first but not far. Now one shifts to rear foot and then back to left foot. Now one lifts heel and steps (the whole diagonal step). Now one brushes. The whole deal: beat beat beat, beat beat beat. I'll have to try this.

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Five Beats, Not Six

Note 3: Now I see a semi-open shot where left foot moved first but not far. Now one shifts to rear foot and then back to left foot. Now one lifts heel and steps (the whole diagonal step). Now one brushes. The whole deal: beat beat beat, beat beat beat. I'll have to try this.

Self-feed quickly revealed that I was taking too long. This was the essence of what the film-writing guru Robert McKee urges over and over. Everything depends on the wedge between anticipation and reality.

Unlike my childhood friend the lobber David Peoples (Bladerunner, The Unforgiven, Hero, Ladyhawke and others), I never made a go of the film thing. David, not really a McKee fan, knows that his best script, TO THE WHITE SEA, will probably never get produced although the Coen brothers optioned it. It is after the late James Dickey novel of the same name, and Dickey called up David to say he liked it.

Despite my lack of screenwriting chops, I go now for five beats not six: step step step diagonal step with adjustment foot and brush. One can hit this shot either semi-open or square stance. There is no especial need to take the racket back independent from the shoulder, it seems to me. And the brush can be upward radial deviation combined with a smidge of forearm roll and scissoring at the elbow. That leaves elbow lift if you are in a jam or roll of the upper arm if you are in a jam even worse than that.

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Old Guy System: Inchworms All Over The Place

Concept I: See See, CC, Si Si

So, class, are we all 12 here? We got 6 beats down to 5 . Now can we get 5 down to 3 for a close ball? No prob.

Already we were pulsing (bending one knee) as part of a service return ritual.

The first pulse that counts is right knee bending down. (Doesn't matter how much.)

The second pulse is same action only this time the left leg simultaneously re-positions itself to form semi-open stance.

Right foot then combines with hips turn in a shallow diagonal step to side. Body weight goes to right away from the target. The footwork and weight transfers describe a zig-zag.

But here comes the ideal ball the old guy has always dreamt of, the one that allows him to stand there like a potted plant.

"Inchworms forever!" he mutters to himself. That would be a three-beat rhythm. Ask any inchworm.

He bends his right knee (count 1). He straightens his right knee (count 2). He bends his right knee (count 3).

Concept II: Easier See See

The see see is a deception shot. So it is of utmost importance that we decide what we are deceiving off of.

First choice is a left right left smash forehand anywhere deep and slantwise in the opposite court. (Always play the deuce court in doubles.)

The angle of the oncoming ball is very good for this. Perform the inchworm as much along this line as you can.

Racket goes back level through all three steps. The hand then hinges from the wrist. All the nonsense that youthful players employ once they've turned their shoulders has now condensed into a simple hinging from the wrist.

Can we hold this timing action, just keep the wrist straight now to hit our see see? We can but perhaps we've used too much time to be as skillful at it as John M. Barnaby.

We've gone inch inch inch after all-- three counts. Now comes diagonal step of adjustment foot-- a fourth. And the brush-- a fifth. Ugh.

So we step first with right foot, zag with left foot to become semi-open, slant with adjustment foot and brush. Well, four counts are better than five.

This see see is going to work, but can one hit a deep hard return off of similar mechanism? Why not? One hits right left right all the time for wider balls. Just try the same thing for a closer ball, stepping almost straight toward a deep target.

Of course, many opponents will never notice whether you lead with one foot or the other. They won't notice that or much else. Assess their power of comprehension during warmup. And lull them thereafter with a constant inchworm rhythm.

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Lartigue Photos from Early Twentieth Century

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS519US519&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=lartigue+tennis+photos

Lartigue on Deauville, France:

"1916-- Deauville. That is some place! Some place where you can feel like another man! No shyness now. I take pleasure in the friends I meet, and I meet them everywhere.

"Deauville stretches along the sea-- a long, sandy beach dressed in worldliness. No vagrant thoughts of waves, shells or sand; but realities of tennis courts, of the promenade-- the boardwalk where people amble in the sun well before lunch simply to meet and bow to each other, as in Paris on the Avenue des Acacias. The ladies' dresses are less sophisticated, paler too, made for the sun. All the gentlemen wear straw hats.

"Every afternoon there is something going on: horse races or a tennis tournament. The queen of the tennis court is neither Suzanne Lenglen nor the English players. They are not here this year because of the War. The queen this season is Daisy Speranza with her warm, charming face-- the coloring of a ripe peach-- that has freckles and a small sharp nose. She is one of the best players (but never the best) in France. She has her own elegant style, knows she is pretty and that is enough for her. I am often her morning coach, giving her long shots that keep her to the back of the court. Since I am a player, I can sit near the court during the matches. I know she will surely win the Deauville Cup this year."

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS519US519&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Daisy+Speranza+photos

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Three Species of Farm Gate Forehand

The elbow is in, the arm bent at a right angle.

1) Level forearm brings racket head slowly around for a big body shove.

2) Body rotations and gate closing are blended together.

3) Body rotations start first and gate closing comes next. Don't know much more than that since have never tried this shot but hope to explore it in self-feed later today.

Perhaps the energy from whole body can never transfer properly to the twist of closing gate. Perhaps the combination of late gate and radial deviation with a touch of forearm roll thrown in will whet one's interest. Perhaps the shot will be flippy and arm only and lead to awkward misshits.

One never knows.

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Second Person in Tennis Instruction

A wonderful poet named Eilean Ni Chuilleanain did not object when I talked some tennis during an Irish poetry reading contest in which I finished second at Wake Forest University.

She liked the poem I chose to read out loud, which was about sea birds in cliffs and was by George Moore.

She was one of the two judges, and she didn't object to my tennis talk-- not at all-- but did object to my use of second person, i.e., "you." She found too much use of "you" thoroughly irritating, and so do I, especially when some pop psychologist tells me how to live my life.

Of course, as E.B. White pointed out, when one says you one most frequently means "I."

But what is one to do? Characteristically, tennis instruction is along the lines of the instruction sheet that comes with an optionally hand held Delta shower head that has five different settings for spray.

The task of putting this thing up was very important to me since all of my tennis ideas come while I am in the shower. The instructions were unusually minimalist and clear. Still, in practical matters I'm challenged, and it was only my experience in interpreting tennis instruction that led to successful installation.

Tennis instructors don't often think much about grammar and language but should since their job is to communicate and be clear.

Listen to a great tennis teacher who is talking while trading shots with his or her student. It isn't so much what she says as when.

But it's command style, most likely-- has to be. And each command carries an implied "you." Do this, do that. You do this. You do that. This is great for a while but then begins to wear on one and even convinces people that they don't exist.

The answer, I guess, is to vary form-- create freshness through discussing a third person (he, she), or use first person collective (we) or resort to the good old pronoun "one."

And get the student to pick up some of the burden of talking, too.

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Easiest See See Yet Encountered

Though not the most deceptive, it's the easiest to hit. Right left right-- am speaking about a right-hander's feet. Right foot starts turning the body. A short almost dragged step by left foot seems to keep the turn going. A slantwise step by right foot subtracts weight from the shot and turns the body even more while finding sensible contact point which never wants to be too far to the left.

The second see see I tried today was with elbow in, the arm bent at right angle until the very end. Body rotation started first and farm gate closing came next. This shot is good for deception since it can be hit off of a linear left right left inchworm, to speak of footwork. In fact for some shots the three steps can be close together in a very quick skip-- just a single vibrating jitterbug micro-step really-- before the final slantwise step to right by the adjustment foot.

See # 2724 for more on this.

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Applying Educated Wrist to Two Kinds of See See

Is "educating the wrist" largely about educating the body parts around it? Recent experiments would suggest so.

Where are we? We educated the hand to use a grip-finding system for all of our ground strokes and volleys that always puts the bent thumb on one of four pointy ridges.

We educated the wrist to stay straight for the see see.

We educated the arm to bend itself into a right angle as preferred method for hitting the two see sees (not disguised and disguised).

We educated the elbow to stay against the body for a long time.

Right angled arm combined with elbow kept close stabilizes the arm so that upper arm rotation can now occur without destroying necessary discipline.

In fact, upper arm rotation now can be delayed to become a quick movement that adds to racket head speed.

The explanation of topspin that best works here says that spin is determined by which edge comes off of the ball first.

"Poptop" as explained by the Gullickson twins was a flat or only slightly rising power swing that generated topspin in that top of frame led lower frame both coming into the ball and leaving it.

I'm not advocating the pure form of this but retain a bit of it combined with a bit of forearm roll. So far, in my effort to build my see see, I've employed a third simultaneous element as well, radial deviation.

Today's self-feed will try administration of spin with and without radial deviation.

Quality of spin and upper body turn to face target are the hallmarks of this Barnaby influenced shot.

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Today's Moralistic Lesson

Don't rely too much on superstition or inspiration if you can figure something out.

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See This See See

Barnaby's wisdom that this is very much a "brush up and don't hit shot" is absolutely essential.

Technically however if one has gone the farm gate route there is a hit, a little hit that has nothing to do with turn of the hips which was for position only.

The little hit is solely from upper arm yet lends racket head speed to one's brush.

Of what then does the brush consist? Optional radial deviation combined with 1) forearm roll, 2) poptop, 3) scissoring of the arm.

If one can't learn or remember more than two of these tricks today, one could learn the other two tomorrow and combine all three or four the day after that.

Note: John McPhee in LEVELS OF THE GAME has at certain times Arthur Ashe and probably Clark Graebner too pulling off the ball rather than hitting through it almost as if making some little shot were about to burn or bite like a poisonous snake. Isn't this skill something that all tennis aspirants should learn along with how to hit hard?

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Cochleate or Snail-like Spiral Getting Smaller and Smaller

If you can hit the deception version of see see, you don't need the non-deception channel, the only value of which then is to show you that hips don't do much more than re-position the entire body.

But there is a nice conceptual pattern in these shots of hips and shoulders making a circle that shrinks into level forearm making a circle and then the forearm circle getting even tighter thanks to the scissoring at the elbow.