A New Year's Serve

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Editing, Good and Bad

The previous post, # 2046, has just been edited a lot.

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Some Rosewallian Slice More Like Emersonian Slice

Magnificent additions and thanks to gzhpcu for finding them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rws3xyYbthI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aUnSCp64S0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZSUgx1z9iI

In the first video there is skunk tail (though lopped off from the original by the film editor, who doesn't think that groove is important!). In the second video there is some skunk tail and some not skunk tail. In the third video the direct backswing, with no skunk tail, is much more like Roy Emerson's. I doubt that Ken Rosewall's grip has changed through these videos. I'll study more to try and find out but don't think so. So even when Ken's backswing is like Roy's the shape of the swing is different and Ken uses some form of double roll no matter what. Contact point could be different too but maybe not.

As far as teaching or explaining this material, I return to my self interest defense.
I do write to explain but to explain to myself. And I require a lot of detail. Maybe you, reader, don't, but I doubt that. As my older sister Dru said to my girlfriend Hope, "Just make sure that your directions are very, very clear."

Oh well, too much explanation, instructor, and you've lost your listener, i.e., lost the match. Too little explanation and you've also lost the match. Just right explanation and hey-- not only may you help somebody else but you yourself are going to win a hell of a lot more matches than you used to and I promise that.

We just watched both Hope's daughter and grand-daughter in a Birmingham Players Michigan production of INHERIT THE WIND. The grand-daughter, who represented all the children of the world, had a lot of lines but the daughter had only one, but that one line (word) says it all:

Halleluja!

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Emersonian Slice

That has to be its name so as to include both Roy Emerson and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Fred Emerson, who started the sport of crew on Roger's Lake in Old Lyme, Connecticut, will have to wait.

This shot, as explained by Roy Emerson, approximates a sentence by Ralph Waldo Emerson, with the followthrough resembling the monosyllabic word at the end of elaborately rhythmic Germanic grammatical constructions that Emerson admired so much.

Also, as Emerson points out, this shot is totally consistent-- one could never miss with it.

And, as Emerson points out, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

Equally true: "A clever consistency is the horizon of this here shot."

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Hitting Thumbs: Contrast Between Emerson and Rosewall

Emerson: Thumb along (diagonal)

Rosewall: Thumb wrapped

I'll have both please. With ketchup for the fries. My stringy thumb however needs to go more along my thin handle for the added support I desire.

Just to consider the Emerson, one is all set to hit a drive as well, now. One could straighten wrist while straightening elbow for a slight shrink-wrap to prepare for mudpie catapult and hit the shot with almost exact same rhythm and shallow U-shaped technique as the slice, no?

This shot would resemble that of people standing around at a tournament and miming their flat backhand return against a fast serve, no?

Or one could straighten wrist and elbow backward instead of forward for a bigger backhand, no?

Or just combine grip change with straight down preparation for Oscar Wegner's beginner 1htsbh, no?

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Opposite Hand in Emerson and Rosewall BH Slice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7kvBGntW8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXDwZMY1LTg

The two shots are different, but opposite hand is pretty simple in both cases. In the Rosewall, in particular, there may be a temptation to twist left palm upward as racket goes down.

But Rosewall doesn't do that. The left palm gets no more than perpendicular to the court and then turns down (inwardly) parallel to the court at the very end.

Is this important? Does it matter? Is someone jeering? Who cares?

One should always be on the lookout for the small thing that might make a big difference. Dunno. Try it. Seems like pure Tai Chi to me.

[bottle]

And adapting forward trajectory of racket to incoming trajectory of ball, as you have advised-- usefully!-- in the past. But I accept your criticisms of this volleyer and am glad that he isn't me.

[tennis_chiro]

That's what Luke Jensen said to do when he was conducting a large clinic at the Grosse Pointe (Michigan) Yacht Club.

The following video appears to support that point of view. It is perfect for players who hate words and don't speak Japanese.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv1uhaYLbZc

Really curious what the writing says, but for my money he is advocating "massaging " the ball way too much, his footwork is actually counterproductive, he doesn't get his body turned at all and his grip is wrong (too much towards forehand).

But other than that maybe he is saying how easy it is to just meet the ball on the volley??

don

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Volley Up?

That's what Luke Jensen said to do when he was conducting a large clinic at the Grosse Pointe (Michigan) Yacht Club.

The following video appears to support that point of view. It is perfect for players who hate words and don't speak Japanese.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv1uhaYLbZc

[bottle]

Use Edit Function of Doubles Ad Court BH Service Returns

Hit a lot of balls, won four times, lost once, came from behind to tie things up at the end. That is six sets with different partners.

Verdict on the backhand was that it is too long for a new stroke for someone of my age (74). The good poachers picked it off since it crossed net too close to center.

Eliminate most loop. Forget disguise. Have two variations, beginner's or service return topspin per Oscar and one more like Tony Trabert at 2:35 in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7kvBGntW8

New grip change and shrink-wrapping long arm into a thumb-supported catapult are the two features I choose to bring across from the # 2038 backhand.

[bottle]

Learning How to Learn: A Lifetime Project

I'm chuffed as usual except when I'm the knight of rueful countenance (as usual). Here I am with a new backhand. Will it be as lousy as the one I brought back from Mexico? That one took ten days and a few drinks under the beach umbrellas of Puerto Vallarta to develop.

The part in my prescription about finding little cousins of paranhas to nibble away the dead skin on one's feet was good.

The rest of that backhand was 90 degrees colder in Detroit than P.V. and I don't remember exactly why.

And there have been disappointing permutations since. But I am excited about the tennis social tonight which for me is all about arriving early. With luck there will be somebody to hit with; if not, I'll self-feed a few balls.

Influencing factor: J. Donald Budge's low key advice to try more thumb behind the racket in his old teaching film recently posted by Phil Picuri in this forum.

That is a sentiment that never has been sufficiently discussed in any tennis circles I know. And I'm going to put more thumb behind the racket than even J. Donald Budge himself and feel liberated enough to try that thanks to a post by WBTC, who at least was open to the possibility. Thumb wrapped around handle provides more flexibility, sure, but less flexibility and more solidity could be what I need.

Honestly, where do ideas originate whether from oneself or other persons and what's the difference if an idea is a dime a dozen idea-- nothing more and nothing less?

So to give the backhand of # 2037 a fair shake is my first goal for tonight. My best chance I think will come from a revised grip change that slides thumb up along back of racket while straightening wrist and setting palm to palm.

Meanwhile there is maintenance of Rosewallian slice (normally my best stroke) to think about.

Once something is good it is supposed to stay good but in my case at least this is untrue: Any good stroke is apt to require the renewal of fresh thought.

After watching the video "Davis Cup '54" for the hundredth time, I notice that Ken Rosewall's elbow is farther separated than that of his great imitator Trey Waltke. And that Rosewall finishes with his left palm pushed down at the court.

A single brain impulse could push both index base knuckles downward at the same time.

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New 1htsbh's Continued Conceptualization

Set racket not quite to vertical to tilt slightly out from body toward side fence. Keep this tilt as arm straightens back.

The next motion will be an improvement to Bollettieri's "flashlight" or BNP Paribas tug-o-war or "pull on a rope" or Lau's "drive knob straight toward ball during forward rotation of hips."

I say "improvement" but a person for whom I do not enjoy credibility may say "embellishment."

My argument that this is improvement hypothesizes slingshot or catapult of imaginary mudpie as an effective cue for a faster turn of the 1htsbh around its tight hitting corner.

Jim Courier has warned, reader, that if you value logic, don't look for it among tennis players.

But even tennis players should be able to understand the imagery of catapulting a mudpie.

This relates to stretch-shorten cycle and Brian Gordon's theme of pre-load depending on HOW the racket butt gets lowered into flashlight position.

Is the load just a twist of the arm one way as preparation for it to twist the other?

That would be twist down to prepare for twist of wrist over the ball, would it not?

Unwanted!

The two hands rather fight each other to stretch elastic as if they are opposite poles of a loading Wham-o slingshot (handle beneath fork at one pole, thumb and forefinger holding the stone at the other).

Front arm can meanwhile be falling/driving forward to the ball.

Tension between the hands matters (understatement).

Final hammer grip is a dynamic rather than passive 90-degree configuration.

The arm is straight but the wrist and fingers are still producing more bend to become the full right angle.

The racket twists and bends to swat or "lash" or snake-strike.

One could grind the throat end of the handle into the web between forefinger and thumb or rather take Don Budge's advice from an old instructional film to "put more thumb behind the handle."

As best time to put more thumb behind the handle, I nominate initial grip change.

The swing, though liquid and single piece, draws elasticity-- in the hitting area-- from wrist and fingers both. And draws solidity from more thumb. If not getting around enough, one can slow winding down with opposite hand to allow more time to load slingshot all the way through turn of racket butt to the right.

Whether one has slid thumb up handle to a Budge-like diagonal or even beyond to fully lengthwise but awkward-seeming support; or, whether one wraps thumb for more flexibility combined with a "stronger" (this may not be true) grip, the goal of more hand behind the racket remains the same.

Note: Each new verbal iteration of a tennis stroke is apt to contain contradictions with what came before but should push logic forward. In view of the above, I declare that "one pulls a rope" for most down the line shots but doesn't for most crosscourts in which one circles the body at shake-hands distance instead.

One won't tip anything off since pulling a rope and slight circling to outside, to begin with, will appear the same to all of one's opponents.

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Initial Setting of Opposite Elbow in the 1hbh

Rosewallian slice keeps left elbow away from body. Start clicking at 1:38 .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7kvBGntW8

A flat backhand depending on about 10 degrees of wrist turnover at contact is possible from the same skunk tail, the same grip and wrist lock but isn’t a very big shot and therefore is hard to justify since the sliced version can go just as fast.

In search of a bigger drive, I turn here to an example from Stan Wawrinka in which Stan also keeps left elbow away from body, with upper arm in fact parallel to the court.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/stanislas_wawrinka/sw_backhand/sw_bh_center/sw_bh_center.html?SWBHCenterNeutralStanceSide4.mov

Stan straightens wrist shortly after raising the racket tip but I want to straighten wrist sooner as part of a grip change.

Disadvantage: This loses the forward set in which edge of racket tracks the ball.

Advantage: The complex stuff in the stroke quickly gets out of the way.

Backhanders who use this type of quick takeback (Bungalo Bill) sometimes say that they line up ball with the front shoulder.

Advantage: Pulling of knob straight at ball coincident with forward hips turn happens farther back. This means one can “slingshot a mudpie” sooner and not quite so far out in front of the body.

It was Ivan Lendl who pointed out in his book with Eugene Scott that contact TOO FAR OUT FRONT weakens a 1htsbh, that a willowy human being just doesn’t have enough strength out there.

Advantage: If one’s initial skunk tail is not perfectly vertical but tilts racket slightly toward left fence, knob pulling downward and forward can more fully load the two hand to one hand slingshot. Put another way, one pulls the racket tip to inside in order to lash with it in the opposite direction toward the outside.

Advantage: The two palms get parallel to one another at top of the initial backswing as part of a grip change. They are still parallel to one another at low point in the stroke but are also parallel to the court. This creates a Lau type baseball swing in which there is no turnover of hitting wrist at least until after the ball is gone.

Note: My terming of some initial backswing as "quick" does not imply "mindless." The initial backswing I want simply takes racket tip a big farther than Wawrinka's since it includes the same wrist-straightening that he delays. Measured straightening of arm and additional shoulders turn during a hitting stride is exactly the same.

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Arrhythmia Set in a Buttery Swing

Sorry, Mr. Seixas, that you no longer play tennis. We could finally straighten out your backhand.

With apology to Louis Armstrong: Mudpie munchin on the mudpie munchin on the mudpie-- MUD PIE!

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Mudpies on Serves, Too?

I'm only asking. The idea of mudpie projection comes from power cocking racket tip by holding it back with opposite hand just before releasing it like a slingshot.

That happens in a good 1htsbh. But why couldn't it happen in a serve, too? You probably would shoot something from edge of the racket frame-- a mudpie, a vegetable pie, a chicken or turkey pot pie-- rather than from the strings, which is a far tidier image, but so what?

The way to run the possibility would be to sit in a chair and hold the racket out in front of you in an extreme version of your service grip in which the throat end of the handle is firmly pressed down against the yoke between your thumb and forefinger.

Fingers though still on handle will be wide open. It has been suggested that a very weak swish of the racket could be produced from this position by closing the fingers.

One could make the swish even weaker by removing first three fingers from the racket to leave only the thumb and pinkie to oppose each other.

Strength of swish not weakness is however the goal, so you can hang on with all of your fingers AS IFF ON A CLIFF while putting the whole force of your serve on the little yoke.

While sitting in the chair, you can hold back the racket tip with opposite hand to see how this might work.

Since opposite hand will be otherwise occupied in a real serve, you will need to replicate pressure on the yoke (but hopefully a lot more) through the mechanics of your service motion whatever they are.

What then might happen? (I can't play. This is down time in my office.)

The edge-on frame might get closer to the ball than usual because of the abrupt and uninhibited release.

Pronation might return to a form of protection rather than projection.

A bunch of pronation or internal rotation of the upper arm or both or whatever you want to call such a monstrosity is, after all, same thing as turning over the wrist or wrists in a baseball swing-- which turnover is seen by some famous batting coaches as a weakening agent.

Racket path: A neat overhead arc with no flat place in it. Kinesthetic cue: Throw a tomahawk.

[bottle]

"Lash." An interesting verb.

"In other words, you should always be ready to lash your racket arm forward quickly to hit the ball, with that backhand punch motion that I talk about, in my post above. You should always have the racket ready to release that catapult quickly. (Yes, i remind you to think of the topspin backhand as a catapult or a backhand punch.)"

I remember having a hit one day with an Asian guy who the day before had purchased a very expensive lesson for himself on one-hand backhands. He was one of the better juniors in Winston-Salem and could really keep a backhand rally going for a long time. He also had the seasoned wisdom of some old man (perhaps not this old man).

After the hit, he told me he liked my backhand but thought I was hitting the crosscourts a bit too much toward the center of the court. I wasn't getting to the outer edge of the ball, in other words, just the way the TV announcers always say.

Those dumb clucks, of course, never give you a clue as to HOW to get on the outer edge of the ball, just suggest in their know-it-all way that you probably aren't doing that (based on observation of every one-hander there ever has been).

Well, what are the options for doing it? Different racket position just before it should happen. Last instant rolling of the racket. Change of direction with racket stalk (the right-hander suddenly pulls the butt rim violently to the right) and this brings hammer head around really fast.

Well some of these options may work better than others or in combination. This mudpie idea however is an entirely different animal, implying as it does the creation of last instant spring-load with barred arm to racket just having formed a T.

Maybe you, reader, like me, had a magic afternoon in a singles match 20 years ago where every topspin backhand was a winner-- why? Because you were lashing better though you didn't really understand that this lashing was a spring-loaded thing, and you lost the trick by the next day when playing another opponent.

Prescription: You get ready by holding tip of racket back with opposite hand to create a slingshot effect. Then you replace opposite hand where it belongs on throat of the racket but do the same thing.

Well, I've already described my next proposed 1htsbh (one I've never in my life hit in the exact proposed way). If I do hit the rafters with it and can't find my way round that I'll soon be performing some of the exotic grip change experiments I had underway-- mostly taken from my knowlege of sweep and scull rowing both.

Come to think of it, it would be a shame not to continue those experiments in any case. But know this, reader. None of this is medical emergency. We've all got enough of those to look forward to. So let's not confuse them with tennis experimentation, which is for fun-- to see what one can do, to discover the unexpected.

The unexpected is out there. One has more potential than one thinks and at any age. My Rosewallian slice has proven that for me once and for all. Unless all the people praising it are just being polite. No, I know them well from playing tennis with and against them, and their manners are okay but not THAT good. So I'll take their response as a sign of actually getting somewhere. Along with tennis scores. And gut feeling more important than anything.

Note: The straight lift Oscar method for introducing topspin one-handers to complete beginners is interesting-- recently re-discussed in this forum by Steve. Everybody always talks about their dear old coach, and I don't know how "dear" mine, Jim, was, but despite what Emily Dickinson's boyfriend's descendant thought, Jim Kacian, haiku editor and USPTA pro, is one of the most brilliant men I have ever met. He taught me a simple straight back and lift topspin backhand that for a long time served me well and was my best shot. But then I kept getting blown away by a very hard hitting cabinet-maker exploiting my backhand side and... knew the time had come for some change.

The lash of WBTC is very different from pukey lift from the shoulder.