A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

"Reality"

A great guy. The father, Hank, too. Steve taller than I thought. And reminding me of other alpha males I have known.

Don Budge, the real J. Donald Budge, thought Steve was good looking; so did/does Hope.

We'll see the family again. Steve and I may do some "self-feed" to use his expression, at the Pier Park here if there isn't a couple of feet of snow on the courts. The guys at the park out over Lake St. Clair keep up one net for me-- for my self-feed-- then I go inside twice a week to play doubles.

We touched on many subjects just as I did with Stotty when I was lucky enough to meet him (and Steve spoke well of Stotty).

Hank the father seemed more philosopher than ball player although he and Steve had just played pickleball for three hours.

Each was very complimentary of the other's game. Steve had never played pickle just as I haven't-- but when the father, 87, loosened up he got 30 years younger, Steve said.

"I'm just trying to be clinical," Hank said. He asked me why with my varied background I am so intrigued with tennis stroke intricacy that I write about it every day. Together we asked why anybody writes fiction and then he asked how seeing Steve in person compared to reading his persona on line.

I made a try at answering these and other substantial questions. To say that we had a great and complete time in Marcie's See Pizzeria and Sports Lounge would be understatement.

[bottle]

McEnroe-like Backhand

Try holding elbow in so far that it is connected to your body. Later, move it out a little to where it feels more natural and comfortable (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...enterFront.mov).

The idea of this exercise is to teach oneself that first and second moves with the shoulders, backward-downward and forward-upward-to-level are entirely connected to the racket whether the elbow is out a little or not.

This design pre-supposes three-part rather than two-part rhythm. Thank you, Steve, for helping me to understand this. (But you didn't have to say much, did you, just had to have an opinion.)

Note: See where John's mouth opens? That's maximum effort-- precisely when he exhales.

[bottle]

Make Yourself Small

"Make yourself small." I love it. Just the opposite of Cageman's waterfall backhand where your racket head tumbles down first to the inside and then you accelerate to give the ball a high spinny ride.

That's a good shot, too, but I think it takes more time to get off.

[stotty]

Don Budge, the real J. Donald Budge, thought Steve was good looking; so did/does Hope.

The truly great thing about Hope is she is honest and straightforward. This comes across in under a minute. She is also a great conversationist.

What a fascinating meet for you and don_budge. Life is so short. It's wonderful you made it happen instead of hoping one day you might. I think we can say this about many things in life: "better to make things happen than to wait and hope".

I was searching for drop shots played with wooden races which I was convinced weren't played as the are today...locked arm affairs. I had no luck finding drop shots played with wooden rackets, but I did chance upon this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amoPp1-Vtck

Interesting how McEnroe isn't always looking for the outright kill. He is happy his opponent reaches the ball and unable to do anything with it. You get the impression McEnroe likes to watch his opponent loose control of his run and ability to control the ball....and just be there to slot a gimme away. That's cool.

[bottle]

Why?

Steve Navarro's father Hammering Hank asked me why, when there are so many subjects in the world I could fascinate myself with, I choose the intricacies of tennis stroke technique to write about every day.

One part is that I'm interested in how subtleties of language affect motor movement.

For instance, there is a difference between "sling the racket at the ball" and "sling the racket head at the ball."

I'm not different from a multitude of tennis players who spend decades and maybe their whole life trying to perfect a one hand backhand.

Three years, five years? What is the span of time in which the perfection is supposed to occur? And why should I even bother when I play doubles only and have good drive slice, good chop slice, good cross-slice-- sufficient for my doubles needs?

Maybe I just can't believe that a reliable one-hander is as elusive as it has proven to be.

So this week I want to work on a compact McEnroe backswing but keep the hitting shoulder down rather than return it to level like Mac.

The grip: composite and laid back/up to start-- what I use for my slice.

But I'm going to send the racket out under the low shoulder toward side fence as hips straighten the arm. I'm going to "feel for the ball."

Then I'm going to blast from clenching shoulderblades and rolling racket and an almost noisy prolonged exhalation. Is there still anything subtle in here? Yes. The wrist will gradually straighten. The racket tip, having made so much effort to get around fast, will seem to temporize to stay for longer on the ball.

[bottle]

Racket Head Momentum in Serve

Ball on string told me that when I inhaled followed by an arch with all of this happening as racket went up for the second time, I was breaking momentum of the racket head. Moral: Start filling lungs earlier preparatory to the big inflated cheeks exhalation. Find combination of inhalation and arching that doesn't mess with the momentum of ball at the end of racket length cord.

[bottle]

Speculation as Ever: More Speculation, Folks: Speculate for a More Creative T-World

My favorite tennis writer, John M. Barnaby, always has advocated an opening out of the strings as they pass by the right foot. By "always" I mean that this advice in two different books never changes if I re-read them.

I'm thinking that tennis writers in general don't write enough about the relationship between inhalation and arching the back. One could try separating shoulders early-- way early-- as one way of opening out the strings by right foot.

Then the feeling could arise that one was shaping a bag before one inflated it-- a reversal of previous way of thinking about this subject.

Anyway, I tried some serves this morning after feeding a pointer dog on the other side of town at the request of her absent owners. Momentum of racket head didn't seem to break and I think I was getting some pretty good serves, but will find out pretty soon through human involvement on the other side of the net.

For a while I'm just going to be conscious of the exhalation part of my serve.

Here's how I got my Christmas shopping done. Through the assistance of these two of my partner Hope's four granddaughters.

[bottle]

FHV in a New System

Is based on that of John McEnroe. Don't know why didn't do this before. The racket, low and cheated over, seems designed for BHV. Just raise the racket to hit one.

Now comes the challenge of the FHV which seems too distant from the preparation to be quick enough to be effective.

Just think of a tomahawk. The racket does down and up now instead of straight across from the middle of possibilities. If you do this kill action rather than think about it you realize on some unconscious level you are hitting a unique form of volley-smash that is more closely related to the down-and-up in a service motion than to the straight back racket of an ordinary smash.

The down of down-and-up is accomplished with both hands on the racket.

The up of down-and-up is accomplished with soloing racket.

If one is early enough one can wait with strings still as in dead stick in billiards. The most accurate volleys always seem to have the word "wait" built into them.

But if one is late getting to one's FHV but nevertheless does succeed in getting there, one probably will hit the ball harder than usual because of the new tomahawk motion that relies less on speed of the oncoming ball to generate quality put-away (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...MacFHVRear.mov). In this one the time/action ratio within the "backswing" seems about 1 with both hands to take the racket down compared to 5 for individual snaking out and up of the arm to reach the ball.

[bottle]

Down-and-Up McEnroes

Ground strokes go down and up.

Volleys go down and up.

Serves go down and up.

Overheads go down and up (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...evelFront1.mov).

I'm glad JM beat all those people who had upside down strokes. They deserved it.

[bottle]

Isolation in Senior Doubles

Steve-- don_budge-- is about to return to his wife's horse-breeding farm in Sweden. We were going to hit for an hour at East Side Tennis, Detroit. But then something happened even worse than the two feet of snow I predicted: ice.

Since Steve, more than an hour away, was bringing his father and step-mother and I Hope to watch, and the father was ailing somewhat, and nobody likes ice we thought it best to cancel but I took the court time anyway and did self-feed preparatory to doubles tomorrow.

One of the many subjects that Steve and I discussed on the phone was what to do when you get isolated in doubles.

Your opponents won't hit to you, which could be a compliment, but it makes Steve mad and it makes me mad.

The three players just hit the ball to each other with a succession of towering lobs included. They jockey, Steve pointed out, until they get a perfect angle with which to hit at you and make you look like a chump.

I already knew that Steve has a very good mind but I liked this explanation very much, certainly better than my own which was that I have so much time to think that I overthink and therefore miss the shot when it finally comes.

So what to do in the case of either explanation?

Steve's solution is not to play doubles but rather singles as a better adjunct to his contracted 25 hours (or was it 29?) of teaching tennis in central Sweden each week.

In mixed doubles, he suggested, the same problem can become even worse.

One could always find a very, very good doubles partner, I suppose, which might cause the opponents to hit to you. Or one could pretend to be young and poach like a madman. Think I'll try that one. So what if we lose but maybe we won't.

[don_budge]

The Razor's Edge...W. Somerset Maughm

So what to do in the case of either explanation?

That's right bottle...aka John Escher. Life is merely a game of connecting the dots and I sure am glad that we connected.

The ice storm came as predicted and life being what it is...fragile...it's wise to avoid making foolish decisions. Driving all of the way to the Eastside Tennis Club would have been great to actually see what it is that you are writing about in your descriptive posts but we chose the conservative way out...we went to watch a movie instead. Seeing as I have not been to an American movie theater in ten years I left the decision to see "The Danish Girl" up to my father's wife. I just went along for the ride. It's always my own peculiar version in my "Journey to the End of the Night".

"The Danish Girl" was a superb movie of choice seeing as it has the same Scandinavian roots that I have been assimilated into for the past ten years, only it takes place nearly a century ago. It is the story of the first attempted operation to transition a man into a woman...the first transsexual. Or is it transgender? Never mind about being politically correct...the Donald is setting all of that straight. Or is he? Just what the hell is he doing anyways?

It was a superb movie on different levels. A wonderful choice considering the liberal LBGT agenda that is sweeping mankind. The story begins in Copenhagen as a young married couple of artists begin their journey unwittingly as the successful husband artist discovers that he likes to dress up in lacey nothings and underthings...in woman's clothing. The wife as a consequence becomes more successful than the husband as an artist as she achieves her unparalleled success by painting portaits of her husband transitioning into a woman. At first it is only in the clothes that satisfies him but he eventually succumbs to a longing that is much deeper than "skin deep".

Bing...bang...bye. There go the bits and pieces that make him a man and he survives the first operation that renders him a virtual eunuch. He perhaps gets a little over anxious to become a woman and he undergoes the second operation a tad prematurely that would have given him the flower that he had always longed for deep down inside...he wanted to have a vagina. He dies after this operation but in a dream he is a baby and his mommy calls him by his "lady name"...Lily. By coming full circle he fulfills his dream...by dying. The ultimate irony.

The movie struck a couple of chords. My father was particularly moved as was his wife. The acting was actually wonderful and the only casting change I may have suggested was Nicolas Cage as the supporting actor who was the childhood friend of the man who had the soul of a woman trapped inside of him. The scenes from Denmark and Paris were beautiful and the performance by the man\woman was particularly moving. The woman was every bit as convincing as the man transitioning was.

Interesting enough...I think that my father and his wife were particularly surprised in my assessment of the film as I launched into a soliloquy...about an experience I had in a previous life in San Francisco. It was a show done by transvestites. After witnessing this spectacle I was always convinced that these creatures knew more about women that any other "normal" man...any other straight man. From the make up to the dressing up...these guys were in touch with their feminine sides inside and out. You didn't think I was that sensitive did you? Hope knows though...she correctly diagnosed me as a man of the world bypassing the words "libertard" and "conservatard".

But I do regret not having that hit with bottle...we did have a wonderful discussion about writing about tennis. I won't bore you with the details...which were actually anything but boring. All I can say is John is the kind of man you would be lucky to call a friend. His significant other...Hope, obviously has good taste.

I began this trip reading "The Razor's Edge" for the third or fourth time. As I finished reading it I struck up a conversation with the gentleman sitting next to me on the flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Chicago. He was an Indian man...he had flown on an eleven hour flight to Germany before getting on the nine hour jaunt to Chicago...the main character's hometown in Somerset's brilliant novel. He was a vegetarian and a surgeon...we talked about Hinduism for hours...seven miles high. A very surreal experience as the turbulence bounced us around in the air.

He spoke of the balance of the good and evil that resides in all of us and he spoke of our struggle trying to evolve to a higher level. This trip has really been "a trip"...a real journey. Meeting Escher and his Hope were a couple of dots...significant dots. One that I am thankful for.

[klacr]

Glad to hear that don_budge and bottle met. It's a powerful connection. I met gzhpcu this past summer. What a great experience! Always fascinating to go from the text on the forum to meeting the actual person.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[bottle]

Isn't it amazing. How amazing I began to realize this summer when I met "Stotty." He is a guy that really preserves his handle. I know who don-budge is and who bottle is and who klacr, tennis-chiro, Phil etc. are. I know Stotty's real name too but make sure to preserve his moniker because that is the way he wants it.

[bottle]

Another Strategy: Talk to Them

Here comes the big anti-climax as in a symphony by Anton Bruckner. Maybe anti-climax is where things end up. You get better if you keep trying but you've never gotten better. But if you think mistakenly that you are "there" watch out for what happens next.

I won't give up my doubles league, so I am considering negotiation with any order of the three enemies of mine who are always on the court.

"Isolation tennis!" I shall cry as the first lob towers to within six inches of the indoor facility roof.

I shall be pretending to be Bobby Riggs and the mockery won't stop there.

"Afraid to hit it to me, eh?-- buk-bukkety-buk."

This will at least shake things up. But first I'll try some mild drifts and madman poaches. Did you know, reader, that a rotorded server ought to have a very good overhead?

"Rotorded," of course, is my neologistic adjective for a player whose physique won't allow him to get his racket tip low enough for a good serve.

That very fact should qualify him for an excellent overhead. He need only pattern it on that of John McEnroe (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...LevelRear1.mov) even though John can make the tip go very low.

Don't point first with elbow and then index finger or use any other schoolmarmish trick but do get opposite hand high and use the down-and-up of your everyday serve and whale away. For a good whale see Louise's shirt in # 2842 .

[bottle]

More on John McEnroe's Volley "Backswings"

So how far out in front does JM hit his forehand volley (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...cFHVSide.mov)? Some people say you ought to hit it by the side of your body.

Way out front.

And does the backswing go back? A backswing has to go back to be a backswing, right? Rather, it goes sideways-- no surprise when you consider that strings were cheated for a backhand volley.

So, does the backswing go forward as well as sideways? Possibly. And then maybe go backward a little? Use the computer's arrow keys if you are interested in questions such as these. Good advice or the best I can do and that even rhymes (keys and these).

As racket goes up it naturally closes: one of many interesting features. McEnroe sure didn't open the strings on this one then or during contact or afterwards. And don't forget his footwork.