A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Re "Mondo" and "Flip"

Actually, both terms, which refer to the same forehand thing, came from the same person.

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Don Budge: Watch his Front Shoulder

Is it perfectly level throughout or does it lower-- anywhere? And if so, where?

Conclusion, from the two main videos: The shoulders are level but on the side of being sloped down a little. They hold their setting throughout the running backswing and contact.

The very slight cocking, i.e., raising of the racket tip, comes therefore from arms, not from a sudden sloping in the upper body.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/golden_legends/donbudge/donbudge_sa.html?DBBHRear.mov

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/golden_legends/donbudge/donbudge_sa.html?DBBHSide.mov

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Back Off From Too Much Concept

The concept: A flying grip change in which you (I) relax the fingers of the right hand while pulling back with the left while pushing forward with the right.

That gets racket tip WAY AROUND before the running backswing even gets underway.

But note in the following video-- maybe the best portrayal of a one-handed backhand ever-- exactly where Don Budge has his racket tip at the exact microsecond that the video begins.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/golden_legends/donbudge/donbudge_sa.html?DBBHSide.mov

We didn't get to see how racket got there, but the fact is, it got there. So we can fill in the blank ourselves.

Here, in my view, is a compromise between a purely natural takeback and the extra racket turn that a flying grip change provides.

Budge himself was very proud of how natural his whole backhand was. He didn't believe that it necessarily was best on the planet but did assert that it was perhaps the most natural.

Natural, I say, because of some enabling cleverness that no one talks about.

Fair to ask is whether Don Budge then raises racket tip the way that Gasquet or Federer does and the answer is yes, but to a far lower height than either.

The height is sufficient, however, to create a very level swing from the shoulder once the fist has worked passively down.

[bottle]

Droid

Still to try more often in play: Gradual depression of the wrist as the racket closing from forearm economically prepares to hit a forehand more like U.S. Open Doubles champion Radek Stepanek:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/radek_stepanek/rs_forehand/rs_fh_arm_action/rs_fh_arm_action.html?RSFHWideArmActionFront1_Tennisplayer440.mov

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/radek_stepanek/rs_forehand/rs_fh_arm_action/rs_fh_arm_action.html?RSFHWideArmActionRear5_Tennisplayer440.mov

That way you (I) can cut mondo in half to make it "less harsh than Roger's" and resort to "backward roll only" to help load the actions that come next.

After which, like Stepanek, one can whip out one's cell phone and cry, "Hello, darling, I'll be home soon!"

A week later: In the rear view video one can clearly see that Radek got his wrist laid back early, maybe even in waiting position for all I know. One less thing to do. No, the following video shows straight wrist in waiting position. Early wrist layback is what we're talking about then.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/radek_stepanek/rs_forehand/rs_fh_arm_action/rs_fh_arm_action.html?RSFHRunningArmActionFront1_Tennisplayer440.mov

[bottle]

Reader, I Announce My Stygian Backhand: Are You Scared?

The announcement (telegraph) comes with a flying grip change in which you (I) relax the fingers of the right hand while pulling back with the left while pushing forward with the right.

Now the three other doubles players know that John Escher is about to hit his Stygian backhand rather than his usual slice. I might go with deception, I once thought, combined with the clean contact of a modified skunk tail but decided on level intimidation instead.

So the telegraphed shot has to be very good to live up to its announced potential. I imagine an attempted volley in reply flying into the backstop behind me.

Well, palm is down on top of the handle. I'm holding a roll of quarters ready to bonk with either end.

A Stygian backhand of course is a backhand in which one communes with souls on the other side of the River Styx, namely with those who have tried and failed to master the Budgian backhand.

We'll only get five minutes, so I figure on three with Molly and two with Frank. I'll peel off one of the quarters and press it down into the palm of Charon the oarsman right now. He'll take us through the mist.

Charon: Molly and Frank are waiting for you on the opposite shore. But you only get five minutes. Clear? Five minutes and two seconds and you have to stay.

One can only see water if one looks straight down beneath the threshing oars. The current is fierce. There are smooth puddles of emerald green where the water is welling up and next to them nasty black holes in which water drains down.

And here they are. I'm glad they're wearing tennis clothes rather than long robes.

Charon to me: Sit. You have to stay in the boat!

I start to talk.

Molly: Well, that might work. But don't you need a bigger loop to generate sufficient racket head speed?

Frank: I got hung up on turning and timing from a forehand grip. You wouldn't believe all the trouble I had changing to eastern backhand behind me. First I'd lift the head. Then I'd relax the fingers of the left hand and slide my right hand up to graze it. Then I'd change the grip. Too slow. That was never going to work.

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Too Many Discoveries at Once: Worry or Not?

Not. Here in Tweakcave City we expect breakthroughs, setbacks and treading water.

Both forehands of #1801 work well from self feed. But a version of B) discovered out on the court holds special promise. Instead of a turtle shell racket trajectory with strings closing both during the upward and downward legs of a parabola, they can close only during upward phase. Think of a high topspin-laden line drive that suddenly swoops to hit the baseline. Or a 40-mile-long mountain fin with an abrupt cliff at one end. High point of the racket preparation can happen even behind the place where the two hands separate. Bent arm with straight wrist can have closed the strings from forearm only. Perfectly prepared pitch will produce, after easy and uncluttered "patting of the dog," at least in some cases, racket length tilted down toward side fence and front edge also tilted so that any canapes would fall off toward right edge of the net.

In Stygian or Budgian backhand, flying grip change has taken on a new function: No longer to get racket back as far and fast as possible but rather to push racket butt forward even as the strings flip back. This transforms racket end into a siting device to detect desired point of contact. This also lengthens and unclutters sensuous palm down bonk and gets arm out from body a little more to integrate (with all racket motion) footwork and linear weight transfer and removal of slack.

My rear foot shotput style serve is combining with my baseball pitch serve. Breakthrough lies in transforming continuous palm down racket into open racket structure mid-serve in the case of slice and topspin variations.

A strict adherence to curveball grip in baseball along with formula driven followthroughs helps in developing this whole service package since thumb approximates the direction of racket length. Thumb points at side fence for slice, at rear fence for flat, at front fence for topspin.

Is this "rule of thumb" a perfectly accurate directive? Of court not. But "rule of thumb" means approximate, e.g., my new finish for a topspin serve is with thumb pointing across the net at left fence post of a lonely mountaintop tennis court. And with hand a foot or more out front so as to avoid hitting right side of right-hander's left knee. (But if you have a large bruise there you can rest assured that you are on the right track.)

It's a lot to think and talk about all at once. The big alternative is between a Beckerish left leg off the court (in place or kicking back) or a braced left leg (slightly bent with foot now flat-- solid, in other words) as in drawing # five of the Don Budge serve.

My forward serves, as I suggested, all start with back leg coil. Balance and body weight are maintained on back foot for a longer time than in most other methods including Don Budge to the best of my knowledge.

For a hard serve I don't let bottom fingers push out but keep palm down to form a natural loop. For the spin serves I open the palm out mid-serve and relax all fingers except for thumb and middle to form a pivot point ring to add to lowness of racket tip.

Hips are conscious. Shoulders are unconscious. And that's how it is today.

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Milkweed Pats Her Forehead

By far the most notable feature in these slow motion videos (of forehands) is the racket descending like milkweed.

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

By contrast, the subsequent spearing or tugging forward with racket butt is short and quick.

We stroke designers are supposed to learn the difference between some universal and a personal tic.

I don't know how to do this other than by trial, error, and a lot of reflection.

In the successive forehands in this video, I can't see the advantage of prying the racket up like Roger, then closing it, then letting it descend like milkweed.

(Roger Federer: "There shouldn't be another me.")

I wish to keep the milkweed part although I've had city boy readers before who didn't know what milkweed is. They should come to Detroit. It's floating around right in the middle of the city.

I simply object here to the notion of lifting the racket to an excessively open position before closing it. What is the sense in that?

Why not gradually close the racket with opposite hand as you pry it up?

Well, you might or might not get wrist depressed too soon if you think that would be a mistake.

Note: Are "racket descending like milkweed" and "patting the dog" the same thing? Why not? In either case, gentleness is implied, i.e., a motion of simple ease.

The real trick may be in establishing Roger's "double tilt" of racket at bottom of the pat in the microsecond before racket inverts (i.e., "mondoes" or "flips"). And this could possibly be done (successfully?) in different ways. I'll try:

A) Close the racket while depressing the wrist as I bring the tip up.

B) In a more shallow path take racket up and down more toward side fence closing strings the whole way.

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Possum Drags Flapping Chicken Into Its Grave

Let's bring these forehands over here in the botcave where we can better dissect them.

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

Never mind that good doubles is scheduled in the next two hours on the good courts out over the waters of Lake St. Clair.

I won't tell my partner. He'd be furious. As would any professional coach if working with me right now. "The shot you practiced is the shot you play with," Stan Smith said.

Do you really think, Escher, this situation has not arisen in the history of tennis?

The imagination, uncaring, races ahead.

Note how "patting the dog" has replaced "tapping the dog" once again. Tapping the dog could have implied the hard racket butt.

But it is the soft palm that pats down. And with it the racket tip, down down like milkweed. "Force the palm down." Yes, but force the left side of the palm (the thumb) around or down first, which is pronation, all in the forearm, to close the racket. And then the right side of the palm (the pinkie) asserts itself, again with perfect intention and confidence during the mondo to open the racket. Whacchu gonna call that? Ghostbusters? Supination of the forearm? Chicken soup?

Well, save me the wishbone.

Note how the racket is pretty much at the same level at bottom of pat and at inversion into the mondo.

Note how racket pries up on one line toward back fence and then plunges down on another line partially toward side fence.

Racket prepares to outside in other words, but not too soon, does so on pat.

Certainly, the elbow doesn't roll in this phase of the cycle. Or nudge. That was a workable idea but these are nudgeless forehands.

[bottle]

Tweak Tweak But Don't Do Tweets

If we are going to be fierce like the late Nora Ephron or Dorothy Parker a couple generations before, we'll need to challenge every statement, especially any of our own. Is a Federfore and an ATP Forehand III the exact same thing?

Well, I turned on the Tennis Channel and there was Guillermo Garcia-Lopez doing well in St. Petersburg, Russia.

And he appeared to have an ATP Forehand III. It looked like Roger Federer but more specifically like Roger's forehand service return and was more compact than one of Roger's ordinary forehands.

Assuming I'm right about this, let's tweak our forehands to be more compact and shorter on the takeback, reader, a bit more extended at the elbow to take racket to outer edge of the slot.

Moreover, how about envisioning two occurrences before they happen-- where ball will be at contact and where racket head should start behind it? And project an imaginary line through these two points (about to become real) directly to the target.

At tapping the dog racket head will still be on this line since arm will have straightened slightly to the outside even as racket went slightly down to the inside. (The two actions will cancel each other out.)

At mondo the racket head will bend and roll slightly to inside of ball to help produce an all-desirable inside-out swing.

[bottle]

Reality vs. Expectation

One can perhaps hit Don Budge backhands in self feed all day long, and then when hitting against a good player suddenly feel this genre of shot coming apart at the seams.

I'm confident that my present grip change is different from anything that Don Budge ever did (maybe even waiting sometime with a backhand grip), but my goal is not imitation of small detail but rather my own equivalent of what was obviously his very great "feel."

A small breakthrough started when I began to emphasize a palm-down "bonk" of fist with the spearing racket butt enclosed.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/golden_legends/donbudge/donbudge_sa.html?DBBHRear.mov

But where exactly should one (I) begin the palm-down stuff?

About a foot into flying grip change, I suspect. That's much shorter flying grip change than is possible. For if one wants, one can use left hand as agent to yank the racket as far as it can go-- something I now wish not to do.

So-- about a foot for flying grip change, then the understanding that both hands will continue the takeback, and as I have said before, let shoulders still be turning back as final foot steps out, with that foot NOT splayed as in other one-hand topspin or mild topspin systems.

Somebody might choose less splay for intellectual reasons of tennis philosophy or design, or, something genetic might be involved. A person born pigeon-toed might be less inclined, a wall-footed person more inclined to splay. And slightly pigeon-toed am I.

To return to my main point: For maximum palm down bonk "feel," shift hand function soon in the stroke.

Shift in hand function is a subject broached in the Talbert and Old materials on the Don Budge backhand.

I don't want to change hand function the way he did, especially if he ever held on to a forehand grip and only changed to backhand grip behind himself.

But I wish to do it nevertheless in my quest for more "feel."

After the approximate one or two foot flying grip change both hands will continue to take the racket around body on bent arm but the palm down right hand will do nine tenths of the work.

Here would be a cue to increase confidence (and with it speed and ease). Left hand, both hands, right hand.

[stotty]

"piqued" unless the person is an illiterate-- a distinct possibility.

Well, that's cleared that one up.

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"piqued" unless the person is an illiterate-- a distinct possibility.

[stotty]

American English

An educationist is a person who makes generalities about how people learn. An educator could be an educationist or not. A teacher is closer to the action and the only hope therefore for wisdom that could be imparted to others. Worst is the politician, who gave up all claim to honesty about education or self-education the moment he chose his job.

Whilst on the subject...

I see a lot Americans on the forum sometimes use the word "peaked" as in "the shot peaked my interest". Over the pond we spell this word as "piqued".

Is "peaked" by chance just being misspelt on the forum or do Americans spell "piqued" as "peaked".

Just curious...

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Educationist, Defined

An educationist is a person who makes generalities about how people learn. An educator could be an educationist or not. A teacher is closer to the action and the only hope therefore for wisdom that could be imparted to others. Worst is the politician, who gave up all claim to honesty about education or self-education the moment he chose his job.

[bottle]

Why I Think This Is A Great Shot

Because you don't pull shoulders around with opposite hand on racket the way you do in your Federfore. That is a very sensible thing to do but a bit mechanical and even robotic.

Going immediately down and up with both arms as you organically fly to the ball encourages great balance for a tall person or anyone else.

This gradual flapping of wings combined with a very full though gradual backward turn of the shoulders just concludes as you set up to hit the ball.

Done right, it is a subtle and graceful dance move, and I am sure one can hit this shot off of either leg.