A New Year's Serve

[stotty]

Don and Frew

Which is better for a recreational player: A serve modeled on Roger Federer (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...ar2_500fps.mp4) or a serve modeled on Don Budge (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...1stSRear.mov)?

I would Don Budge. Interesting the way Budge lowers his tossing arm so little before then ascending upwards to the release point.

Frew Macmillan did much the same and kind of "pushes" the ball up with his tossing arm bent. You can just make all this out at 1:13 on this clip.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOJhthAV8-4

I imported Frew's serve into Analzyr Pro where you can watch it frame by frame...fascinating serve. You can only use a bent arm to toss the ball if you use Frew's tossing technique.

My question of this article is who knocks up the knocker-uppers:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35840393

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Essential historical knowledge and much better than Clocky the rolling alarm clock. We own one but never use it. Hope refused to accept it as a present.

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Three Forehand Orchestration through 100 Hits

All will be struck from a pendulum backswing. Mix them up-- fine.

Backswing: Eighty of them will involve keying within a handbod structure. "handbod" however does not mean replacement by bod of hand. It simply means that hand starts slightly before bod and that enough backward bod momentum therefore remains to load hand for what transpires next.

handbodhandbod: These 80 shots include keying in both directions.

Contact: These 80 shots involve late chiming in of angular body momentum simultaneous with elbow throw up and out and back to take hand to ear. (All of this can be described with the single cartoon word "BAM!")

McEnruefuls (10): Best thought of as a body shot in both directions to create feel and comfort. Very good for low balls but works for most of the levels of bounce I see. Banking of the shoulder is essential to the secret, along with no mondo or flip at all, i.e., you keep a straight wrist.

Federfores (10): The feature that most distinguishes these shots from the BAM! shots is the size of the mondo. The BAM! mondo is a single reactive laying back of wrist. The Federfore adds arm straightening and forearm circling of racket tip from outside to inside for subsequent wipe through great extension with racket returning around opposite shoulder.

These 100 strokes will be a onetime good self-feed. After that, one can renew the orchestration on a base of ten: 8 bam forehands, 1 McEnrueful, 1 Federfore. But for a match there needn't be any rule. One could hit all McEnruefuls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj73yYe3AY8

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Grand Slam Speech

I couldn't have won this Grand Slam if it weren't for you ballboys and ballgirls. In fact, if it weren't for you, there would be no Grand Slams, and the world would go dark from the simultaneous onset of nuclear winter and greenhouse cook-out not to mention the solar eclipse happening just then. Worse, we would have to pick up our own balls. So thank you so much, thank you again.

The Voice of God coming down through the retractable roof: "No, don't thank them. Eat them. It'll teach them not to be such munchkins. Lunch on them. Munch them."

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Steam Shovel or Haul from a Different Fulcrum?

I was going to start off Post # 3018 with the words "Four Forehand Orchestration" but then forgot what the fourth forehand was supposed to be.

Remembered at the park. It is a McEnrueful in which body fulcrum has changed from center to edge.

Visualizing a big steam or gas powered shovel (Bucyrus-Erie maybe) should help one think of butt acting as a counterweight to body swing.

But in semiopen forehands it is not hard to shift fulcrum from spine or body center to outside leg.

Suddenly one has a new shot. And can do a similar shift of fulcrum in the other two forehands or more to explore different ball effects.

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Old-fashioned Serve

now moves to a second stage. The address, so laboriously discovered and practiced on the front foot now gets transferred in toto to the rear foot. I believe I can start a two-second serve from there with no loss of mojo.

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Where From, Mediocrity?

My theory as to the mediocrity of tennis players has less to do with insufficient training methods and more with their refusal to experiment with stroke design.

In my bam forehand, e.g., I was so sure that keying downward before throwing elbow forward and upward was the way to go.

In actual play however I hit the ball short, and this stroke lacked the clean zing that occurred at the outset of this series of forehand experiments, when I hardly moved both hands sideways-- just a bit-- to initiate a late backward body turn.

So today, even though I had already played (one win, one loss, one tie), I drove to the park for unplanned self-feed.

What I found was that if I westernized the grip then started the forward key from low, the key would take the strings upward before the elbow left the stable also to go upward on the same angle.

This shot like any of my self-fed shots at the park was successful, but the only true test ever is actual play.

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A Backswing that is All Arm

We'd like for the research on this new bam forehand to be over, once and for all, wouldn't we? So that we could join the Know Nothing Party (https://www.google.com/search?q=The+...utf-8&oe=utf-8) and tell it like it's not.

The truth however is that you're either wrong or you're partially right and that's how things are going to be forever.

A two arm one arm backswing then, level as can be. The two hands start the racket to the side. The one hand then keys it back. Body turn is integrated in there somewhere. handbodhandbod was only a starting point, a rough guide.

Let's save the 100-foot museum pendulum idea for our McEnrueful, the shot that has bailed us out so many times. And let's talk about feet in this new BAM!

Should we bring left foot over to right foot during two hand phase? That might work if we possess exquisite balance. We then would key racket back. Then key racket forward all with weight on back foot and front foot right there with it as a small outrigger. Finally, we would pivot to replace left foot in semi-open form as if hitting a Steffigraf.

Balance not good enough for that today and right now? Better then to get left foot where we want it-- once-- but up on toes so hips can pivot the heel down late for almost equally good weight transfer.

Note: These changes in orchestration are producing a new shot, a bent arm forehand with full mondo rather than just a simple reactive wrist layback. Getting forearm roll back into the mondo may feel good but leave one with both a short arm and long arm version of the same wiped shot.

Could be good, could be bad. The temptation for a bent arm flat shot keyed in both directions could still exist, but if you want to do that, wouldn't you be better off just hitting a McEnrueful, that awfully good flat big scope big sweep body shot?

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Awful Forehand

Roger Federer rolls his racket backward every time he hits his forehand. What an awful thing to do. Far easier is to change one's grip as if taking a trip out west. This closes the strings for you while sparing you the extra effort of rolling them backward.

Yes, you say (assuming you are are sort of person who says anything), but if you change your grip too often you'll make grip mistakes. That is why we all need a better way of thinking about our grips. The first thing to realize is that your forehand couldn't care less about where on the handle your thumb sits.

This realization frees you up to use your bent thumb as a pointer.

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More Budge on Backhand

All strokes should be in constant evolution. This is the only way they won't become stale. Discovery should not only occur in the shower but when you hit any shot.

The modern paradigm for a one-hander seems a big roll over the ball. Same could be said of too many of the forehands we see. This works on a good day but is a source of ues on a bad day.

I'm back now to early straight arm on my backhand. With thumb still behind the racket. Flying grip change now takes racket to where I can comfortably open it while taking it down behind my back. Arm then rolls racket quickly around. All phases of the shot keep elbow away from bod, but elbow doesn't lead-- it stays back to permit the racket head to do more of the work.

A natural step across followed by forward hips turn is essential to the forward narrative. Since this is still the beginning of a story however the weight is still on the prop foot. As one becomes more adventurous one could try pivoting the hitting step out. A probably wise alternative is keeping toes up (Guga) or keeping heel up to show that weight is still back.

Swing through the ball is when the weight shifts. Because of scapular retraction, the arms go out at same speed. But the long arm also is swinging independent of that shoulderblades clench (different description of the same thing).

Finally, the arm bends a little to relax you. The arm did roll forward early thus getting itself out of the way. The strings if anything are opening rather than closing when they hit the ball.

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Service Backswing through Transition

Shoulders turn then hips catch up. Then hips turn forward as shoulders stay where they are. Make this a stretch. In other words turn shoulders backward although you already did this once before.

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Two Orbits on the Backswing

I hope to have more to say on a Budgian backhand soon but right now want to bring on a cue for the newest of my forehands, viz., create two orbits or perhaps rings of Saturn on the backswing.

The real heresy here comes from Dennis Ralston's advice to start one's ground stroke backswings with hand movement.

So, the hand or rather hands together on the racket, shift whole stick sideways to clear the body. Then the bent arm keys the racket backward as the body turns backward. The body then stops as the arm keys forward with full mondo. Weight transfer meanwhile is delayed until the elbow takes off for contact and return of racket up to one's cheek or neck.

So what is the cue here? A feel of racket keying backward to outside of body turning in same direction. Maybe we should say that one wheel is inside another wheel as both revolve. Or visualize two different satellites in different orbits. However we view this scheme, we ought to understand that by clearing body to start we establish good separation equating to "a longer lever."

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Budgian Backhand Fails Again

The backhand of J. Donald Budge (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...l?DBBHRear.mov) fails in imitation once again. Over the decades I've tried to imitate it 40 different times with long intervals between the attempts to allow the psychic component of such a quixotic act to simmer down.

This shot is considered one of the most natural tennis shots there ever has been. Yeah, natural to J. Donald Budge and his blunderbuss of a racket. His other strokes are considered more studied exactly like mine. Not as good as his backhand but not too bad sometimes either. (In social doubles, won twice, lost once last night but that was close.)

When I say "fails in imitation," I don't mean they fail in self-feed. They fail in the transition from self-feed to actual play. They go over, stay in the court, but are more mediocre (for me) than some of the other one handers I have tried, such as the next one I'll present here.

I return to this one now for my model. I want to give it a good shake over the next three weeks. I see similarity to the Budge in ease and followthrough. There isn't the big rollover of a Wawrinka or Thiem. Less rollover equals more dependability for an old guy like me, and I would argue that more dependable is good at any age (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqpARpkF8WA).

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Simultaneity

So the hand or rather hands together on the racket shift whole stick sideways to clear the body. Then the bent arm keys the racket backward as the body turns backward.

I tend to agree with this guy-- for some reason-- but don't see the need for well-defined sequence in the backswing for this economical shot.

Left hand can start keying the racket with right hand taking over. At same time elbow can go out to side. At same time whole body can turn backward.

One just needs well-defined start and end places. Best to become clear in one's intention the better to blend all detail and get rid of a deeply engrained tennis idea that may come from habit or fashion rather than reason, viz., that body goes first, then hand (whether for a loop, a drop or any other extra action before the forward part of the stroke begins).

I think of a shortstop barehanding a ball and throwing to first in baseball. He doesn't have time to turn his shoulders back then take his hand back before the throw. Everything is blended. If we want to learn from him while keeping the same time frame we are used to, we now get to be more smooth, slow and deliberate in carrying out the admittedly intricate parts of this newly pared down backswing.

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Simplest One-Hand Backhand in the World

I found it on page 22 of FUNDAMENTALS OF TENNIS by Stanley Plagenhoef for which I paid one penny and $3.99 to ship. I bought this book on the forum advice of Phil Picuri (gzhpcu), who considers it one of the strong manuals ever.

Beware of anybody who expresses enthusiasm for anything. The danger is that one won't react but rather make oneself into an indifferent twerp above investigation into why somebody cares so much.

This is how I'll often choose a next book, film or play and not once have regretted this approach. I don't have to like every minute but will at least find the answer to my own question-- why did that person like this thing so much?

More often than not however I'll like the whole thing myself then discover, say, that one of the places where Stanley Plagenhoef coached was Wesleyan University where my partner Hope's father was a professor of English and where my father, through publishing, once became a part-time member of the faculty as a writing teacher assisting the social philosopher Norman O. Brown in the teaching of humanities to freshmen who needed somebody to urge them to simplify.

When I took FUNDAMENTALS, Prentice-Hall, out of its wrapper and opened its pages whether by mysticism or luck, it was to Plagenhoef's own drawings on 22, 23 and 24, all of a topspin backhand far simpler than that of Henin, Mauresmo, Wawrinka, Federer or Thiem, and, reader, you are free to say "But not as good" to which I reply "So what if it's workable and more people can do it?"

One of these days I hope to put these 11 drawings up here despite the fact that, based on previous experience with the TP attachment counter, very few people will look at them. Those few however will be like Tina Turner's review of a current boyfriend in the carefully chosen song words "better than all the rest."

In the meantime however-- before I get to the scanner at the library-- let me use words to say that the backhand in mind entails making a little cage to one side with one's two symmetrical bent elbows more or less parallel to the sidelines. From there one will start forward hips rotation even before one steps out and delay full weight transfer by making sure to first set down heel or toes before "crossing the bridge."

"The forward swing has leveled off from a short backswing," Plagenhoef explains in drawing # 5 . The arm at that point will be straight. And the forward arm swing will include roll both before and after contact to keep strings square and get racket around in time and make tip follow the ball before it goes up at which time weight returns to the back foot.

This already is a lot of detail with more to come along with the excellent drawings and their captions. A salient feature however in both this and other backhands examined by Plagenhoef is racket pointing at net before it goes up and around.

For shots that carry more topspin, I'd say, the rise starts sooner and finishes higher. Also, the idea that one can put toes rather than heel down first is my own. When Dennis Ralston expressed it in written form he probably was referring to a delayed weight shift forehand, and I'm telling you from personal trial that this can be every bit as effective as something else. So far, on backhand side, I have examined toes-down-first only in self-feed and therefore reserve judgment.