A New Year's Serve

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Strange Numbers

# 1700, 2222, 38000

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ATP Style FH

Sweep backward (from the shoulder). Sweep forward (from the shoulder). Do all the rest of it, too, of course.

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One-Handed Realm

Everything could have been transformed by the time one has mastered the concept of double-roll.

Had success in play yesterday with consistent backhand drives but a few of them carried unwanted sidespin.

To get outside of ball every time, I think I'll put racket way out to the side at the start today.

Hips will straighten arm its last little bit and simultaneously roll racket tip down. Clenching of shoulderblades will centripetalate the racket already rolling the other way to put the strings on the ball-- and I still won't have used any arm-- not really.

Up (and forward) then with arm then bend it at elbow for comfortable finish out to the side.

You're supposed to shorten your strokes as you get older. Well, this could be one way.

But there definitely could not be any good reason to abandon a very consistent shot starting from the inside-- especially since it, too, is pretty short thanks to its double roll which keeps the elbow in.

If encountering unwanted sidespin, slow down the forward roll and make as if to hit the ball on the INSIDE.

Funny how often opposites can work in tennis if you have faith in them before you discover them.

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Yup, ball just curls over.

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Toward More Power

It must be admitted, in this one, that the body breathes down while the ball breathes up. Admitting stuff in tennis, however, should be no big deal.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/modern_legends/borisbecker/borisbecker_serve/bb_2nd_serve/bb_2nd_serve.html?BB2ndSDeuceCourtLevelRear1.mov

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I Still Like This

Coach Noah:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is53xJBJlYA

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Take heel up on toes of front foot, too. Why? Because I've done that for years. Becker, Sampras and Federer can continue to take their toes up on their heel. Can lead to a nice if miniscule replacing of the toes to the right (in the case of Becker and I don't care about the other two right now).

Building on what one has developed is clearly more important at 73. As is a toss which takes hand down to inside of front thigh rather than to inside of back thigh. (Well, I won't generalize for all 73-year-olds.)

How big a difference will this all make? Better serves because closer to what I've always done. But retaining all significant innovations along with their price of course.

Maybe heel can go up no more than half an inch on the rock back. Then slightly reposition toward net by no more than a quarter-inch on the backward-hips-turn-influenced upward lift of the tossing arm. Then go up more during the double knee bend before extension. It's not as cool as Becker's continuous roll onto the ball of his foot but still should work.

To review: Small lift of heel on toes. Even smaller repositioning of heel toward net. Deep knee bend. Double leg thrust combined with large hips turn forward, i.e., a blended spiral.

I also like saving double knee compression for curved descent of the tossed ball. Body and ball breathe together. That is VERY cool.

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So Long, Boris!

Love everything about your serve except the toss, Boris. But if I change from your toss to my toss, then my serve is no longer Beckerisch but Escherisch. Sobeit!

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Stay on back foot long enough for a double-clutch whether you do it or not.

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Toss Videos

Here:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/modern_legends/borisbecker/borisbecker_serve/bb_toss/bb_toss.html?BB1stSDeuceTossCourtLevelFront.pct

The last little vertical mini-drop down the back leg sure looks important. You wouldn't want to imitate the slanted path the tossing hand took to get there when you go the other way.

But is there, way beyond mannerism, more significance to this little "double-clutch?" It slows everything down, does it not? Sort of like dead stick in billiards. I don't use dead stick in billiards but might here.

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ONO, Not a Double-Clutch!

This video clearly shows tossing hand dropping to right leg and then performing a double-clutch. Will have to view other videos to see if this is the Beckerisch norm.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/modern_legends/borisbecker/borisbecker_serve/bb_2nd_serve/bb_2nd_serve.html?BB2ndSAdSide2.mov

Double-clutch but only gets to his hoo-hah.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/modern_legends/borisbecker/borisbecker_serve/bb_2nd_serve/bb_2nd_serve.html?BB2ndSAdSide3.mov

Yup, and here's a first serve with double-clutch and hand to rear leg.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/modern_legends/borisbecker/borisbecker_serve/bb_1st_serve/bb_1st_serve.html?BB1stSDeuceSide3.mov

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I Like This One

Can't see why anyone wouldn't try it.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/modern_legends/borisbecker/borisbecker_serve/bb_2nd_serve/bb_2nd_serve.html?BB2ndSAdCourtLevelFront2.mov

Am temporarily at least giving up on the greater whirl of modern shotputters since there's already a lot of that kind of whirl in this serve.

In so doing am becoming more of a slavish imitator of Boris Becker, despite the rotorded shoulder which will never allow anywhere near the depth of his racket drop.

This decision represents the old idea, "You use what you got." You abandon your thoughts of radical revision-- at least temporarily. So, stance a little wider and less turned around, toes up on front heel during initial drop, etc., etc., etc.

A higher toss buys time for the late but rhythmic compression-extension of the legs.

Becker's serve is so easy to understand that even a blind chicken (imitating) may find a kernel of corn.

Caveat: Thrust of front hip toward net can start during toss and continue through leg compression-- that might not be apparent.

The understandability of this serve should be contrasted with Andy Roddick's despite technical similarities the greatest of which is double leg drive.

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Optimism Schmoptimism

At dawn after playing badly:

Self-feed session, Pier Park Courts (3), Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan:

On the distant court farthest over the water: Guy with his shirt off who was using a ball machine to drill poorly designed forehands deep into his lizard brain the other day. He now is playing against his usual opponent and talking too much about handle size.

On the middle court: A couple. She calls her husband's ball out. He mumbles that he couldn't hear the call. She makes a full speech: "From now on I'm going to call every ball and my call will be very clear and very loud."

She keeps her word. Overlooked, perhaps, is the issue of tone. Each time she calls "Out!" she means "Your ball was out by a zillion miles and you're a silly jackass."

Everybody on all three courts knows this to be true.

Me-- meanwhile-- I've got the inside track, the court closest to the skaters' warming building made of nice stone where the fence is rounded into a handy cul de sac to corral any errant Boris Becker serve.

So how's the slice, so uncontrollable yesterday? In self-feed it thunders, looking good here but portending more misses the next time I complete (which will be tomorrow). Waltke's version is slightly easier to hit with only slightly worse result. So "be a hopeless romantic" (my brother's words) and stay with Rosewallian version # 1 from Davis Cup '54, the video? The complication is the skunk tailed preparation followed by hips vs. arm extension (passive) and arm loading backward (active) and arm twisting backward (active). That's two actives and one passive on a single brain impulse on a day so hot that the cops are stationed all over the town to check for melting power lines.

And the ATP Style Forehand: All in, Bottle? Back to turning shoulders while pointing across and pausing them while tapping the dog.

The difference shall be in all notions of reverse action. One CAN do reverse action before the tap. Or after the tap. I tried both. Now: Reverse action right at tap on the theory that downward racket motion creates an anchor against all gross body conniptions to form a stretch in the arm.

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What's This?

Ono, he's doing it the other way.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/modern_legends/borisbecker/borisbecker_serve/bb_2nd_serve/bb_2nd_serve.html?BB2ndSDeuceCourtLevelSide1.mov

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Rear Leg Working Harder

Disagree, reader, if you'd like, but that's what I see right now in this particular video:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/modern_legends/borisbecker/borisbecker_serve/bb_toss/bb_toss.html?BB1stSAdTossSide2.mov

Will all of this help the self-interested me? Maybe. Still not there yet, but the guys I play with ALL have replacements or a typical history of five meniscus tears, and attempts to adjust to all such stuff seem valid and reasonable and maybe even universal.