A New Year's Serve

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Am Just Getting to Know these Serves

A good opportunity exists, it seems to me, for right leg to rotate one hip over the other rather than one around the other.

At same time the transverse stomach muscles can take the shoulders around in motion made more powerful in that the trailing hip stayed "back."

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Pure Theory (Pre-Trial)

The ingredients or parts (katas) have been worked up. The progression now becomes about where to put what with which.

A huge consolidation has already occurred so that sequential backward hips rotation and backward shoulders rotation are a single rapid count.

One can feel in other words that one is already tossing as hips make their turn although technically speaking that is not true.

But we have the arms performing certain tasks throughout this packed first count. I even suggested that the two forearms bending from the elbows could act together to rake the sky. Although there would be nice symmetry in that, it was just a building block toward more evolved thought.

We could think about what Arnold Palmer, the late golfer, said about his rival Jack Nicklaus. Jack's golf came from his brain, Arnie said, while his, more intuitive, came from the heart.

Untrue of course since Jack's came from both the brain and the heart. Most important, Jack was the better golfer if one examines the cold record.

And we (or I or he or she or it or you) want to become better even if only to solve some specific physical limitation through a simple use of logic, i.e., cerebration or thought or brain.

So why must the two arms bend an equal amount at the same time? Because that would be pretty? Not good enough reason.

Instead, let bending hitting arm bend much more than bending tossing arm-- much more much farther in fact to where elbow twists, which gets racket tip pointing more straight down toward the court even in the case of a player with limited range to his twist of the upper arm since everything is happening farther back on a tilt.

To start forward part of serve now there is nothing to do but straighten arm with triceptic extension from the elbow. This practically defines the notion of speed without heft.

And heft comes next with sequential drive of both legs (back then front) as arm performs ISR or internal shoulder rotation balanced by horizontal shoulders rotation from the gut.

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Crispness, Brevity and Contact Point Seen as Related to Inside Out Structure of one's Volleys

Kill me if I'm being too simple here. My experiential store consists of three sets of mixed doubles. Every volley however was better than usual. Tomorrow these shots may not even be there. So what. Now I know the way.

Elbow on both sides moves slightly away from bod. And then crosses sharply sideways back toward bod a tiny amount to decelerate. The follow-throughs are easy to cut off and stop since all of one's calm energy went into contacting the ball.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk7m...ature=youtu.be).

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Pam

Pam has a supinated or fallen shoulder. She was born that way. But using willpower she can raise the shoulder to a normal position. Should she serve from the raised or dropped position natural for her?

Have Pam serve from both positions to determine which is more effective.

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Terrible Nothing Ball-- Not Today When Played Well but Last Week When Didn't

Noticed a flaw in my game, viz., my dealing with a terrible nothing ball in which I let the ball play me.

That to my mind is a hovering sinking ball not high enough to smash but not low enough for delivery of a normal stroke.

Various replies have been seen, experienced or read about.

Kneel down on court to simulate smashing a higher ball. No thanks. Knee replacements don't like to be knelt upon.

Hit a swinging volley. Well, one way or another YOU must be the person to supply some force.

When you think about it, pretty normal stroke mechanics require contact farther away from bod in dealing with a high ball.

So I'm for throwing out everything I ever learned in favor of a new invention, a three-quarter hybrid smack.

Some players, it would seem, have extremely high forehand loops in which arm and racket point at the sky.

These persons can just cut off bottom of loop and smack the ball level.

But why waste so much effort for lower ball? Lower loops or no loop for lower balls.

Then when one sees a terrible nothing blooping one's way, one can point racket at sky, keeping arm bent so that contact won't be far away.

How bent the arm? Anything from a lot to about 90 degrees. Racket tip then can drop a little (arm at less than 90 degrees at contact or right on 90 degrees.

If one then cranks upper arm (internal shoulder rotation or ISR) the forearm can scythe around with force. Followed by elbow leaving the barn to finish this flat, topspun or backspun shot.

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Ground Bound Forehands With Better Recovery

I've been hitting some powerful forehands recently but resulting in extra steps that have to be viewed as stupid.

A little replacement of rear foot slightly to the side? Okay. But any more momentum catching footwork after that? Lunacy.

We want to get back to the middle, right? Or to wherever we want to go.

To this end I propose some forward rotation of the hips to lower rear shoulder but then let those shoulders take over.

This will keep your feet flat in the middle of the stroke as shoulders catch up to hips. Shoulders can then pass and pull hips to raise back heel up in a nice golfy rather than goofy follow-though.

With chaotic feet and greater hips violence saved for special occasions.

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More Awareness and Use of Variation in Racket Pitch at Address

Kill me if you must. I fully realize, readers, that some of you cannot stand my rumination.

Nevertheless, I am intensely interested in how far reason and invention can take one in tennis regardless of age, athleticism and knee replacement.

My favorite baseball pitcher ever-- the greatest of all time in the view not just of me-- is Satchel Paige.

He is known not just for discrimination against and giving a name to each of his numerous pitches, but for throwing from a variety of arm positions.

Well, one's arm position behind one's back is going to change with any change of pitch at service address.

For one's elbow will only straighten in one direction.

Paul Metzler of Australia wrote that he kept palm faced down for a feeling of nifty control but opened racket out for power and pace.

Me, I wouldn't go that far. I think there are all kinds of surprises at both ends of this spectrum and in between, so I advise any listener to perform his or her own experiments.

The lesson here, to repeat, is more variation in pitch at address. From second to second, minute to minute and day to day.

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English Teacher Tennis Monster

He honed his English teaching skills in the nation's prisons, elementary schools, high schools, state colleges, governor's schools for gifted kids in the arts, private and public institutions except for charter schools, not even the Agassis' one in Las Vegas.

The idea was to help people get jobs, fulfill their dreams, learn to communicate, get into graduate school, read and write.

And then through the slip of a gene, he turned rogue, no longer using his English teaching skills for the public good but rather to denigrate those tennis teaching pros who displeased him.

No one knew which tennis teacher the English teacher would attack next.

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During Serve: Ripple Effect in 50-50 Arm Extension

We start from the premise of the two halves of the arm being clenched together no matter for how brief a micro-second.

First half of extension then feels like a curve ball being pitched straight up at the sky. The elbow turns first, clockwise if you are right-handed. The forearm turns next (but elbow could still be turning-- who knows?). Twisting energy thus ripples from humerus up to hand, in techno-speak from ESR (external shoulder rotation) to last instant hand turn.

Second half of extension then feels like a screwball being pitched straight up at the sky. (Curveballs and screwballs are baseball language.) The elbow turns first, counter-clockwise if you are right-handed (ISR or internal shoulder rotation). Forearm turns the hand next with whole arm almost surely continuing its twist, too. (The forearm part is "pronation" as strictly defined by the sport scientists.)

A straight line or already started power cord can tauten running up rear leg and back edge of bod for this "second half" of the extension.

It is a sunny warm February day, a good time to try all this for first time in one's life. Once down at the park one probably should not go too fast to make a lot of time in each attempted serve for so much to take place.

If positive results are not immediately perceived, I plan to try 2/3 curveball, 1/3 screwball instead of the 50-50 separation just outlined.

The Doug King videos are great on this stuff, with different explanations existing in different parts of the treasure trove. The subject is complex enough that we should seek different viewpoints even if from the same man on different days, right, reader? Unless we seek the easy answers that never exist in tennis rather than self-directed slow progression or evolution.

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Promising. I like the way that rear leg push can start with first half of arm extension. Then push on ball can come from upper bod in second half.

Okay, that's bod. But what about the new stuff arm is doing? Well, turning wrist out at end of first half extension is not the same as using up wrist action then in some kind of a snap. No the racket tip stays down relative to hand giving you more to work with during PUSH.

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More Double Ending Alongside of Bod; also, The Preferred Tommy Haas Step-out

More figure-eighting on rear fence side of bod.

More feeling of hand going back toward rear fence as it comes out of the figure eight as if to catch the ball behind you as you glide forward.

More feeling of catch and fling from deep.

More customization of arm and wrist roll. Just a bit of wrist straightening to accompany the latter, with this to occur as you come out of the figure eight.

One hand backhands fail, it is said, because the player does not properly "turn the corner." A synonym for that expression is "squaring up."

All this discussion refers to a single backhand which surprised everybody the other day including myself. Is there repeatability here? Youth wants to know.

Now we proceed to the Tommy Haas preferred step-out. Is it really preferred? My guess is that it is.

Here's a more conventional step-out (https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...ningFront1.mov).

Here's the preferred one (https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...nterFront1.mov). Notice how Tommy Haas only finishes turning his rear foot out (splays it) after a rock-step as in foxtrot or jitterbug (swing).

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Motion Dependence to Complete Wind-up

I'm cooking. But I'm not a professional chef. This dish could taste awful or wonderful.

Can't see why motion dependence isn't true in any good serve.

In this one, I got to the point where ball was breaking in the two desired directions but not with high enough bound.

But if curveball-screwball sequence was a productive idea, why not reverse the order of elbow twist and forearm twist in first half of the arm extension?

That way racket head momentum ("speed without heft") could help cock (twist) humerus.

But reversing elbow twist could still precede forearm twist in second half of the extension.

Change of direction would then be achieved only from the belts driving (twisting) the upper arm.

The design idea is based on the Brian Gordon animation in which circular arrows pointing in opposite direction turn different colors to illustrate his pre-load principle.

The curveball forearm action ought to begin before arm extension but continue during this initial arm extension for this to work.

Old logic: elbow twist followed by elbow twist and forearm twist and fingers loosening in first half of arm extension.

New logic: forearm twist followed by continued forearm twist so that racket tip pulls humerus into a backhand or downward twist that already is trying to go the other way.

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Report on the Special Motion Dependent Experiment

It worked but perhaps was mediocre or if not that then was no more promising than the curveball, screwball sequence adopted just before. In that one the forearm turns out at upper end of first half of arm extension. It's almost a snap. I don't know exactly why it works but it seems to work, and anyway, if you have invested in two different methods and one is no better than the other you may as well go with the one that is more familiar. One should like the rhythm too of last moment turning out of forearm-- twice. Elbow turns then elbow and forearm. Happens in one direction during first half of arm extension. Happens in the opposite direction during second half of arm extension.

Once one is accustomed to this throwing pattern, one can use it in new experiments, e.g., 60-40 curveball to screwball or sliding under ball more during the integrated toss or programming in loosening and firming of the fingers.

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1-2-3 Let's Fall in Love

1) Windup and toss while sliding under ball.

2) Straighten toss arm while bending rear leg a bit more.

3) Drive off rear leg to start the serve. Continue to channel all energy upward by driving off the front leg. Stay closed in hips. Stay closed in shoulders. That prescription would be for second serves, kicks and slices. For flat serve keep same end over end idea for hips but open shoulders from gut.

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Service: A More Pared Down Use of Bend in Both Arms

I've been here before. But the more stay-closed form of recent serves creates a new situation in which some past striving for simplicity may at last come to fruit.

One thing is for sure: If tossing arm is bent from the start and maintains that bend the whole way to the finish, whatever independent movement of that arm there is will be accomplished from the shoulder.

Hitting arm meanwhile will carry a similar bend until start of the throw.

The big contrast now will occur between independence of toss arm and dependence of hit arm.

Hit arm will go back (that's independence) but get dependent as shoulders take the racket down.

Toss arm will start up (that's independence) and cross over head (that's still independence).

Toss arm will hold briefly before resuming its independence.

Rhythm 1-2-3: Toss, Extra Bend of Rear Leg, Serve.

Note: Ice cream cone hold of the ball is seen here as essential ingredient.