A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Grigor's Forehand Seen Easier to Imitate than Roger's

The term "Baby Fed" has misled us. What Grigor Dimitrov does at the top of his forehand is very different from the convoluted arm twist of Roger Federer.

Grigor does twist his arm but before the forward part of his stroke.

This way his arm lowering, which blends into his mondo, operates much more in the sideways dimension.

Roger's arm twist happens as forward motion and obviously is perfect for him.

But Grigor or perhaps a coach or two or whoever influenced him was much more creative than given credit for.

Just as an ordinary player is more creative in imitating Grigor.

More simplicity then.

[bottle]

Frustration

I go with the Tillie Olsen edict for writers, and we're all writers here, that there is nothing a writer can't express.

If that's true, then frustration must be really easy since it is at the easy end of the spectrum.

Another Friday night social in which everything with one exception didn't work.

So what is going on? Substitute teaching in Detroit, that's what. At the conclusion of every day, no matter where in Detroit the screaming was, I head for the abandoned 12 tennis courts at Rouge River Park, a great place for putting tiny white burrs on one's balls, strings and hands.

The self-feed ensures that I will play lousy tennis on the following Friday. Because I'm working on new stuff that isn't ready yet. And how can one get it ready without a proper court and good hitting partner?

By simplifying so much that pure concept alone will immediately work in a match no matter who the opponents.

So the Budge-bam demarcation now changes from 45 to 55 degrees (which is less turn!). That refers to how racket points at the net. With the briefest of wrist laybacks occurring during the unit turn that put one there. Or just turn with wrist already in desired position for this forehand. That will work if one has enough confidence in his flying grip change for backhands. Turning to 35 degrees with the small layback will add up to 45 degrees anyway if that is what matters. Of course strict 45 degrees doesn't matter but is useful for purpose of consistency.

Form of stroke: a circular pendulum. I think of a gilded clock with one chess piece and then the other coming forward. In both directions the arm under slightly raised tip stays perfectly parallel to the court. There shall be no drop of this raised tip whatsoever in the preponderance of these shots. I blame that little turning down of the tip for throwing my timing off at the social. So J. Donald Budge gets to keep it. But I will allow myself the occasional pattern where both one's hand and one's turning racket tip go forwardly down to meet the ball at the bottom of a shallow U.

Backhands: They'll get good again as soon as I stop thinking about them so much. Volleys: More need to be hit in warmup. Same with overheads.

The serve? Was pretty good. So build on the sucess of direct drop to right of trophy position. Keep that even when attempting topspin, topspin slice and kick. A rotorded server must proceed in the direction of his dawning achievement of power.

Here's how the upward spins will work. Through refinement first of all of the better serves which now include hitting back or right side of ball. Cut trophy from right angle or 90 to 135 degrees is my first suggestion. Then, if that works well, maximize all means of hitting left side of ball-- especially extreme stance and shut-down of forward hips rotation.

The ultimate form of this to include extreme wrist tilt. Simply tilt wrist like the beak of the extinct Concorde jetplane. Do it as part of the reduced trophy or as part of second racket fall or even as part of the throw if you prefer.

In one option then the racket on edge will keep its alighnment over elbow even though we are now working from an obtuse angle of 135 degrees.

In the other the wrist and racket are to get Concorded.

But hand still will go down to right of elbow, a motion to be concluded with the two halves of the arm pressing together.

Both options will offer a longer racket head fall to afford more range in which leg thrust can perform its magic.

Upper arm rotation in a backward direction has been maximized.

Teardrop loop at bottom of second racket fall has been removed.

[bottle]

How to Position Hand Two to Six Inches Farther Back at End of the Second Drop

Even one inch would make a profound difference.

pro·found
prəˈfound/
adjective

1. 1.
   (of a state, quality, or emotion) very great or intense.
   "profound social changes"

   synonyms:

   heartfelt, intense, keen, great, extreme, acute, severe, sincere, earnest, deep, deep-seated, overpowering, overwhelming, fervent, ardent More
2. 2.
   (of a person or statement) having or showing great knowledge or insight.
   "a profound philosopher"

   synonyms:

   wise, learned, clever, intelligent, scholarly, sage, erudite, discerning, penetrating, perceptive, astute, thoughtful, insightful, percipient, perspicacious; raresapient "a profound analysis"

   noun

literary

1. 1.
   the vast depth of the ocean or of the mind.

Note the two synonyms "deep" and "deep-seated." They say it all.

Simply do the body action you do coming from straight arm to 90-degree trophy but come only to 135-degree obtuse angle.

The hand now will follow a longer path in squeezing the two halves of the arm together, but elbow will turn up in the same manner as before. Make sure that you do fully squeeze the two halves despite the longer pathway.

Hand now is farther back and around and deeper too.

As an explorer you should appreciate such a radically different pose.

[bottle]

Deep Serve

Dr. Samuel Johnson: "There is nothing against which an old man should be so much upon his guard as putting himself to nurse." James Boswell: "Innumerable have been the melancholy instances of men once distinguished for firmness, resolution, and spirit, who in their latter days have been governed like children, by interested female artifice."

I don't know what brought that on. Instead of finding a nurse the old guy should work on a tennis serve that starts from farther back.

[bottle]

How Bad is it to Notice Things?

To hit a Budge-bam as in the second video down, do you want to lower hand the way J. Donald Budge does?

In other of his filmed forehands here, the hand stays virtually at a single level. Something always comes down but usually it is just the racket head.

The strokes seem so level. So the exception here-- down with hand and racket head to the ball and then up again from the ball is notable.

Today there was a huge wind at Rouge River Park. The down and up stroke was the one that offered full control to an old guy seriously imitating the Don Budge forehand for the first time. What I like about it is that the loop is integrated into the full stroke in a special way due to the delayed hips pivot at the end. I see shoulders swinging first and then the hips.

[bottle]

More Ground Force

Admittedly, the idea of increasing ground force in most of one's tennis strokes comes straight from David Ledbetter in golf, but so what? Ground force in his assertions has to do with universal physics, and we all go ga-ga-- justifiably-- at the Vic Braden film in which Dr. Ariel Gideon measures the ground force in a Roscoe Tanner serve at 200 per cent of Roscoe's body weight.

Ledbetter has figures for three different places in a golf swing where a golf pro applies slightly more than his body weight in a downward direction (about 125 per cent) compared to a hacker who applies about 85 per cent.

In a modern serve where offset feet cause a screwlike downward spiral there is a lot of ground force generated already, and I am unconfident of any additive that would do much good.

In more old fashioned or knee replacement conscious serves such as my own however the addition of compression and extension of the legs to classic down together up together racket work and toss could be of benefit, should add freedom from inhibition along with Newtonian physics of opposite reaction.

The possible drawbacks I see are the encouragement of head bobbing and interference possibly with some old toss timing which has become reliable go-to.

Me, I take the risk on toss, thinking I can adjust. And what does head bobbing matter if occurring before one is in the neighborhood of hitting the ball?

Such adjustment could be more mental than anything else, i.e., conscious emphasis now on the down and up and down and up of everything.

On ground strokes the same idea of unweighting to next apply heavier weight can be employed as well.

[bottle]

More Downward Pressure through the Feet per David Ledbetter and John McEnroe

This is not a gimmick but a fact of life applying to every one of our tennis strokes. Notice how often McEnroe's body straightens as he hits a volley.

Ground force even is generated when somebody sharply compresses his legs during a slice or chop. Well, he or she didn't keeping going and crash into the court, not even Steffi Graf, did she?

No, she braked, creating a powerful force that welled up from the ground. How one timed to harness this is another question. Is one a great player on this particular shot or not?

This point of view sides with those teaching pros who advocate that one be airborne when hitting an overhead every time (e.g., Vince Eldred).

On serve, it advocates putting bod and not just arm into every toss like Andy Roddick through perhaps done in a slightly different way.

It loves the one hand backhand exercise where cross-armed you grab your knees then jump very high as tall as you can.

Delegates similar force to early part and all parts of a serve.

What goes up comes down, right? A lot of force will flow into the ground and immediately well back up so why not maximize it?

I love this as a weapon toward those who maintain I am an idiot.

Never minding what I think of them, I imagine their animadversion and am able to declare: "You deny almost everything else in life, so why not deny Newton's Second Law as well? Go ahead and be a lousy tennis player or spawn or sic new lousy tennis players upon the world. I don't care. I'll play against them anyway. We're supposed to do our best, right? One way-- play against lousy competition.

Tennis player walking through Eastside Deroit Tennis Facility: "John isn't going to join the drill. He's going to sit and meditate."

Teaching pro about to administer the drill: "That's why he wins every time."

Later, I get to play with her against the first guy and a strong fourth.

And we do win even though, because of too much recent innovation, I'm having an off-night.

[bottle]

Think more, not less, about your One Hand Backhand but do it in a Personalized rather than Generic Way

The usual crap about thinking less does not apply to me. My whole identity is wrapped up in transitioning from verbal cue to athleticism. Give that up and I might as well talk to my older sister and ask her if she would consider taking back the nickname she assigned to me at birth, "Bottle."

One he she it little u-i in the E.E. Cummings poem about letting go of the end of a string attached to a kite needs to put body, not just arm into this shot.

John McEnroe can use forward hips turn to launch his great one hander if he wants but that prescription does not apply to me.

And all prescriptions to step straight toward the net do not apply to me.

Arthur Ashe's prescription to step at 45 degrees to the net does.

And so does my own prescription to emulate McEnroe's backswing as much as possible, so that forward hips turn will drive front shoulder around and up both.

But arm in my own backhand will launch the stroke down under the dipped front shoulder.

No wasting of hips turn to straighten the arm early for a gradual arm straightener like me.

But one (I) must be absolutely clear in my own head about when I want to use the three big accelerators available to me and in what sequence.

They are 1) forward hips turn, 2) scapular retraction and 3) total straightening of the legs and bod.

I've wasted years in not being definite about what works. This however was not entirely my own fault. A number of different combinations will work. One has to choose from among them then stay with that choice decade after decade.

Not me. Say I was too curious.

But now 1) loose bent arm launches the stroke; 2) hips straighten arm on an inside out path while one consciously slows down this straightening to avoid uncontrolled snap; 3) the hips turn melds into a straightening of the legs and bod along with clench together of the shoulderblades to finish the stroke off.

[bottle]

Down Together Up Together Re-evaluated

Once a server has learned to thrust his lead hip out toward the net, he can go in one of two developmental directions.

Psychologically, he can put emphasis on this forward movement of the front hip. Or he can put his emphasis on the bend of the knees to prepare for upward firing of all of his extensors.

I used to put too much on 1), now am ready to go more with 2).

And to prepare for 2) want body involvement in the down and up which comes before.

It needn't be much. Especially when one considers that some careful servers stand perfectly erect through the down and up part of their serve.

But that won't put extra body weight on the subsequent body compression that protrudes the front hip.

One wants extra force to elicit more ground swell.

So how should body rise during the toss? From legs only? From all parts of the bod? Perhaps one does better not to define here.

A little force most probably but not a lot.

[don_budge]

57 straight posts in a row...this is a conversation of a true lunatic. The only conversation you are capable of having. No wonder you beg people to respond to your nonsense. Your sheer and utter nonsense. Talking to himself. It's a tennis forum.

[bottle]

My feelings are terribly hurt (knot). Lighten up, little boy. I'll do to you what I do to other little Detroit boys although unlike you they are black. I chase them around the room while I bluster at them. Then I say, "Do you think I'm angry? No, i'm just somebody who used to be on the stage."

[don_budge]

But please continue. Start a new streak of public masturbation. You remind me of another Super Liberal. Weinstein? Loser.

[don_budge]

My feelings are terribly hurt. Lighten up, little boy. I'll do to you what I do to other little Detroit boys although unlike you they are black. I chase them around the room while I bluster at them. Then I say, "Do you think I'm angry? No, i'm just somebody who used to be on the stage."

And then they all giggle in unison at the funny, bald white guy. It is all...so gay. As in frivolously happy. Boy? 6-0, 6-0. Knuckle head.

[bottle]

From Self-Feed to 6-0, 3-0

It can only be done with perfect information and a remembered trick to immediately achieve the necessary athleticism. And a doubles partner, who, although a beginner, is young and fast and just did the warm-up drill with a teaching pro who is too expensive for myself.

The "perfect information" refers to the reality that only one kind of Budge forehand, as seen in this website, will work for me, bottle.

That is the one that uses half mondo like skipping a flat stone across the surface of a pond.

On the other side of this forearm boost there is no small plane propeller nor twirling baton nor windshield wiper of any kind. Only the connected rise of body and racket as one's delayed hips finally chime in.

When one watches the videos that are going to matter, especially more recent forehands in the Golden Oldie Section, one realizes that the racket at contact is far from being parallel to the court, and that J. Donald Budge is golfing the ball.

An interesting question, at least to me: Are all pitch considerations vastly different when racket tip is quite far beneath the hand?

One shapes a loop from the beginning.

The racket then golfs down to the ball from both one's lowering hand and the half-mondo mentioned before. This combined action replicates the feel of skipping a stone.

But that is sum of the independent arm work in the stroke. The arm loops and sidearms but never goes ahead of the truly significant body work in this shot. That is the reason that such strange pitch control can work. Because, although the arm is moving, it never passes nor lags behind one's bod.

To more deeply imprint these lessons-- they only exist on the surface of papyrus or parchment right now-- one needs some modern paper to soak in some India ink.

One will need to return to the abandoned 12 courts of Detroit's Rouge River Park, there to feel more tiny burrs against one skin, each one signed by don_budge.

The goal of this Saturday session will be replication of the flatter Budge backhands that so let me down at the same tennis social just a week ago.

Some flatter shots are of absolute necessity. Not that I will ever try them again in a match. I need to practice them to tell my whatever-it-is bod precisely where transverse stomach muscles leave off and hips pivot begins.

That question is smudged by the addition of loop.

So alternate one flat shot with one loopy golfed shot over and over again.

And don't fret over flat shots that don't stay in the court. Who at Rouge Park cares?

The future looks bright. Instead of diversifying into imitation of the other Budge shots, one can emulate Tom Okker's type of heavy topspin athough with a strong eastern grip.

Okker too, like Mercer Beasley (whom I watched play), Ellsworth Vines and Budge himself, starts his shoulders before his hips.

P.S. The instant athleticism trick: Before playing tennis, get oneself on a Concept 2 rowing machine back in the exercise room. The muscles used are entirely different, but one reminds oneself that one along with his best friends won three Dad Vail national collegiate championships. So, by process of deduction, there still is an athlete lurking inside of oneself if all of this is current fact as opposed to ancient dream.

[bottle]

And then they all giggle in unison at the funny, bald white guy. It is all...so gay. As in frivolously happy. Boy? 6-0, 6-0. Knuckle head.

I think you have to be careful here. You might be coming across just as a middle schooler or "a tough guy from Detroit" (in your own words) when you need to be more than that.