A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Rhythm and Spacing

The time comes when thinking about the serve at night can be unproductive. One doesn't necessarily need to be standing at the line on an actual tennis court, but one does need to be standing and wide awake with a racket in hand. Figure eights then can restore structure. The physical act can quickly show where the different parts ought to be and in what proportion with which overall emphasis. The continuous motion can tell you this better than you yourself ever possibly could. What are "the feels and pulls"?-- to use Don's phrase. Rhythm and structure now matter as never before. Your serve is slower and easier and better put together. A "roller coaster of love," as Steve says-- that's apt.

[bottle]

Clarification on Wawrinkan Backhand

Stan keeps his arm straight for the third body turn.

Me, I'm bending the arm once the ball is hit.

[bottle]

Command vs. Collaborative Teaching

Which of these two basic methods your best teacher used, reader, doesn't matter if you came out of your formal tennis education as a fully developed fiend.

But when I see someone like Ryan Harrison emerge on the pro circuit, although I may be very unfair, I think, "Great strokes, great talent, great everything but with nothing to hold it all together."

It's so unfair of me to say that when I don't even know the nice young man.
It's a superficial impression, I know, due only to a look on the guy's face.
I just don't see any Svengali there, the way I do with Goran, John, Andre, Boris, Ilie, both Martinas.

There are many other top players where the evil isn't apparent-- Pete comes to mind. There, however, the strokes themselves-- especially the serve-- are so great that they themselves provide the necessary temperament.

And a lot of top players no doubt fall somewhere in between. So is meanness
necessary? No, but it can help. Bobby Fischer comes to mind in chess.

There's a lot of chess in tennis. The ultimate players are grandmasters for sure. So what I'm looking for is players that take charge. And the educational system that can produce that quality no matter the subject.

An interesting discussion on this and other stuff has been going on over at "My Strokes and Serve. Please Help."

Steve Navarro or don_budge-- very perceptively and dramatically-- has been relating the exceptional balance of Roger Federer on a neutral forehand to balance as discussed in the tennis literature of Bill Tilden whose biggest point of all seemed to be, "Keep your ass away from the ball."

Steve speaks of "semi-sitting" position, an idea not to be underestimated. I knew a pocket billiards player who did that. And even David Ferrer, whose balance is very good, does the semi-sit on his open forehands.

There are two different subjects here, but as to the first, if Ryan Harrison wants to dispel the impression he has created among certain analysts, all he need do is come out on court before his next match making horrid grimaces and acting like a terrorist.

And if that just isn't him, he could try some Muhammad Ali-- something along the lines of "David Ferrer don't fill me with terror and will fall in nine, when vengeance shall be mine."

Once he's discovered along with Aldous Huxley that "An evil mind is a perpetual feast," however, he must play that way, too, and never look back.

[bottle]

Sponge

For the brief return to ready position desired in post # 705, I'm thinking the way to learn it is do everything, even change the grip, with one hand while holding a cup of coffee in the other.

Only join hands on the racket when all is done.

Whole cycle doesn't feel smooth enough? Slow it down and keep it slow if you're obtaining good shots.

Not obtaining good shots? Slow them down. Speed them up then but not much.

Next try a bit more speed.

Slow everything again until the whole stroke is a smooth short journey into a bed of sponge.

[bottle]

Abolish Medicinal Tennis Instruction

Every idea in tennis is a recipe. You can apprentice for a while, but eventually, if you want to be good, you must become a full Chef.

[bottle]

Don't Bowl. Not Even by One Inch!

Surely the world could not be so cruel that a difference of one inch could spoil a Wawrinkan backhand.

Is that right, fellow? Well, I'm sorry to inform you that you are absolutely wrong.

Actually, if one sticks to the formula of golf, baseball, ski, one is most apt to go wrong in baseball, a game seldom played in Switzerland.

The baseball phase of Stanislas the Manislas Wawrinka's backhand, as interpreted by me, consists of a simultaneous pair of level swings superimposed upon one another, and I can't even remember if this occurs in Williams' THE SCIENCE OF HITTING or LAU'S LAWS ON HITTING or neither.

The point is, if, as Vic Braden said, you want to be famous by the end of next week, you should stick to his formula, or in this case, to mine, and without distraction.

Next keep the arm swing part scrupulously level. The shoulders will know if they're swinging level or not, but your arm, which you use so often, is far too apt to confuse one task with another.

A scrupulously level swing of the arm helps get the racket tip around in time, and God help you if you don't.

I figure that you're off to a good start if your hand remains far back throughout the shoulders-leveling golf phase of this stroke.

You've got good separation then, so maintain it, and do not erode this shake-hand distance even by one inch.

Serve this dish on a bowl of crushed ice.

[bottle]

Big Serve for the Rotorded

Make figure eight exercise go slower and slower and slower.

Get snap going (internal rotation of arm and then pronation) faster and faster and faster.

Combine.

Apply to serve. Delay snap more.

Serve.

[bottle]

Wawrinkan Backhand: Think Again

It's a single fling of the straight arm.

Fling straight arm down and out and up, and then let it bend as it pulls the body around a bit more.

Fling down equals leveling of the shoulders.

Fling out equals level swing of the shoulders plus level swing from the shoulder (simultaneous).

Fling up equals both ends of the racket traveling at same speed and the two arms countering each other as they thrust and lift.

Pulling the body around means that the arm's left over momentum does the work.

The beginning part of this forward stroke, the "fling," is what interests me most.

In Stanislas the Manislas' case, the full whirl of arm even after contact may have a positive retro effect on rip of the ball, but for most players, i.e., myself, I don't see a good argument against a more comfortable follow-through.

In the 2-8.5 variation of this stroke (remember: grip, not image, is all) the racket finishes quite horizontal at the finish with strings facing top of opposite fence-- a reference point promulgated by Pancho Gonzalez in the most popular of his instruction books.

A simple relaxing of hand can help racket fall back to ready position.

The relaxing of hand plus relaxed bending of the arm leads to an exceptionally economical finish.

Why am I insisting on this narrative? Because other descriptions by me or anyone else may not stress the simple fling idea well enough.

We Americans have a special way that we use the word "Zen" as in "The Zen of this thing."

The Zen of this thing is that one needn't whirl the arm as much as Stan does after contact if one has flung properly out toward the target.

The only task that will remain is absorption of any excess momentum, and to do that I'm suggesting the following simultaneity.

A) Body rotates for a third time and in a third way, pulled by racket.

B) Arm bends and relaxes.

Racket can fall naturally to ready position with hand loosening and re-adjusting to forehand grip.

This proposed shot is quite different from conventional one-handers taught everywhere.

It is:

1) Less of a hammered backhand

2) Less of an arm twisting backhand

3) More of a body twisting backhand

4) More of a contraption in which both ends of the racket rise suddenly off the end of a ski jump.

The finish is brief.

In very easy backhands there need be no final body rotation, just a dropping and folding and re-adjustment of the hand.

How many toys should your backhand have? Mine has a golf swing, a baseball swing and a ski jump all closely linked-- quite enough.

[bottle]

Ball Peen 2-8.5 Backhand

Miming with the above grip could work for serves and Wawrinkan backhands both.

If trying to sharpen a Stanislas the Manislas Wawrinka type backhand, having a 12-oz. ball peen hammer tied to your strings might develop feel for what this stroke, which I previously suggested might be the world's simplest, ought to be.

My statements, as in the case of any honest person, are apt to reverse themselves, and so I say-- now-- that this Wawrinker is a bit complicated.

Reader, do you notice the way I do in this clip that during the level part of the shoulders rotation those shoulders slow down before continuing at close to original speed?

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/stanislas_wawrinka/sw_backhand/sw_bh_center/sw_bh_center.html?SWBHCenterClosedStanceRear1.mov

That happens when both arms go out, the one toward the target, the other toward the back fence. Both ends of the racket go out and up at the same speed, then occurs a resumption of roundabout racket tip action with racket carrying on up behind one's head.

If you then are a New Age type, an acolyte of Jack Broudy and a gazer at the art books of M.C. Escher with all of his moebius strips, you may whirl the racket back to starting point just the way Rafa Nadal does in conclusion of his halo-signatured forehand.

My name however is John Escher, not M.C. Escher, so I don't need to do that.

I can simply lower racket from high point behind the head directly down the recent pathway to ready position and the next stroke.

As everyone warns (see post # 698), you don't want to harm yourself with a weighted racket.

The weighted racket, however, can teach you some evanescent feel. I can remember Ray and Becky Brown, who combine their knowledge of tennis and neuroscience, loading up their racket butts with modeling clay.

Is the moral of the story that rackets have become stupidly light? No, lightness has its advantages. But so does heaviness. Swinging a very heavy racket may teach you some good form-- the only choice if you don't want to hurt yourself.

Later, I suppose, you can add arm roll and other flourishes and bells.

[bottle]

Yes.

[tennis_chiro]

An interesting comparison

I started writing about David Ferrer before I knew who he was or that he had beaten Rafa Nadal a couple of times. I simply liked the look of his forehand as recorded in Tennis Player.

Watching carefully (on Tennis Channel) what he just did in the Davis Cup tie between Spain and the United States is not very apt to change my mind. For a little guy, he is one hell of a player, and I'd like to continue to be inspired by that forehand.

My personal understanding of it comes by way of Chet Murphy, who wrote about the reverse action in certain forehands where the arm is still going backward as the shoulders rotate forward.

Perhaps one should think about Andre Agassi here, and how he takes arm way out to the side and then brings it in and then mondoes the wrist in reaction to the forward body turn.

Whether wrist does it or whole arm does it or both do it at the same time, the operative expression is "reverse action."

This is true whether the forehand is double bend or of the straight arm variety. Most people understand by now that they can generate more power this way, and the best will even gain control from the increased racket head speed. If a guy exaggerates too much, however, he loses control, and as Don Brosseau has suggested, may hurt himself.

Actually, in the following clip of Agassi, there's a lot of control in the way
he brings his arm in first before his wrist turns inside out-- no?

An alternative is to set the racket pretty far back but just a bit out
from the body, then one can be quite uninhibited as body whips both arm
and wrist into itself.

Agassi:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/andreagassi/aa_forehand/aa_fh_center/aa_fh_center.html?AAFHCenterRear1.mov

Ferrer:
http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...LevelRear3.mov

I think what you mean becomes very clear if you go 36 clicks in on the Ferrer clip and 37 clicks in on the Agassi clip where they both get the racket head "inside" with the butt of the racket "flashlight pointed" at the ball. Does that focus your point here?

don

[bottle]

Ferrer Forehands

I started writing about David Ferrer before I knew who he was or that he had beaten Rafa Nadal a couple of times. I simply liked the look of his forehand as recorded in Tennis Player.

Watching carefully (on Tennis Channel) what he just did in the Davis Cup tie between Spain and the United States is not very apt to change my mind. For a little guy, he is one hell of a player, and I'd like to continue to be inspired by that forehand.

My personal understanding of it comes by way of Chet Murphy, who wrote about the reverse action in certain forehands where the arm is still going backward as the shoulders rotate forward.

Perhaps one should think about Andre Agassi here, and how he takes arm way out to the side and then brings it in and then mondoes the wrist in reaction to the forward body turn.

Whether wrist does it or whole arm does it or both do it at the same time, the operative expression is "reverse action."

This is true whether the forehand is double bend or of the straight arm variety. Most people understand by now that they can generate more power this way, and the best will even gain control from the increased racket head speed. If a guy exaggerates too much, however, he loses control, and as Don Brosseau has suggested, may hurt himself.

Actually, in the following clip of Agassi, there's a lot of control in the way
he brings his arm in first before his wrist turns inside out-- no?

An alternative is to set the racket pretty far back but just a bit out
from the body, then one can be quite uninhibited as body whips both arm
and wrist into itself.

Agassi:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/andreagassi/aa_forehand/aa_fh_center/aa_fh_center.html?AAFHCenterRear1.mov

Ferrer:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/david_ferrer/df_forehand/df_fh_center/df_fh_center.html?DFFHCenterOpenStanceCourtLevelRear3.mov

[bottle]

Learning through Indirection

Learning seldom occurs in the orderly way that bad educators would prefer as they bore us to death.

Let's take the current article by the wonderful Welby Van Horn, a man whom Arthur Ashe called the greatest teaching pro in the world. I don't think a lot of people, even the worshippers of Robert Lansdorp or some other effective teaching pro, would waste energy disputing this assertion preferring as they do GOAT discussions about famous players over teachers.

"The Volley in My Teaching System" in the current issue of TP, seems to me a very great article what with its clear explanations, checkpoints and demonstrations-- something useful for the fledgling and for an experienced volleyer as well to spark up his net game through a quick re-read or two.

But Van Horn's opinion about pre-composite backhand volley grip (for certain beginners) could open a possible window into groundies as well.

"Players with a one-handed backhand using a Continental grip should use that grip when learning the backhand volley...By Continental grip I mean the heel pad is mainly on bevel 1, or the top bevel, but partially on bevel 8 . The index knuckle is in the middle of bevel 2 ."

This is a 2-1 or 2-8.5 grip in the Tennis Player system in which notation big knuckle comes first.

So I infer that, in Mr. Van Horn's view, Continental grips of this type still exist, and still should exist, in the game of tennis.

Just to hear a knowledgeable person talk or write spontaneously about the mysterious subject called "grip" could help anyone.

That most players, wedded to what they themselves do, don't know much about grip is my belief.

And suppose someone wanted more angle between arm and racket on topspin backhands and topspin serves both. A 2-8.5 might do it.

[bottle]

Adventure on Ball Peen Mountain

This new development is such a high, out on the court, that I'm tempted to stop writing about it altogether in the interest of the serenity that comes from simplification.

In the past, when any teaching pro has given me anything that was valuable, I then had a tendency, after a short time of awe, to "elaborate," or, as USPTA pro Jim Kacian said, to "embroider" upon it-- a bad thing in his view obviously and leading to subtle subtraction from the original meaning.

He himself had a highly topspun serve resembling a fireplace bellows in which his whole body seemed to breathe (exhale or inhale-- I haven't a clue) as it arched down in perfect sync with the falling racket-head.

I'm not in favor of embroidery this time. On the other hand, all new discoveries create new substance, and life just has to be like that in art, science and everywhere else. Even Timothy Gallwey told us to simply observe different tennis strokes without prejudice. Whether he wanted us to then report back, I'm not sure.

A big subject here for quite a while has been "rotordedness" (see post # 666 for a definition-- wow, I've memorized that). Rotordedness requires a very high elbow if one desires to develop any decency of serve.

Once one's elbow has risen way up in the air-- early-- there to stay forever, what about the upper arm twist that takes the Sampras, Roddick, Gorgo racket tip so low?

We rotorded ones (most servers in the world) aren't going to generate much of such twist, are we?-- but, as Vic Braden said, "You use what you got."

But, the cocking or twisting or supranation of supination or tomato soup or some other impossibly Latinate word if you know it and it's better will go
sideways to the outside, not down, in the case of the most extremely rotorded but good-serving player, and this will happen during the smooth body rotations up to the ball.

*********************************************

So, I went to my favorite three courts out over the waters of Lake St. Clair, Michigan, where I started doing figure eights and windmills with my racket that has a ball peen hammer crucified against its strings.

On the other two courts to my left, two teaching pros were instructing children under the age of eight-- six students apiece.

Neither paid any attention to the kids. They could only watch the 71-year-old twirling his ball peen racket.

[don_budge]

Careful...

Re #'s 692 and 693: These are extraordinary communication.

That racket is a little tip heavy but works well so long as I take it easy, and I suspect that we'll buy or find another ball peen before we ever take the 12-ounce one off.

Clearly, the service structure Don's exercises and explanation can produce is superior to anything I've ever tried to invent on my own (although I don't renounce that constant effort).

For God's sake...swing that thing easily, bottle. You can hurt yourself.