A New Year's Serve

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Still Another Change or is this one a Bridge too Far?

When TENNIS FOR THE FUTURE first came out, the sit and hit ground strokes seemed brilliant to millions who knew nothing about the game. Is "millions" too big a number to ascribe to this category? Perhaps. But it was a lot of people. Professor Annie Dillard, the Pulitzer Prize winning Author of PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK was one of them. She and her husband would climb the mound behind her house up to the Wesleyan University tennis courts in Middletown, Connecticut and there they would try their sit-and-hits.

She almost tore my head off, in a letter one time, for my not addressing her as "Professor." So I won't make that mistake this time.

And I, in another part of the country, Virginia I think, was trying my own sit-and-hits, even got some of them to work.

Then a USPTA pro got ahold of me. "You'll get over it," he said. Sit-and-hit, I think he meant, not Annie. But I always thought she was interesting, especially when we started a correspondence in which I described the artist colony at Ossabaw Island ten miles from Savannah.

Next thing I knew I was long gone from Ossabaw but she was on the board of directors. And I did see her at a Hollins College graduate school reunion once or twice.

The subject is sit-and-hit. I'd still like to give it a go (a brief try with up or down verdict) in connection with a see see. One could hit the see see as I've recently described here but while combining forward hips rotation and step-out.

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Model for Backhand Drive

I have a functional one hand backhand that all in all I'm proud of. Having started "real tennis" very late (had dabbled before), I understand better than anyone that my one-hander will never be a natural shot and will always carry something of the synthetic about it.

Even more important then not to enlist the further help of "experts," videos, magazine articles, backhand chapters in books, etc., etc., and go instead with a few carefully chosen models.

Of course these are apt to appear in the form of video again but a different kind of video.

Here is my favorite one-hand backhand video of all time. Others watching it have concentrated on the boy on the other side of the net, on Petr Korda's forehand, on anything to distract from the true subject of Korda's backhand.

That is the focus I request right now for anyone watching this video which they probably have seen before.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqpARpkF8WA)

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Reader, My See See is not Your See See

But you can try to imitate mine if you want. Just as I will imitate yours if mine should choose not to work.

My see see changes a lot. So to catch a best version of it we shall need some luck.

Today's iteration is a Vic Braden sit-and-hit, the only time I shall ever choose that genre of forehand.

It has a useful component of self-balance built into it.

And takes its rhythm from another specialty shot of mine, my McEnrueful, which uses a bowler's type of down and up backswing.

Not that the twist I put on the sit-and-hit will be down and up. More precisely, it will be a down and split in which the racket once lowered goes backward level a tiny bit more.

As left hand, still high, goes out. As left foot, combining with forward hips turn, goes out. When you combine all three actions you produce a very low center of gravity characterized positing of a tripod.

Thinking that this shot should be divided into three distinct parts (wind and lower, split, hit) would be easy. Don't do it. The down and split is a single count just as the down and up is in a McEnrueful or even John McEnroe forehand.

We try for Graham Wheatley's 1-2 rhythm on all shots or at least I do.

But I am inspired by Brent Abel's interpretation of senior national champion Paul Wulf's tennis, the idea that Wulf started late and has weird strokes and certainly doesn't hit the ball hard all the time but has managed to figure out how to play the game.

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Wasn't I Just Talking about Paul Wulf?

https://webtennisgear.com/blogs/wtrs...ce=Actionetics

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Rising Racket Tip in a Stock Forehand

This is a difficult subject, reader, in that my stock forehand no doubt is different from your stock forehand.

In mine there is no breaststroke or interim between backswing and foreswing in which the shoulders stay still.

The backswing is accomplished one half by left hand on racket, the second half by left hand pointing across at side fence.

During the entire backswing the racket tip raises very slightly and slowly while always pointing toward net.

This keeps elbow out from the bod and thus lays claim to superiority over any forehand that uses a loop.

A contrarian could argue that there still is some kind of loop present in the subsequent arm straightening and mondo while body drives this simultaneous action as if one is throwing a cast net but to me this would be niggled technicality.

Although no wiper is present, plenty of topspin and pace is; in fact the pace to topspin ratio is such that the ball stays low and gives traditional wipered forehands on the other side of the net trouble, i.e., produces awkwardness in them.

I would like to say that this forehand, since it is my stock forehand, is always "on," but sadly and happily both, it is a work in progress.

My concentration today is on absolute confidence during all raising of the racket tip.

Left hand on racket enables the lightest hitting grip possible in first half.

The problem area could be in second half where left hand leaves racket to point across.

That leaves hitting arm still raising the tip but doing it solo.

No shake confidence combined with lightest possible grip can be abetted by a grip system in which thumb and forefinger's middle knuckle perch opposite one another.

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Reprise of Post # 4100: Keeping a Cast Net Forehand in Tune


A cast net is an exotic, poetic thing. That is enough to dismiss it in the eyes of a usual clunkhead, anti-intellectual and anti-poetic tennis player, an "I'm just a tough guy from Detroit" sort of person.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6swnJXwEws)

In a forehand that opens out like a cast net, I recommend doing away with the interim that appears in most forehands, even in a Jimmy Arias forehand, the moment in the tract when the arms move while the shoulders stay still.

I propose instead that body turn in one direction meld seamlessly into body turn in the other.

A key to developing feel does come from Jimmy Arias however, just needs application to the new, simplified base.

Jimmy feels that he pulls the entire mechanism of his forehand into shape and up to high speed, makes the intricacy of the total thing come together from the huge body turn that now characterizes all modern forehands.

So, how does one develop the arm work essential to this endeavor in the proposed design?

On some days one may not even have to ask. For a bad day however I make this suggestion:

First half of backward body turn is accomplished with opposite hand on racket, second half with opposite hand pointing across.

Through this first half (of the first half) the racket tip can rise slowly to establish aim with tip pointed slightly toward net. Then with opposite hand pointing across maintain the aim but let the arms separate a small but variable amount. My idea for steadiness at this crucial point is to hold the racket lightly between thumb and middle knuckle of the index finger.

About then is when reversal of the shoulders direction should take place.

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One Way to Deal with Short Runway Syndrome in Serving

Raise rear shoulder during the toss.

This surely will be a case of "bending the stick the other way."

For many servers are looking to reinforce their toss with a raise of the front shoulder at the same time.

But that lessens inherent power in the racket momentum going down.

"Arching the back," if done too soon, leaves arm alone to take the racket down.

And as we all know, racket head speed derives from the conflict between racket going down and muscular forces already surging in the opposite direction, namely up.

Anything that diminishes this clash is bad. Anything that maximizes it is good.

An extremely flexible server uses a long runway to take the racket down before it springs up.

Length of runway allows the descending racket to gradually build momentum.

Suppose however that the server like many or even most servers is inflexible compared to those guys with the longest runway.

The racket can't go down very far and therefore can't build much force.

I've often wondered: Could one somehow start the conflict earlier, before the racket even started to go down?

Different trophy positions along with lesser or no trophy were explored. As were all kinds of different start points for the racket power to increase.

A partial solution may be simpler than all that.

Early rise of rear shoulder will get elbow high early, giving it good high position from which to create structure. This height will also create a weird feeling toss as if from inside a developing cave.

The rising shoulder and simultaneous toss will create an opposition where before there could have been mutual support.

So one deliberately messes with one's toss to add beef to pre-descent and descent of the racket.

One maybe should evaluate the posture that a singer adopts to draw air from deep in the diaphragm.

A music teacher I witnessed recently told his class to pull an imaginary fishline straight up behind the hips and back of the head-- to straighten the spine.

Then to pull a second imaginary fishline or plumbline or cord straight upward also-- with this one attached in front of the bod to the sternum.

The two imaginary cords taken together create a kind of body arch that all by itself is a powerful thing.

If it happens starting with pre-descent of the racket and continues through descent of the racket one will have added both body bend and range to one's total racket drop.

And as with other tennis strokes, less reliance on arm or arm and some part of the bod with more reliance on arm and the whole bod will be a good thing.

We all know the bod involvement we need as racket goes up, but do we often think about how increased bod involvement-- and range-- could increase the muscular contest we want in racket descent phase of every serve?

Example: Charles Pasarell was an extraordinarily flexible tour player but also started his serve with a raised rear shoulder. This pose can be seen in the old book MASTERING YOUR TENNIS STROKES.

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Tennis for the Future

Backhand, forehand-- am instituting a bit of breaststroke on the forehand but doing so as shoulders are turning back. The shoulders won't get still for this or for any other reason. They won't stop. They just will change direction.

Keep arm short for a longer time on one hand backhand. This brings racket tip around farther and closer into back. The motion that does this is a sharp roll but in lesser amount than one imagined to ensure proper height of the outgoing ball. Is there a "snap" in all of this? Probably. And if right arm is bent for longer so is left arm. Both arms then get to straighten gradually as hips apply long subtle effortless pressure on the ball.

I think about how Ken Rosewall's backhand slice evolved over the years from a skunk tail beginning toward end of the backswing (racket vertical) to racket more horizontal. The shot was terrific with the skunk tail but became more economical without it. I see the same progression enabled by the example of Petr Korda in a backhand drive. Petr was not about to change something that was working beautifully for him (the skunk tail). We who never had greatness thrust upon us, however, have the luxury to produce our drive either way. If one's slice done one way works well why not apply a similar pattern to the drive?

On forehand, I've already expressed what I want to try in the bolded section up above. Think though of the added control/power potential of a slight breaststroke as shoulders are still turning back. If one takes right elbow away from left elbow holding place, one is better prepared to hit down the line without changing bod much. For a neutral pace forehand one might move both elbows away from each other. For hardest hit crosscourt one might set up same as for the down the line but then push the elbow hard toward the crosscourt target as body pulls the whole complex mechanism of cast net opening out.

If one then interposes a sit-and-hit see see into this shot array, I believe it will surprise anyone, even Roger Federer.

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When and How should you Straighten your Arm on a One-Hand Backhand?

To me, an everlasting reconsideration of such questions is the stuff of life, the same as breathing in compared to holding your breath out all the time in which case you are dead.

I've listened to proponents of early arm straightening, have tried to implement their view for years.

Next I went with a more gradual straightening of the arm accomplished through most of the shot, also for years.

Now I'm reconsidering the backhand section of FUNDAMENTALS OF TENNIS by Stanley Plagenhoff, a book first brought to forum attention by gzhpcu.

Plagenhoff's words take one quite far toward a workable model. And, he refers quite explicitly to arm roll as one essential ingredient.

For explanation of how arm straightening relates to arm roll, however, one may have to extrapolate from the illustrations in the book.

In one frame the arm is straight and vertical to the court.

In the next frame the arm has rolled.

That is the sequence I want to try.

===========

And I did try it. And it worked pretty well. But could the arm still have the tiniest bit of bend in it when one starts the roll? Same as on a serve where the final roll is in the opposite direction?

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Can Special Advice Work Sheets Speed up one's Learning Process?

Probably.

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Trial Modification of Sit-and-Hit See See

The see see in its present iteration may still be a bit too idealized.

How do I know? From a Friday night cardio drill which is the perfect place to try out new things.

Marella, whose feeds are perfect, gives the player in the deuce court the chance to go sharply shallow and crosscourt in a doubles set-up.

Old: Straighten arm out of left hand as shoulders turn back a little. Combine step-out then with hips turn and double arm splay.

New: Straighten arm same way but splay arm for balance at bottom of the straightening. Then step and hit. The racket now will be in a better position to do this. It won't have to go backward since it already went backward. And the left hand can wait to splay until the step-out.

The backswing for the see see now appears closer to that of a McEnrueful where both arms go down and up. But the amounts for this are much less just as there is less backward turn of the bod.

The right hand left hand splay sequence now gives a free-form shot more structure.

But left hand splay, which comes solely from forward hips turn, is different from the left hand movement which may occur just before.

I am suggesting that one can bowl down and up same as in a McEnrueful but with lesser amounts of movement of each arm.

The down and up happens in count 1 of a 1-2 rhythm shot. Only when hitting arm "up" is abbreviated it's more of an "out" than an "up."

And maybe one should be less sure of when step-out ought to occur. Same time of step-out as in a McEnrueful may be the way to go. But step-out in a McEnrueful definitely precedes one's forward hips turn.

The idea here is to make something that is conceptually harsh less so.

We've got crossing left hand going down a small bit and then back up a small bit. That seems preferable to just leaving it in place-- more organic.

In miming this stroke with racket for the first time, one can see that a small underhand loop will be formed if step-out has preceded rotation of the hips.

That rotation will lower shoulder just as in a McEnrueful but with racket going down from a lower position.

The strict verticality of this small loop may be more than a curiosity.

It may add rhythm and precision to the shot.

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Stop Using Your Oven’s Self-Cleaning Feature: It Does More Harm than Good


Alan Henry
8/17/12 7:00am
Filed to: CLEANING
356.5K
952
Most modern ovens come with a self-cleaning feature. The goal is to keep your oven in good shape, but the truth is those self-cleaning routines run upwards of 1000 degrees, and can actually do more damage to your oven than they're really worth.

According to The Kitchn, running the self-cleaning routine will scorch off any baked on goo on the inside, but most ovens today have heating elements hidden behind drip shields that make it difficult for anything to get on the element anyway. Plus, since those elements are hidden, they're difficult to ventilate—especially when the interior temps get so high. All that trapped heat winds up damaging your oven's internal components, popping fuses and burning out electronic components.

The Kitchn notes that manufacturers know this is a problem, but they include self-cleaners anyway because customers won't buy ovens without them. So what do you do? Go back to basics and give the inside of your oven a wipe down with your favorite cleaner when it gets dirty. Even if you use your oven's self cleaner without issue, they note it's important to be aware of the risk of damage to your oven when you run it.

Why You Should (Almost) Never Use Your Oven's Self-Cleaning Function | The Kitchn

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A Longer and Slower Rasp

I refer to ideas about how best to hit a see see, one of my favorite topics, maybe because I once witnessed a very old player who used one to take apart much stronger and younger opponents.

Recent iterations have left the shoulder, with racket under it, both very low.

In a McEnrueful, the shoulder banks right through the ball.

In a see see, however, should the shoulder rise on the same line as racket from independent movement of the arm? That is the question.

Trial proposal is for a double jointed rise of racket arm-- simultaneous rise from shoulder joint and from rise of the shoulder itself.

With any kind of a racket roll cut out (eschewed). Just as weight going through ball is cut out.

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Iterations for Sunday Self-Feed at Neighborhood Club (No Net)

1) Alternate McEnruefuls and see sees, working on the similarities and differences between them.

2) Standardize length of arm extension before arm roll in a one-hand backhand.

3) Standardize length of arm extension before arm roll (ISR) in all serves. Strive for same standard in this as for one-hand backhand. Which involves keeping racket edge-on to ball until very late (Oscar and Vic).

4) Return to gradual raise of racket tip through both preparation phases of cast net forehand. This is better than raising the tip during phase A then separating arms as separate function during phase B. Do both together.

5) Work on finger control vs. bangboard to dictate directional difference between DTL and CC volleys. Do this with one easy ground bounce-- easier.

6) Continue to work toward high hit shoulder on the toss. Explore every possible combination of shoulders tilt and compass setting of upper arm in shoulder socket.

7) If still haven't restored sufficient spin, hit some serves with eastern forehand grip.

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Cast Net Forehand: All looseness comes from gradual if minuscule raising of racket tip through both elements of backswing.

Sequence one: Turning of bod backward with opposite hand on racket.

Sequence two: Turning of bod backward through opposite hand pointing across.

The two elements are a single though sequential move.

The shoulders next reverse direction without pause.