A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Out Front and Sideways

The forehand I want to think about occurs after a service sequence in the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrW-sIREZow

Mondo is not on ball or just before but a bit sooner than that at the corner of Nadal's racket work.

The racket butt does not spear at ball in farthest back position.

The racket head is closed a bit toward ball in farthest back position because wrist, which started somewhat laid back, has just straightened! (The exclamation point is from chess notation.)

The wrist lays back in response to forward body rotation, achieving its limit at one end of a horizontal line (mental or envisioned if you like)-- a projected line running parallel to the net.

This mental line becomes a physical line with two actual ends: 1) completion of Mondo and 2) completion of sideways wipe.

[bottle]

"Feel for the Ball"

A paradox in the Wawrinka type of backhand is that racket head can accelerate while feeling for the ball.

The racket head, though swinging, is not swinging directly at the ball but rather to intercept it.

I've said quite a few times by now that racket head swings parallel to rear fence or toward the side fence.

This is true but not strictly so.

A "swing" in common parlance is roundabout.

The sideways component of this swing, however, takes it more sideways than forward, early, while doing both.

You know where ball will be, presumably. You feel for it in this way although racket head is going rather fast.

[bottle]

Simultaneity of Body and Arm

Wouldn't it be funny, dear reader, if the following backhand worked better than yours? Tried it? Wasn't better? Stick then to your custom.

My most unchanging view about tennis instruction is that it always says too much or little. And I especially admire Martina Navratilova for her running discussion at The Tennis Channel of simultaneity vs. sequence in tennis. The writer John M. Barnaby, in twentieth century tennis literature, also warned against excessive sequence and thought that a prime subject.

In learning, however, as in the strategy of singles play itself, there must be sequence. Becoming the hunter, boxer, pitcher, lawyer and chessplayer, we draw our opponent wide with a forehand to expose his weak backhand.

To learn the Wawrinka-type one hand backhand I've tried to expound in recent posts, one must employ plenty of sequence, starting with a unit turn, gravity turn or general jack-rabbit sprint toward the side fence.

This can get the shoulders well around with elbow not too high and racket poised nicely like a skunk's tail. You're ready to go.

That is the preparation and all of it. Whatever happens from then on is swift swing, i.e., a single count.

But is there sequence in this single beat? Yes while learning, no while stroking.

The fast part sequence, in my view, should largely concern arm movement. Arm goes slightly after body. But one can do this in two ways: 1) delay the arm, 2) give the arm more to do.

I'm going to give the arm more to do, thanks, and please forgive me for cursing a few teaching pros along the way. I'd like to say to them exactly what Ivan Lendl called up to a taunter in the crowd at Rock Creek Park one year when Lendl's back was injured and he was having a bad day.

These are the experts/coaches who always tell the aspiring one hander to extend more without ever saying how and when.

If I am reading films of Wawrinka correctly, one can straighten arm close behind back as shoulders turn an extra amount and inside leg is stepping out in most cases. Reader, we're in full swing. Whether the racket head is going backward, downward or forward-- all of which it does-- it is accelerating slowly and steadily the whole while.

An almost hydraulic component of this is when hips move out to slightly change tilt of the shoulders to level. One should think of this as transition only if one can accept the concept of full swing with batter's drop embedded in the smoothness.

I don't want to be doing much at the complicated point where shoulders change their tilt. Certainly the shoulders are not revolving (horizontally). I save the last part of arm straightening for this along with flattening of the wrist. The whole action is like baseball batter's drop though included in other very smooth action, or did I say that already.

Now comes arm swing parallel to rear fence. Could one call this arm extension, too? Perhaps, since everybody calls everything arm extension, or could one call it a swing toward side fence establishing separation?

Next, for a right hander, the racket rolls past the elbow on left side of the body. Finally, the shoulder-blades clench to bring racket to right side although that is happening through continued forward rotation of the shoulders and a bit of independent arm from the shoulder as well.

There are one handers where shoulder rotation is severely limited or stops altogether for a hammerlike effort with the arm.

The Donald Budge or Stanislas Wawrinka backhands don't fit this mold, however, are more of an easy integrated swing in which the main driver is the rotating shoulders.

One thinks of Billie Jean King's great backhand, too, in which she finished with her shoulders parallel to the net.

[bottle]

Thanks, WBC, for the input. I might have a slightly different take on all this simply from reading everything I could about the Don Budge backhand for so many decades. Thanks again.

I think the biggest complication for Fed is the lateness of straightening of his arm. There was a very official seeming "German" instruction book which emphasized this for every kind of one arm backhand (can't remember about the two handers).

I know I've come down on both sides of this question, i.e., have contradicted myself but couldn't care less and think some confusion may be necessary for actual progress to occur. The earlier straightening of arm in the "Waw" modeled backhand, to use your term, seems to be working just fine right now, and simplicity seems an underappreciated value in tennis.

In all cases, I forge ahead.

[worldsbestcoach]

Wawrinka

Stan Wawrinka has a nice one-handed topspin backhand. It is not perfect. He sets the racket more forward than does Federer, as Stan prepares the racket in reaction to the incoming ball.

Both Fed & Waw hit better topspin backhands when they get behind & close to the ball (so they can give the ball a solid, strong backhand punch, and so that the "flip" or acceleration of the racket is from contact towards the target, instead of behind the contact point). Sometimes both Fed & Waw run at the ball's impact point sideways, rather than getting behind the ball. But Wawrinka's topspin backhand is better than Fed's because Waw puts his racket into a better preparation position than does Fed. Waw's prep position is more forward-set, compared to Fed's. Fed's topspin backhand is too complicated, and requires too many adjustments during the stroke.

[bottle]

"An Intellectual, Aesthetic and Athletic Pursuit of the One Hand Backhand"

Although no one has written this 900-page book yet, here is the prospectus.

This document will go where no man or woman has gone before. The first questions it will ask are, who, on April 5, 2011, had the best one hander in the world: Stanislaus Wawrinka or Pablo Cuevas? And what is the modeling potential for either?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H19EOBKzyQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuYIqTsST80&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeyHFlF2oHk&NR=1

[bottle]

Doubles Warmup

Five Ziegenfusses, One Sockdolager, five Federfores, remembering that even Rafa Nadal's forehand is a Federfore, five backhands, one slice backhand, lobs, overheads, VOLLEYS.

On one of the Federfores try a little wrist flex before the tip switch, same as on a serve, with everything except for the ball going out toward forehand fence before decelerating to left side.

[bottle]

The Third Territory, Unexplored: The Upper Congo

No one goes there. Serves come from the middle Congo or the mouth.

If they start from the middle, they take off from the middle. If they start from the river mouth, they take off from the middle. These are the serves with linear arrangement at contact. The two shoulder balls form a straight line with the elbow.

This (though exaggeration since elbow is usually a bit forward and a bit higher than that) is the basic set-up for powerful serves.

Now comes a rotorded server wishing to figure out what he can effectively do. Have I tried what I propose here? No way. There isn't time. We're about to travel.

John Newcombe would lift his straight arm to his right rather than behind him. That way he easily could and almost would touch his upper arm against his right ear.

How many great servers do that? Not many. But who here is claiming they're great?

Stotty, the blogger, has suggested that Newcombe would then lower his elbow to the normal place and serve from there. And Don, the blogger, has suggested that there are no rules.

So I, a blogger, ask, "What if the rotorded server lifted his straight arm overly high like Newcombe, then lowered below the norm for everybody, then straightened arm to original ear-brushing position?"

Success would depend on how well the upper arm loaded backward, twisting like an axle on its second trip upward.

Worst would be if the twisting backward and forward combination occurred too high, in which case the upper arm would pop out of its socket, as Vic Braden demonstrated using a plastic doll.

This would correspond to what recently happened to the seasoned river guide exploring the upper Congo.

The internet is full of tributes to this greatly loved and respected figure. I didn't know him and therefore ask forgiveness from those who did for my cavalier comparison of his fate to that of an errant server.

The kyakers paddling behind him, all with long experience from the Zambezi, saw the largest crocodile in their existence jump with no warning out of the murky depths and come down on the head and shoulders of their leader, whom it ate.

[bottle]

Insulating a Wawrinka-Modeled Backhand

The design, straightforwardly roundabout, affords the engineers great latitude by reducing longitude in the backswing.

Stanislas Wawrinka, like Stanford White before him, is the architect, and no one should mistake that fact.

Stanny expresses his vision each time he hits his backhand, and these animated blueprints are available for anyone.

The devil is in the details, however, and people have arms of different length. If an engineer therefore wishes to meddle with scope, perhaps extending from the elbow as early as initial body turn, please permit him to do so.

In fact, who knows what some engineer bouncing in neutral position on the balls of his feet looks like-- not exactly the same as Stan himself.

A slavish adherence to the animated drawings can only bring this construction project down. Instead, once one has absorbed the total image, one can decide just how much arm extension to spread out here and there.

What about extending a little as foot goes out and shoulders turn their final, extra amount?

Could still be a bit early but we want to answer all such questions now.

For once we wrap our gooey myelin around the wires, there will be no going back. If our analysis wasn't perfect we may have to live the rest of our lives by forehand alone.

Repeatable rhythm is sought to activate a long lever with no fuss. Also, how far away from body should racket travel during the part of the continuous swing that is parallel to rear fence?

Farther back indicates more roundabout swing. Farther down indicates more bowler's bowl, straight and in close.

These extremes may destroy. On the other hand, one needs to 1) get the racket tip around, 2) get the racket low enough for 30-degree upswing of the arm.

[bottle]

Incubating a Wawrinka-Modeled Backhand

This design is pretty roundabout, lending itself to closed, neutral and open-stanced hits. Elbow heighth in beginning of the stroke is pretty much regulated by waiting position. One doesn't have to do much more than turn body to get racket tip up in skunk tail position.

From there the continuous loop swing begins (backward, downward, across, up with arm roll, and ended through clench of shoulder-blades to finally bring racket to follow-through on the right side).

Acceleration can and should be gradual in such a long stroke. Perhaps an even swing can produce it naturally. To understand the paradox in that, simply know that racket head builds momentum the farther it goes.

I think that, as design, the different parts are pretty clear. There's at least one phase in the continuous swing though where one needs to be on guard against over-conceptualization-- the way one takes racket head behind the back.

Most of that is shoulders turning a lot as most probably you step out. But should the racket also "key"? Should arm already be extending? Wrist may be last to extend and thus close strings. The amounts and timing of all this should be figured out by feel over thought.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/stanislas_wawrinka/sw_backhand/sw_bh_center/sw_bh_center.html?SWBHCenterClosedStanceSide11.mov

[bottle]

Wawrinka's Backhand: A Hammered Dulcimer

Somewhere in the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM), the Fawning Government Media (FGM), and the Fawning Tennis Media (FTM), you will, if you are the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), find John McEnroe's assertion that Stanislas Wawrinka's backhand is best and strongest in the world.

So, "How does Wawrinka hit it?" Or is that less interesting than "How great is it?" How about, "Can I hit something like that?" The last question is FARFAR the most interesting, although FARFAR means your father's father in the Scandinavian languages and in the Swiss family Escher von Glas American branch of regional dialects of Soosserdootsch.

MORFAR, FARMOR, MORMOR all mean different persons in the family but can refer also to how much backswing is in the slot or out of it.

To hit a FARFAR, turn shoulders FAR back. Then stretch racket tip, by simultaneously straightening arm and wrist, FARFAR BACK.

Don't pause but do believe me when I say that possibly for the first time in your miserable existence you are in position to do some serious damage. You only need take the posthumous advice from Donald Budge simply to swing.

Swing, not hammer? Well, swing from shoulders but swing from the shoulder at the same time. The result will be sweet rather than harsh.

Observe the one-handers we most of us like right now, such as Wawrinka,
Federer, Youzhny and Kohlschreiber (Cabbage-clerk).

These players don't mind stepping across, usually on a 45-degree angle but sometimes even parallel to the baseline. And they turn their shoulders forward more than conventionally schooled tennis students, FARFAR more in that direction, too.

[bottle]

So Much Topspin

Nadal: Hand is inside racket tip. Racket is turned more than for Federer, namely, the butt points not at ball but at forehand side fence. (But Federer does this sometimes, too.)

Clearly, maximum racket head speed occurs precisely at contact. A person trying to hit this way must sum all the forces precisely at contact-- nothing more or less.

Body drives and whirls, which force culminates at contact. The arm cocks and releases, also culminating at contact with 180 degrees of sudden racket tip travel TO THE OUTSIDE.

Should body drive its energy TO THE OUTSIDE also? Try it.

[bottle]

Reverse Everything Once Again

So, reader, what do you want? What you already have?

Report on recent forehand topspin ideas: not enough (topspin). Am also ready to refute the Will Hamilton idea that a flat forehand should finish over the shoulder. Depends on grip and straightness of arm. My straight arm whirl (a "nice swipe," a teaching pro partnering me in doubles recently called it) can tie together the two ends of 360-degree racket head travel in a pretty low bow-- shot is extremely hard, barely bounces, feels natural, and I'm not about to give it up.

For more of a Federfore one can direct racket work to right of ball in an otherwise similar construction. The wrist flattens during contact-- that's part of it. Big separation is essential. Follow-though higher by left shoulder.

But if I want to win my match I'll hit Ziegenfusses, i.e., forehands in which arm, bending or bent, carries racket head toward ball and delayed leg drive and upper body rotation finishes the shot off in a ping-pong type slam.

Building from that success, I try for something I haven't conceived, much less perfected. Instead of using the big shoulders turn to arm only backswing sequence of a Federfore, perform both elements together since one needs extra time for what is to come next.

Upper body will remain still for about the same time, but while straight arm swings forward by itself-- NOT while arm is extending backward.

I say "swing" because swing is essential. If one bowls close to body instead, one will not obtain see-through positions of the strings soon enough.

Now lift elbow sharply while bending it while driving up and through with the body.

[bottle]

Wawrinka Drives Backhand Directly at Opponent on Match Point

My suggestion in # 577 that Federer's backhand is better than Youzhny's or Wawrinka's was unscientific. Of course, a person who had been reading me carefully would understand that the intrinsic worth of these players was not being compared (a dull subject as far as I'm concerned) but rather their value as respective models for a single, amateur player, moi.

After a ball-dropping session, the first in months, I can report that the Federer felt a bit spongy, the Youzhny too extreme because of all the arm roll, the Wawrinka best because of only 10 degrees of arm roll.

The simultaneous straightening of wrist and arm that I decided upon as the way to close racket head behind one's back like Wawrinka did not present a problem.

I had read in old articles about Rosewall slice that a person may strike any backhand at all with a straight wrist, and this appears the case. That makes the recently discussed cue about line in one's skin at wrist-hand juncture non-applicable, but so what? Save it for Federer/Youzhny imitations?

The idea of coming toward ball with racket too closed rather than too open isn't novel, either. That discussion continues through the centuries with its pros and cons.

[bottle]

Add a Fourth Smurf

The reference is to Posts # 571-2, where the specimen, having decided on huge body whirl as prime driver for all power forehands, came up with three distinct units of special topspin arm work which he really didn't know what to call.

The first was a slight finesse or non-violent contraction of arm combined with a bit of gentle elbow throw-- a sidearm detector of contact point.

The second was acceleration of these two elements. It embraces contact.

A third now decelerates strings as they rise before face in such a way that one can see through them toward net.

The windshield wiper follow-through can consist of further compression of the elbow (hinging from biceps) or not-- doesn't much matter since ball is long gone during this fourth motion, which is decelerative as well.

One ought to play with these ideas, perhaps accelerating up to "face" position sometimes and decelerating to there at other times depending on what one just did.