A New Year's Serve

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Three-Rise Elbow Combined with Three-Close Hinge

The design of this forehand starts with slightly less arm straightness than in a Federfore, which is basically a flat shot.

Real power can come from same full whirl of the body in which one thinks of kinetic chain as much or as little as one wants.

There should be a slow feel section in which the elbow rises a little toward the net as it bends a little more. The arm work is slow. But the body already is in full whirl.

Next the same two movements of the arm accelerate. This brings strings in front of face. One looks through them at the net.

Obviously this is a fleeting, unconscious or even nonexistent moment although it does happen.

Finally, the elbow twists up as arm bends more, and thus provides the racket deceleration.

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Add Redi-Whip to Triple Smurf (# 571)

Redi-whip equals golfer's waggle equals pulling a rope-- all the same thing.

Golfer's waggle just doesn't resonate with a straight arm forehand the way it does with bent or bending right arm. You could sway the straight arm to counter waggle of your body to and fro, but that's not the same. Or you could argue that straight arm mondo is the same but I don't think so.

Me, I think bent arm is clunky, so I must be talking about bending arm here.

Wipers break in the cold and their rubbers wear out and streak the windshield, so I don't mean them.

Wiper happens after contact to decelerate racket-- keep it there.

This golfer's waggle idea or pulling of a rope however attains more speed in the accelerative short piece. You start it then reverse it in a dramatic dipsey-doo.

To repeat, just stick with the instruction of # 571, but add a little side-arm turn to changing structure in both directions. Combine this with extreme looseness of grip and a finish as low as it can go.

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Improve on Roger Federer!

For your straight arm forehand, use Will Hamilton's definition of everything and also Roger's himself.

Roger, in Rene Stouffer's book about him, called his forehand "modern retro." Elsewhere, he's said it's rather flat.

It's flat, too, according to Hamilton's definition in that frame gets edge on to net at point of farthest extension.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtuTHsFlfGg&feature=relmfu

If you are old enough to have a vaccination mark on your left, upper arm, don't finish there, however, but rather over your shoulder. If you are too young to have that mark, do finish there. Then, whether you are young or old, try the opposite.

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Shoulders Revolution in Roger Federer's Backhand

The newest high speed videos show that Roger continues to wind his upper body back as racket swings in upper register parallel to baseline for a distance of about a yard.

And that forward rotation of the shoulders starts near bottom of the drop and is evenly spread out over the central action-- until slightly after contact, I would guess.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/Backhand/RF_BH_Wide/RF_BH_Wide.html?RF%20BH%20Wide%20NeutralStance%20Rear3%20250fps.mov

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Re Roger Federer Slice Backhands

I never thought I'd be trying this shot. It's nothing like my own staple slice,
which I'm pretty happy with, but the new slow motion sequences really give me a different idea, make me think this a version of or at least close cousin to
"the floater" described by Arthur Ashe in the old book MASTERING YOUR TENNIS STROKES.

I don't have time to revisit that book right now, believing that on court experiments take precedence to reading most times, or to re-visit the passages in Tilden where he talks about the importance of proper orchestration, suggesting that, yes, you can hit fast versions of slice, that's possible, but what's really best is shots of best contrast, say, very fast drives and very slow slices.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/new_issue/2011/february/new_issue_february_2011.html

Certainly, there's much less rotation of the shoulders in this shot than in a Federer backhand drive (for a quick comparison see the post with link before this one, # 574).

Reduced rotation of the shoulders leaves arm work and shoulder-blades clench to think about.

Since I mentioned my staple slice, I should try to explain it. It starts with
a shorter backswing. Barrel of the racket glides a little toward net. The
clench then dramatically changes direction of this gliding motion, accelerating it. Arm is bent but I'm looking to relax it so much that the clench will straighten it automatically. That also takes strings through the ball a bit.

I've seen professional descriptions (I'm proud to call myself an amateur) of
a similar shot but trying from a more turned around position, and no mention of whether elbow is active or passive, namely muscular or passive.

For softer slower slice I get muscular with the elbow, use extenders in the arm itself. Both, I feel, are pretty useful shots.

But this chop is something else. See how the elbow comes up late, leading
to a whirling overhand arm action followed by both arms moving toward right fence (the clench).

The clench itself doesn't seem to contribute power. But observe what happens below the waist. Much like a regular drive.

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In Search of Compensation for Rotordedness

No less a server than Brenda Schultz McCarthy advises thrusting with front foot on a first serve, with both feet on a second serve.

Most top players, it would seem, don't make this distinction but always get weight way out on front foot.

They have big flexibility in their shoulder rotors available to them.

A rotorded server, however, might take McCarthy's advice to heart.

He might start with racket farther back than most servers, extreme stance, revolve backward as he sinks down on knees with weight equally distributed on both feet, having started out with them quite close together.

Such a sinking whirl might suggest a serve with equivalent rotation about to occur in the opposite direction.

Instead, I'm proposing a simple straightening of the extenders straight up (both legs and hitting arm).

One might reduce forward travel on the toss to prepare for this.

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Delicate Arcs Through the Air

"The simplest answer is often the best one," as a Stieg Larsson character solving gruesome murders is apt to say.

But not always.

The backhand discussion, or should I say progression, that I have been conducting with the Youzhny, Wawrinka and Federer backhands (Federer wins again), has returned me to such twentieth century tennis questions as, "Why does Lloyd Budge start his backhand students with elbow so far out? Why does Don Budge start with his elbow in but then hit the ball with the same huge separation?"

Regardless of century, the tennis community has always agreed that "extension" is crucial to every good one-hander. But when should it happen? Or where should most of it happen?

I'm presently on steroids, antibiotics and cough medicine containing codeine, not playing tennis, lying on my back and making arcs through the air with hand cocked up enough to form a line in the skin at my wrist. That tip about line in skin comes from Chris Lewit, who in his new book doesn't present Federer's wrap around bent-armedness as one of the most teachable options at the Chris Lewit Tennis Academy. Lewit nevertheless strikes me as open minded. I admire his profound conviction that beautiful shots in tennis are great shots.

Lying on one's back, one doesn't achieve much upper body rotation, the only significant flaw that I can detect in the steroids, antibiotics and codeine method of divine design invention.

But flaw it is. Because shoulders turning back as Federer steps out are integral to his getting the racket behind him and parallel to rear fence. That and keying the bent arm just a little. By "keying" I mean turning the bent arm as one would turn a key in the back of a mechanical doll.

The keying thus started continues to lower racket as shoulders get still. The shoulders then start rotating forward as bent elbow swings low toward side fence.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.