A New Year's Serve

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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]

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.

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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.

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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.

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Lubricated String

MMMMM. Buy WD-40 by the case?

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Another Suggestion: I'd like to hear WHY NOT to do this

The Detroit engineer who designed the old pentagram hood ornament for Chryslers told me not to spray the strings but spray a microfibre cloth with the WD-40 instead and apply the cloth to the strings on both sides.

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Contrast and Compare

More weight into the eight. Fooling with the heels:

Variation I

A) Front heel back low with weight on the inside of both feet. The knees actually work forward a bit to counter backward body movement during first fall in a gravity-dominant serve.

B) Forward and toss. No horizontal body rotation in either direction during the toss.

C) The knees and hips now revolve back as part of the coil under the ball.


Variation II

Body rotation is a function only of stance, splayed feet, compression and extension of the knees.

A. The knees start to bend as racket drops.

B. They don't bend much as body starts forward

C. They bend more to wind body under the ball.

[bottle]

Don't Like Either Today

Figure eights, gravity dominant serve, turn slowly backward as racket drops down and lifts up (first fall), start forward for the toss, don't figure out exactly when backward rotation ought to stop, but do know exactly when forward rotation ought to begin (at bottom of the second, easy fall). Figure eight is to answer the questions. Get a good figure eight going before you toss balls into it.

[tennis_chiro]

Get the rhythm

Figure eights, gravity dominant serve, turn slowly backward as racket drops down and lifts up (first fall), start forward for the toss, don't figure out exactly when backward rotation ought to stop, but do know exactly when forward rotation ought to begin (at bottom of the second, easy fall). Figure eight is to answer the questions. Get a good figure eight going before you toss balls into it.

A good drill is to integrate the practice toss-and-catch with the figure 8. Establish the rhythm with the toss-and-catch, then continuously, work in the figure 8 so that you go
"Toss(1) - and(2) -Catch(3) -Pause(4)

You catch the ball as your left hand is just beginning to descend. As you complete the retracing of the motion to the beginning the force of gravity drops to zero and that is your "Pause".

For the Figure 8 the rhythm is
Let the racket swing back to the trophy position with just a little help to gravity(1)
Let the racket drop down to the "pro drop" position(2)
Then without actually stopping the racket at the bottom of the "pro drop", swing up to the contact point for (3)
And then follow through around to the opposite side making a full circular motion back to your starting point(4)

1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4; become a metronome. You must synchronize your weight transfer as well. You can see it on my youtube videos at GlobalTennisDC.

Finally, when you can do toss-and-catch-pause-figure 8 (1-2-3-4), then do toss-and-catch- figure 8 (1-2-3-4), then toss-and-catch-pause again (1-2-3-4), then do a second consecutive toss-and-catch, but instead of pausing and catching the ball, go ahead and hit it! In rhythm. If you've got control of the rhythm, you'll be able to followthrough in the figure 8 fashion to the beginning and do the whole thing again for a second ball, all the time maintaining your 1-2-3-4 metronomal rhythm.

DO NOT just try to throw the ball into the "fan blades" of a churning figure 8!

It must be Toss it - See what you toss - Hit what you see!... but in rhythm


Good luck.
don

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~

Thanks! Great. Am gonna do it, following each direction with precision. In the meantime...

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A Rotorded Server Watches Don Brosseau

Certain tennis pros, such as Jeffrey Counts, place great emphasis not only on getting racket tip low while serving but on getting it out to the right (Braden: "Scratch the back of the person next to you").

Me, I've always wondered exactly how one ought to obtain that cool knifey look-- so apparent in stop-frame video-- and since I've conducted a thread which certain persons read-- I had the chance to ask, "What's the best move-- from arm, from body, from both, from what?"

Well, I may have a readership but nobody has ever ventured an answer. But I don't care any more. Because I'm a rotorded server, and that dictates hitting arm way up in the air-- the only way to get racket tip low enough, through letting arm completely bend.

Actually, the arm, I've figured out, ought to be pointed on a 45 degree angle up at the sky, and ought to get to that position quite early.

So, in my gravity dominant serve, that means the arm folds completely, then as hips spiral upward, the upper arm cocks (twists back), and this takes racket tip downward and sideward 50-50 if arm is at 45 degrees.

Here's the film of Don.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Zr_CRdVLnp4&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

Is he rotorded? I don't think so. But the question is academic by now since I
AM rotorded, and I have a clear way to achieve the workable, effective, knifey look I crave.

[tennis_chiro]

Blew the audio!

Certain tennis pros, such as Jeffrey Counts, place great emphasis not only on getting racket tip low while serving but on getting it out to the right (Braden: "Scratch the back of the person next to you").

Me, I've always wondered exactly how one ought to obtain that cool knifey look-- so apparent in stop-frame video-- and since I've conducted a thread which certain persons read-- I had the chance to ask, "What's the best move-- from arm, from body, from both, from what?"

Well, I may have a readership but nobody has ever ventured an answer. But I don't care any more. Because I'm a rotorded server, and that dictates hitting arm way up in the air-- the only way to get racket tip low enough, through letting arm completely bend.

Actually, the arm, I've figured out, ought to be pointed on a 45 degree angle up at the sky, and ought to get to that position quite early.

So, in my gravity dominant serve, that means the arm folds completely, then as hips spiral upward, the upper arm cocks (twists back), and this takes racket tip downward and sideward 50-50 if arm is at 45 degrees.

Here's the film of Don.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Zr_CRdVLnp4&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

Is he rotorded? I don't think so. But the question is academic by now since I
AM rotorded, and I have a clear way to achieve the workable, effective, knifey look I crave.

The voice over that is not heard in that clip is the following:

"See, if you just put the racket in the "backscratch" and turn your body forward, the racket won't get over enough to the right. The key is to start up with your hand and more especially your body and hip turn just before the racket gets to the bottom. In other words, it never makes it to the "backscratch" position and its' downward momentum as you turn the body will swing the racket over to the right onto the ideal track to the ball and then on to the target."

don