A New Year's Serve

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More Downward Pressure through the Feet per David Ledbetter and John McEnroe

This is not a gimmick but a fact of life applying to every one of our tennis strokes. Notice how often McEnroe's body straightens as he hits a volley.

Ground force even is generated when somebody sharply compresses his legs during a slice or chop. Well, he or she didn't keeping going and crash into the court, not even Steffi Graf, did she?

No, she braked, creating a powerful force that welled up from the ground. How one timed to harness this is another question. Is one a great player on this particular shot or not?

This point of view sides with those teaching pros who advocate that one be airborne when hitting an overhead every time (e.g., Vince Eldred).

On serve, it advocates putting bod and not just arm into every toss like Andy Roddick through perhaps done in a slightly different way.

It loves the one hand backhand exercise where cross-armed you grab your knees then jump very high as tall as you can.

Delegates similar force to early part and all parts of a serve.

What goes up comes down, right? A lot of force will flow into the ground and immediately well back up so why not maximize it?

I love this as a weapon toward those who maintain I am an idiot.

Never minding what I think of them, I imagine their animadversion and am able to declare: "You deny almost everything else in life, so why not deny Newton's Second Law as well? Go ahead and be a lousy tennis player or spawn or sic new lousy tennis players upon the world. I don't care. I'll play against them anyway. We're supposed to do our best, right? One way-- play against lousy competition.

Tennis player walking through Eastside Deroit Tennis Facility: "John isn't going to join the drill. He's going to sit and meditate."

Teaching pro about to administer the drill: "That's why he wins every time."

Later, I get to play with her against the first guy and a strong fourth.

And we do win even though, because of too much recent innovation, I'm having an off-night.

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More Ground Force

Admittedly, the idea of increasing ground force in most of one's tennis strokes comes straight from David Ledbetter in golf, but so what? Ground force in his assertions has to do with universal physics, and we all go ga-ga-- justifiably-- at the Vic Braden film in which Dr. Ariel Gideon measures the ground force in a Roscoe Tanner serve at 200 per cent of Roscoe's body weight.

Ledbetter has figures for three different places in a golf swing where a golf pro applies slightly more than his body weight in a downward direction (about 125 per cent) compared to a hacker who applies about 85 per cent.

In a modern serve where offset feet cause a screwlike downward spiral there is a lot of ground force generated already, and I am unconfident of any additive that would do much good.

In more old fashioned or knee replacement conscious serves such as my own however the addition of compression and extension of the legs to classic down together up together racket work and toss could be of benefit, should add freedom from inhibition along with Newtonian physics of opposite reaction.

The possible drawbacks I see are the encouragement of head bobbing and interference possibly with some old toss timing which has become reliable go-to.

Me, I take the risk on toss, thinking I can adjust. And what does head bobbing matter if occurring before one is in the neighborhood of hitting the ball?

Such adjustment could be more mental than anything else, i.e., conscious emphasis now on the down and up and down and up of everything.

On ground strokes the same idea of unweighting to next apply heavier weight can be employed as well.

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How Bad is it to Notice Things?

To hit a Budge-bam as in the second video down, do you want to lower hand the way J. Donald Budge does?

In other of his filmed forehands here, the hand stays virtually at a single level. Something always comes down but usually it is just the racket head.

The strokes seem so level. So the exception here-- down with hand and racket head to the ball and then up again from the ball is notable.

Today there was a huge wind at Rouge River Park. The down and up stroke was the one that offered full control to an old guy seriously imitating the Don Budge forehand for the first time. What I like about it is that the loop is integrated into the full stroke in a special way due to the delayed hips pivot at the end. I see shoulders swinging first and then the hips.

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Deep Serve

Dr. Samuel Johnson: "There is nothing against which an old man should be so much upon his guard as putting himself to nurse." James Boswell: "Innumerable have been the melancholy instances of men once distinguished for firmness, resolution, and spirit, who in their latter days have been governed like children, by interested female artifice."

I don't know what brought that on. Instead of finding a nurse the old guy should work on a tennis serve that starts from farther back.

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How to Position Hand Two to Six Inches Farther Back at End of the Second Drop

Even one inch would make a profound difference.

pro·found
prəˈfound/
adjective

1. 1.
   (of a state, quality, or emotion) very great or intense.
   "profound social changes"

   synonyms:

   heartfelt, intense, keen, great, extreme, acute, severe, sincere, earnest, deep, deep-seated, overpowering, overwhelming, fervent, ardent More
2. 2.
   (of a person or statement) having or showing great knowledge or insight.
   "a profound philosopher"

   synonyms:

   wise, learned, clever, intelligent, scholarly, sage, erudite, discerning, penetrating, perceptive, astute, thoughtful, insightful, percipient, perspicacious; raresapient "a profound analysis"

   noun

literary

1. 1.
   the vast depth of the ocean or of the mind.

Note the two synonyms "deep" and "deep-seated." They say it all.

Simply do the body action you do coming from straight arm to 90-degree trophy but come only to 135-degree obtuse angle.

The hand now will follow a longer path in squeezing the two halves of the arm together, but elbow will turn up in the same manner as before. Make sure that you do fully squeeze the two halves despite the longer pathway.

Hand now is farther back and around and deeper too.

As an explorer you should appreciate such a radically different pose.

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Frustration

I go with the Tillie Olsen edict for writers, and we're all writers here, that there is nothing a writer can't express.

If that's true, then frustration must be really easy since it is at the easy end of the spectrum.

Another Friday night social in which everything with one exception didn't work.

So what is going on? Substitute teaching in Detroit, that's what. At the conclusion of every day, no matter where in Detroit the screaming was, I head for the abandoned 12 tennis courts at Rouge River Park, a great place for putting tiny white burrs on one's balls, strings and hands.

The self-feed ensures that I will play lousy tennis on the following Friday. Because I'm working on new stuff that isn't ready yet. And how can one get it ready without a proper court and good hitting partner?

By simplifying so much that pure concept alone will immediately work in a match no matter who the opponents.

So the Budge-bam demarcation now changes from 45 to 55 degrees (which is less turn!). That refers to how racket points at the net. With the briefest of wrist laybacks occurring during the unit turn that put one there. Or just turn with wrist already in desired position for this forehand. That will work if one has enough confidence in his flying grip change for backhands. Turning to 35 degrees with the small layback will add up to 45 degrees anyway if that is what matters. Of course strict 45 degrees doesn't matter but is useful for purpose of consistency.

Form of stroke: a circular pendulum. I think of a gilded clock with one chess piece and then the other coming forward. In both directions the arm under slightly raised tip stays perfectly parallel to the court. There shall be no drop of this raised tip whatsoever in the preponderance of these shots. I blame that little turning down of the tip for throwing my timing off at the social. So J. Donald Budge gets to keep it. But I will allow myself the occasional pattern where both one's hand and one's turning racket tip go forwardly down to meet the ball at the bottom of a shallow U.

Backhands: They'll get good again as soon as I stop thinking about them so much. Volleys: More need to be hit in warmup. Same with overheads.

The serve? Was pretty good. So build on the sucess of direct drop to right of trophy position. Keep that even when attempting topspin, topspin slice and kick. A rotorded server must proceed in the direction of his dawning achievement of power.

Here's how the upward spins will work. Through refinement first of all of the better serves which now include hitting back or right side of ball. Cut trophy from right angle or 90 to 135 degrees is my first suggestion. Then, if that works well, maximize all means of hitting left side of ball-- especially extreme stance and shut-down of forward hips rotation.

The ultimate form of this to include extreme wrist tilt. Simply tilt wrist like the beak of the extinct Concorde jetplane. Do it as part of the reduced trophy or as part of second racket fall or even as part of the throw if you prefer.

In one option then the racket on edge will keep its alighnment over elbow even though we are now working from an obtuse angle of 135 degrees.

In the other the wrist and racket are to get Concorded.

But hand still will go down to right of elbow, a motion to be concluded with the two halves of the arm pressing together.

Both options will offer a longer racket head fall to afford more range in which leg thrust can perform its magic.

Upper arm rotation in a backward direction has been maximized.

Teardrop loop at bottom of second racket fall has been removed.

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Grigor's Forehand Seen Easier to Imitate than Roger's

The term "Baby Fed" has misled us. What Grigor Dimitrov does at the top of his forehand is very different from the convoluted arm twist of Roger Federer.

Grigor does twist his arm but before the forward part of his stroke.

This way his arm lowering, which blends into his mondo, operates much more in the sideways dimension.

Roger's arm twist happens as forward motion and obviously is perfect for him.

But Grigor or perhaps a coach or two or whoever influenced him was much more creative than given credit for.

Just as an ordinary player is more creative in imitating Grigor.

More simplicity then.

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Backhand Exercise that may be Crucial to Full One Hand Topspin on Backhand Side

The hands go down and grasp opposite thighs, right over left. One shoots them up in the air as high and powerfully as one can. Body, legs and arms will be involved.

This gives some indication of how right arm can rise without being the whole story.

The arm from close to rear hip will pull racket butt toward the ball first then rise more steeply than in the exercise.

The wrist will unflex and extend the opposite way during the throw up at the sky. The arm will roll at the same time. The combination will increase racket head speed in frame direction while also getting racket tip sharply around to compensate for the lack of any such turn any time there is a maximum of steepness in any stroke.

There is tremendous use of legs in this description. And I don't think one should abandon the wrist motion included here just because some conservative players think that wrist is intrinsically unreliable. Sure, some risk is involved, but one can have other backhands in which this unique use of wrist ultimately sending hand ahead of the rod of one's forearm is excommunicated.

Here are three other ways to make oneself more diverse on the backhand side: 1) raise rear shoulder like a wave then lower it simultaneous with hips turn. When one shoulder goes down, I have noticed, the other one goes up; 2) hit the drive with shoulders level; 3) hit the drive with front shoulder kept down like Virginia Wade. I feel that this method of Wade squashes the swing to make its path more inside out.

To return to the interesting subject of slightly curled wrist next turning inside back (everybody agrees this is "interesting" even though they advise against it as sensible occurrence before or during the ball). A thing though that worries me is that in their response they never indicate that they have apprehended the full wrist movement, just speak of curled wrist and not the whole rest of the movement combining full arm roll with hand easing forward ahead of the stalk of one's arm.

"Easing" is a word that I now add to the overall description in an effort to reduce misunderstanding. The wrist itself doesn't add any power, only different positioning. And the total wrist movement from flex to extension (the latter a horrid but scientifically consistent term) must be very gradual to work. So gradual in fact that much but not all of it occurs after the ball.

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Countering One's Wimpy Ground Force

Figuring out how to deliver more downward pressure through one's feet ought to be easier in imitation of a simpler forehand like that of J. Donald Budge.

The language of Tony Roche could be useful. He speaks of a "prop step" on both sides of the bod.

When one props then, one should make sure that more than one's body weight goes down.

Same thing on the step-out. Not a good idea to be light on one's feet just then. Better to take a hearty step that squats extra weight into the ground.

Third, as transverse stomach muscles bring racket to ball the hips can still be closing a tiny bit. Again, this sends more than one's body weight down.

While assuring essential delay of one's pivot.

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How Bad is it to Notice Things?

To hit a Budge-bam as in the second video down, do you want to lower hand the way J. Donald Budge does?

In other of his filmed forehands here, the hand stays virtually at a single level. Something always comes down but usually it is just the racket head.

The strokes seem so level. So the exception here-- down with hand and racket head to the ball and then up again from the ball is notable.

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Slow to the Ball; Fast from the Ball?

I'm talking about my new spondee forehand, my Budge-bam, the smoothest tennis stroke this boy has ever launched.

Why I had to wait to the age of 78 to acquire it, I never will understand.

I'm just propped here on my back, listening to the coolest jazz possible, tripping on the excellence of a shot I haven't even hit once yet in a match.

Here it is-- just look at it. (https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...ennis/part_02/) Unit turn to 45 degrees to the net and then the shoulders continue in point-across supernumerary turn.

You can reverse the rhythm of the extra bit of turn back to the ball and then pivot.

A wait position with both hands probably a few inches extra in front of one's bod helps the feel of a long, slow lever.

And then if you get a little bored hit a Grigorfore to enjoy Grigor Dimitrov's inward rake of the racket head at the top of a big loop.

But I'm looking at the J. Donald Budge forehand on another day and therefore am seeing it a slightly different way. Between the backward and forward motion, the racket head falls a little-- the true demarcation point.

It's all smoothness but accelerating smoothness from that point onward.

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Further Exploration of the Budge-Bam

The comments under the Tennis Player article are extremely useful to someone who wants this shot. We learn from the sharp-eyed intelligences there that 1) wrist layback is mild and 2) there is some backward and forward arm roll characteristic of the shot.

Additionally-- and get over your foolish habit, reader, of caring about whom any tennis technique knowledge comes from-- the burst of acceleration at the end is primarily due to delayed hips pivot.

In his book HOW TO PLAY TENNIS Mercer Beasley even includes a photograph in which one can't see the racket.

Beasley attributes that racket's invisibility to fast hips pivot.

Next of several questions: In the article's repeating video (furniture one), how does racket get to ball before the pivot takes over?

From independent arm motion which will work? Nope, not if you study when left elbow disappears around the bod.

So backward and forward supernumerary shoulders motion duplicates itself.

The shot is extremely connected and solid like a good baseball swing.

All the arm does if it does anything is roll a bit this way and then a bit that way.

And footwork in at least one of the videoed forehands defies usual thought about sequence of foot pivots.

Inner foot pivots first then outer foot pivots as part of the prop step.

ONO, THAT CANNOT BE. THE TWO FEET PIVOT TOGETHER. OR OUTER FOOT PIVOTS FIRST, INNER FOOT SECOND JUST AS I LEARNED. AND JESUS LOVES ME BECAUSE THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO!

Well, it's time to relearn a few things without necessarily giving up what one already knows.

To mondo or not to mondo: that is a good one.

Mondo works in this shot, but the shot could be even better if one simply takes a bit of mild wrist layback as part of combined first move.

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A New Set of Strokes to Replace Old Bad Ones

Forehand:

1) Budge-bam replaces the Ellie-bam, which previously replaced the Beasley-bam. J. Donald Budge greatly respected Ellsworth Vines and the pace he could generate, in fact attributed a win over Fred Perry to the superior pace that he and Vines maintained in a match played shortly before.

Both Budge and Mercer Beasley, Vines' coach, used the same exhortative in their instructional materials, viz., almost throw the racket directly at the target to give yourself good dwell and follow through.

Vines however ultimately rejected Beasley's behind the back preparation in favor of launching his ever straightening stroke from out in the slot.

And Budge's forehand altogether rejects the gradual arm straightening used by Beasley and Vines both. His arm already is substantially straight and at good distance out thus requiring him or any player to do one less thing.

(https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...ennis/part_02/)

To my mind the Ellie-bam and the Budge-bam are the same flat shot, with the difference that Budge's arm is already quite straight with elbow out from core at all phases of the stroke (I repeat myself on purpose). The cue to separate hands when racket is pointing at 45 degrees to net is key. One thing I take away is that unit turn with both heels turned is by then completed and flows into further turn of the shoulders connected to left hand pointing across over solidly planted legs.

2) Grigor Dimitrov variation of the Federfore replaces my own variation. Of especial note is that Dimitrov not only raises racket tip early like Roger Federer, but does so to the inside of Federer, so that racket butt points slightly in direction of right fence.

Why would one do such a thing? My idea is that the move allows one to pull the distanced racket farther back with hand on the throat before the two hands separate. Also, dog pat then beomes a smooth chop out and down and back into the mondo.

(https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...5%20240fps.mp4)

Instructive as well: Forward hips turn occurs earlier than in a Budge-bam. Forward hips turn in a Budge-bam or Ellie-bam is delayed to last possible instant and can even determine where the ball goes.

I see this early forward hips turn as essential in turning bod inside out and slanting shoulders down at ball in most Federfores.

Backhands:

1) Flat backhands can be hit with level shoulders throughout-- one less thing to go wrong.

2) Full topspin backhands can be hit with downward tilt of shoulders ending in upward tilt of shoulders with gradual arm roll combining with curled wrist gradually turning inside out.

Serve:

Oh yeah, the serve. Down and up together with the up part shallow and extending far back behind one's neck. Hand to stay behind neck even while approaching neck to form orthodox trophy position, i.e., with racket perfectly on edge directly above the hand.

From there the wrist can tilt to left a little or a lot or not at all in which case it may open back toward rear fence.

All of these serves carry the delay of a point up at the sky no matter how long or brief (mine wants to be very brief). They generate more pace for me than the serves I have recently been playing with.

My main thought in saying this is that the serves are coming from farther back. Also, they go faster-- one can tell, and I am ever hopeful that my opponents will too.

It is easy to think that ISR is something exotic that happens only in kick, topspin and topspin slice serves.

In fact, it happens on all serves, even end over end tomahawked serves.

If when one opens wrist post trophy one also squeezes arm while knifing elbow forward a little, one can line up perfectly behind a slightly rightward toss with no loop at the bottom whatsoever.

If one then uses the same form without laying back the wrist one will have invented low slice to complement one's topspin slice.

To summarize, from classical trophy position, one can tilt wrist and racket path to left. But one can directly tilt projected racket path to right as well. In either option a full squeezing together of the two halves of the arm can occur.

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Backhand Exercise that may be Crucial to Full One Hand Topspin on Backhand Side

The hands go down and grasp opposite thighs, right over left. One shoots them up in the air as high and powerfully as one can. Body, legs and arms will be involved.

This gives some indication of how right arm can rise without being the whole story.

The arm from close to rear hip will pull racket butt toward the ball first then rise more steeply than in the exercise.

The wrist will unflex and extend the opposite way during the throw up at the sky. The arm will roll at the same time. The combination will increase racket head speed in frame direction while also getting racket tip sharply around to compensate for the lack of any such turn any time there is a maximum of steepness in any stroke.

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Horrible serves last night. Back to the drawing board. Ground strokes went horrible, too, despite a pretty good hit before the competition started. The two things that were working were backhand slice and some volleys. At least I didn't have kidney stones like one of my partners. Finally I reverted to my McEnrueful, a forehand I had sworn I wasn't going to hit any more. Then my other partner and I won the last set 6-1 . I guess the moral of the story is that you should never eschew a forehand that you can hit softly and which is great for service returns.