A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Report

The first idea of 3726 did not work well in doubles today. One could wait a couple of months for it to work, I suppose, but I choose more tinkering with the same basic form instead-- a hobby of mine. I think I do want want "keying" forward of the right angled arm before hips pivot chimes in since that pattern had been working pretty well. So how to save time to implement this in 1 2-3 rhythm becomes the challenge.

Fortunately, other strokes, including some new ones, did work, so didn't have a bad day. Was talking with a friend between games. We agreed that tennis is a great overload of information. I told how top level coaches try to remove the weight of information altogether and teach their players just to react.

Yeah, but somebody (the player, his second coach, his grandfather-- somebody) initially had to have done some figuring out, with this involving information-- great gobs of it.

In questing after the Ellie-bam, I should take into account that Ellsworth Vines probably used a club much heavier than mine. Also, that I want the shot for seniors-to-the-third-power doubles. And all takebacks in doubles should be abbreviated except when you're hitting from near the baseline-- at least that is the word in PLAYING TENNIS AFTER 50 by Kathy and Ron Woods.

Peter Burwash would like to see a lot more blocked shots in any kind of tennis, singles or doubles and at any age. It makes no sense to always take a big cut at the ball especially when a hard hit ball comes straight at you. The most sensible thing to do is abbreviate and just redirect the oncoming speed to your own advantage. Then when you get a slow ball you can wind up more if you want to. Or hit a chopper or a drop shot. Blocking philosophy did work well for me today.

"Move your feet," my friend said to me. "My God," I said. "I told you that on Friday and forgot it myself over the weekend." He agreed that that's how things go. The advice concerned hip openers and vertical bounces during dead time on the court.

Note: The first idea for expediting the right angled arm thing has come to me now while writing this post. How much time does it take to set up an almost completely straight-armed preparation up and out to side in the slot? Not much. So one could, using composite grip, straight wrist and a small turtle shell loop, bring elbow up and down into the side in the exact same time. A bit of keying back can be part of this mix. Almost as if you are describing or drawing a comma.

[bottle]

Next to Try, in Pursuit of Ellie-bam

Only key right-angled arm backward, never key it forward. When you (I) used to key it forward, the purpose was to find the setting where bod pivot could best chime in. The goal was the same if one chose to use a difficult pencil-thin loop like Ellsworth Vines himself.

Now, simply find this ideal setting straight off. Seek it in tiny increments. Key racket tip back one inch, then 23456789 . Somewhere in there is the ideal, which will be different for differently aimed shots. The shoulders of course are winding powerfully back no matter what the setting within that wind is going to be.

Part Two of this Plot

Am committed to 1 2-3 rhythm on every forehand. Need a new "2" therefore since the previous "2" was to key forward. We (I) substitute a firming up of last three fingers of hand (middle, ring and pinkie). We bring this method over from the 1 2-3 rhythm used to block an overly fast oncoming ball thus robbing its speed, viz., present strings, squeeze the three fingers, positively enjoy the immediate collision.

In the Ellie-bam, we firm up the ideal setting the exact same way but become a pro-active glider rather than a gleefully passive and firm counter-punching person.

Pivot is a swim, a sweep, a male swoop, a dance-like rotation of the hips, a slo-mo pressing with the racket, a crossing of the bridge from one perfect balance point to another.

Chris Lewit has stated in THE TENNIS TECHNIQUE BIBLE that he won't teach this kind of flat shot. Me, I will try. Or if I can't successfully teach it, I will happily use it.

Occasionally. Not all the time.

When I play billiards, there is no hesitation between drawing stick backward and smoothing it forward. This new method, however is indeed Steve Mizerak's "dead stick," thus opening a new challenge and giving a person from other frames of reference a lot to learn.

First revision: Use dead beat of dead stick to adjust three-finger pressure on handle, making it heavier, lighter or keeping it the same. This pressure is always changing anyway. But what the pressure is at the start will affect the rest.

[bottle]

All good...

[stotty]

The two things we notice about George Lott is that on his his serve he hits he ball at he apex of his ball toss...and he's quick.

His motion is also fluid and beautiful and as good as you will see. I imported the clip to my Analyzr Pro and slowed the serve right down. Lott's racket drop is superb.

He also keeps the racket head up as he punches through and nails that volley.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5w48hf

[bottle]

Three 1 2-3 Rhythm Forehands

A) Left hand on racket helps turn bod but continues to do so through separation of hands half way up a path to outside. The hands scatter like a gently tossed pair of stones out in the slot. Both arms are nearly straight. The one count of this single motion could be called slow or fast so call it fast. You can't get racket into position fast enough. Did elbow go up? Some-- a medium amount. Did racket tip roll independently up? Some. Could one hold this achieved position while waiting for a slow ball? Yes, and better to have time to spare. (End of count one.)

Count two is fall of hand and racket butt and elbow. Count three begins with arm and bod getting solid along with mondo (flip). When elbow dropped it had to come in. So while bod takes racket to ball elbow goes out that same amount to restore one's original perception of aim. Once ball is hit wrist straightens and elbow straightens a bit from where it was (already was quite straight).

In this form a lot of the great arm extension was established early as racket was going back and up to outside. Also, the breast stroke of many other forehands has been modified. Straight left arm crosses in front of body the same way "to smooth the waters" but right arm doesn't correspondingly go back, instead drops down.

B) Elbow tucks into side before commencement of the shot starting with whole arm assuming the shape of a right angle. Posture is erect for all three of these forehands. Grip this time is composite rather than strong eastern with wrist kept straight at all times.

Left hand stays on racket for part of bod turn but continues to add to bod turn as it goes out, this time toward right net post instead of sideways at right fence. The severely restricted racket tip meanwhile keys back no more than three or six inches. (End of count one.)

Racket keys forward a few inches (count two). Arm extends from shoulder and elbow as dance step pivot of hips occurs to effect full weight transfer from one foot to the other. Arm re-bends at end of this transfer. (End of count three and the stroke.)

C) Strings present out front to ball (count one). Bottom three fingers exert pressure on handle (count two). Oncoming ball collides with strings and rebounds over net (count three).

Note: Some version of forehand A and forehand C is absolutely essential. Forehand B is optional.

[bottle]

The Real Threat of Becoming too Sensible as you get Older

Sensible in doubles is a pair of kick serves, first and second. But if your age bracket is seniors to the third power, and you've played tennis for a significant portion of your life, perhaps you have a topspin serve and maybe even a kick serve with neither being sufficiently crisp and offensive. (Yes, offend, OFFEND! With your serves and at the net. Make your opponents think about you, constantly. But just do it in tennis, not in life or politics.)

Okay, so there is a famous Civil War cannon at Rouge Park where I do my self-feed, and when I was younger I had a cannonball serve. Time to bring it back.

Chris Lewit is always very interesting on the subject of disguise in the game. He points out that with a curving toss from player's right to left the opponent can't tell whether ball is over the server's head (kick) or a foot or two out front toward him the opponent (flat) due to lack of depth perception caused by where the opponent stands.

Hmmm, toss a foot or two in front. That could take some re-tooling. Used to do it, but the emphasis has been on tosses directly overhead for a long time.

A very old player needs a surprise cannon to mix things up.

[bottle]

One Shot at the Ellie-bam: The Weight is Where the Elbow is
Forget, for the sake of argument, every other detail of the just outlined shot. It was a feel of bod turning while right-angled arm independenly keyed back that distinguished this one shot from all other tries at the same shot in one day.

I've found a great new barbershop where all anybody talks about is sports. I was talking about getting addicted to one great shot that one might have hit, how one wants to own the shot and be able to repeat it at will, and how one goes to extreme lengths to try and figure it out and overthinks with bad result. I think it was I who said all of that but maybe some of it came from Dave, the head barber at the next chair, who asserted that the exact same thing happens in golf.

I enjoy sports discussions like this, get off on them, you might say. And don't think ANYBODY should ever be excluded from the big conversation. Not if you as listener are always eager for a golden nugget or kernel of corn. How are you going to know a great tip before you hear it? Maybe life ought to be a fishing expedition. Poor little fishies.

Anyway, there are some like me who want to hear anyone's thought or observation and others who couldn't care less. I think you have to be determined and patient enough to listen to stupid as well as brilliant stuff. It usually comes out in a mix-- why not withhold judgment and sort things out later?

About my evolving Ellie-bam, I think it might be helpful to define "backswing" as the keying around of right angled forearm parallel to the court with elbow brushing one's erect trunk. If one has accepted this beginning form over old saws about elbow being a ball can's width away from bod, etc., etc., a next logical question might be how far racket should travel due to this little motion alone. In one of his recent TurboTennis articles about overdogs, USPTR wag Ron Waite suggested that due to modern racket technology, one should try a six-inch backswing in one's forehand.

Was he talking about the same backswing that I am discussing here? Very doubtful. Nevertheless, three to six inches sounds very good so long as you don't get overly technical and ask whether the measurement is at racket tip or somewhere else. Try minimized backswing with maximized turn of shoulders with these two things simultaneous in other words.

[bottle]

You can do Aeronautical Banking in a McEnrueful but don't Dare try it in a Federfore

Thank you very much.

Okay, so somebody doesn't know my private names (I got the idea of putting names on things from religion, philosophy and golf). A McEnrueful is imitation John McEnroe forehand. A Federfore is imitation Roger Federer forehand. More important, the McEnrueful is a flat forehand, a Federfore a topspin forehand.

Arthur Ashe, who was influenced by the Welby Van Horn tradition of tennis thought, once described a theoretical forehand in which one lowers the shoulder, then brings it up to contact, then keeps it going up after contact, then divebombs it down to a collision between shoulder and court. We could name this "The Plane Crash Forehand."

In quickly perusing archived Federer forehands, one can see that Roger keeps his shoulder down while arming the ball. THEN, the shoulder comes up a little.

[hockeyscout]

Helping Men to Understand the Agi-scissor

Men, who characteristically lack the delicacy of women (I know from having cropped photos in a yearbook factory) often fail to understand a scissored stroke like that of Agnieszka Radwanska.

For a man trying nevertheless to use this perfectly acceptable forehand form (see the archived forehands of Tomas Berdych) I recommend a 20 per cent spillover of weight transfer instead of Agi's 10 .

And to try to understand that in most of these shots, contact should be make BEFORE the wipe.

Once the ball is gone the nature of one's follow through can have no effect on that ball but could greatly affect balance for one's next shot.

Or am I wrong? I haven't heard much from other people to support or challenge these assumptions.

nice ...

[bottle]

Idea to Try on Federfore

In Chris Lewit's first black-covered tennis book, he has a photograph on page 154 captioned "GREAT EXTENSION FROM THE MASTER..." and "AND THE EYES LOOKING DOWN THE RIGHT SHOULDER, LOCKED ON CONTACT."

One provocative idea I glean from this photo in "The Tennis Technique Bible" is, that, although Roger Federer's posture and balance are always exquisite, his shoulders may slope down at the ball during contact.

[bottle]

Helping Men to Understand the Agi-scissor

Men, who characteristically lack the delicacy of women (I know from having cropped photos in a yearbook factory) often fail to understand a scissored stroke like that of Agnieszka Radwanska.

For a man trying nevertheless to use this perfectly acceptable forehand form (see the archived forehands of Tomas Berdych) I recommend a 20 per cent spillover of weight transfer instead of Agi's 10 .

And to try to understand that in most of these shots, contact should be made BEFORE the wipe.

Once the ball is gone the nature of one's follow through can have no effect on that ball but could greatly affect balance for one's next shot.

Or am I wrong? I haven't heard much from other people to support or challenge these assumptions.

[bottle]

One Shot at the Ellie-bam: The Weight is Where the Elbow is

Thanks for # 3715 . I really liked it.

One builds on the best forehand one ever hit, not on good forehands somewhere in the middle of one's particular range of mediocrity.

This is very romantic of me-- I know. Especially since I probably don't remember the best forehand any more than I remember the best sex or anything else having to do with Hungary.

In which case I build on the best forehand I hit this year. It was this week, yesterday in fact.

It was a doubles service return from the ad court. I had been following Pat Blaskower's advice to hit soft short angles to make the server run a long way before his second shot and thereby compromise his timing space.

I had also been following Chris Lewit's advice to do hip openers and vertical bounces during all dead court time (page 14, "active feet," THE TENNIS TECHNIQUE BIBLE: THE ESSENTIAL REFERENCE FOR MASTERING WORLD-CLASS STROKES AND FOOTWORK: VOLUME ONE).

This more than anything else set me apart from the toadstools of senior senior senior's tennis to the third power. I've been waiting for them to notice and make some funny or unfunny remark but sometime they don't notice much.

My partial knee replacement and squished meniscus in the other leg didn't respond either. Should be all right there so long as I don't do the happy feet nonstop like a wise 18-year-old.

Now I decide to go for one high risk flat shot deep in the opposite alley. I do it. A clean winner. The Ellie-bam.

How was it hit? With composite grip. And right-angled elbow touching side until delayed hips pivot to shift one's weight simultaneous with arm straightening from two out of three available joints, shoulder and elbow. And erect posture. (Ellsworth Vines wouldn't like that. If you asked him to stand up straight he probably would at 28 quit tennis and his coach Mercer Beasley and join the professional golfers' tour.)

The third available joint, the wrist stays out of the technical equation by virtue of having started out and remaining straight.

When you put a stroke into words you are supposedly finished. Better to visualize a few key positions along the way. True unless the words are especially good. Or unless your words only take you part way to what you wish will happen-- still leave room for mystery in other words.

That is smooth bridge crossing or weight shifting pivot so inside out that when the straightened arm re-bends the racket is pointing at the target, in fact is trying to fly out of your hand toward the target.

I am an English expression major more than a tennis major, and so, when Mercer Beasley and J. Donald Budge both use that image of the racket flying after the ball I don't know if they mean before or after the elbow re-bends.

And am trying to use this confusion for my own benefit. I think that's what happened. Racket bending up before it tried to fly is the excuse I give for having hit one great shot. (O begrudge me one great shot in my life mine stingy tennis enemies.)

Note: Forget, for the sake of argument, every other detail of the just outlined shot. It was a feel of bod turning while right-angled arm independenly keyed back that distinguished this one shot from all other tries at the same shot in one day.

Okay, so let's build on that. The moment one goes to erect posture and right angled arm the racket is parallel to the court.

That puts racket tip farther toward the net than other waiting positions.

Which means that hand on throat of racket is farther toward the net.

Which means that if you are using that hand to help push the racket around-- now in two different mechanical ways-- it won't be able to go as far before the two hands have to separate.

The total stroke rhythm resulting from this is 1, 2-3, a rhythm that can work with other shots of very different form as well.

(https://www.google.com/search?q=even...hrome&ie=UTF-8)

[stotty]

Father and Son

The father seemed rational. So did the son until I got to know him better. Took a couple of years.

To whom do I allude? Nobody specific.

Yes it can take two years, or even longer.

"There's nowt so queer as folk" is an old English saying.

Here are some other observations:

- If you think someone is completely normal, you don't know them well enough

- When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.

- There is no such thing as abnormal behaviour, just extremes.

[bottle]

# 3710: How fast should right-angled forearm key back? How fast key forward?

Back: Slow almost as if aligning itself with oncoming ball and coaxing it into strike zone.

Forward: Smooth, i.e., not abrupt, and yet quick enough to deceive one's body weight and keep it back.

Funny, but this shot was very consistent in actual play even after I had suggested that it wouldn't be. Things can happen in your nervous system in a space of as little as one day, I guess. Even better, I hit one of my better forehands of the year, using the new construction. And if one hits a really great forehand, even though it was only one shot, one tends to become very hooked on whatever one was doing. I was conscious of left hand staying on racket throat with racket tip keying backward within the larger turn of the shoulders.

But is that what I want? MayBE. Or should I want shoulders first turning back, then racket keying back. I think I'll go with Chris Lewit on this question when he says you can't get racket back too soon.

We'll see of course if the great shot was a fluke or if it can spawn a bunch of similar great shots. A fluke is a kind of prolific fish, no? Well, it should be.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fluke

[bottle]

Father and Son

The father seemed rational. So did the son until I got to know him better. Took a couple of years.

To whom do I allude? Nobody specific.