A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Immense Cleverness

I try to step outside of myself now. "How silly of Bottle to praise something he hasn't even tried yet."

Maybe.

On the other hand one can start from the premise, in serving, that when one goes forward one extends from the toes all the way up through the bod to whatever happens next.

Correspondingly, when one goes backward, one loads the rear foot. One can see the rear heel flatten in the rock-step of the Pancho Segura serve.

But this transpires at the end of backward travel.

At the beginning of backward travel the rear heel actually lifts. What's that about?

The toss. One obtains a powerful assist to one's straight levering ta from the ankle upward somewhat like a Muhammad Ali jab.

Brent Abel on seniors champion Paul Wulf's old age: "He's figured out how to play the game."

Well, isn't that what we're all supposed to do?

"All of this is too involved and technical, it seems to me."

Well, boring people deserve to be bored.

[bottle]

Front Heel up, Both Heels up, Rear Heel down

Easy momentum does rock and roll to give you something fluid and rhythmic to build upon.

So weight goes slightly back on the toss. ("Rules were made to be broken by those who know them.")

That can be true and yet the backward shift to place racket plumb down can be very slight.

The demonstration to this is that both feet are now up on their toes.

A warning about this is not to pause the racket in plumb position but rather use its momentum to start ha out to brandishment with a bit of acceleration added in.

As this happens the rear heel can lower to court or just short of court.

Observe the delicate balance combining with the full movement of all this.

Getting up on toes requires super balance; you have no choice.

But ta, having stayed aloft, comes initially down a small amount to balance the ha in a symmetrical backward and forward stretch.

I continue to blinder my attention to the first four frames in the book and depend on inspiration to cover the next eight frames.

I'll see if I can scan at the library and put the first four frames up here. I had more success with that kind of endeavor when I used to have a computer that was primitive.

How far apart should legs be arranged to start one of these serves?

Not far at all-- evidence that its lateral movement, considerable, is about to be converted into vertical movement.

[bottle]

How Much Does Technical Information of Any Kind Get Typically Misunderstood?

A lot and not just by me. It blows my mind that one can go back to written instruction one has studied countless times and read it-- now-- in a radically different light.

The Pancho Segura serve is laid out as nowhere else in the 1976 book he wrote with Gladys Heldman, PANCHO SEGURA'S CHAMPIONSHIP STRATEGY.

This is a man whose credibility should be great with one before one even begins to read.

Even the dedication impresses:

This book is dedicated to Jimmy Connors, Howard Schoenfield, Stan Smith, Erik van Dillen, Barry MacKay, Ken Rosewall, Lesley Hunt, Beth Norton, Tom Leonard, Tom Kreiss, Butch Buchholz, Alex Olmedo, Antonio Palafox, Tracy Austin, Laurie and Robin Tenney, Fernando Gentil, Ricardo Icaza, Jeff Austin, Sally Greer, Shelley Hudson, Spencer Segura, and Cynthia Lasker, who were among the pupils I coached-- and who brought so much pleasure to their teacher.

A friend of mine the playing pro teaching pro and American haiku editor Jim Kacian once described what sitting next to Pancho Segura at a tournament was like-- a steady stream of insights some of them not complicated at all-- "approach shot down the line and knock off the volley."

One wouldn't look to Segura for backhand wisdom, I think, unless one had a two-hander, but everybody knows his forehand was genius. His serve is enough of a curiosity to be of natural interest, I believe, to anyone.

In spending several weeks of trying to adapt it to my own use, I now realize, I've been holding on to some inhibiting habits from other models.

His rock and roll serve starts with weight on the front foot and both arms stretched out unconnected to each other toward the net.

This initial drawing embodies a profound observation by the other Pancho, Pancho Gonzalez, that one doesn't have to do the typical ta downstroke before one's toss if one doesn't want to.

As weight shifts to back foot ta goes up from where it started and ha goes straight down so racket tip is close to the court.

But weight a minute (pun on purpose). The momentum of ha coming down continues into distancing from core up into the brandishment I've talked so much about.

Easy momentum does rock and roll to give you something fluid and rhythmic to build upon.

[bottle]

Over the Top Exclamation to Give you the Yips

Subject here: Combat training to deal with those who utter an exclamation at your overhead contact to give you the yips.

This is cheating, against the rules, in the manual.

You don't cry out just as somebody hits a golf ball either, not if you are a decent human being.

Not everybody is guilty of this crime and some just don't know better. A few however do it entirely on purpose. They may even lurk among people you play with a lot.

When it happens and if I have muffed the shot I am apt to mutter to myself, "Well, he talked me out of that one."

I used to think the best remedy would be to change direction and make a hole through the criminal.

But you can miss that way too. Better to ignore him and go in the originally intended direction.

So what to do? Get out on the court with a friend and have him make a noise just as you hit. Have him sigh ironically in appreciation of the wonderful smash you are about to hit or cry "Wow!" Or "Yikes!" Or "Tadpoles!" Or anything of his own choice.

In a tournament you could complain to the director unless you didn't want to be a complainer.

The secret could be to go past the project of thick skin development to actual delight that someone wants to cheat you in this way.

Look for the interruption and never miss the shot. Enjoy it all the more because you expected it.

[bottle]

Immediate Future

All these experiments are preparation for a series of others to determine optimum pre-abduction/adduction elbow level for a single individual-- me.

One must feel at ease with the service biomechanics one wants before elbow level experiments can mean much.

In discussing the great baseball pitcher Satchel Paige, analysts used to point out that his arm came at the release from different angles compared to a normal pitcher in whom this angle was apt to be a constant from pitch to pitch.

Brent Abel warns against thinking the elbow level one sees in any other player-- Federer, himself, anybody-- is necessarily optimum for you.

The heart of arm work, in my present view, is a transition from abduction/adduction to passive arm snap.

The ISR that sport scientists from all over the world laud so much as prime contributor has to be a given.

It has to work properly.

Then comes another requirement: the adduction to passive arm extension (snap) that happens first.

[bottle]

Rehearsal

Three things happen before the legs fire:

1) Toss
2) Separate
3) Bend.

Toss, separate, bend = MANTRA.

Nope. There is now minimal extension of ha downward on "toss." And minimal flexion upward as elbow sails backward to form a theatrical pirate's sword. And the bend we're talking about (there will be more bend contributing to the racket lowering) is not just of the arm but of the body. The 2) and 3) of the previous iteration have combined into this new mantra:

Toss, separate, lift-off.

[bottle]

My Emotional Allegiance Must always go to The Rotorded Server since I am One

That means total commitment to getting the racket as low as it will go despite one's inflexibility of shoulder.

It means a change of focus from the best information we ever will receive since that information is designed for reasonably flexible players.

The flexible player, it seems to me, has enough ESR available to use some of it to help lower racket and other of it to take racket out and up to pro drop whether this last move is motion-dependent or not.

The rotorded player on the other hand needs all the ESR and forearm supination and wrist extension he can muster just to get the racket tip low.

Things that ideally happen in upward path must, for him, happen in downward path.

Which means that, as rear leg fires to create forward rotation quickly melding into torso twist, abduction/adduction of the elbow takes racket up through pro drop and happens right then.

[bottle]

Spot on! I am interested In how players filter the coach’s cues, whether technique or strategy. Beginners through intermediates soak up and self-filter the cues easily, probably because they don’t have yet have an investment to protect. As players approach the elite level, it seems to be vey tricky to know which and what cues a coach should release. Many players resent having to filter cues that they perceive might cause harm. Self discovery of cues becomes the preferred method. Never having personally experienced an elite level of play, I struggle to understand superstitious ritual and resistance to change. I had a practice partner who became unhinged when one of his 6 tournament rackets lost 5 lbs. of string tension. I told him he needed to go play the guy that clobbered everyone with one 10 year old racket.

Right-- too many players are caught in the fringes and don't know what is more important.

If you, Stotty and I are all dwelling on the same subject here-- how best information in tennis is received and processed, we may be coming close to some secrets of self-empowerment.

One filters certain stuff out even though it may come from a great mind in the game. We do this if we are our own man. The alternative is apprenticeship to a single source, warts and all, an approach which the current seventies champion, Brent Abel, recommends.

Me, I'm not that innocent. I'm going to take from multiple sources. But I certainly agree with Brent when he suggests that players don't rehearse enough, and that they don't sit down in a chair and close their eyes enough first before they rehearse.

For years maybe decades I did a similar thing only while lying on my back in bed.

Is the venue for such introspection significant? Not in most cases. One shuts one's eyes about the same in the chair or in bed.

When it comes to serve, however, if one moves from dream stage to mime stage, one's rehearsed arm work may direct too much to the side when one finally stands up.

Sitting in the chair is closer to being upright.

A good part of the service action needs to be rehearsed behind the back.

[doctorhl]

Interesting.

I am on an extensive coaching course at the moment that covers all aspects of coaching. On the business of coaching cues, the suggestion is that students should be encouraged, when learning something new, to find their own cues, which will usually be more accurate and better than the coach. Cues are considered important, but what might seem a great cue to the coach might be close to meaningless to the student. Hence students should be encouraged to find their own cues, using the coach's crude one's as a starting point. Kind of like charades.

I found that interesting as I had never even considered it before. I have often thought my cues were great and couldn't understand for the life of me why some fool couldn't get them. Turns out the fool was me.

Spot on! I am interested In how players filter the coach’s cues, whether technique or strategy. Beginners through intermediates soak up and self-filter the cues easily, probably because they don’t have yet have an investment to protect. As players approach the elite level, it seems to be vey tricky to know which and what cues a coach should release. Many players resent having to filter cues that they perceive might cause harm. Self discovery of cues becomes the preferred method. Never having personally experienced an elite level of play, I struggle to understand superstitious ritual and resistance to change. I had a practice partner who became unhinged when one of his 6 tournament rackets lost 5 lbs. of string tension. I told him he needed to go play the guy that clobbered everyone with one 10 year old racket.

[bottle]

i remember reading about a writer (can't remember who) who said that 'writing annihilates time'. It's true. When i write time just flies. There is something extremely engrossing about it.

When i write money doesn't matter. It's irrelevant. I guess a creative writer could be happy living off very little yet have a fulfilling life. I reckon the odds on making millions out of writing are about the same as making a fortune on the tennis tour...small. What do you think?

That!

[stotty]

The Doctors' Group

Like Lajos Kossuth, the 19th century advocate of Hungarian democracy and independence from Austria, I have suffered my whole life from financial embarrassment.

A good thing too. There is an art to being poor. One needs lots of experience to draw upon in old age.

One time, improbably, I found myself next to a beautiful babe in Bath, England. We were part of a larger group inhabiting one corner of a fancy restaurant.

An architect loudly proclaimed to the whole group, "John doesn't have any money!"

In skiing, one needs to do cross-country rather than downhill.

In tennis, one needs to find the doctors' group in one's town.

The doctors always provide full refreshments after they play, obviating the need for dinner that night.

While the doctors are apt to play at the more expensive club, they hate to see their substitutes have to pay court fees once they the doctors have already made arrangement with the club.

When the club tries to double-charge, a doctors' representative may talk to them, saying, "If you want to have our group, you need to accept our substitutes. You may see some different faces each week but we get to choose them."

The doctors tend to be intense which makes for good competition. Sometimes however they want an upgrade of slightly better players.

My only fear is that the time is coming around for me to provide the refreshments. It happened to my friend Ron.

I remember reading about a writer (can't remember who) who said that 'writing annihilates time'. It's true. When I write time just flies. There is something extremely engrossing about it.

When I write money doesn't matter. It's irrelevant. I guess a creative writer could be happy living off very little yet have a fulfilling life. I reckon the odds on making millions out of writing are about the same as making a fortune on the tennis tour...small. What do you think?

[bottle]

The Doctors' Group

Like Lajos Kossuth, the 19th century advocate of Hungarian democracy and independence from Austria, I have suffered my whole life from financial embarrassment.

A good thing too. There is an art to being poor. One needs lots of experience to draw upon in old age.

One time, improbably, I found myself next to a beautiful babe in Bath, England. We were part of a larger group inhabiting one corner of a fancy restaurant.

As the check was being circulated, an architect loudly proclaimed to the whole group, "John doesn't have any money!"

In skiing, one needs to do cross-country rather than downhill.

In tennis, one needs to find the doctors' group in one's town.

The doctors always provide full refreshments after they play, obviating the need for dinner that night.

While the doctors are apt to play at the more expensive club, they hate to see their substitutes have to pay court fees once they the doctors have already made arrangement with the club.

When the club tries to double-charge, a doctors' representative may talk to them, saying, "If you want to have our group, you need to accept our substitutes. You may see some different faces each week but we get to choose them."

The doctors tend to be intense which makes for good competition. Sometimes however they want an upgrade of slightly better players.

My only fear is that the time is coming around for me to provide the refreshments. It happened to my friend Ron.

[bottle]

Dunno. I looked up "button hooks."

A button hook is definitely not the right shape for the serve I had in mind. (https://www.google.com/search?q=butt...hrome&ie=UTF-8). I just should have said "hook." Or "swerve," the word my ex-wife, a player higher-ranked than I used to describe my serve.

On firmer ground, let me assert (please, please!), we persons in the western hemisphere all too often fall into either/or syndrome.

So, say, one wants to brandish more efficiently in one's Segura semblance rock and roll serve.

This serve, if you have been curious enough to follow my disquisition, starts out with staggered rhythm. That means that ta goes up while ha goes down.

Well, how far down? Why does ha have to completely extend when it's about to bend up into an image of sword brandishment anyhow?

Why not just brandish with no extra straightening or bending worked in?

Because that might be stiff. Consider Djokovic's bent-arm-behind-the-back racket work in his present and very effective serve. The right angled arm is so stiff and mechanical it could be a key in a plastic Djokovic doll's back. But stiffness goes away through the ministration of a noodle wrist.

That might be too far for me with my limited back and shoulder flexibility to go. But slightly straightening arm during the stagger toss and slightly bending it during the brandishment might enhance feel and rhythm in the whole serve. Just a little of both, I say, and not a lot as before.

Anything in which one has less to do is worth a try.

[bottle]

A Lesson Gained: People are Terrified of Innovation

Why wouldn't they be? The innovation may challenge their most sentimentalized (heartfelt) assumptions.

The Becker-Edberg backhand, say, is a stripped down version of a Don Budge backhand that makes more sense.

Similarly, the Novak Djokovic bent-arm serve is the result of a good edit.

Rafa Nadal's serve used to be platform but now is pinpoint-- terrifying.

Over at Reader Supported News where under the name John Escher I am currently engaged in pitched battles as vehement and abusive as any we used to have here, the current debate is whether NATO is any good.

The people who hate NATO hate the UN too. They hate anything with an "N" in it, and for this peccadillo will happily destroy the world.

Finding that NATO serves a useful purpose would be innovation for them especially when they realize that word has three n's in it.

We come now to the "Rock 'n Roll" serve of Pancho (Segura) and Gladys (Heldman).

Its basic form like any serve offers infinite variation, a number too large for a small or any kind of mind to embrace.

The open-ended TennisPlayer articles by Doug Eng, with their division of serves into abbreviated, classic and staggered, are great but purposefully limited.

It is almost as if Doug Eng WANTS people to surpass the characteristics of each category outlined by him.

The Rock 'n Roll Serve of Gladys and Pancho, even though the currency of its not very good name has become inflated is at first glance a staggered serve, uses platform (uncharacteristic) and quickly bends the arm (abbreviates) rather than straightening it out (classic) like Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

Trying the Gladys-Pancho for the first time last night, I used the half hour before the Friday mixer to serve five balls over and over walking from one end of court number three to the other.

Several of these serves were huge button-hooks of a caliber I was unable to duplicate for the rest of the night.

Held for Heldman the first time I served, didn't the second, mostly held during the four or five sets thereafter.

Already I'm asking myself: Why bother to straighten the arm on the staggered toss (ta goes up while ha goes down)?

Why not just keep ha bent from the beginning whether that looks like Djokovic or not?

P.S. A very small straightening of ha may be necessary to effect clean hand separation during the staggered toss.

[bottle]

Toss, Brandish, Bend, Fire

~

(Or Toss, Branford, Bend, Fire.)