Bottle,
I wrote this in my tennis journal and wanted to see what you thought:
"Use a snapping untwisting through contact to squeeze the racquet from on-edge to on-other-edge in the smallest amount of time and space possible. Pure endorotation will not squeeze the racquet head through a small enough space. It is more of a pure twisting motion. If the hand applies the right amount of pressure on the handle, the handle and hoop of the racquet seem to feel almost rubbery, and it almost feels like the upper left quadrant of the racquet is the last part to fold over through the twisting at contact."
Does that make any sense?
The reason I posted is because you referenced something about a small force over a long distance can produce as much speed as a larger force over a small distance.
In my kicker, it almost seems like I feel one type of force within the other. The untwisting as the entire arm turns inside out, and the larger but slower force of the legs, shoulders, torso rotation which allow the entire framework to rise through contact. The twisting happens last and ends first, within the framework of the bigger motion.
The key for me...and this one is huge and something I continue to work on with every serve....is to understand how to make the untwisting happen naturally, and how to make it that fastest thing that's going on within the motion. The elbow extension and ulnar deviation used to be the faster motions and the source of delayed acceleration for me, and I struggled to get my racquet to finish like it does for Federer. I think it might be due to the fact that creating a snap with wrist flexion (volleyball spike) or deviation (like throwing a stick and getting it to spin end over end quickly...or casting a fishing rod) are pretty natural. There is a tendency for these motions to overwhelm the untwisting.
Using the untwisting as the source of faster acceleration on contact requires an understanding of the pre-stretched/pre-loaded state that must be created to enable this snappy untwisting. One problem I used to have was too much connection with the racquet and the body.
The transition in the shoulder from external rotation to internal rotation is powerful, but not fast enough to generate the right type of action at the top of the serve. I used to try to power everything from down in the shoulder all the way through contact...kind of like pulling an axe over the top to chop some wood. It was hard to get the natural untwisting that way.
Then I started to use that powerful shoulder position at the transition from external rotation to internal as a foundation for the rest of the arm. It's a very, very similar situation to the forehand stroke. If the stroke is TOO connected to the shoulder rotation, you miss out on what happens when the arm is allowed to COME THROUGH the hit.
Anyway...this morning I was hitting massive kickers where it felt like I was holding the big acceleration until I was just barely behind the ball. Because the twist/untwist motion can be executed in a compact time and space, the racquet can be brought quite close to contact and there is a feeling that you absolutely cannot miss.
I love the kick serve.
Mine is just plain nasty sometimes. Sticky. I played a short guy with a continental grip this morning. His returns looked like head-high half-volleys.
Still so much work to do...
I wrote this in my tennis journal and wanted to see what you thought:
"Use a snapping untwisting through contact to squeeze the racquet from on-edge to on-other-edge in the smallest amount of time and space possible. Pure endorotation will not squeeze the racquet head through a small enough space. It is more of a pure twisting motion. If the hand applies the right amount of pressure on the handle, the handle and hoop of the racquet seem to feel almost rubbery, and it almost feels like the upper left quadrant of the racquet is the last part to fold over through the twisting at contact."
Does that make any sense?
The reason I posted is because you referenced something about a small force over a long distance can produce as much speed as a larger force over a small distance.
In my kicker, it almost seems like I feel one type of force within the other. The untwisting as the entire arm turns inside out, and the larger but slower force of the legs, shoulders, torso rotation which allow the entire framework to rise through contact. The twisting happens last and ends first, within the framework of the bigger motion.
The key for me...and this one is huge and something I continue to work on with every serve....is to understand how to make the untwisting happen naturally, and how to make it that fastest thing that's going on within the motion. The elbow extension and ulnar deviation used to be the faster motions and the source of delayed acceleration for me, and I struggled to get my racquet to finish like it does for Federer. I think it might be due to the fact that creating a snap with wrist flexion (volleyball spike) or deviation (like throwing a stick and getting it to spin end over end quickly...or casting a fishing rod) are pretty natural. There is a tendency for these motions to overwhelm the untwisting.
Using the untwisting as the source of faster acceleration on contact requires an understanding of the pre-stretched/pre-loaded state that must be created to enable this snappy untwisting. One problem I used to have was too much connection with the racquet and the body.
The transition in the shoulder from external rotation to internal rotation is powerful, but not fast enough to generate the right type of action at the top of the serve. I used to try to power everything from down in the shoulder all the way through contact...kind of like pulling an axe over the top to chop some wood. It was hard to get the natural untwisting that way.
Then I started to use that powerful shoulder position at the transition from external rotation to internal as a foundation for the rest of the arm. It's a very, very similar situation to the forehand stroke. If the stroke is TOO connected to the shoulder rotation, you miss out on what happens when the arm is allowed to COME THROUGH the hit.
Anyway...this morning I was hitting massive kickers where it felt like I was holding the big acceleration until I was just barely behind the ball. Because the twist/untwist motion can be executed in a compact time and space, the racquet can be brought quite close to contact and there is a feeling that you absolutely cannot miss.
I love the kick serve.
Mine is just plain nasty sometimes. Sticky. I played a short guy with a continental grip this morning. His returns looked like head-high half-volleys.
Still so much work to do...
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