A New Year's Serve

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Fun and Games as Sternum Rises to the Sky

“The now-documented conscious flexion that 'is a major contributor to racquet head speed near and at contact' shows the climax of a process that began first with a loose grip and spaghetti arm, then added radial deviation and extension at the low point and then ulnar deviation in the mid portion of the upward swing.”-- Mark Papas

This means, using the overall no rock back but start with body wound and weight on rear foot Papas model, and correct me if I’m wrong, that arm should be fey in response to the release of the archer’s bow, which next just isn’t going to automatically do any of these little hand things for you.

In other words, the twang of the bow is going to lift your elbow and fold your arm together but not much else. No one has told me that. I infer it. I will try it. It’s a present assumption which I like because it’s different from the other assumptions under which I’ve labored.

My next assumption comes from Mark Papas’ own comment on his wrist motion definitions—that not one of them specifies a prescriptive “how much.” But from our experience of other strokes we know that when the masses imitate the wrist movement of the pros they always use too much.

Just accept that on faith. I know I will when I try my experiment today.
Faith, hypothesis—exactly the same in this case. You need the faith for
whole-hearted immersion in whatever the experiment. You have to
believe in the process enough to risk the subsequent disillusionment which is the most frequent outcome.

Specifically, I’m placing radial deviation as Mark says “at the low point” while mentally classifying it not as the transition it is but rather part of the final upward hammer throw. If all the little hand motions then take too much time and prevent the desired splitting of the atom at contact, I move to another model.

And, I reduce ulnar deviation from A) cocked left to cocked right to
B) cocked left to neutral (hand centered between the two bones of the forearm). And, I reduce flexion to straight wrist or less by contact.

[gzhpcu]

In respect to the role of the wrist in the Papas quote (am familiar with the site), IMHO, all you need to do is keep very loose, and just prior to impact, consciously accelerate vigorously, and the rest occurs automatically. The type of acceleration you use when cracking a whip...

[bottle]

"Don't forget the whip."-- Nietzsche

But I'm not sure that nuclear fizz does occur automatically unless you or your tennis teaching grandfather put some conscious thought into the different parts perhaps a year before.

[bottle]

Wave Action in a One-handed Topspin Backhand

Big body, small body-- this shall be the sequence in both directions. The rear shoulder rises (a mound of water swells). So the hand either rises and falls now or loops to fall down left side until racket head is at left pocket or perhaps loops farther out toward net post in a smaller way. The wave, too, goes down as the bottom comes out of it, the shoulders reverse their tilt, the hips go out to net post to move the lagging racket with forearm twisting the head down and in toward body. The wrist loosens slightly as the shoulder-blades clench as a new wave pushes down at the rising ocean floor.

[bottle]

Three Sizes of One-Handed Topspin Backhand

Eleven sizes, four, eight or two might be better-- anything to get away from mono-size, with infinite sizes the long-range dream. But I'll limit the variations to three at first, starting with the fastest of all time-robbing balls shearing, veering and leaping away from me.

Wave theory is still in effect, providing rhythm and structure. None of these change-of-direction shots is going to feel very different from another. But the oncoming ball is difficult. I'm moving well but almost am still in ready position. The shoulders are continuing to turn. No back-swing required nor will one be entertained, permitted or admitted to this party. I rotate shoulders forward and stop them perpendicular to the net-post. Would do that anytime. The racket butt points at left fence post-- that's to right of the net-post on this court. The racket tip is being held back, down and in, i.e., there is tension in it even though I've already let go with the left hand. The right arm is straightening, pushing. It stopped being a stiff and pulling board three years ago. The wrist-- well, wrist is relaxing not wanting to do too much or too little, looking for some magic from the shoulder-blades clenching together and redirecting energy toward the target.

Hmm, that shot wasn't too bad. Look at that dribbler coming back across the net. Could slice and follow it down the line. No. Have plenty of time. Think I'll repeat the last shot and take the ball off the court just inside the short T. Don't want to hit hard anyway, do I? Of course not.

My God, he got to it. Too bad I'm not young and didn't follow my shot in. But why does he keep hitting to my backhand-- is he nuts? Oh, this one is down the middle, just far enough away not to be a problem. I could jam myself by hitting too big but won't. A medium backhand then. Arms back with racket head sliding down by left pocket and everything else just the same as before.

That got him. A fairly deep return but a sitting duck. Think I'll read three novels before I hit it. No, there's a better way to use the time: Racket to loop up and around and down to left pocket with everything else the same as before.

[bottle]

Inevitable One-Handed Backhand Experiment

Personally, I returned to eastern backhand grip. But, using same wave theory,
try Johnny Mac C-grip hunched wrist and let the clenching shoulder-blades straighten it. Go hunch to clench.

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New Information from Sampras Serve: Thriple

One of the unique things about this finding (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...lder_rotation/) is how the hips keep leading the shoulders over and over again-- three times.

But I would suggest that the first two instances are little dance moves generating rhythm and feel.

It's all a set-up for a full-out throw from transverse stomach muscles when you are in the air, i.e., 67 degrees of shoulders driven by 30 degrees of legs (I'm sorry, I mean hips) all in the last tenth of a second before contact, as the article says.

Can one combine these rotational movements with archer's bow? Charlie Pasarell is one famous player who spoke of the serve in terms of a "double
coil."

If one is having trouble, perhaps one should develop the two basic types of serve separately-- cylinder and archer's bow-- before trying to combine them again.

[bottle]

Wrist Movement in John McEnroe and Arthur Ashe Topspin Backhands

When we’ve come speculating here before we’ve almost reached an understanding but never completed our puzzle.

So, should we beat up on ourself or anyone else or should anyone else beat up on us? Since wrist movement remains essential and yet is the most difficult thing to explain in a one-handed topspun backhand—98 per cent of instructors don’t even bother—aspiring players are left abysmally on their own.

Who among these wretched, abandoned players has the chance for actual understanding? A very limited group starting with people who already possess great one-handers and must, most likely, also be foosballers or feathering oarsmen or passionate indulgers in some other exotic activity where “it’s all in the wrist.”

FOOSBALL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e5Is2c-CzA

EIGHT-OARED ROWING

http://www.row2k.com/video/view.cfm?vid=10569

What the foosballer and beginning oarsman have in common is a wrist action that is inextricable from forearm roll. The wrist motion is straightening or depression or transition from concave to convex or vice-versa. The forearm roll must happen—if it didn’t, how could the foosballer’s two rods at a time ever turn? From whole arm? I’m not a foosballer but whole arm seems slow to me. In rowing one again must turn a round, rod-like object, in this case the oar handle. It goes 90 degrees in opposite directions at the beginning and conclusion of every stroke in a non-disruptive way that neither misdirects the oar up or down. So wrist and forearm motions are linked, with their co-dependency increasing control. The hand is slightly angled on the oar so that one could almost be turning a dial.

As the oarsman improves, perhaps after a year or two of experience, fingers gradually take over the feathering responsibility. I don’t know of anything like this learning transition in another sport.

Tennis now. In a John McEnroe type shot, the wrist first hunches then straightens. But would the hunching, rolling wrist also have to roll oppositely during the straightening phase? Why couldn’t wrist alone passively straighten—centrifugate, you might say—in response to the change of direction provided by shoulder-blades clench? It could, it can, it does, but haven’t you lost some control?

Arthur Ashe also would hunch his wrist early in the atypical way of John McEnroe, but with the likely difference that he spun his whole arm during the subsequent straightening.

Ashe wanted to see elbow facing down at the finish of a topspin backhand but McEnroe concludes with elbow faced more sideways. Ashe would advocate finishing a flat backhand that way—with elbow faced sideways—and finishing a slice backhand with elbow faced up. He thought the followthroughs determined everything and that he could even use this fact to teach the different strokes to a beginner—true within his system.

Most topspinners on the backhand side do appear to roll from both whole arm and forearm to varying degree, but John McEnroe rolls whole arm little or not at all. That means pronounced forearm roll. How else could he keep racket square at contact on a high ball like this one?

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/modern_legends/johnmcenroe/mac_backhand/mac_backhand.html?MacBHShortSide.mov

The moral of this narrative is that one can be precise in delineating wrist action in one’s topspin backhand. The mind-blowing aspect is that someone with an eastern grip—Federer, say—rolls the same way but simultaneously moves his wrist the opposite way from the the c-grippers Ashe and McEnroe when all three reach the area of contact.

The foosballers, I believe from what I just read on the web, make a similar distinction between what they call “push” and “pull” shots.

[bottle]

What Happens as Wave Comes Up?

In using the wave theory approach to the previous one-handed backhand in post # 428, I think it easy to determine where a wave should gather strength, e.g., when rear shoulder goes down.

Determining when that shoulder goes up (for a second time) could be a bit trickier even for a person who revels in complexity. It kind of goes up and over, doesn't it, if weight is transferring properly through the shot?

Here's the perennial dispute in a nutshell (for nuts): "Don't over-think your tennis!" "Okay, dude. Don't under-think your tennis!"

The best time to bring the rear shoulder up again can best be determined from what one has learned from immersion in waves-- from body-surfing, surf-boarding or using boogie-boards.

[bottle]

Alternately

Alternately, the back shoulder can never come back to level. Even the follow-through can demonstrate a slight upward slant from back shoulder to front even if weight is pitching into the court.

Not the only way to stroke the ball by any means. And one will need knowledgeable control from arm then to square up racket at contact.

[bottle]

Tennis Players Need to Study Cinema and Languages

The tennis players' study of cinema should concentrate on freeze motion,
slow motion, natural motion, speeded-up motion; otherwise, they'll be deceived by video and film. (This will happen anyway but, because of their studies, they'll be deceived less often.)

Tennis players also must try to be good at English because a lot of tennis ideas are spoken or written in English. But not all tennis ideas come from the United States. (A few come from Great Britain, too.)

The rest of the world also produces tennis ideas. So tennis players should study foreign languages as well.

[bottle]

Two Wave Backhand

I'm thinking of an unruffled surface but with large swells. The first rise occurs in the rear shoulder before one steps out.

If a little wave becomes big, is it one wave or two? (Note to two-handed backhanders: It is my sad duty to inform you that you have been excluded from this ride.)

The racket head falls into the trough. The racket butt spears a bit toward left fence post. The shoulders turn to no more than perpendicular to left net post.

It's a lot of fine distinction but we wouldn't want to miss the wave so let's keep swimming hard. The wrist and forearm becomes relaxed yet controlled. The shoulder-blades begin their clench. The racket head and racket handle rise.

[bottle]

Discovery

No one human being has ever satisfactorily explained a whole tennis stroke.

The best teaching pros can take you only so far. You must fill in the rest of the information yourself.

But what if you don't have it? Then, perhaps, you can turn to other teaching pros since each, inevitably, will explain some aspect better than the others.

Should one weep? I don't think so. This basic situation, understood, leads to self-empowerment, the very quality for which junior players in the United States get constantly criticized. They won't exercise their own intelligence and become their own coach.

But, I would argue, this deficiency coming from the eagerness of other people to do stuff for them extends past their negligence of the half-court game to the structure of their strokes itself.

They know that toss should curve back slightly over their body because Vince van Patten said so when instructing the travel person on the Tennis Channel even though that wasn't the first problem with her serve.

They're not crazy enough like Henri le Conte deciding he was going to hit every toss on the rise like Big Bill Tilden.

They don't go snarfing around every tennis court like the young Pancho Gonzalez looking for elements or strokes to emulate.

If you won't be a searcher in tennis and continue your search all through your life, you'll reach your level of mediocrity breathtakingly soon. You won't have enough interest in the game to continue with it every day.

The physician sister of a former number one in U.S. doubles told me at an oysterfest the other night that her sister no longer plays tennis.

Why? Because she can't stand recreational tennis. To her, tennis is about a certain level of competition. Without that, there simply isn't any thrill.

The difference between this player and Bill Tilden is that Tilden was working on an extra hitting step right up to the end, a special move that had taken his game down another notch.

And Cliff Drysdale, the tennis commentator, tells about playing tennis with Jack Nicklaus, the golfer. Amazed at what he saw, Drysdale said, "Jack, why do you keep changing your strokes?"

"I've done that my whole life."

[bottle]

We Try to Explain the 1hbh Anyway

Which gets better from the effort.

Arm goes faster than body in every stroke-- a good reason to start it a bit later (in both directions).

Back shoulder rises-- a very pure motion easy to understand and to explain to another person.

Then that shoulder drops into a trough of water moving toward the shore. What else is moving in this easy part of the stroke? The hip going out but not turning. The front shoulder going out yes by turning. The arm shipping the racket barrel first.

And where is all of this easy energy going as it moves the hand into good hitting position? Toward the left net post or the left fence post depending on which body parts you want to discuss.

Next: Turning the corner while letting the wave crest.

[gzhpcu]

And Cliff Drysdale, the tennis commentator, tells about playing tennis with Jack Nicklaus, the golfer. Amazed at what he saw, Drysdale said, "Jack, why do you keep changing your strokes?"

"I've done that my whole life."

Rafa Nadal is another prime example: he constantly wants to improve. I have been going through this process all my life. Never satisfied with my game, always have a project to improve some aspect.

But then have always been fascinated with learning. Have always been fascinated by theoretical physics and cosmology. Currently am reading up on the latest developments of M-theory. As long as you want to keep learning and evolve, mentally and physically, I feel one keeps eternally young...