A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Doubles Warmup

Five Ziegenfusses, One Sockdolager, five Federfores, remembering that even Rafa Nadal's forehand is a Federfore, five backhands, one slice backhand, lobs, overheads, VOLLEYS.

On one of the Federfores try a little wrist flex before the tip switch, same as on a serve, with everything except for the ball going out toward forehand fence before decelerating to left side.

[bottle]

"An Intellectual, Aesthetic and Athletic Pursuit of the One Hand Backhand"

Although no one has written this 900-page book yet, here is the prospectus.

This document will go where no man or woman has gone before. The first questions it will ask are, who, on April 5, 2011, had the best one hander in the world: Stanislaus Wawrinka or Pablo Cuevas? And what is the modeling potential for either?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H19EOBKzyQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuYIqTsST80&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeyHFlF2oHk&NR=1

[worldsbestcoach]

Wawrinka

Stan Wawrinka has a nice one-handed topspin backhand. It is not perfect. He sets the racket more forward than does Federer, as Stan prepares the racket in reaction to the incoming ball.

Both Fed & Waw hit better topspin backhands when they get behind & close to the ball (so they can give the ball a solid, strong backhand punch, and so that the "flip" or acceleration of the racket is from contact towards the target, instead of behind the contact point). Sometimes both Fed & Waw run at the ball's impact point sideways, rather than getting behind the ball. But Wawrinka's topspin backhand is better than Fed's because Waw puts his racket into a better preparation position than does Fed. Waw's prep position is more forward-set, compared to Fed's. Fed's topspin backhand is too complicated, and requires too many adjustments during the stroke.

[bottle]

Thanks, WBC, for the input. I might have a slightly different take on all this simply from reading everything I could about the Don Budge backhand for so many decades. Thanks again.

I think the biggest complication for Fed is the lateness of straightening of his arm. There was a very official seeming "German" instruction book which emphasized this for every kind of one arm backhand (can't remember about the two handers).

I know I've come down on both sides of this question, i.e., have contradicted myself but couldn't care less and think some confusion may be necessary for actual progress to occur. The earlier straightening of arm in the "Waw" modeled backhand, to use your term, seems to be working just fine right now, and simplicity seems an underappreciated value in tennis.

In all cases, I forge ahead.

[bottle]

Simultaneity of Body and Arm

Wouldn't it be funny, dear reader, if the following backhand worked better than yours? Tried it? Wasn't better? Stick then to your custom.

My most unchanging view about tennis instruction is that it always says too much or little. And I especially admire Martina Navratilova for her running discussion at The Tennis Channel of simultaneity vs. sequence in tennis. The writer John M. Barnaby, in twentieth century tennis literature, also warned against excessive sequence and thought that a prime subject.

In learning, however, as in the strategy of singles play itself, there must be sequence. Becoming the hunter, boxer, pitcher, lawyer and chessplayer, we draw our opponent wide with a forehand to expose his weak backhand.

To learn the Wawrinka-type one hand backhand I've tried to expound in recent posts, one must employ plenty of sequence, starting with a unit turn, gravity turn or general jack-rabbit sprint toward the side fence.

This can get the shoulders well around with elbow not too high and racket poised nicely like a skunk's tail. You're ready to go.

That is the preparation and all of it. Whatever happens from then on is swift swing, i.e., a single count.

But is there sequence in this single beat? Yes while learning, no while stroking.

The fast part sequence, in my view, should largely concern arm movement. Arm goes slightly after body. But one can do this in two ways: 1) delay the arm, 2) give the arm more to do.

I'm going to give the arm more to do, thanks, and please forgive me for cursing a few teaching pros along the way. I'd like to say to them exactly what Ivan Lendl called up to a taunter in the crowd at Rock Creek Park one year when Lendl's back was injured and he was having a bad day.

These are the experts/coaches who always tell the aspiring one hander to extend more without ever saying how and when.

If I am reading films of Wawrinka correctly, one can straighten arm close behind back as shoulders turn an extra amount and inside leg is stepping out in most cases. Reader, we're in full swing. Whether the racket head is going backward, downward or forward-- all of which it does-- it is accelerating slowly and steadily the whole while.

An almost hydraulic component of this is when hips move out to slightly change tilt of the shoulders to level. One should think of this as transition only if one can accept the concept of full swing with batter's drop embedded in the smoothness.

I don't want to be doing much at the complicated point where shoulders change their tilt. Certainly the shoulders are not revolving (horizontally). I save the last part of arm straightening for this along with flattening of the wrist. The whole action is like baseball batter's drop though included in other very smooth action, or did I say that already.

Now comes arm swing parallel to rear fence. Could one call this arm extension, too? Perhaps, since everybody calls everything arm extension, or could one call it a swing toward side fence establishing separation?

Next, for a right hander, the racket rolls past the elbow on left side of the body. Finally, the shoulder-blades clench to bring racket to right side although that is happening through continued forward rotation of the shoulders and a bit of independent arm from the shoulder as well.

There are one handers where shoulder rotation is severely limited or stops altogether for a hammerlike effort with the arm.

The Donald Budge or Stanislas Wawrinka backhands don't fit this mold, however, are more of an easy integrated swing in which the main driver is the rotating shoulders.

One thinks of Billie Jean King's great backhand, too, in which she finished with her shoulders parallel to the net.

[bottle]

"Feel for the Ball"

A paradox in the Wawrinka type of backhand is that racket head can accelerate while feeling for the ball.

The racket head, though swinging, is not swinging directly at the ball but rather to intercept it.

I've said quite a few times by now that racket head swings parallel to rear fence or toward the side fence.

This is true but not strictly so.

A "swing" in common parlance is roundabout.

The sideways component of this swing, however, takes it more sideways than forward, early, while doing both.

You know where ball will be, presumably. You feel for it in this way although racket head is going rather fast.

[bottle]

Out Front and Sideways

The forehand I want to think about occurs after a service sequence in the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrW-sIREZow

Mondo is not on ball or just before but a bit sooner than that at the corner of Nadal's racket work.

The racket butt does not spear at ball in farthest back position.

The racket head is closed a bit toward ball in farthest back position because wrist, which started somewhat laid back, has just straightened! (The exclamation point is from chess notation.)

The wrist lays back in response to forward body rotation, achieving its limit at one end of a horizontal line (mental or envisioned if you like)-- a projected line running parallel to the net.

This mental line becomes a physical line with two actual ends: 1) completion of Mondo and 2) completion of sideways wipe.

[bottle]

Tweak

Now add some rainbow to your Rambo.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/pro_men/HD/Rafael_Nadal/Forehand_Backhand/Forehand_Backhand.html?nadal_fh_center_openstance_front_1.mov

[bottle]

Slowing Down the New Backhand

A two-count might be good, but how about a five-count? You could put four beats before the swing, which only would start from skunk tail position. But if, in actual play, the swing is getting ahead of itself once you tire, you might consider:

Turn to skunk tail (one) and prolong this count when running.

Extra body turn plus step out plus most straightening of the arm (two).

Change of body tilt plus last bit of arm extension plus straightening of the wrist (three).

Swing body and arm toward side fence and perhaps beyond (four).

Body and arm swing plus roll followed by shoulderblades clench (five!).

Counts are for improvement, specifically work on technique. No counts in play most of the time except as a trick once in a while to relax.

[bottle]

Upper Congo Serve, Two Variations

Racket goes all the way up on right side of body until upper arm almost touches right ear. 1) Arm relaxes to a right angle as elbow simultanously descends to the best low position in tandem with compressing, bowing body. 2) Arm relaxes until both of its halves are squeezed together as elbow simultaneously descends to best low position in tandem with compressing, bowing body.

In either case, 1) or 2), one uses J.M. Peredo's advice to set the racket head in one place and take elbow up past it as body unwinds. Serving, as Kerry Mitchell, Bill Tilden and other knowledgeable people have always said, is all about throwing well-- nothing else.

So don't listen to the tennis pedants. Each has an opinion based probably on what he or she does. Be more influenced if you've seen this person's serve first-hand and it was great.

My fastest serve occurs when I raise upper arm to parallel to court, no more and no less. But, since this serve carries downward spin, good players feast on it. So I proceed past it for high or low early preparation throws.

[bottle]

Re # 594 (Counts) and Still Head in New Design

How about three counts: 1) taking racket smoothly all the way around as one runs, 2) batter's drop, 3) rest of the stroke. I like the idea of playing with different counts. Dancers have a lot to teach tennis players. Fred Astaire was good at tennis, too. Item number 2), however, may require explanation. An extreme batter's drop would be Richard Gasquet or Bea Bielik. The new/old design I've outlined, inspired by Stanislas Wawrinka, winds back with low elbow. The drop that then occurs is from body, viz. shoulders leveling from hips going out. At same time arm straightens last bit and wrist flattens-- the combined feel of this is last instant reach corresponding to the "removing slack from the arm" of Arthur Ashe and others who liked the metaphor of a rope. If you see old films of Evonne Goolagong, reader, you'll notice shoulder moving forward to make the rope taut. But one can straighten a rope from either end.

KEEPING HEAD STILL. Perennial and essential advice that has special relevance to this new/old design for a one hand backhand. If we are really going to take a unified Ted-Williams-like swing at the ball as performed and advocated by 1938 Grand Slammer Donald Budge, keeping head still may be easier for those of us previously committed to a sequential backhand. That would be a backhand consisting of shoulders rotation first and (BAM!) arm lift second-- a shot whose fulcrum is hitting shoulder rather than the head. Brain will be closer to the center of the action, in other words.

[bottle]

Chinetic Kine

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/pro_men/rafael_nadal/rafeal_nadal_high_speed.html?FHInsideInRear-0532429-0001.mov

Rafa's backswing is very different from Roger's. Bent elbow goes down in an arc close to body. Arm extension is part of the forward swing.


I like to write these posts marginally ahead of what I try on the court. That way I remove from any equation the question of how difficult or easy some idea is to implement, and ideas are valued for the sake of ideas.

I've been working with "big whirl" theory for a long time now. Whether the big whirl employs kinetic chain or chinetic kine doesn't really matter. You use the whirl that's compact yet generates the most racket head speed.

Today I wish to combine body breath with sideways arm in a reverse forehand modeled on Rafa. This step seems integral to better understanding of Rafa's sometime finish around opposite shoulder as well. The technique for the reverse forehand seems identical but higher.

Term: "Body Breath." Obviously the body breathes or one is dead. But to get the racket all at once from behind you to forward enough to fly NEXT with purity sideways suggests an exhalation or inhalation-- I don't care which. The wrist, which has been straightening now lays back. The upper spine, which has been natural, arches now with shoulders pulling back. The arm, which was ready to stay fixed with the body now pushes pro-actively ahead or doesn't-- one has this option to produce radically different outgoing ball directions, no? The arm, in addition, throws itself straight. That really produces some extra racket head speed, no? And it's all one breath.

All such actions including the finish are encrusted on big whirl which is the number one supplier of force.

And where is this force going? In more than one direction? Probably. But let's not worry about weight toward net and only concern ourselves with maximum racket head speed. Everything discussed here will lend itself only to racket head speed at least for this one day.

I'm thinking that rainbow imagery may be useful if one can envision acme of the arc, i.e., high point, or farthest point if the whole rainbow is tilted slightly on its side.

An arc with both ends forming a theoretical line parallel to the court will place the acme directly overhead but may generate too much sidespin if highness of hop is the goal. That could possibly predict a finish around waist or lower.

If acme were slightly to the right, finish might be by left shoulder. If acme were more right of that and lower, finish might be above the head.

This is Rafa's signature shot on clay. He concluded the Barcelona Open with four of them.

I see this shot as wiser and more powerful than the reverse forehand most of us taught ourselves. Abrupt change of direction takes Rafa to a sideways component, the momentum of which causes him to loop the racket in a halo just above his head.

A person with a long neck might knock himself out.

I don't care exactly what's done by Nadal or anyone else in tennis. My interest is personal, not scholarly. I wish to know what cleverness I can possibly steal to generate more racket head speed myself.

[bottle]

Progression

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/pro_men/HD/Rafael_Nadal/Forehand_Backhand/Forehand_Backhand.html?nadal_fh_insidein_rear.mov

Rafa's backswing is very different from Roger's. Elbow falls while throwing arm straight close to body. The arm extension is part of the forward swing, since shoulders are already rotating forward, but the arm stays back at this point.

Note how this description has changed, inevitably, in the space of one day. That's what happens when you're not a PR agent for yourself.

Rafa: The racket is completely off the ball before the arm bends.

In the contact area the following simultaneity happens: 1) elbow lifts and 2) straight arm rolls.

The halo then is part of continuous motion returning racket to opposite hand in address (waiting) position.

There is a double loop after contact, in other words, an extended stirring of a pot.

Contact is exeedingly much out to side, i.e., the separation is great.

I don't think one gets the true feel of this shot until one brings the two hands together again at the conclusion of a continuous, forward path.

This most characteristic version of a Nadal type forehand contains twin curlicues after the contact.

Does elbow go down before it goes up?

If, like me, you think it does, you may similarly conclude that lifting racket one racket head length higher than human head makes sense during the preparation.

The higher elbow this predicts can then add acceleration to the shot by falling or throwing down before it soars up (which it does more smoothly because of the added play you have given it).

One way of thinking about this shot is that you are extending its continuousness at both ends.

But how natural is this? For if things are natural we won't have to think so much during the learning process, no?

Answer: Not very natural at all. We'd like more symmetry and logic but don't get it.

If elbow goes down while arm is extending we'd naturally like the arm to bend again as elbow goes up.

In fact, this is one way, useful, to hit the ball.

But the great Nadal is doing something else here. Arm does extend while elbow falls or throws down, but straightened arm, with laid back wrist, rolls a bit while elbow lifts up.

Then and only then does arm bend and wrist curl inward as part of the recovery.

I don't see why any person of any age can't hit this young man's shot and at least have some fun with it sort of like imitating the total conniptions of an Andy Roddick serve.

He or she needs to wind up with elbow high enough so that throwing racket down will mean something.

Take elbow down while extending (from elbow) followed by lift while rolling
followed by bending and more rolling all the way through the two curlicues to a balanced end in ready position.

Note: This shot is nothing if not quick. Perhaps the way to learn it is to mime desired pattern gently to a freeze point right after lift-roll. Then add the double-curlicue finish. Then add a ball. Then add a hitting partner. Then add an opponent.

[bottle]

Progression

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/pro_men/HD/Rafael_Nadal/Forehand_Backhand/Forehand_Backhand.html?nadal_fh_insidein_rear.mov

Add one element to everything that has been said about arm extending below the ball and then rolling while lifting.

Between these two motions there is a transitioning micro-instant, to judge by this video, in which the racket handle spears toward the ball.

It does so from the shoulder, i.e., by independent arm.

No, sorry; it's a few days later, and I think arm and body are solid. Maybe I saw a different clip? Here it is.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/pro_men/rafael_nadal/rafeal_nadal_high_speed.html?FHCenterFront-0515808-0001.mov

[bottle]

Progression

A person who has been hitting Federfores, i.e., Roger Federer type forehands, and who now wants to get more Nadalian in generating straight up topspin should probably choose for a model that version of Nadal in which followthrough is around the opposite shoulder.

Nadal's whirligig (his reverse forehand) is a great novelty for someone who's never experimented much with twin curlecues as part of what happens after he's finished hitting the ball.

But one might be wiser to adapt to what one already has been doing. And
Roger, of course, has his own ways of changing the topspin to sidespin mix.
The trouble is, no one on the planet seems to generate more topspin than Nadal, and to see it is to want to imitate it, and not all of it is preternatural ability, ascription of which is a perennial cop-out in tennis.

In other words, if one can observe carefully enough (which one can, because of the high speed video sequences at this website and the other one like it), one can extract at least some of the cleverness which is built into any great tennis stroke. This sure beats reading a shop manual or sex manual or listening to some hack instructor who sounds like either. If one needs instruction in sex one should learn about suggestion by reading nineteenth century Russian fiction.

The magazine "Inside Tennis" recently listed the historical changes in the game that have occurred in the past 50 years but without mentioning the internet. Of course they didn't promote the internet because the internet is the overwhelming competition for any tennis magazine!

We have these videos we can stop anywhere. We can learn stuff impossible to attain before. It's all still new and too much information, but people are beginning to sort this information out.

Federer, he straightens the arm, then mondoes the wrist with forward body
rotation. Nadal, he uses the straightening to generate extra racket head speed just the way a server does.