A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

What One Person Thinks About Forehands, Backhands and Serves Today

My theory of tennis instruction is that it is always too detailed or not detailed enough. That criticism certainly applies to the two major political parties just before the national election as well.

Forehands. Li Na is outside-in. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal are inside-out. The way one can tell is to situate oneself directly behind the player. Video will suffice. Roger twirls his racket head up pretty close to his body, flips outside of that and contacts outside of THAT.

Novak starts with close elbow, too. Flip is to the outside of where racket was and contact is outside of THAT.

Rafa brings elbow back inside (but with more separation) and flips to the outside of where racket was and contacts to the outside of THAT.

Li Na starts outside of projected contact point, elbow way out. When she lowers that elbow the racket must of necessity come in to right behind the ball.

All four players get behind the ball. And don’t cross it. Good golfers do the same thing and with same variation. One golfer might come from the outside and loop in behind the ball. Another golfer starts strictly from the inside and works out to right behind the ball.

In tennis, Roger, Novak, Rafa and Li Na all have Type III forehands (which in terms of quality ought to be called "Type I" although that wouldn't be historical). Everything but followthrough occurs in the slot.

Then there’s somebody like Andre Agassi—a freak. Outside in then outside to the ball. By the same long path criterion, Roger Federer is a freak, too. He somehow gets the energy from his racket tip twirling up close to the body to add to the energy of the arm straightening with all of this occurring before the flip.

Are such long backswings necessary? No. Are they great? Definitely. So how do they happen? 10,000 hours or ten years, whichever comes first. Weird patterns get grooved and fast. Or did they work from the beginning? Not from what I heard.

To think more about Agassi, consider the following video. It’s outside-in-outside, but the elbow at no time is very much in (exceptions may be found in other videos). So he and Li Na are similar here.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/pro_men/andre_agassi/andre_agassi_high_speed.html?FHWideOpenStanceRear-0020824-0001.mov

Backhands. If you have a pretty good one-hander's topspin backhand but your crosscourts aren’t angled sharply enough, get lower. Yes, bend your knees. $486, pleeeeze.

Serves. Sorry, but I only care about Don Budge imitations right now, which I’ve been discussing for a reason one post after another. And I wish now to add one sequence.

In the transition between images 3 and 4 (see post # 1320), both left arm and racket start to drop with the shoulders either wound back or winding back.

I chose the “winding back” option for my experiment and felt I detected significant timing improvement.

So, did Don Budge not keep his tossing arm upraised for as long as modern servers? Seems possible. And is this little move at beginning of the drop the same old “checking the top back of the head for cooties with a small mirror in the palm of your hand” discussed by Vic Braden? Seems likely again.

[bottle]

Ease with Good Vector

Re post 1314, which is don_budge on service image # 3 in the Ed Vebell line drawings I presented of the J. Donald Budge serve: One can see the pertinent drawing all blown up in 1320 or earlier if smaller in an eight-figure sequence at 1307 .

I believe don_budge a.k.a. Steve Navarro when he says that image # 3 presents the racket "in perfect position to 'fall' behind the server."

That statement, justified by experiment, points to fall's beginning in which the racket starts sideways almost grazing one's head.

How best to reach Steve's "perfect position?" I came up with one solution but like a new one better. Change initial or waiting or risen position (image # 1) by a slight lifting of elbow to close palm. Obtain this setting before there's any movement at all. After this modified version of image # 1 the hands are going to rise with weight on back foot, body tall. Let gravity then do its magic as normal but slightly out to the right side-- low point will be a bit more shallow. Now with arm naturally bending, one reaches the high ideal position with ease.

[don_budge]

bottleesque...

How best to reach Steve's "perfect position?" I came up with one solution but like a new one better. Change initial or waiting or risen position (image # 1) by a slight lifting of elbow to close palm. Obtain this setting before there's any movement at all. After this modified version of image # 1 the hands are going to rise with weight on back foot, body tall. Let gravity then do its magic as normal but slightly out to the right side-- low point will be a bit more shallow. Now with arm naturally bending, one reaches the high ideal position with ease.

How sublime...how bottleesque of you.

[bottle]

Ha!

Lasted six hours. I guess that's Bottleesque, too.

[bottle]

Don't Change Anything

That's what the staffs of the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees are telling their baseball players as they begin their best of seven American League play-off.

This advice is totally untrue of course since the great hitters who haven't been hitting need to hit. And the lesser players who have been hitting need to keep on hitting unlike usual.

No, tennis players, some of us at least, aren't afraid of options and don't even mind using baseball as influence.

Now Oscar Wegner thinks that baseball is a pernicious influence on the stroking technique of American tennis players. Which strokes though? And isn't Oscar from South American, Indian and European cultures other than baseball?

J. Donald Budge clearly was different-- prodigal baseball player lured away by his brother Lloyd to become a prodigal tennis player.

If one has learned the basic principles of the J. Donald Budge pitch-- I mean serve-- one can tweak the arm action a bit without too much untold destruction.

Don't give up the deep gravity drop, I've decided. And don't change initial arm setting either. Let straightening and bending of the arm feel perfectly natural with both of these actions formed by the gravity drop, but, accelerate the rising elbow ahead a bit so that it subtly closes palm of the hand at the same time.

Cootie check may be slightly farther around the back of the head but that's okay.

[stotty]

Short shorts and Budge serving...

bottle,

You have to wait for it but there are a couple of really good (frontview) serves of Don Budge in this British Pathe clip. You also get a short post match speech from both player which is nice.

I couldn't believe the short shorts Riggs was wearing. He must have seemed like a nudist in those days! Budge is in his flannels as usual.

I hope you can view the clip. I'm not sure British Pathe clips will view in the States. I know many BBC clips don't...let me know. I hope you can. I searched for quite a while to find this clip for you.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/rigg-v-budge-aka-riggs-v-budge/query/don+budge

PS. There is an option to view the clip as a series of stills...which will help you view the Budge serving at the key moments in good detail.

[bottle]

Thank you very much. And yes, the clip works fine. This make everything more real. Thanks again.

[don_budge]

Riggs' "Hot Pants"...Budge's disgust

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/rigg-v-budge-aka-riggs-v-budge/query/don+budge

The contrast between Budge's long trousers and Riggs' "Hot Pants" is just hilarious. I can't imagine how it looked when looking through 1942 eyes. Listen to the psychology of the remarks between the two of them. Check out the Donald's disgust with the last interview question. Even back then enough was enough. I wish that I could ask him what was going through his mind right then.

[alexandrafranco]

Serve backswing

don_budge, I struggle with my backswing, and am trying to understand what you wrote in this post.Do you mean the racquet tip faces the ground and follows a parallel path to your body?and how do you get to trophy position?and what do you mean by falling motion? In other words, can you please help me with the backswing of the serve. What is the most efficient path? racquet/hand positions? I have a tendency to open the wrist and get a waiter's serve.. so I find in a ampler backswing more can go wrong with wrist and was trying to imagine I have a back wall so I go from arm down to just past my back leg and then into trophy position. Is what you advocating similar to Feliciano Lopez backswing?or now Djokovic? Do you have posts on the progressions of the serve? Thank you

John...please consider these two images. Positions #1 and #3. One very key and interesting aspect of this beautiful classic motion is the fact that the position of the racquet, hand and arm have virtually maintained the identical position throughout the backswing. He is truly swinging the racquet into position to go forwards. At the top of the backswing in image #3 the racquet is in perfect position to "fall" behind the server.

This perfect "falling" motion is very instrumental and key in the timing of the swing. The only way to maintain this position of the racquet, hand and arm throughout the backswing is to take the tip of the racquet down a path in front of you along the parallel path in front of the toes. Does that make any sense to you? It's all coming back to me now...this is the basis for all of my rollercoaster rigamarole and service theory...it was J. Donald's explanation to me made back in the summers of '72 and '73.

Very cool of you to revive this beautiful classic motion in your New Year's Serve! I think that I detect a smile on his face from above...he would have been very proud to know that someone was discussing the merits of his great service motion and not just the legendary backhand. It really brings back some fond memories of when I used to be you know who.

[bottle]

You'd better answer, fella.

[bottle]

Rhythm and Pitch in One's Steffi-Chop

Now that I'm playing again, I want some more imaginative service returns than I employed before my injury.

While advancing age provides good opportunity to review choices of every kind, service returns are where, in the view of tennis writer John M. Barnaby, any player should be most creative.

This idea says that if one can't return a formidable serve with A, try B. But why restrict oneself to a pair of letters? Well, one won't have much time to figure things out-- the match will be over-- if one is faced with too many choices. So learn the whole alphabet as well as a four-year-old so that you can shortcut the list and go directly to N or P.

S for me is a flipped forehand where wrist abruptly lays back as part of the unit turn (but not later in the stroke). Best then is diagonal step-out with the front foot. That turns body enough, sometimes more than enough. The open version might require conscious backward body turn or maybe not if a sideways forward turn will suffice.

On backhand, I've got a chip-- never mind which letter of the 26-- which does the job sometimes but isn't very dramatic.

So it's time to streamline the Steffi-chop. Readers will recall that this shot required an intricate teeter-totter in which hand became a still fulcrum equaling racket tip going down and elbow up.

Just do all of this as part of flying grip change since we're getting older and slower and here comes the serve and we want to save time.

Building on one's chip, which in my case only takes the arm back to where one can see an imaginary ring on one's middle finger, one now replaces that finger as reference point with one's flipped elbow. So arm action in the flying grip change may have been twice as fast to go twice as far, but now you're ready to chop in the same rhythm as one's chip.

Other departures: 1) Tilted down rather than level shoulders as part of the unit turn, 2) Rising of the right hand as a natural part of the chopping motion, 3) jackknifing from the hips, 4) outside foot finally pulled up to restore balance but also demonstrating that massive weight has come through, 5) a more open racket face at contact which probably is the reason for this whole experiment-- just to see how exaggerated racket openness works best on any chop.

[bottle]

On the British Pathe Film

Both serves are low energy compared to what one sees on the tour today-- there's no vertical lifting of the entire body weight.

The Bobby Riggs serve, especially admired by Phil Picuri here in the forum, is not so different from Don Budge then.

But if one is careful in viewing the Don Budge from head on (front view) one can notice how much the upper body comes toward the net almost like a swimming porpoise.

Think of this serve's verbal description in THE GAME OF SINGLES IN TENNIS: A toss two feet into the court!

Not that Bobby Riggs doesn't "cartwheel" too a bit along with horizontal blend and farther back toss-- he does. Nothing like Budge, though, who's putting extreme weight into the shot.

All this figures. Budge is tall, Riggs short. And Riggs thrived on weightless "junk." That was his excellent game.

[bottle]

How and Where Does Roger Close his Racket?

It’s funny how one video can change one’s basic understanding in a flash.

In everything I’ve written about Roger Federer and Federfores—at least for a long time—I’ve stressed that racket tip twists up over elbow, which suggests that upper arm is twisting in its socket like an axle.

The following video gives the lie to that. The racket closes early and elbow lift does it. Then shoulders turn back the arm, which is solid with them.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Moves_Back&stroke=RFFHMovesBackRear1_500fps.mp4

To continue the study, let’s look at more of the rear view forehands.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Moves_Back&stroke=RFFHMovesBackRear2_250fps.mp4

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Arm_Action&stroke=RFFHInsideInArmActionRear1_500fps.mp4

Here’s an old clip:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/rogerfederer/rogerfederer_forehand/rogerfederer_fh_center/rogerfederer_fh_center.html?FedererFHCenterOpenStanceCourtlevelRear.mov

And another:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/rogerfederer/rogerfederer_forehand/rogerfederer_fh_center/rogerfederer_fh_center.html?FedererFHCenterNeutralStanceRear.mov

In that last one, confusing, elbow doesn’t change position until late when it lifts a bit toward the camera.

[bottle]

Chops for Dinner Cont'd

Stephanie/Steffany/Steffi/Steffie probably didn't hit this shot and never will but it's worth a try anyhow. After rapidly cocking the racket with hand as the fulcrum of a teeter-totter (post # 1331), straighten the arm while you whirl the racket slightly which forms a mild arc of racket tip in upward direction to establish desired pitch.

Make sure you step directly toward the net. If ball is too wide for this, hit another shot. But if all is go, jackknife now to bring outside hip and foot around as a consequence.

Upward racket tip arc caused by arm melds into downward body arc. The arm stops independent movement at racket tip apogee and joins the chopping body, which changes not the established pitch while pulling the racket butt through.

Is the top of this stroke well rounded? I'd say not. It's more like the peak of a roof or maybe even a pyramid.

[bottle]

Mediocre Mass Programs for Teaching Tennis

Am I being too provocative? Dare I eat a peach? Am I about to attack Quick Start? No, like a golden retriever I like those fat balls and little kids and eagerly await the triumph of the first one in the singles final at Wimbledon.

Some say we want to keep hand near ball to establish good hand-to-eye coordination for when the forehander finally-- in some personal way he's invented-- takes the racket back and then forward to the ball.

Others say to get racket back and foot flared and opposite shoulder tucked under chin in one swell foop. This prepares the arm, always a vain body part, to take a rearward solo to huge applause.

To my mind, both extremes compromise the Federer model which, generally speaking, tennis instructors agree on by now (many of whom were highly resistant for a decade or more) is best on Earth whether Roger is winning or not.

But the same instructors who reluctantly now adulate Roger feel for some strange and never properly explained reason that his stuck is inappropriate for us masses.

In the following clip one can see that shoulders turn some on unit turn and then more afterwards abetted by Roger's pointing with left hand at the right fence.

Roger's backward shoulders turn is more spread out, in other words, an idea that should help anyone.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Moves_Back&stroke=RFFHMovesBackRear1_500fps.mp4

As for the first extreme-- the keeping of delaying hand near ball like Monica Seles-- the advantage for her is clear. In one-handed forehands, however, will not the shoulders then be too rushed or not take the extra needed journey at all?

So it's my opinion (and opinion only) that people can be imaginative in finding other ways to simulate the good hand-to-eye of closeness of hitting hand to ball for too long. Install special imaginary sensors in leading arm, I've suggested, but perhaps there are other methods that would work, too.