A New Year's Serve

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Developing Extra Feel in a Backhand Modeled on Tommy Haas

One ought to be able to do this in a single place in the stroke cycle and then let the new feel radiate outward.

Starting with backward arm windmills, one can alter hand to string alignment through rotating the hips.

The bod in other words continues its travel once one has stepped out, and if this travel goes on a 45 degree angle toward the net, the arm fulcrum, i.e., the shoulder can move toward left fence while the strings stay where they were.

Put another way, the racket continues to produce an upright hoop but with the frame pointing more at rear fence.

Put still another way, the strings face less toward the ball and more toward left fence.

As we just said, hips action produces this re-alignment, but this may be a concept hard to grasp and feel.

I invoke here the "calm the horse" paradigm. If you can get the horse's head to descend, the horse will calm down. Similarly, if the horse calms down, its head will descend. So work on any such challenge from more than one direction.

Hips will change the alignment, so re-alignment of the racket conversely can help the hips do what you want.

Simply turn the racket butt a bit more toward the net, the tip a bit more toward rear fence. Practice this action by itself. Then combine it with forward hips rotation for extra feel.

(https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...nterFront1.mov)

(https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...LevelRear2.mov)

Same thing here with advanced footwork (https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...LevelRear1.mov).

[bottle]

Enjoying Two Transitions

1) From present serve toward more Roddick-like form. I'm obviously not going to obtain Roddick-like result. It would nevertheless be a great disgrace not to re-examine Roddickphernalia while in the neighborhood of integrated toss and wind.

First change, feet close together. Second change, double barrel leg drive. Third change, toss early with weight going backward (heresy!). Fourth change, toss from bent over position and use straightening of upper bod to assist the toss. Fifth change, use the taking of racket from one side of the body to the other (the big wind and collect) to curl the tossing arm back toward rear fence rather than keeping it artificially up like the hero of the bad film WIMBLEDON before he married Kirsten Dunce.

Like anybody who thinks much about serving, I am not advocating Roddick imitation for longer than a week. Remember though that Roddick himself came up with his teen-age bombshell never to change it again all in a single second or flash.

Also, in Virginia, I had a match point against a guy one time and decided to try a Roddick-like serve. It only came at him at 30 mph but my sudden resemblance to Andy Roddick caused him to miss the return.

(https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...DeuceFront.mov)

2) From double-ending forehands off of waterwheel back to forehands whose windshield wiper begins while on the ball. For this purpose, I believe, if one possesses the double-ender, one can use the same symmetrical waterwheel or vertical circle loop but set up farther from the ball and take it from a contact point that is farther back in the slot.

Who am I, as don_budge would say, to recommend anything? Answer: Just a player messing around with his strokes as you ought to be, reader, unless you are complacent.

I recommend hitting a mix of present style serves with Roddick style serves, and double-ended forehands with NOT double-ended forehands in some proportion determined by the score in an actual match.

These transitions, if past personal history matters (and it most certainly does) will soon disappear in favor of one method or the other. One may as well enjoy them however for as long as they last.

[bottle]

Overheads Have Consequence

Been losing. How to turn this around against the same guys? Did it by making one of them hit lobs before the first match. Smashing those lobs reminded me that I have a net game. So that I poached more when we started to play. Why, reader, should you care? You shouldn't. But maybe should practice some overheads in the warmup before your next match.

[bottle]

In Which Every Tennis Tip is Seen as a Wedge into a New Understanding of the Total Cycle of Some Stroke

We start with a comparison of the backhand wind-up of Stanislas Wawrinka and Tommy Haas.

The mode for investigation is real time restraint in viewing the available video of either player. We follow the theory we have formed from watching such video in the past but won't watch the videos again until we have thought things through. At which time we will verify or disprove our conclusion. And perhaps move on from either judgment.

In so doing we take on the role of creator rather than librarian, and this will make a difference to our desire to become a more interesting player-- more interesting first and foremost to ourself.

Because we really don't need to impress anybody. Other than to beat them with new invention as player or teacher. Who should care whether one's opponent will know what just hit him?

Wawrinka takes racket up then turns it behind his back through stepping out. Haas takes it up, stepping out, then winds the racket inward as it falls (or so it appears). Either method establishes good flashlight in the racket butt. Hand grazes left pocket for either of these two guys.

But focus here is on Haas. Think of any reason. It needn't be good. Maybe one is simply more interested one day after Christmas in building something out of one's observation of Haas.

And here in one's daydream is a question: Does Haas create the mechanical regularity of an arm windmill or waterwheel and then distort it by stepping and hip rotating into it, or does he simply pull racket in as it falls or does he do both?

Finally, regardless of what Haas does, what do you, reader, a player who wants to invent something, most want to try?

If one maintains the mechanical regularity of the waterwheel but rotates toward and through it on an angle, the racket butt is going to flashlight more toward the ball with no added manipulation by you.

This is what I want to try despite all the snow and slush on outside courts. And what I will try as soon as I get the chance even if it has to be in an indoors match where one's mind ought to be on other things such as how to line up one's bod on the oncoming trajectory of a lob to one's partner.

To examine Haas now is simple curiosity that shouldn't affect one's experiment although it always might.

(https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...evelFront1.mov)

How about the footwork in this one (https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...velRear2.mov)? A three-part step-out? Then I'll call this one a two-part step-out (https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...StanceSide.mov). Note the extra lifting of the racket at the top. And no extra lifting in this one (https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...StanceRear.mov).

Next question: Do pileated woodpeckers eat wood-boring bumblebees?

[bottle]

To Double-End or not to Double-End: That is the Question

I'm gonna hit McEnruefuls, Double-Enders and Flashlights. Don't like the sound of that, reader? Then go your own way.

The McEnruefuls are imitation John McEnroe forehands without the leg drive. John McEnroe himself hits more of them as he gets older. Hit them badly and you get underspin. Hit one well and for two seconds you get as much attention as Donald Trump.

The Double-Enders are hit off of a windmill. (Because I'm tired of saying off of a waterwheel.) Both ends of the racket move at same speed through the hitting zone.

"Flashlights" are reference to Nick Bollettieri transforming the butt of a tennis racket into a flashlight.

One shines one's everlasting light upon the ball.

Me, I'm interested in exploring the version where hand is actually higher than the ball as the strings mondo underneath followed by ISR (internal shoulder rotation) right on the ball.

The Double-Enders, alternated, should help condition one into good extension while doing this.

[bottle]

This is a New Year's Serve. It's not a Christmas Serve.

Sic. Bah. Humbug.

[bottle]

Reader, Do you Add and Subtract?

Seventy-seven is a lucky number. And the best serve I can perform right now at 77 is slightly different from anything I did before 77 .

The basic element of high address followed by gravity drop comes across. But the tossing arm, bent, stays up in search of solid connection with rest of the bod.

Toss and wind of the shoulders, as in an Andy Roddick serve, are pretty much one and the same, which is a great example of brilliant editing. The teen-age Andy could have had a great career in publishing.

The gravity determined rate of acceleration for the racket fall however (32 feet per second per second) does not establish best speed for racket rise on opposite side of a steep gorge. Rising speed is faster than that so as to gain time for a big arm wind complete with mondo action borrowed from forehand.

That all happens after the toss, which is a combination of bod wind (long i) and straightening arm. Because tossing arm started high and never dropped it is better able to toss over head to the left.

For several weeks I have experimented with keeping constant right angle in arm through the early post-toss part of the stroke-- so as to put emphasis where it belongs, on coil (twist) of the humerus inside of the shoulder cave.

That constant right angle, however, is unnecessary if one has for decades thrown from a more bent structure in which the two halves of the arm almost squeeze together. The emphasis with this fuller arm action can still be on twist of the upper arm to help load the all important ISR (internal shoulder rotation) about to occur.

Here is where once again one word is worth a thousand images.

For one wants to put strings on outside of the ball-- desired image. But the way one achieves this is important enough to require added explanation more than added romanticism.

One holds a ball with a light grip as if about to pitch in baseball. The wrist is laid back. One turns the thumb and fingers to the right (90 degrees).

So when did wrist get laid back?

Down by the knees? Could happen almost anywhere, but since one simultaneously lays wrist back and cocks forearm every time one hits a modern forehand why not use that?

Now we are on outside of ball in an arm action that takes the strings up-- first on outside of ball, then on back of the ball, then on inside of ball.

The operative action is to catch and fling the ball (not to rush and slug the ball).

The body cartwheels to add to this upwardness.

The arm scarecrows home.

Which brings me back to my initial question.

Visual study identifies necessary elements but can't tell a person how much or little of each one to apply.

(https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...ml?BTServe.mov)

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Changing One's Address

What I care about is open vs. closed racket face in the address of one's serve. All the rest about who in the forum has credibility is dreck (https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...=UTF-8#q=dreck).

Now, on the other hand, Donald Trump does concern me. His appointments show that he is out to hurt this country in a big way.

Open racket face-- I have never fully understood it. And have asked knowledgeable people to illuminate the subject 15 different times. When no one honors such a request (because you are such a jerk which is the essence of every English teacher, my sophomoric and sociopathic bait shop owners would say), I explore the subject on my own and sometime come up with a tidbit of interest.

So, both hands up in the air. With ball like a single scoop of bilious green/yellow ice cream in a brown wheat cone.

I hold the racket in my accustomed grip and position developed through a million repetitions. But I feather the racket 90 degrees while fully laying back the wrist right there up in the air to give myself a new address.

No twist of the bod, but the hands go down and back up. Now you/I am a pitcher in baseball with his two high hands joined together.

As hips turn back, the hitting forearm, which is right-angled to the upper arm, falls downward while pre-loading that upper arm since elbow stays at whatever level the shoulder enjoys and will enjoy.

As the integrated toss and shoulders coil takes racket down behind one's back, the racket arm stays on a line with the shoulders.

End of coil, which is in the arm, puts strings on outside of the tossed ball.

Notes:

A) In shower the two fists came together and rolled outward during this contact with right wrist fully laid back. Thus the downward winding of the forearm will create a motion continued at same speed and along same path as the sinking right shoulder.

B) The term "pre-load" is not the same as "pre-load" in various scientific documents. The "pre-load" here is simple "twisting of the stick the other way." And the actual load as arm finds outside of ball is "conflict load." Because the drive belts attached to the internal shoulder are trying to twist the humeral bumps one way while they are still twisting the other.

C) Most English teachers are not writers, but a writer must be an English teacher to be a writer. Reader, if you think you are a writer, to go along with your pre-verbal tennis instruction, why not try pre-verbal squeaks and make them look good on the page?

[bottle]

Not my post. You should know better. I'm in no way qualified to question someone of your intelligence and deductive reasoning skill.

I'm looking at the post. No mention of your name anywhere.

[10splayer]

Gotta give you a typo to make your day. But I accept your grammatical correction if not your conclusion and will leave the error up as a monument to your growing grammatical acumen. You should thank every English teacher you ever had (well, not "had" in the way you'd like) of whom I am one.

Not my post. You should know better. I'm in no way qualified to question someone of your intelligence and deductive reasoning skill.

[bottle]

Gotta give you a typo to make your day. But I accept your grammatical correction if not your conclusion and will leave the error up as a monument to your growing grammatical acumen. You should thank every English teacher you ever had (well, not "had" in the way you'd like) of whom I am one.

Right Edge to Right Edge of Ball

I asked this forum once exactly what body parts were involved in taking racket tip out to the right for a serve. The one answer I received was from Doug Eng, who now, I believe, is at Harvard. Or maybe he was back then, too. Macht nichts.

Doug identified every possible contributing body part, it seems to me. Questions then naturally remained as to which elements a player was best off suppressing or emphasizing and to what degree.

I am again impressed, as I always am by the left coast polymath Doug King on this same subject. He too identified a number of factors, buts one stands out as being taken directly from baseball. One can take a baseball or tennis ball in a baseball pitcher's grip and turn the ball a wide range just from the wrist and forearm.

Why the plural of "but?" That's GAY!!!!

[bottle]

Right Edge to Right Edge of Ball

I asked this forum once exactly what body parts were involved in taking racket tip out to the right for a serve. The one answer I received was from Doug Eng, who now, I believe, is at Harvard. Or maybe he was back then, too. Macht nichts.

Doug identified every possible contributing body part, it seems to me. Questions then naturally remained as to which elements a player was best off suppressing or emphasizing and to what degree.

I am again impressed, as I always am by the left coast polymath Doug King on this same subject. He too identified a number of factors, buts one stands out as being taken directly from baseball. One can take a baseball or tennis ball in a baseball pitcher's grip and turn the ball a wide range just from the wrist and forearm.

[bottle]

Early Separation Enables Better Distortion of One's Waterwheel (if in Fact One Has a Waterwheel)

I'll have to try this. Perhaps I won't be able to stand up, snow or not, in which case there will be reversion if not full concession to conventional form. But I love the term "dynamic wobble" with no further explanation to dilute it.

Here are some katas to try: Without a racket, make forehand waterwheels with one's arm. Waterwheels are very much like windmills so long as the windmill spins in the right direction. The arm can adjust from the elbow to make perfect circles.

Try waterwheels of different sizes and bodily investment. But why waterwheels in the first place? Well, if shape of backswing does not much matter, why not choose the most regular and beautiful form available, a perfect circle? Do 20 more, all with hand, not with a racket.

Now prepare to distort, which one can do in two different ways: 1) with the arm, 2) with the bod.

We choose bod for today and ideally for all days, although of course in the real world one will often use some combination. One never wants to be overly pure in tennis.

Early separation frees left hand to go wherever it wants. It is intimately connected to horizontal backward turn-- that is for sure. But if at the same time it now plunges downward a little it can raise right shoulder and hip.

To review, we start with waterwheels. Which shape we start by lifting the right elbow. Left hand going down while going around now further removes momentum from the racket head and further closes it and brings it to the inside.

From where it will go to the outside, the inside, and the outside, thus achieving the trajectory one desires. At the same time it will have gone from down to up to down to up.

Hardly a model in which coin stays balanced on the racket's upper rim.

So what has the left hand done through all of this? Well, it started off going down and around. Then it went the other way around and up. Next it clears to left side.

One could say it started out telling the bod what to do but by the middle the bod was telling it what to do.

[bottle]

No, he knew I was screwed up long before that.