A New Year's Serve

[stotty]

Perfection

Bangboard is great for honing Rosewallian slice. For mastering Rosewallian backhand volleys, at least as I envision them, though, I don't seem to have enough time (in both senses). From seven feet away there just isn't in my case space for double roll. Also, my own backhand volley knows the relation between hand and strings. This relationship is different for Rosewallian backhand volley. To hit even the second Rosewallian backhand volley off of the bangboard seems impossible!

I see Rosewallian backhand volley as the same basic shot as a backhand smash, only modified for lower balls. No? I'll continue this line of experimentation just to be a contrarian.

The Rosewall backhand volley was/still is perhaps...the most versatile shot imaginable. It is incredibly compact when being drilled at by a human wall like Fred Stolle. It also has a lengthy backswing and follow through on slow or lingering balls. Low balls, high balls, difficult balls...it has few equals...Edberg...McEnroe perhaps. Try to think of it as perfection...because perfect it certainly was.

[bottle]

Fanciful Poach: An Essay

Pat Blaskower quotes William James at the beginning of her chapter DEVELOP SUPERIOR POACHING SKILLS: "It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true."

To put the ball on my first target for backhand poach, which is a point in the alley halfway between the net and the service line, I'll stare through my strings at that target and watch the oncoming ball from the corners of my eyes.

And I'll be gliding toward that target, or rather to a point on my side of the net opposite that target, my final bouncing place.

My head will be close to my racket head with racket tip rather high.

This disposes of the ready made idea that racket length will be parallel or close to parallel to court for a volley in this direction.

So what are the mechanics that will enable this firmly blocked stroke?

1) A bigger than usual shoulder turn achieved during the run to ensure that shoulders line is pointing through the strings at the target.

2) A teeter-totter or lowering of the elbow to keep the two heads together while subtracting force.

3) A slow clenching of the shoulder-blades together to add firmness/force.

4) Straightening of the arm.

5) Biting the ball. Getting eyes on level of the ball. Making like Abby Wambaugh heading the ball. (These three cues are basically the same.)

6) A strict adherence to the Mercer Beasley dictum that a volley goes slowly forward to block the oncoming ball and use its speed.

The more these elements are simultaneous the better. Well, have I hit this shot and practiced it? Never.

It therefore qualifies as fanciful, although, superficially, it seems reasonable. Until we consider that I'm proposing to hit the ball out front from my point of view but behind my body from the ball's point of view.

So this shot, like one's decision to hit it, though healthful in its riskiness, maybe won't produce the result that William James and Pat Blaskower have in mind.

Because I'm hitting it from behind my body if you ask the net.

Reverse everything and hit a forehand instead-- the kind with no wrist layback whatsoever and straightening arm and opening strings that keeps alignment to the target for the longest time that is humanly possible. Save the elaborate BHV I just described for poaching from the ad court (for the right-hander). Aim the shoulders line at the target (again, a point in the alley between service line and net).

At least these two extreme volleys will keep the racket on the opponent side of one's body-- you'll therefore hit them sooner. An added advantage is that a missed ball may strike your body-- incentive to learn these poaches quickly.

Partial poach is acceptable play. You can hit a ball from center of court to center of court, using your most practiced volleys in the most conventional way. Or dance back, letting your partner have the ball.

Full poach is all out. You go no matter what and keep going until a final split-step in the alley.

[stotty]

Exactly, and the danger in coaching (in my opinion) is forcing, or not allowing a player to evolve because of our preconceived notions, bias's etc. I.e the Rosewall backhand is the best

As in the forehand example, I have seen so many coaches hamstring players because they think "neutral ", or open stance is the way to hit,for example. Equip a player with good fundamentals, and let them go out there and adapt and evolve. As long as they're operating within a range of acceptability, they'll figure it out without a coaches help.

I agree with this.

Bias is a crime most of us are guilty of. Not just in tennis but in all walks of life. It's hard not to take sides. It's hard not to be prejudice.

Getting students to make positions and checkpoints followed up with monitoring and fine tuning where feasible would seem the core job/responsibility for tennis coaches. Coaches claiming a role greater than this are probably overrating themselves and failing to recognise students' individual ability to evolve and develop through their own experience...which often tops coaching everytime.

[10splayer]

I agree with this.

Bias is a crime most of us are guilty of. Not just in tennis but in all walks of life. It's hard not to take sides. It's hard not to be prejudice.

Getting students to make positions and checkpoints followed up with monitoring and fine tuning where feasible would seem the core job/responsibility for tennis coaches. Coaches claiming a role greater than this are probably overrating themselves and failing to recognise students' individual ability to evolve and develop through their own experience...which often tops coaching everytime.

Yes, we are all guilty of that. Perhaps the biggest dilemma in development, is knowing when to intercede and when to just stay out of the way. We all have egos, and think we know best.

The greatest coaches I've come in contact with, though, know how to find a balance between personal exploration and rigid intervention. One can see there subtle influence on players, without a "cloning" effect.

And yes, many, many coaches overate there influence.especially those who "take over" high caliber players. Too me, the "real" coaches are the early intervention ones, who, initially, develop fundamentally sound games, which, allows players to grow and an opportunity for future options. That's where the rubber meets the road.

[bottle]

there, their

[10splayer]

there, their

thank you

[bottle]

Another problem equivalent to not dwelling on basics, particularly in tennis: Not forming crisp opinions. And if some of those opinions start with aesthetic appreciation, fine, since, as Chris Lewit for one has said, "Beautiful strokes are good strokes." Tennis, with its huge mental/aesthetic component, rewards people for being sure of themselves.

[10splayer]

Another problem equivalent to not dwelling on basics, particularly in tennis: Not forming crisp opinions. And if some of those opinions start with aesthetic appreciation, fine, since, as Chris Lewit for one has said, "Beautiful strokes are good strokes." Tennis, with its huge mental/aesthetic component, rewards people for being sure of themselves.

When asked if he was going to work on Sampras's backhand, Anacone said, "No, Pete thinks it's a great shot". We probably would have missed out on McEnroe's awesomeness if Hopman would have changed his grips and strokes, as many advised. Or thank goodness (for Andy's sake) that Roddick was too stubborn to change that stance and delivery..

Yeah, there is definitely a genius in figuring (both as a player and coach) what, if any real changes need to be made. I would submit, that any of the above players would never have been what they were, had they abandoned what they felt was right for them....

And I agree Bottle, that what a player believes to be right, is a variable that needs to be considered. However, equally important, is convincing someone, or realizing for oneself, why a certain stroke or component will stunt future opportunity for growth.

[bottle]

To be safe, I'd say, give anyone who works hard the benefit of one's doubt. One thing I can promise you: My attempt to incorporate Rosewallian slice (once again) has not subtracted anything from my game. But Rosewallian backhand volley might be too big of a late life order. The jury is still out. But I get a big kick from suddenly winning three Fridays in a row and carrying various doubles partners in the process. Rosewallian slice did it. That was the variable. The same opponents were giving me trouble before. A person like you should take note! And study Trey Waltke's article in this website.

[10splayer]

I'll take your word for it, however, I've heard the same song and dance over the years. I'll remain skeptical. Looked over a few paragraphs of the Waltke article, and would probably disagree with some of it.

[stotty]

The best shots are natural

Yes, we are all guilty of that. Perhaps the biggest dilemma in development, is knowing when to intercede and when to just stay out of the way. We all have egos, and think we know best.

The greatest coaches I've come in contact with, though, know how to find a balance between personal exploration and rigid intervention. One can see there subtle influence on players, without a "cloning" effect.

And yes, many, many coaches overate there influence.especially those who "take over" high caliber players. Too me, the "real" coaches are the early intervention ones, who, initially, develop fundamentally sound games, which, allows players to grow and an opportunity for future options. That's where the rubber meets the road.

Some really astute points here. And certainly the best coaching I have ever done is when I have left well alone. The best shots in my experience are the natural ones that need very little coaching intervention. The problem with being a coach is you always feel like you should be tweaking something.

Assessing shots for their future potential is a tough one. I've made mistakes in this area of coaching.

[bottle]

JMFH (John McEnroe Departed Forehand)

What's wrong with shooting straight arm hard down at court while cranking hips, then cranking the shoulders while rolling racket head 50-50 up and through the ball?

"Shooting arm hard down at court" will bring it in-- right-- by x amount? Same amount of arm positioning then to outside, x, can be accomplished through vector of arm lift (optionally with firm connection from racket tip to shoulders core).

"Cranking the shoulders" is a crude order direct from brain to stomach, no?

Hitting the ball with transverse gut muscles and arm roll applied in simultaneity should keep one out of trouble with this shot.

"Trouble" occurs when the arm roll is unalloyed by anything else.

The inside out nature of this shot is defined by arm trajectory-- a small bit to inside followed by a small bit to outside.

The ATP Forehand, by contrast, puts hand behind the ball early. Inside out pattern is determined by arm roll in that one.

[bottle]

Variety in Backhand Volleys

"If" is such a good word for starting a discussion in tennis.

It excuses one from speaking from the cathedral, if you know what I mean.

If more variety ought to exist at net than anywhere else in tennis, then we should allot more study there, too.

Or do study and animal volleys exclude one another?

Billie Jean: The greater the player the less he or she knows what she's doing.

So, if you don't know what you're doing, are you great?

Better to declare one's mediocrity in order to open oneself up to new knowledge and to do this throughout one's entire tennis career, I would argue.

The only real drawback is that your enemies will believe you when you say you're mediocre. Answer: Smoke em on the court.

On pages 72-3 of TENNIS BY PANCHO GONZALEZ, Pancho starts two volleys quite hunched over with racket tip quite vertical almost like the beginning of Ken Rosewall's full slice.

Pancho, much more the teacher/aesthete than most great players, must have emphasized this high racket tip for a reason.

But in the following clips it's not always so apparent:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/golden_legends/panchogonzales/panchogonzales.html?PGBHVFront.mov

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/golden_legends/panchogonzales/panchogonzales.html?PGBHVOpenStanceFront.mov

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/golden_legends/panchogonzales/panchogonzales.html?PGFHApproachBHVFront.mov

Apparent as part of the double roll in first sequence perhaps.

In the second sequence there's no need for rolls of any kind. Racket trajectory is slightly down and then up.

In the third sequence, a high volley, there's single roll, I would say (but perhaps that's just me). Initial preparation gets racket still and ready to go. Roll then is over the top to the ball. Racket stays high in the follow-through.

[bottle]

Re Stotty-10splayer Conversation About Student Figuring Stuff Out

But WILL he " figure it out?"

Why? Does he think that figuring out is worthwhile? Where could he get that idea?

Only from an extraordinary teacher/mentor/parent/peer/somebody.

Has Ryan Harrison or Boris Karloff ("I shot up the rankings really fast") ever come up with anything original, or am I being unfair?

Maybe they did but I just don't know about it?

I guess I have made severe value judgment from what these and so many other tour players have revealed of themselves in public.

[bottle]

Poached Egg: Two Year Quest Starting Today

Plan. Unveil new deal when am seventy-five. Acquire in the meantime all available knowledge on the subject which so far is sparse and not detailed enough. Eschew knee replacement. Can a player even poach after a knee replacement? Not with the kind of full poach I have in mind. Indisputable premise: Most doubles is sedentary, static and risk-free, ergo bores. Working quote from beginning of fifth chapter of Pat Blaskower's THE ART OF DOUBLES cannot be repeated enough:

"It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true." -- William James

Introduction: Body-Protected Backhand Volley Full Poach By Right-Handed Player from Deuce Court As Partner Serves.

1) Learn these terms: "half-poach" and "full-poach." The half-poach hits the ball from center of court to center of court to split the opponents.

The full-poach, with different preparation, gets all the way to opponent's cross-court service return, which is apt to be wider than usual because of your half-poach intimidation.

Most of the time u am i poacher will dance back to cover own court and alley. The good intimidation however will not occur and the ploy will weaken unless reinforced by full-poaches.

Greatest vulnerabilities of the full-poach. 1) Partner doesn't cover. 2) You go too soon. 3) You didn't go too soon sometimes. 4) Your partner is ill-humored. 5) Opponent drills you while your racket is pointed at rear fence. At least you can duck and block the ball with your shoulder. Your main defense however is good offense, viz., the good half-poaches you've already threatened or hit with your standard volley preparation.

What could the different mechanics be for the full-poach which move has become so important? There is no one answer. But we can work backward from the known target, which is a point in the alley between the net and service line. This aim point is higher percentage than trying to put the ball on the opposing netman's shoe tops, which may, as Blaskower suggests, put the ball instead on her/his sweet spot.

Working backward from the alley target, I will use, for now, the martial arts preparation of the great tennis teaching pro Shea Brown.

This involves facing my right palm toward my left ear.

From there I shall endeavor to roll the racket open while extending the arm.

Will arm be bent or straight at contact? Both. Depending on where ball is and where I am.