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I know. You'd better renew them to get them back on the contents page before it's too late.
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What Better Way to Express One's Hatred of Kinetic Chain Than to Reverse It?
Am not saying that kinetic chain is no good or that it isn't an inscrutable force in every good tennis shot, even the following one.
I'm just saying that if a tennis parented and pro'd tennis player still has enough natural curiosity left to try to imitate the greatest one-hand backhand of all time, he or she will find that the kinetic chain prescription, taken as conscious steps, sucks.
The player will turn his hips too soon, right after his step-out, which is exactly what I do on my backhand skunk-tailed slice, which is the very best tennis stroke that I have ever invented for myself (with a little help from my friends).
The irony in this is considerable if dangerous since irony has never ever worked on the internet.
J. Donald Budge compared his backhand to the easy baseball swing of Ted Williams, and Ted Williams was a pioneer in biokinetics what with his talk about "hips firing marginally ahead of shoulders."
Well, I'm here to tell you to trust your eyes and watch the video again instead of listening to the late Ted Williams for this particular shot.
And if there is something you don't understand, grab the fleeting capsule with your cursor and run the movie slowly forward and backward until all the mysteries are cleared up.
You then will find that this is a flat, lifted shot with a modicum of topspin for control.
Like me, you may conclude that getting the racket backward around the waist FAST as part of a flying grip change makes all the sense in the world.
Like me using Faulknerian eastern grip with heel of hand on 8.5 pointy ridge, you may decide also to get the palm faced down as part of the grip change-- that's early.
You then won't need late backward roll messing with your assigned open pitch.
All this earliness doesn't mean that shoulders still can't be turning back as your foot steps out. Or that your shoulder can't be loading like stretching elastic. Or that this stretching can't continue into a modified sit-and-hit taken from the 1977 TENNIS FOR THE FUTURE by Vic Braden and Bill Bruns.
As you largely step and your foot rolls from heel to toe and your front leg compresses, your two hands get equi-distant to either side of your left thigh with the racket nicely level in between. It's all one movement. Hitting arm and bending knee come into place in sync.
From there you just need to spear with racket butt along the feet and turn the corner by rolling your arm forward.
Just before you hit the ball, swing with the shoulders.
Which will pull the hips and legs.
Will you leave the ground? Depends how hard you swing.
If your feet are going to turn 90 degrees in mid-air, it won't matter how parallel to baseline the front foot was to start.
If you're good at pivoting on the ball of your foot without hurting your leg, you could do that.
If you were an old, non-flying conservative watching Tennis Channel, you might have splayed your foot a bit toward net on step-out to make sure that you still were putting sufficient weight through the ball.
All these methods carry momentum to the outside as demonstrated by where the back foot comes down-- perfect for establishing dwell at contact with an inside out swing.Last edited by bottle; 08-26-2013, 03:31 AM.Comment
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Rabbit Punch
I can’t find one real rabbit punch in all these cartoon images, not at least as I’ve always understood “rabbit punch” ever since watching for the first time John M. Barnaby bonk a net post with the bottom of his fist in a photo in his 1969 book RACKET WORK: THE KEY TO TENNIS.
But eHow contributor Michael Judge writes:
The rabbit punch has been around for as long as boxers have been fighting one another. Although it has a cute name, this is a particularly dangerous move. It is typically banned in most formal boxing and martial arts events. The rabbit punch can cause severe injury to an opponent and should never be used except in the most extreme self defense situations.
Note that Judge doesn’t identify specifics of technique for the particularly dangerous move.
It seems to me that if, with an eastern backhand grip, one gets palm turned down early in a Budgian backhand, one is then in position to bonk most effectively, i.e., the arm is in a naturally stronger than usual configuration for a long time.
Watch out, rabbits.Last edited by bottle; 08-26-2013, 05:19 AM.Comment
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Up a Notch
Let's go another step-- in thought-- to develop the sit-and-hit idea.
An arm motion rather than an arm position occurs in sync with front knee bend.
I'll call the arm motion spear-and-roll.
Hand control of speed of the film shows spear-and-roll occurring before shoulders, hips and leg lift (in that order).
Why the new analysis? Didn't we already have shot logic nailed down well?
Self feeding this backhand and performing it in competition are two different levels of athleticism. These shots worked in play but had unwanted sidespin. I must have rolled across the front of the ball-- no good. This post is my attempt at an antidote.Comment
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"Give Arm More To Do"
First one needs to explain, and explain a lot since people in this strange age are more eager to misunderstand than the opposite.
Working on a Budgian backhand is a 14-year locust. Despite one's serviceable backhands, one may still possess a hankering after the Budgian model as for an old Thunderbird with straight fins that go out.
Please understand: All my previous attempts to master this unique shot have failed. Oh, sure, I've hit five or six good ones in each 14-year cycle but not with repeatability. And yet certainly, in senior tennis, one sees J. Donald Budge influenced backhands all the time.
I would estimate that in a club of 60 tennis players of all ages, there will be two Budgians, pretty good backhands though not remotely approaching the original's excellence.
And Vic Braden's attempt to come up with a simplified vertical or even egged racket version clearly failed in its goal of marketability despite the excellence of Vic's own backhand.
Screw the history. Here's another 14-year cycle. So let's master the lovely shot this time.
"Give arm more to do." That means loading arm and back together as right foot steps out. That's what I'll think at least for the rest of today having been rained out early this morning along with three other guys after a five-minute hit.
A few mishits causing a jolt in the spin made me think I was on the right track. Not that I want such jolts all the time-- entirely smooth swing producing scorching pace with mild straight up spin is the goal.
That would be smoothness in palm of hand dropping down like a frisbee as front leg partially collapses and arm straightens and spears and rolls-- "swings" in a word.
And shoulders take over, pulling hips and legs-- swing in a word.
One word: Swing.
Last edited by bottle; 08-27-2013, 05:46 AM.Comment
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On the Fleeting Capsule
It sure was fleeting. And I hate to see it go. I will miss it. Maybe there wasn't enough support from other tennis players. Perhaps they couldn't master the art of stopping the capsule with their accursed cursor.Comment
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Shoulders Turning Earlier
It must be admitted that shoulders start turning a little earlier in this one than I have indicated.
Well, somewhere in the middle of this best backhand of all time is the right sequence and mix for you and me, reader, and we both therefore should keep swinging.
I also confess that I still have the romantic notion in mind, picked up from a poorly bound old Czech tennis book made of third rate materials and falling apart, of starting a swing with a short radius and extending it just at contact.
I am not thinking, in this case, of going from bent to straight arm. Or of lifting elbow during the swing, which also would extend effective radius from the shoulder.
I AM thinking of moving the fulcrum inward from shoulder to center of the rotating bod. Clenching of the shoulderblades could optionally get in the act.Last edited by bottle; 08-27-2013, 11:29 AM.Comment
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Backhand
Talbert and Old: "The backhand must be a fluid and continuous motion, not a series of separate acts performed one after the other. Properly executed, the steps are simple and related, creating a natural sequence without hesitation or acceleration."
Last edited by bottle; 08-28-2013, 12:15 AM.Comment
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The Don Budge Backhand...seen through the eyes of don_budge
Couldn't sleep bottle? Thanks John for this bringing this work of art to our attention.
Originally posted by bottle View Post
What a beautiful description and a wonderful illustration of perhaps the greatest shot in tennis of all time. You can say that sort of thing if you understand that all things are relative to the era you are referring to.
At click number 16, Don Budge on the dead run has planted his front foot and at the same time rotated his torso and shoulders into perfect position with his racquet poised to go forwards. From the point of view of his opponent most of Budge's back is visible from the other side of the net. The balance of a ballet dancer.
On click number 22 he makes contact with the ball and his back foot is nearly perfectly aligned with his shoulders. All of this with the simplest and most fluid of motion on the stretch. Contact with the ball is well out in front of the body indication of a solid drive that is intended to inflict damage...played aggressively considering the apparently defensive position he was in when the shot was played at him.
Just two more clicks to number 24 and you witness the same kind of balance that Roger Federer treats us to in John Yandell's music video of his forehand. Seemingly poised in mid air he has collected his momentum to a momentary stationary position.
The beauty of it all is for the next 10 clicks...Mr. Budge is floating through the air until his left rear foot finally finds the earth again and he has fully rotated his entire structure through the path of the ball until he is virtually facing the net at the end of his follow through. Almost a full 180 degree rotation of his being. Truly an amazing feat of balance, control and power.
The elegance of the motion enhance by the wardrobe. The long trousers with the shirt tucked neatly in without a wrinkle. I can still remember his easy chuckle, his soft spoken voice and his modest manners. Truly a gentleman in every sense of the word. I remember him telling me about his epic five set match with the Baron Von Cramm for the 1937 Davis Cup...never a hint of bragging or any such attitude. He spoke as if it was an honor to have been involved in such a titanic struggle. He told me that he never saw the last ball hit the ground as he apparently ended up on the ground fully extended.
The conversation took place in a Maryland restaurant over dinner that he was hosting for all of his employees at the camp. Champagne and lobster for all! They broke the mold after him...Don Budge. I think it was 1973. He was about my age then...I was just a kid from Dearborn, Michigan. Nineteen years old.
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Carve Your Serve
Do, don't, do, don't. Think I'll do both today-- hit with racket head turning out and turning in, i.e., a carve. Preparation for both will be exactly the same.
The carve is a much older way of serving, thoroughly discredited in today's world, no?
The question is-- who has done the discreditation? Geniuses or knaves?
I still haven't developed a consistently devastating short, soft slice wide from the deuce court but should carve several aces today-- yes, hard wide from deuce to deuce court or down the middle from ad court. Of course the guy I usually ace is my friend Wally, 88 years old.
Still, it is amazing to me how modern tennis instruction can talk a given player out of his best shot.
Of course, back leg driven serves are a rarity, a paradigm shift with who knows what implications, if any, for persons other than myself. Elbow gets a little farther forward for the internal rotation shots, stays back in line with both shoulder balls for the out wide carved ace number.Last edited by bottle; 08-28-2013, 05:31 AM.Comment
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To Steve
You are absolutely right. I couldn't sleep.
Thank you very much for such a nice fleshing out of my schemes.Comment
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Airborne and Ground-Bound Versions
Re # 1764, so instructive on many topics including the importance of staying closed in a dozen swinging sports:
don_budge points to feet getting lined up with shoulders at contact in this airborne version of Don Budge's famous backhand:
But where are the shoulders in relation to sideline? Parallel to it? No, less than parallel to it. Closed in a word.
But that is in an airborne version. Where are the shoulders in the ground-bound version, which is about 20 times easier to teach or learn?
Closed in a word.
Okay, bottle, if you say so. We may believe you. But where can we see one of these full ground-bound Don Budge backhands just to make sure?
Drawing # 6 on page 140 of THE GAME OF SINGLES IN TENNIS, Talbert and Old, Lippincott, Philadelphia and New York, 1962 .
And no, I don't have a scanner convenient or I would reproduce drawing # 6 . Staying closed at contact is nevertheless a more than good idea even though you-I-they will have already been slowly swinging our shoulders which get to go farther and open up somewhat immediately afterward.Last edited by bottle; 08-29-2013, 03:39 PM.Comment
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It Was Coming?
Build off of easy topspin serve preparation. The unique characteristics can remain the same except for:
A carve instead of the inside out upper arm twist.
Twist outside in, instead, but place the strings flat on ball before you start to carve.
Result: A short, wide serve bouncing HIGH?Comment
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Attention John Escher aka "bottle"....re: Richard Gasquet's backhand
Due to your unparalleled attention to detail and nuance...I thought that I might bring Richard "Cocaine Lips" Gasquet's backhand to your attention.
Here's a nice one to begin with...it is a beauty technically and aesthetically speaking:
This guy doesn't look to be so imposingly athletic or anything but when it comes to his backhand...he can really bring it.
I am watching him play Tursunov at this very moment and in one game he pummeled a reverse cross court winner into the forehand corner of Tursunov that was almost immediately followed up with a down the line backhand winner in the same exact spot.
A couple of points later he landed a sweet and delicate drop shot to the forehand side of Tursunov's net. It is a distinctive shot...but it may be of interest to you. I read your reviews ranging from that of the Stanislov Wawrinka backhand all the way back to the great J. Donald Budge backhand...with great interest. You just might have some fun with "Cocaine Lips" backhand...and give us something good to read if we cannot sleep at night. It happens you know.
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Pneumatic Tent
This stroke certainly is interesting, especially 45 clicks in, where Cocaine Lips has inflated his tent.
The term "Cocaine Lips" needs no further elucidation. You not only coined it but did a terrific job of actualizing the incident behind it from the barroom story told by Richard Gasquet himself.
"Inflation of a tent" though-- what's that? Well, I see it in the Budge, the Gasquet and probably the Carla Suarez-Navarro.
Sooner or later we who aspire to a devastating one-hander to complement our best sliced backhand encounter the idea of "removing slack from the arm." But I am not even sure the persons who foist this term upon us really mean "the arm." They are using the arm as a metonym for the whole body. Thus we come to the building block-- very firm-- of "removing all slack from the body."
Think of the balloon in some old breathalyzer test. The tennis player drunk on boilermakers and stoned on cocaine is able to make the cop's balloon unprecedentedly firm thanks to the PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs) that he also has transfused.
We clean persons don't want to partake in any of this beyond one boilermaker. We think instead of J. Donald Budge at some big band dance-- some Dorsey, some Goodman, Glenn Miller but not Lester Lanin or Peter Duchin who may be too late. As for drinks-- not many but some-- gin, maybe, vodka, some old F. Scotch Fitzgerald.
If it's your late mentor J. Donald Budge at the dance, he probably plans to take the girl he brung home to her family's porch.
The big thing though is his left arm around her waist. It makes a nice curve, and in fact this whole couple is perfectly balanced because of this left arm taken from the fellow's backhand.
What Richard Gasquet, Don Budge and probably Carla Suarez-Navarro have in common, conversely, is the barred hitting arm-- I mean "dynamically stretched" body all loaded with imminent release.
The arm is moving!
We wonks all come to think it is loaded but still or just changing direction or something.
As this point I have to abandon Richard, Carla and even former NCAA singles champion Bea Bielik although she is 100 per cent Hungarian transplanted in Long Island's sandy soil. (I met her in Leon's in Winston-Salem and when I told the bartender who she was-- the number one college player-- he made everybody applaud.)
These three players take their arm too high, and even Don Budge does something similar in a few of the representations I've seen, but not in the Tennis Player videos which I've decided on as my touchstone because of their extreme economy.
I like the easy palm down bonk increasing the load, with all preparation preceding that occurring in the area of the waist. Inadvertently, I discovered how this distant radio station might come in while slugging a bangboard from second bounce.
Shoulders rather than hips turn forward first yet contact occurs with shoulders still a bit closed and not yet parallel to sideline. The bonking palm-down fist is merely part of the inflating tent.
It's beneficial, I find, to think of bonk and roll as a single brain impulse rather than bonk as corresponding to some body action and roll as corresponding to some other body action.
In fact the bonk-and-roll both loads and then releases the body. Some of the bonk is left over just before the sudden roll that "turns the corner" and gets racket head an extra foot in front outside of the ball.Last edited by bottle; 09-03-2013, 02:19 PM.Comment
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