A New Year's Serve

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The re-thinks are dominoeing. The slight arm bend takes racket both farther back toward the rear fence and sideways. The flattening wrist (remember that a wrist can do its tricks in more than one dimension!) is still part of the top of the backswing and starts racket tip down a bit before any body force is applied.

I don't think this guy is much like Wawrinka or Federer. All three are roughly similar since they are hitting 1htsbh's, but the items discussed seem big differences to me.

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"Cut the Wire" Backhands

My son-in-law says that Roger Federer said that one ought to "cut the wire" when hitting a 1htsbh.

Technically, neither of these persons is my son-in-law much less brother-in-law, so maybe Roger didn't say that but try it, reader, anyway.

In my present configuration-- the one I used against a bangboard yesterday-- flying grip change melds into arm twisting while lifting, which melds into arm bending, with all of this likened to a building wave.

I'm not going to worry about much else, viz., did a forward or backward stride occur or not occur.

There I am with arm in a nice medium high position comfortably bent-- could have gotten there through a less straight-wristed and therefore more exotic route the way Dominic Thiem does, and who ever really knows what the stupid little thing is that might make a big difference until one has variety in one's experience.

But, if I am going to "cut the wire," the time has come to build tension so that the phrase will mean something when hitting hand releases from guide hand.

One may or may not know an ideal pattern for racket tip to lower-- better to have one's clear ideal firmly in mind.

You have two hands on the racket, reader, so build up tension between them through the development of opposite forces.

For me this will be 1) backward force, which will come from straightening the arm and keying (i.e., twisting the racket tip down) while holding the hand back, and 2) forward force, which will come exclusively from rotating the hips forward. If stepping out I will do so with a closed foot which then pivots slightly on its heel. This means somewhat still divided weight concentrated immediately (though somewhat) on front heel as part of the foot rearrangement.

Next week I may try something else.

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Cut the Wire BH, Influenced by D. Thiem, Continued and Developed

Other influences: Dive bombers of World War II.

Rusty scabbards of 300 years before that.

Two beer-bellied champions from Detroit Golf Club.

Working principle: Wrong or partially right.

The ingredients: Flat wrist only comfortably cocked.

Flying grip change to full spread of first two fingers opposing extended thumb.

Up and down dive bomb motion commencing from end of straight-arming grip change through bending at elbow followed by

Tug-o-war between the two hands

and

Cutting of the wire.

Text: The beer-bellied champions (golfers) won the doubles crown of the huge Detroit Golf Club. Who knows whether the competition was straight or best ball. The pair had respective handicaps of five and zero. Zero was having a Saturday night party to celebrate the mowing of his lawn and impress his new fiancee, Shelley.

The guys are about 50 years old. I asked them separately, "Do you ever mess with your swing?" The answer in both cases was a resounding "No."

But neither of them was Jack Nicklaus changing his strokes every day. Or Tom Watson inventing some new cue for himself on the twelfth hole of a major.

So, in pursuit of my latest 1htsbh, I return to my own iteration bearing a LOOSE resemblance to Dominic Thiem-- the shot I've been working up in two-bounce strikes against a bangboard.

In DT himself one sees early turnover of the racket permitting a straight lift with no twisting in it and not unrelated to a hinged up right hand.

One owes it to oneself-- in order to fully open oneself to desired influence-- to imitate at first Dominic Thiem in every fine detail including the late flattening of his wrist.

Then and only then may one return to present iteration with wrist initially flattened before any recognition that one will hit a backhand stroke.

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Racket Head Speed

The form one desires may depend on more racket head speed. The "cut the wire" cue or "pull the sword out of its thousand-year-old rusted scabbard" or "Extract Excalibur from the boulder" could do the trick.

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Overheard

A tot walking past, to his mother:

"He's playing good tennis."

The mother interrupts to tell me.

"Oh good. Thank him! Maybe I'm getting somewhere after all! It just took 74 years."

I resume my session.

The tot cries, "Bang! Bang! Bang-Bang-Bang!"

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The Rafter Spin Cycle

Anyone can figure out what Patrick Rafter told Will Hamilton without joining Fuzzy Yellow Balls and becoming one of 47 million persons paying money. The trick is to go to discussion boards.

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Injury as Excuse for Creation or Foolishness

Recurrence of calf strain or tear was portended by continued knottedness in muscle for the past year.

The new injury however is coincident with a trip we're about to take. I'm hoping for 1) healing in the next 10 days, 2) Recurrence of brainstorms that are positive, not foolish like the backhand I invented in Mexico.

In any case I found a good substitute for tomorrow's doubles.

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Backhand Service Returns and Publishing

The wisest prose on service returns I've ever read was written by the longtime coach and tennis writer John M. Barnaby.

Jack Barnaby certainly is a fan of variety in tennis but no doubt could appreciate the opposite viewpoint, when appropriate, as expressed by his rival Vic Braden: "Just hit the same old boring shot."

I don't think that Barnaby and Braden ever made a conscious decision to become rivals, but major publishers decided to pit them against each other when American tennis was building its base and taking off.

A bunch of books came out in that era. Two of them-- TENNIS FOR THE FUTURE and THE INNER GAME OF TENNIS/INNER TENNIS became best sellers, maybe the only best sellers among tennis books ever.

But I remember from my MacDowell Artist Colony days, a very accomplished writer saying, "If I write a best seller I'll know I did something wrong."

Similar to the "rivalry" between Barnaby and Braden was another between Braden and Scott Murphy's father, the longtime coach and tennis writer Chet Murphy.

Moral of the story: Some great technique ideas come from Braden but from less public and more obscure characters too.

Oh, service returns-- Barnaby's idea was that these shots should contain more variety than the other categories. Have a bunch of service returns available so that you can find the one that works.

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Cut the Wire Backhand Service Return

1) Wait like a baseball player squared to bunt. Maybe you will bunt.

2) Change grip with racket and shoulders still parallel to net. Guess early if you want to.

3) Start building tension in the "the wire" as body finally and rapidly turns. The wire can be the part of the handle between the two hands. As tension builds, i.e., the hands try to pull apart, the hitting arm will start to straighten. Let it, but with the understanding that you need an excess of tension beyond what it took to accomplish that task.

4) Finish this building of tension through forward rotation of the hips. But experiment with clenching shoulderblades too. One or the other just then but not both. This late addition of force may coincide with racket tip lowering or keying down. Gradually build tension between the two hands throughout.

5) Cut the wire.

Have I tried this serious service return? No, but I want to. I have a list of alternatives including some with flying grip change. "Cut the wire" improved the quality of my full 1htsbh, so I don't see why applying this principle and making it predominant in this Kohlschreiber-influenced service return should not work.

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Next Level of McEnrueful Forehand Studies: a Narrative

Watch John McEnroe's feet, how he always lands in perfect balance. Note that even when he inchworms his inside foot out front, he still drives hips from back foot and does this during the contact. This late hips rotation often rearranges both feet. They twist individually but together too. The usual crap about a kinetic chain sequence therefore does not apply, i.e., isn't very productive or useful.

Look for variations. Suppose JM settles weight a bit more on front foot. Then back foot comes up in a small save step.

Suppose he's pulled way wide. If he feels cool and unrushed and just wants to hit a nothing ball deep, he can swing while he's still moving. In one such video the hips don't rotate at all, which means that he's swinging his shoulders from his stomach.

Hips driven from back or outside foot however happen most often. The inside foot may land where it started (though pivoted) or pull in a bit, which we could then call a gravity step.

Both takeoff and landing are in perfect balance-- that is the common denominator.

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Never have any words I've written so damaged my tennis game as the foregoing. The reason must be my early invention as a teenager of sprawling off-balance neutral stance and self-taught straight-armed roll and save step.

Now, at 74, when I've re-invoked this shot-- as close as I will ever get to a "primal shot" since I started tennis late and was otherwise preoccupied with the sport of CREW-- I find myself doing best with conventional step-out (some would call this "closed forehand" but that is when one steps across). And an excess of weight transfer that requires a galumphing save step. And John McEnroe imitation grip-- for me that's with big knuckle on 2.5 whereas when I was 18 or 19 big knuckle was on 3.0, the conventional "palm, slide, close, trigger."

The answer for me, I have decided (and I can only hope this is of interest to some human beings other than myself) is "step pushing hips toward net and crank them and arm for all they are worth."

Such an extreme design, while not achieving the cool balance of a John McEnroe-like pocket-billiards player, seems my best bet on the grounds of what the ball does next (goes fast and low with a sharp break to the left)-- pretty good in doubles.

This is a slam of a shot with imbalance integral to the middle.

To make it consistently work for me, I see the need for its lumbering save step to meld sensibly into a split-step that restores control while optionally continuing the forward momentum to use the remaining imbalance on purpose.

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Worldliness of Grip 101

Once one has traded in one's primal American innocence (or imagined American innocence is one is a 2014 Republican)-- for more sophistication in tennis grips-- one may make some bizarre choice such as what follows.

The tennis writer Ed Faulkner taught an eastern backhand grip with heel of hand on left edge of panel one or maybe partially on panel eight. This heel placement was intended to help the average player to get sufficiently around on his one-hander-- a chronic problem in Faulkner's view.

I took this advice very much to heart because, like Arthur Ashe, I thought that Ed Faulkner was an especially good coach, and I still do.

http://articles.philly.com/1987-01-13/news/26189341_1_joan-weesner-tennis-players-tennis-coach

But now I'm wondering (though I hate to speak ill of the dead in any way): If I take Don Budge's filmed advice to put more thumb behind the racket (a view which has never been sufficiently discredited) and then shift heel squarely to middle of panel one, will not my contact be most naturally farther around on the ball?

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A Stupid Little Thing That Might Make A Big Difference?

A golf magazine I was reading in a professional's office today quoted Jack Nicklaus' tennis instructor as saying, "The past is history, the future is mystery."

ED FAULKNER'S TENNIS: How to Play it, How to Teach it has more do's and don'ts in it than any book of ethics.

Foremost among the one hand backhand do's (and I am absolutely serious when I declare that this fine point receives more emphasis than any other concerning all the strokes in Faulkner's tall green book):

"Place heel of hand near left-hand edge on top of handle. Put thumb diagonally across left vertical panel. Fingers should be spread at an angle to handle and index finger should be as far up as thumb."

Prominent among the don'ts most pertinent to myself also re 1htsbh and appearing as a photo caption (but I'm pretty sure that figuring out the following sentence with a racket in one's hand is a better course than staring at any photo):

"THUMB STRAIGHT UP left vertical panel tilts racket face forward, puts forearm at 90 degree angle to racket, destroys timing and control."

Reader, you'll have to go to some trouble to realize what the 90-degree angle is that Ed is talking about. But I defer to him on these two ethical points. I've been wrong concerning them in recent posts.

On the other hand, these were the posts that led me back to ED FAULKNER'S TENNIS.

In fact, adjusting from thumb straight along to diagonally across back panel produces the result I tried for in post # 2126 only more so: Contact farther around on the ball.

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Changing Grips

I've seen very little tennis instruction that contained a long section on changing grips and gave this crucial subject the attention it deserves.

I'm now returning to ED FAULKNER'S TENNIS: How to Play it, How to Teach it, with introduction by Arthur Ashe and a credit to Frederick Weymuller.

In my earlier approach and mid-term returns, I simply wasn't old and grown-up enough to properly absorb the information in this well-bound book.

If it is a collector's item, there still must be copies floating around simply because of the better than usual paper binding. My feeling also is that a lot of copies were made. It's easier to find than the books of John M. Barnaby although that remains a good possibility as well for anyone who enjoys good tennis writing.

While Faulkner enumerates and explores different grip change possibilities and even postulates that one should use the system with which one feels most comfortable, he makes known his provocative personal preference while seeming a most intelligent and reasonable man.

This preference: Racket cheated over at shoulder height with eastern backhand grip as previously described (post # 2127). This is in line with a golf article I just read in which some bozo (or maybe not) says that the less independence of arm motion in his backswing the more energy he stores and the more solid power he derives.

But suppose one was caught in a more accustomed waiting position with racket tip lower at body median. One could use elbow bend alone to raise the racket while perhaps changing grip and glomming into solid preference number one.

Further preference smoked out with effort: Learn enough versatility of grip change so that you can wait with the grip of the last shot you hit once a rally has begun.

In earlier of my tennis incarnations I think I became disenchanted with having racket high all the time. But such position is consistent with economical generation of a Federfore aka ATP-3 forehand-- especially if one performs the change to 3.5 grip through twiddling and adjusting with thumb and middle finger of both hands-- something that is easy and quick.

And my McEnrueful, sad only because it isn't a McEnroeful, can most likely begin with an easy racket and arm cascade followed by rhythmic grip change at top of the bowl-back.

And for Rosewallian slice, what would a person have to do? Well, for a drop-shot or dink I'll sometimes roll racket open for a second time but that should never be the default. I want to see two rolls only-- backward and forward-- so arm can go up a little from Faulkner's first preferred waiting position and grip can change from eastern backhand with diagonal thumb to Australian thumb-wrapped or "uni-grip" (base knuckle most likely on 2.5 pointy ridge), and one can feel the beginning of one's backward roll in the initial arm lift.

As an old guy I want evolving economy to counter body deterioration (but isn't economy in most cases essential at any age)? Time again to realize that. There therefore shall be no roll in my basic backhand drive which will keep racket on edge from beginning to end.

The shoulders alone will wind back the racket which then will drop comfortably to the level of my waist. Start at shoulders, drop to waist.

I'll of course continue my experiment on building tension between the two hands during the drop to waist, but will install the comfort consideration into every equation.

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Too Big Backlog of Stroke Ideas

There is nothing like a tennis lay-off to accelerate one's stroke surmisings if one is a person who uses stroke surmising as one of his weapons.

(Clearly, most people don't.)

A call comes from a distant city. Can we watch two kids while their parents attend a 25th reunion at Yale?

The boy is nine, the girl barely eight, and both play tennis. The last time I interacted with them-- three years ago-- the boy was advertised as a half-Czech chess prodigy but I pinned his queen.

This time his sister came around to see how our game was going, and he told her that he was ahead. That was too much. I was considering throwing the game, but after I heard what he said I checkmated him with a lot of pieces still on the board. At least he didn't cry this time and took the loss with grace.

On the flight home, Gary Kasparov took revenge on me ten straight times whenever I wasn't using my jetplane passenger's screen to check on altitude. (My sinuses helped instruct me on when to insert special earplugs.)

While I was there, those two kids were in the middle of huge group lessons which I closely observed. How much concerned technique? Almost nothing. The "lessons" were chaos, but I guess this is how people acquire their tennis nowadays, and I guess that works to an extent.

Where I-- a 74-year-old 6-year-old-- now am: The mind is quicker than the installation of some new tennis stroke. Once one starts brainstorming with oneself ("empowers" oneself), one may come up with new idea after new idea. Oh well, better to have too many ideas than too few.

Backhand: Once calf and ankle enclosed in a pressure stocking right now are healed, will try my new waiting position cheated to left.

Federfore or ATP-3 Forehand: Interesting difference to explore because of greater waiting height. Have always cared about the forehand convention that shoulders turn, get still, and turn again. Why not in an ATP-3 have shoulders become still only during the spearing of racket butt forward? And why not let arm pull the shoulders to extend the followthrough?

McEnroeful Harry Hopkinsian grip forehand: Hit from neutral stance when possible. Get front hip thrust out and add lengthwise element similar to serve but watch out for awkward footwork on finish followed by opponent's lob.

Backhand futures: 1) Edge on basic as default drive. Get this shot going and THEN add double rolls as occasional enhancement if must. Faulkner seems to suggest that double rolls are easier for most people in backhand slice than backhand drive. If you're rolling it's harder to get the drive contact perfect every time. 2) Double roll off of the basic. 3) Double roll off of the basic in which backward roll is defined a different way, as Mrs. Bollettieri's middle of the night "flashlight." Or as Charley Lau Jr.'s instruction to baseball players to pull knob toward ball during forward hips turn. For, if one keeps racket or bat straight, one is, in a sense, creating backward roll. 4) Slices in which backward roll is defined in the same minimalist way. 5) Thiem-like drive in which, simultaneously, the racket turns over and the arm straightens in the first instant of backswing. One difference from Thiem is that the racket will not rise again: It will start in high position and loop down. 6) Cut-the-wire cue backhands in every possible configuration including closed racket preparation like young Lendl, Federer and Wawrinka. Does "cut the wire" release of built up tension work with forward roll as well as pure arm swing? Can closed racket preparation do away with forward roll altogether?

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1HTSBH: The Roll You Can See vs. The Roll You Can't See

Maybe one moved slightly in the direction of this distinction when television carried a spot of Justine Henin with ball and racket in hand.

"I turn de racket over de ball like dis," Justine said.

There was a roll in this case that one could see, however, Justine was performing a demonstration.

Did her racket actually roll over like that in the great matches she played or even in the videos of instruction starring her? With wrist constantly seeming to alter its shape?

Maybe, maybe not. "Don't look for logic at the top of tennis."-- Jim Courier. The wording is approximate but the report of Jim's sentiment is accurate.

I and maybe you, reader, want vertical strings at contact.

But I have to be interested when Chris Lewit recommends 10 degrees of forward roll before contact. That's not much. Some would say it's a little. And this idea pertains to a very certain kind of 1htsbh not to all of them.

And I'm still wondering about what my partner Hope's son-in-law told me he gleaned from a tennis lesson near Rochester Hills, Michigan.

The pro quoted Roger Federer as having said that "the most important thing" (I always laugh when I hear that phrase) is to "cut the wire" by suddenness of separating the hands.

I don't laugh at the phrase "cut the wire," I just get interested.

But I ask: If having already developed a tension-free 1htsbh you then try for variation by going the tension-full route through starting a tug-o-war between your two hands, can you incorporate forward roll into the twangy release?

I think not at least for today. Better to flatten the wrist as part of building the tension. You build tension that way but also close racket face to more closed than you will want it at contact.

The release then is Babolat Pure-Drive.

Sorry I said that since I don't even have a Babolat racket any more. I ruined it by filling it with modeling clay. (Manufacturers-- please send me a new one.)

The pure idea here anyway is that through spearing and straightening and build-up of tension between the two hands, the "cutting of the wire" or sudden release will punch the strings into the ball while opening naturally to square.

A very pure drive, in other words.