A New Year's Serve

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Progress Report: Volleys, Serves and Dealing with Thieves and Poachers

No need to mess with good volleys. And so, if influenced by John McEnroe's uni-wait, the time is nigh for a return to equal opportunity on both sides.

John McEnroe waits the same (cheated low toward backhand) for volleys and ground strokes. This information is much more interesting than some stale litany of his bratty behavior smacking of Puritanism transmuted from religious dogma to "modern psychology." Or as Glenn Greenwald has correctly identified, "the angry etiquette speech."

The thing in tennis is not to be distracted from learning from John McEnroe's tennis and finally to realize that his distraction of you was always in the works as essential part of his game. Did he want you to find his secrets? I don't think so.

Now, where does a tennis idea come from? Chris Lewit has said from players, not coaches. The coaches then adopt/adapt. The real point, I say, is not to fritter away one's life with needless attribution. Streamline the emergence of any new idea in the game. Who other than a person with a boring encyclopedic mind cares where the idea came from? Keep it pure. Present it, pure and simple. A famous teaching pro told me this. "We all steal freely from each other." Well, you do if you're smart. This is entirely positive and sometimes is called "robbing somebody's mind."

If you waited for volleys with racket tip high directly in front of your eyes continue to do so now.

Serves: 1) Toss to the motion, don't motion to the toss, and shut your eyes to do this (but in practice only). 2) Practice keeping hand open a little for greater leverage in whapping a bed with ISR-UAR ("internal shoulder" or "upper arm" rotation). Then incorporate this structured arm-racket angle into one's serve for the same increase in leverage.

Dealing with a Good Poacher in Doubles: Seems as if slice drive or chip may often be more effective than topspin, which no matter how fast it travels is always going to rise a bit before it drops.

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Baseball or Golf it

In this one (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...1%20500fps.mp4) the swung elbow carries all (upper arm, lower arm) with big wipe only chiming in on contact or a fraction before. Everything goes into egging the ball.

In this one (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...t%20500fps.mp4) the swung elbow golfs or bowls. It goes straight rather than around. This opens the racket face while lowering it. The strings then go up the back of the ball rather than across the top of it. Is contact point farther back? Probably.

High mondo in both cases is early. Mondo or flip and "pulling on a rope" are the same concept. Body does the work. The wrist and forearm react.

The everyman here is individual as a Serb, a great skier and theatrical impressionist and icon of athleticism and flexibility.

But what is the signature in his strokes? If we can figure them out, we may conclude that, although they are very different from that of most players, they still are conventional, lacking say the pogo jump of McEnroe or the dipsey-doodle at the top of the Federerian loop.

They simply are conventional strokes done better than those of anyone else.

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Building a Taller One Hand Backhand from a Short One

What is the norm for mastery of a one hand backhand? Five years? Ivan Lendl did it in three. Perhaps Domenic Thiem was born with one.

Umm, five years could be the retrospective norm for people who have good one handers. How long did that take?

But there is a much larger category who whether the shot ends up good, mediocre, or worse than in the beginning work on it for the rest of their life.

Recent discussion in this forum has touched on whether the hitch in one young boy's version is due to his attempt to find correct slot to make everything work.

This opinion interests me since it suggests an intricacy of racket path through the air that is crucial to success.

In my own case, attempted imitation of John McEnroe's one hander led me eventually to change grip back to something more conventional and keep front shoulder down-- unlike McEnroe.

Watching the repeating video of Cageman on the opening page of all recent issues of TP has been important for me. In Cageman's one hander he always places racket head in a specific place where I can see it through his transparent hips.

This has, in turn, led me to a pretty good junior backhand which always surprises me by my sudden ability to get the racket tip around in time although final placement of strings behind the hips comes very late. I don't do much with racket in the initial turn, maybe lift it a small bit. It goes up more from my shoulder turning down and all of this happens as one. The racket then turns down abruptly to the key position I am talking about then rolls forward to contact. I call the whole thing "a double roll."

But now I want a taller version with more waterfall in it to give myself a more powerful shot. Method: start with racket in key position and trace backward, lifting racket to where I think it ought to be.

Much will depend on another decision: to roll backward during the drop or not at all or just a bit.

I've had many tall one handers-- not as high as Bea Bielik or Richard Gasquet-- but tall enough to realize that tallness can lead to some interesting possibilities.

The hope is that the tall one hander will be flowing but disciplined at the same time.

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Novak Djokovic's Initial Backswing

Looks a bit like a baseball pitcher's wind-up to me (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...2%20120fps.mp4). I am intrigued by this since like my father I am a baseball fan. He wrote a Red Barber anthologized article called "Baseball Madness in Brooklyn."

The resemblance of Novak's forehand wind-up to that of a baseball pitcher therefore encourages me to try it. And so far the experiment bodes well.

There is a looseness of every muscle in the body, I would argue, that comes from keeping opposite arm bent and relaxed, and from squeezing the hitting arm a bit as it goes back first guided by both hands. Extending from elbow to a right or obtuse angle as balanced arms go out then can't hurt and seems more cool than a robotic keeping of arms always at one length.

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Upkeep of Ten Forehands

1) McEnrueful with deep valley in its backswing.

2) McEnrueful with shallow valley but same but different timing. Connection of arm to body as active noun now replaces second rise of 1) in first Wheatley 1-2 sub-timing unit.

3) FETF (forward emphasis topspin forehand) in which arm never deviates from its starting position as exclusive body turn forms the backswing.

4) FETF with arm migrating a bit farther right there to draw a torpedo.

5) FETF with arm migrating a bit farther there to draw a torpedo.

6) FETF with arm migrating a bit farther there to draw a torpedo.

7) FETF with arm migrating a bit farther there to draw a torpedo.

8) FETF with arm migrating a bit farther there to draw a torpedo.

9) FETF with arm migrating a bit farther there to draw a torpedo.

10) Full imitation of a Djokovic forehand (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...3%20500fps.mp4).

Note: The first nine of these forehands, depending on effectiveness, may challenge the assumption of "early pulling on a rope."

Now I want to eliminate one of the FETF's to make room for another that I'm ready to put at the head of the list. I'd forgotten it. Don't want to hit it very often but would like to have it available. That is the Steve Johnson hit-behind-Kevin-Anderson-when-pulled-way-wide forehand.

If starting from John McEnroe's low cheated over wait position one still cranks racket downward at outset to severely close it.

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Why I Didn't Write Anything Yesterday

Because I was knee-deep in computer technology with nary a grandkid in sight. I am continually amazed by how lousy the provided explanations for computer stuff often are, leaving one to pretty much figure out things by oneself. Does this remind us of vast sectors of the tennis education industry?

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Work for Earlier (but not too Early) Deceleration All the Time

The best examinations of all the different racket head speeds within the service motion of Pete Sampras point to sharp deceleration immediately after contact.

To expand on this idea, very late spike in acceleration from 50 to 90 mph immediately falls off just as abruptly on the other side.

So why shouldn’t the same be true in a windshield wiper topspin forehand?

On a car of course the windshield wiper maintains a constant speed—untrue in a well designed tennis stroke. So have we who teach or write tennis technique been sending—inadvertently—the wrong message?

Well designed forehand racket head speed, to my mind, should spike on the ball and immediately decelerate with most of the wipe still to go.

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Serving: Don't Use Ulnar Deviation Except on Soft Slice Out Wide

Slap an old bed from the pronator cuff, understanding that "pronator cuff" is a despicable verbal trick intended to fool you into a good serve.

Pronation happens from the forearm, not from the pronator or rotator cuff. Both ISR\UAR and true pronation are apt to happen at once or in some mild sequence devised by you.

Make sure there is a 90 degree angle between your arm and racket so as to maximize the available leverage.

When slapping the old bed with an old racket, really kill the old mattress. Try keeping fingers loose but straighten the wrist in the old-fashioned way that so often is reviled. Just keep wrist straight once it is straight and if you are going to curl it, do so after contact.

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Spoil Not The Poptop

In terms of progression I wish to dwell today on the poptop variation of a Novak Djokovic imitation forehand then circle back to the shot where he, or in this case I, administer the topspin to the back of the ball.

1) Up till now, I've thought, in poptop version, there should be some ISR/UAR just before or during the ball, with deceleration occurring just after the ball and passive wipe and wrist straightening after that. This didn't work immediately the way I thought it should. Would it-- in time-- if I stuck with it? Possibly, but I may never know.

For I'm off on another tack (healthy to do in my mind) in which there is no ISR/UAR as known in a serve. The thinking here is that a circular swing of the elbow keeps racket pitch constant enough for the poptop purpose. One needn't add anything else.

2) Now we go for a rip up the back of the ball. Instead of swinging elbow around the body we push it a few inches straight forward. This takes the racket face severely down. In no time the strings, passing toward the hand, have opened for an upward incision through the air. And one does use ISR/UAR as in a serve. And the strings have space in which to get going a bit before they scrape the ball.

Both of these strokes derive from high mondo behind the body. Like a pitcher one takes the racket close past the body then separates the arms to balance. Forward body rotation then activates the wrist to lay back as the forearm rolls down. At that point the elbow moves relative to the body, i.e., ahead of bod activity in either of the forms given here, 1) or 2) .

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Fiction Before Fact

Expectation: Tremendous day by only hitting the two forehands described in # 2934 .

Fictive reality: They worked, but if I wanted to win I needed some McEnrueful (my best shot) as well.

Fact: Fill this part in after we play (I bring the balls). Wouldn't this be nice (?): "I never hit a single McEnrueful because I didn't have to."

Reality reality: Lots of McEnruefuls. The imitation Djokovices need work-- lots of bitching work. Of the two, the poptop did not work better. But again, give it a chance.

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Self-Hypnotism

To get full effect, reader, you must click on all three:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Novak_Djokovic_2015_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/ND_FH_Wide&stroke=ND%20FH%20Wide%20OpenStance%20Front1%20500fps.mp4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XryKA3z_uWk

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Novak_Djokovic_2015_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/ND_FH_Wide&stroke=ND%20FH%20Wide%20OpenStance%20Front1%20500fps.mp4

Change grip. Try anything.

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Poptop Recipe

This is cooking. The ingredients have to be perfect. There might be a little roll of the beveled racket but not much. Too much would be if the racket finished around upper arm or lower. This shot finishes over shoulder yoke and around neck. We must understand the reason for that if we aspire to this shot.

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Self-Feed Leading to Something to Try

The McEnrueful, an easily produced and solid body flattish shot, banks shoulder down then up. The Djokovic-itch, flattish but with poptop, banks shoulder down only to leave it down for contact.

One pulls on a rope, in the Djokovic-itch, but how? With SIM body turn and small independent movement straight forward of the elbow, I'd say today.

With strong grip designed for the natural poptop. With followthrough around the neck. With no thought of deceleration which might inhibit. Better to believe in acceleration alone to make sure it happens.

Body and arm toil separately together to exert force. If one were in a tug o' war, body would overpower the arm so that it wouldn't assert its independence. But one is not in a tug o' war, one is pulling on a rope that has nothing on the end of it.

Arm movement will sum then with the body movement while proactively providing some of the extension that coaches so much admire.

Give us early mondo, then, comprised of both body and arm pull along with banking down of the shoulder.

Followed immediately by acceleration of the elbow around the body and neck.

The Something to Try: Since McEnrueful is an early separation shot (27.54, 44.43 and everywhere else here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vAZkTLOkKs) try to make the Djokovic-itch early separation as well.

Left hand pointing across can take the place of left hand remaining on racket to better turn the shoulders.

To make early separation work, the distance between the two hands should never exceed shoulders width.

To easily increase shoulders turn over pointing on a perpendicular to side fence one can point slightly more in a backward direction than that.

Leading to Something Other to Try: Here is my next forehand (furniture 1 in this article: http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...lly_Speed.html). It builds on the down and up internal encouragement of my McEnrueful, and on thumb oriented grip system that always places bent thumb tip on a sharp ridge.

Of the forehands I've recently described, thumb tip for two is on 7.5, for seven on 8.5, for one (this one) on 1.5 : a total of ten.

Followthrough, based more on Djokovic than Kerry Mitchell, is a bit lower around the neck (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...1%20500fps.mp4).

The backswing however is exactly like Mitchell's, a mild down and up same as for a McEnrueful only with a different grip.

I am greatly looking forward for purposes of learning and subtle differentiation to strict alternation of these McEnruefuls and Djokovich-itches so far accomplished only in our living room, and will be terribly disappointed if the difference fails to drive my opponents nuts.

In that case, though, I will return to the grab-bag of the other eight forehands, some of them very good for hitting slow, some for weightless spin, all at least a variance of one's overly monochromatic program through attempting something else.

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Throw the Elbow

Yah.

One little phrase. Where did it come from? And is an effective throw of the elbow easy to do? No, not unless it is in perfect place first.

Throw it wrong and you don't hit through the ball enough with right or wrong determined by choice of grip and where and how the elbow is placed first.

The 1-2 rhythm outlined by Nick Wheatley is a very convenient design principle for a lot of strokes.

Some transition between 1 and 2 may occur, but simply put it with 1 or 2 in your mind and not in between.

Because tennis is fast. Yah.

Forward swing of the McEnrueful consists of banking down and banking up combined with horizontal turn. That's two parts here but one part when you hit it.

Forward swing of the Djokovic-itch consists of banking down and elbow throw of racket around your neck which is all one (I mean 2) again.

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Djoker

has an amazingly high mondo compared to most male high school players in the U.S. He takes the racket back with both hands, spreads, mondoes and then pulls the racket butt even more with elbow still in line with the shoulders, I would submit (today).

Next the elbow goes ahead of the whirling body (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...1%20500fps.mp4).

To review, spread then high mondo then a rope pull separate from mondo, then the elbow starts its elbow trip out and around body and neck.

Coming into the ball, the arm twists in a direction that opens the racket. And racket goes a racket's width straight up from the ball.

The racket bowled under the ball then opened while on the ball then returned to a closed setting once the ball was gone. And keeps closed so that if it were hitting the ball just then the ball would bee-line sharply down into the court far short of the net.

The wrist curls next, the racket head goes past the left shoulder. Goes ever farther toward side fence. Finally, starts to circle.

And completes a wrap around Novak's neck...

The racket trajectory cue, to my mind, is not mondo then circle-the-neck, but rather mondo, then pull on racket butt in such a way that racket tip "topples" under hand and rises almost in place one racket width above where the ball just was.

Before it circles wide past the left shoulder before it wraps around the neck.

There was, in other words, a concrete step in the middle of this overall trajectory.

How could this trajectory be smooth and effective if it has a stone hard step in its middle? Well, it would be rough if the arm twisted forward to take the strings up.

In fact it does something different-- topples or bowls the strings under. The strings open, don't close, due to the elbow moving away from the body before it continues toward the side fence. Mentally perhaps, that is as far as we want to follow it-- toward side fence. Physically, it continues to wrap around the neck.

Practically speaking, I must ask whether my bowl up backswing still will work. Surely only if I take it as high as Djokovic has put it at end of his breaststroke and bend arm at the top more than I would for a McEnrueful.

This is just one person's journey, I suppose. But there must be commonalities with other searches by other people.

I am most interested that the racket rises a width above the ball without rolling over-- although it finally does roll over after the ball.

To me the temporary opening of the strings indicates that hand is sharply pulling ahead of body creating great racket frame speed.

Next question: Does racket tip go straight or circle a bit-- already-- as it catches up to hand? Suspected answer: a little of both.