A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Reverse of Backswing

There will be times when backswing blends more immediately into the foreswing. The unique motion of the frame (circling but opening straight-wristed too) may form mondo on the foreswing more perfectly.

Stopped racket however will also work. Think of a slight pause preceding a sidearm throw.

[bottle]

Don't Disguise the Lob

Disguise not the lob. Then hit a Katoui forehand instead.

I told you, reader, that I play chess.

[stotty]

Nothing is real! Not me, not you, not don_budge....not even New Year's Serve. We are all a figment.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...-it-may-not-ma

Stotty

[bottle]

Yikes, the BBC story is not coming up in America although I'm sure that any statement by you once again is true.

[bottle]

To Evaluate

So, starting from the Katoui, a stroke that despite being new worked well in two matches over the weekend, I now keep the wrist straight as forearm brings racket around with elbow held back. Mondo now happens during the elbow push-lift-- a BAM which embraces all contact with the ball. The racket gives, in other words, an idea espoused and seen as good in one of the books by the stringers Lindsey and Cross even though they were describing and illustrating a supposed forehand of Roger Federer and I think most likely they were far from the truth. Well, I'm nevertheless willing to give this mondo-as-give idea a try. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with some give.

In one self-feed session I liked both strokes and tried a third. To keep them straight I herewith assign names. First there is the Katoui. Second is the Katoui-1 (Katoui minus one) a Katoui in which wrist stays straight through forearm forward wag part of the stroke. Yes, the wrist stays straight but the forearm still rolls to lengthen racket head travel. Which gives rise to another term.

"Bring the racket tip around," somebody might say. But what is a racket tip? Does a tennis racket even have a tip? How about a spike like on an old war helmet? A rational person, if very amicable, might possibly agree with me that the rim of a racket is round and therefore does not have a tip. You could call the tip the part of the round rim farthest away from the handle, I suppose, but I don't want to do that. Instead, for purpose of this example, I call tip the part of the racket that travels the farthest. It's on top of the racket in this case since the racket head is rolling in addition to coming around, and this fact enables more racket arc for less effort along with subtle control of sharp angles and in fact any angle.

That leaves a third experiment, a Katoui+1, a Katoui in which forearm roll turns into whole arm roll even before the elbow starts its shove. Why this experiment? Because if there is windshield wipe to occur in a forehand, it should not be late. It should rather produce hook to the inside along with the topspin imparted to the ball. The hook, it would seem, is one indicator of the health of the shot.

Of these three shots, Katoui seemed most powerful except for one Katoui+1 hit remarkably well. But we'll suspend judgment and call the Katoui+1 a mystery for now.

Of the other two shots, the plain Katoui seemed more powerful and the Katoui-1 more careful. Since I liked all three shots I'll keep them for now, waiting for a reason to jettison one or another. I'd be happy if all three were keepers but maybe that's me.

[bottle]

J. Donald Budge Model Serve

I'm an oarsman. I therefore would like to use both legs to jump high in the air. Old age however does not agree. There could be other reasons for somebody to use a model more old-fashioned than Federer or Sampras.

Two different kinds of hip rotation characterize a Budge serve. I'd like to call the first one internal and the second external. And I'd probably be right. Unfortunately, however, the usual lousiness of tennis terms has co-opted "internal" and "external" to mean two different directions of arm twist.

Well, when it comes to hips rotation in a Budge serve both kinds go in the same direction-- counter-clockwise for a right-handed player. And I'd like to put the first kind-- hips rotation against a fixed front foot with the 1 of a 1-2 rhythm. See how the right heel comes up as a result of this first kind of rotation in the following video (https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...DB1stSRear.mov).

Put the second kind of hips rotation-- the kind that will turn ahead of the right leg and then drag it-- with the 2 of 1-2 rhythm.

Establish comfortable speed for the first kind of rotation against fixed foot, say I.

Multiply this speed by 4 for the second kind, the one that's going to drag the ghost leg across the pivoted front toes.

The suddenness of this increase in speed ensures that the ghost leg comes into the court as a result, not as something preceding or co-happening with the final hip turn.

In addition, adjust all racket work to allow sufficient time for the racket to turn 180 degrees from internal shoulder rotation as the last thing arm does before, during and immediately after the contact.

[bottle]

Ramped Up Katoui with Give

One combines the virtues of Katoui-1 and Katoui+1 so that the subtraction and addition cancel each other out.

This clearly will be a "give" forehand, a modern forehand in which the mondo is so late that it turns into temporization that embraces the contact.

Paradoxically but only if done perfectly the temporization keeps strings on the ball longer for increase rather than loss of efficiency.

So what if any difference is there between this and the previously described Katouis?

We go with one of the greatest of many great things that Martina Navratilova has ever said. When faced with a reasonable choice go with simultaneity rather than sequence.

So, backswing remains the same. The strings roll open. That is the stroke beginning we have been exploring and we don't stop now. (How much the strings should open could be another question.)

Wrist stays straight. So get to the difference, Bottle, what is the difference? Three-quarter length arm twists traveling racket face closed from independent upper and lower arm rolls all as one.

Only then does elbow perform its shove combined with backward traveling give by the wrist.

It goes without saying that it is raining outside and I haven't ever hit this shot in my life and therefore can't say whether it is any good.

[bottle]

Ono, not the Pogo Stick

If the best strokes evolve rather than are conceived all at once, the human mind ought to develop a bit of humility for itself.

I don't plan to ever hit a PetraKordian with a McEnrovian pogo stick built in but that still might happen on a certain shot some day.

In fact, if I tell my mind "no pogo stick," a pogo stick is sure to happen.

Why wouldn't it when the arm work that actually hits the ball is nothing more or less than a short swim of the racket toward the net.

The hand could be said to provide adjustment or insurance tract to prevent error.

The hand, a holder for the rest of the stroke, is no longer permitted to apply power on its own.

From end of a succinct backswing, the hips straighten the arm which also rolls into place. "Place then carry" is one mantra.

The hips at the same time having rotated rise slightly upward (without further rotation, I would submit).

Well, if the front leg brings the hips up it can propel energy toward the net at the same time thus creating the hop of a pogo stick.

[bottle]

Possibilities

To build on recent Katoui forehand iterations, we should note that rolling racket from the forearm puts it in a different place than rolling it from the shoulder socket.

We therefore should experiment incessantly in rolling racket tip (tip being the point on the rim that will travel the farthest) trying from lower arm, from upper arm, from a combination of both.

Briefly try rolling from the forearm for a DTL, from the upper arm for a CC just to see if this would be a good combo.

These rolls are part of "place," not "carry." There might be more roll during "carry" or not. And mondo in different places adds to the variation.

[bottle]

A Tiny Truth

The above advisements, despite their correctness, led to a lousy day at the court. High winds didn't help.

We come now to a huge truth: The forearm muscles cannot roll forward while they are rolling backward. So if you want them to roll forward just when you want you may have to have already rolled them backward.

[bottle]

What Would Happen if a Person had both a Straight Arm and a Bent Arm Forehand?

He would lose of course. But win sometimes too. Wonder if it would be 50-50 . I don't want to try it if I'm going to lose more than 50 per cent of the matches.

From other thread: "Tour technician Ben Ford told me that the muscle on the outside of the arm under the shoulder ball is key, compared to a double-bend forehand, where deltoid muscle gets the work."

Ben was giving me a tip about hitting a straight arm forehand. I was grateful then and I am grateful now.

[bottle]

What is the Forehand Garbage or Wonderful Forehand Idea Content in One Individual's Mind?

Straight vs. bent arm. Place then carry (feel for the ball). Kinetic chain. Delay body heft so that followthrough has some place to go. Hit straight arm forehand way out front as if you are a football halfback straight-arming the safety on the opposite team. Are these ideas compatible with one another? Probably not.

To try today: A straight arm forehand off of early kinetic chain. Backswing to be with palm pointed down. Loop and mondo to be one and the same. Hips turn to be against fixed front foot as in classical Van Horn model. Hips then to rise non-twisting in tandem with delayed windshield wipe.

Will feet leave court? I hope not since old men shouldn't leap up in the air. But a blend of fanning racket work and linear body weight coming through seems attractive with body resuming a slower turn afterward.

The design idea for this shot comes from PetraKordian one hand backhand with pogo stick hop built in.

[bottle]

Palm Down Serves

Easy to barely miss head like Donald Budge but if you are Donald Trump you should hit it (https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...B1stSFront.mov). Easy to gain time by squeezing the two halves of the arm together as racket forms a natural loop. This buys time for full 180 degrees of ISR.

[bottle]

How Important is the Pause between the Opposite Body Rotations in a Modern Forehand?

The tour forehands seem to have this pause. Is it an aiming mechanism? A relaxing mechanism? A make-certain-one-takes-sufficient-time-in-getting-off-the-shot-mechanism?

From a design standpoint, I can't see the need for more than one pause or slow-down of the shoulders in a given stroke.

I'm for putting the slow-down out front rather than at rear end of the shot at least for now. At end of backward point (count 1 in 1-2 rhythm) I want a pauseless change of direction if that is possible. With this subtle change of direction the mechanism that causes wrist snap-down.

[bottle]

Forward Emphasis Continued

Maybe all tennis instruction should come in the form of patter, with timing of the patter often more important than the patter itself. Two elements taking the racket back. Two elements taking the racket forward. Then and only then the wipe from right to left fence even though the forwardness of the two elements (independent arm and shoulders) and the subsequent wipe and followthrough are all one count-- count 2 in 1-2 rhythm.