A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Hangings

Essential hangings range widely from the punishment enacted by some ancient societies on a leader who took them unnecessarily to war to hangings from subway handles before the subway tunnels were flooded to hangings from bus and trolley handles to sleeping sloths.

The goal in all cases is to keep the head still or perhaps to make it still for the first time and is especially effective in swinging or hitting sports.

In golf, in Scotland, there was a brother combination of teaching pro and champion player named Percy Boomer and Aubrey Boomer. Between them they enacted the principle of dynamic action to keep the head still (maybe sometimes just relatively speaking!) for the extra moment of hang time needed during the ideal golf swing.

In tennis, in the United States, two similar brothers worked out the same principle. One could see it in the one handed backhands of Lloyd and Donald Budge both but it extended to all the other long strokes in tennis as well, and eventually Roger Federer from Switzerland became most famous for keeping his head still during contact in his forehand.

In Federer's case, people attributed his stability of core to his turning back of his face at contact.

Similarly, when one hangs from the handle in a lurching bus, one stills one's head whether one is turning it or not, along with one's body.

When one hangs one's body in a hammock mounted on the deck of a small freighter in the Caribbean, one doesn't get seasick, or, perhaps if seasickness was incipient, one can reverse the slow march to unwanted social catastrophe. (I had this experience on a German freighter on which I chipped rust and then painted over the holes from Auckland, New Zealand to Charleston, South Carolina.)

Who expresses this hanging idea best? I would say Percy Boomer in his book ON LEARNING GOLF. He advises some subtle straightening or lengthening of the human head to ball line just as one hits the ball.

http://golfhuman.com/learn/golf-3863.html

http://www.impactzonegolf.com/percy-boomer/

How could that be? Everybody knows that golf is all about not looking up, and not moving the head, or keeping one's chin down and behind the ball as my father used to say.

But doesn't that sound as if keeping the head still is pure determination to do so without help from anybody or anything?

Actually, the anything that helps is the speed of the head of the club, the speed of the racket head, the centrifugal force that tries to break the sputnik loose out into space as the gravity of the earth, i.e., centripetal force tries to pull that artificial satellite back down to the ground.

One starts a swing and then hangs on it. In the Donald Budge backhands one can see him lean backward against the cleanness of his hit. Two sides of an equation are involved. In his case, perhaps keeping the head still as I already tried to suggest was a relative proposition. If anyone other than Donald Budge leaned as much as in the following video perhaps a very critical teaching pro would say, "Don't look up like a duffer!"

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/golden_legends/donbudge/donbudge_sa.html?DBBHRear.mov

The faster the racket head moves the more of a tug there is. The body tries to straighten or lean or husk to create racket head speed but stops or slows straightening because of that speed.

Same thing with a tennis serve. Downward force accelerates the racket which increases hang time. Or in Federer's still-headed forehand. Roger Federer is trying to move body left which only increases racket head speed which helps keep the hub of his swing-- i.e., his turning back head-- more still.

The Percy Boomer talk about great golfers in the links above places head displacement at as little as a few fractions of an inch after the opposing forces have done their thing. I don't see why the same couldn't be true for great or even just good tennis players.

[bottle]

Protracting Mondo Throughout A Stroke

Or, Sanding The Rough Edges Off Of A Flip.

Every stroke is an iteration, i.e., a new opportunity.

Hit the ball with the inside shoulder whether sweeping or topping it. (My subject here is actually forehand backswings.)

Inside shoulder, starting with unit turn, graduates to the ball.

Is this a funny use of the verb "graduate?" Yes and deriving from the adjective "gradual."

For close or jamming balls the graduation will be quick unless you succeeded in starting very soon.

For distant balls the inside shoulder will go back a little at a time as you run.

To sweep, lead with the elbow, keep backswing slow and elliptical, bend back the wrist a little at a time but never so much that there won't be some give left over for the ball.

Come to think of it, the bending of the wrist graduates, too, all the way from unit turn through contact with the ball. For elegant steering you could stick to the smoothness ideal by laying back the wrist less distance or close it to where you want it before you let it give on the ball again.

On this sweep stroke there's very little transition between shoulders turning backward and shoulders turning forward-- maybe only enough for knees and hips to lead the forward movement, which, coincidentally, slightly lowers the racket into the slot to generate the small but essential amount of topspin one will need.

What did the arm do? It extended naturally in very relaxed fashion during the brief transition of lowering racket into the slot.

For topspin forehands, the backswing shall henceforth be different although the unit turn remains exactly the same.

Starting from end of the unit turn, both hands take racket up to slightly over the head. Left hand then smoothly separates and points at right fence to continue the shoulders turn. Coincidentally, the arm starts down although it still is bent. The need for three-dimensional thinking here is acute. One will not go wrong by all the while swinging the elbow around to the outside and then the inside of the slot although the hands do rise and the hitting hand does fall while this more horizontal circular action occurs.

Even if one graduates the wrist bend same way as in the sweep version, there will be a larger transition. Transition in this case refers to that part of the stroke in which the shoulders are still while the arm starts to lengthen down and back from the elbow.

[bottle]

How Does "Tomahawking" the Ball Translate to a Tennis Serve?

One is apt to think "That's very good advice" and envision the forearm accelerating at the ball.

That happens but, in fact, the forearm decelerates before contact because the racket butt pushes backward at your hand.

Forearm extension is one tomahawk. Racket chopping from the hand is a second tomahawk.

Keep this view of a double lever uncluttered, i.e., temporarily forget about all the other arm and hand stuff one so likes to think about.

Use the racket butt's slowing of your hand to add power to your acceleration of the racket head.

They say (they being Rod Cross and Crawford Lindsey in the book TECHNICAL TENNIS), that, slowing down of the forearm shouldn't be conscious.

But feel of the racket butt pushing your hand could be made MORE conscious.

The goal: No decels.

What I found personally: Because I had been serving with pinky off of the racket for a long time, the plastic butt cap dug mightily into the soft palm-- a good because decisively painful signal.

This led to new experiments with more hand on the racket, including-- even-- gripping the handle halfway up.

Face it. If one kind of serve places toss over the baseline (A), and the other places toss two feet beyond the baseline (B), the physical limitation of rotordedness is minimized, at least, for anyone who chooses (B) and then teaches himself to hit significant upward spin in (B).

The learning sequence would appear to be 1) figure out how to generate upwardness of spin and 2) increase the RPM's by sending racket upward with enough force that you can hang on it.

Why do great servers bend their arm so soon after contact? Could it be because they already are pulling down or chinning themselves to keep their body airborne for longer? ("Bottle, you're chinning yourself on the oar," the coxswain of our crew would sometime say. Maybe I wanted to be a tennis player.)

Same answer to the next question: Why would anyone pull down with the beginning of the descent of their body weight when everybody knows that keeping head still is the big goal?

Abbreviated answer: The better to keep head still.

Summary of answers: Centripetal force.

Listen. I had to hit a good player in the head with a smash he couldn't even see before I realized (again) where my true power is.

Way out front and coming down.

[bottle]

Pull Hard on an Old-Fashioned Toilet Chain

Forgive me, but I've been reading TECHNICAL TENNIS by Rod Cross and Crawford Lindsey again.

Those guys say, of airborne serving, "Actually, liftoff occurs while the player is pulling the racquet upward from behind the back, but the player can then remain airborne by pulling down on the handle."

In a threshing heels kick serve then (grounded all the way), the body weight going down can then accelerate the racket head immediately after body apogee.

In threshing heels slice and flat serves the body weight going down can help accelerate the racket head immediately after second body apogee which occurs just about the time the rear leg comes through.

If one can prolong flight (and accelerate racket head) by pulling down an airborne serve, one can prolong apogee of body rising on front toes for a second time the same way in a grounded serve.

So-- try to time the pulling down with second front heel apogee and see what happens.

And try the same thing on first front heel apogee for kick.

[bottle]

Grounded Kick

Although his method is different from mine, Ron Waite uses grounded kick in this YouTube video called “Kick Until They’re Sick.”

http://www.tennisserver.com/turbo/turbo_09_09.shtml

The young Hungarian in the following video called “Naomi’s Sick Kick” is obviously using not grounded but airborne kick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds6CZ4qCXD4

My grounded kick is still not up to the standard of my grounded “flat” and slice serves.

The kick is okay. There just isn’t enough of it with sufficent pace/buzz and therefore it can get drilled or dinked or drop-shotted.

So today I’ll continue with the threshing heels idea.

In flat and slice the threshing heels are essentially used to load the arm.

In kick, the threshing heels actually provide the rhythmic frame in which the ball is struck. By the time front heel has descended as rear heel has elevated the contact has occurred.

In an effort to generate more racket head speed I’ll add a front foot pivot in the middle of the windup.

Slice and flat: knees-back-knees-forward is really one motion, smooth and continuous.

Kick: knees back, pause (with all kinds of stuff happening), extension of both legs.

I want more power. So I’ll add upper body rotation from the gut to the normal 85-degree hips rotation naturally caused by combining purposeful legs extension with the threshing heels. To do this, I’ll need to add more stance, i.e., turn body around more during the serve.

Report:

More pace and sometimes faster spin occurred as well. Obviously however there is no automatic solution to the challenge I have posed for myself. Great kick comes from light grip and “feel” more than logic.

Note 1: All three serves start from same tall body sway and identical toss two feet into the court. The most success with the kick variation depends on thorough delay of final arm throw.

Note 2: Smoothness of backward front foot pivot can be adjusted through pressure of front foot's toes against the court. Simulteinity over sequence has to be a goal.

Note 3 upon returning from the court: I don’t think one should always crank from the gut. One should try simply threshing heels for 85 degrees hips rotation per usual but from the new more turned position.

[bottle]

A Danger Not Endemic Only To Seniors Tennis

It is easy to underestimate the strokes of any player with slightly impaired mobility.

In our geezer tennis, from not being in perfect position, I hit an overhead into the net.

So I soon saw another lob from the same guy, hit the same overhead a bit better but it landed short across the net.

On third lob I made sure to swing OUT from the sweet spot. The poor guy never saw the ball. It hit him in the side of his jaw. Fortunately, as an instinctive athlete, he turned his head and received a glancing blow.

Later, I told about the pro who advised me, early in my tennis, that if I saw a short lob across the net, simply to turn tail and run.

"I've seen you, John," he said. "I'm telling you this for your own good."

All three guys seemed to accept this. But I notice that they didn't invite me to play today.

[bottle]

Re # 1379

All the Swiss ever invented was the cuckoo clock, said the Orson Welles character to the Joseph Cotten character as the Welles character, purveyor of false penicillin, insulted the people of Bavaria's Black Forest at the top of the giant Ferriss wheel in the Prater, Vienna, Austria in the Alexander Korda produced film THE THIRD MAN.

[julian1]

Flip and side spin and atp forehand 3

Since we've had the knowledge Brian Gordon supplied in his two articles on the forehand and particularly the stretch-shortening cycle/reflex, I've tried to get my students to incorporate these principles into their stroke as much as possible, especially those that have hopes for competing at a higher or even elite level. While understanding that the action of stretching the muscles of the forearm (and actually the whole hitting structure up to the shoulder and even to some degree back to the core) gives you more power as you swing forward, you have to control that power and keep the wrist as a "somewhat" passive hinge that is primarily concerned with keeping the ball on the strings as long as possible and controlling the direction of the shot. This means you do not snap the wrist forward even though the SSC has stored more power for you to do exactly that. Perhaps that power enables you to maintain the position of the racket and its face through impact rather than collapsing under the force of the collision. If you snap the wrist and flex it forward through the impact zone, you pull the racket off the ball somewhat quicker (what does that mean ...3.5 milliseconds instead of 4; I don't know, but it feels shorter and looks shorter and less solid and feels less solid). Certainly the SSC, even in a dry stroke, offers a feeling of more power in the stroke.

It seems to me that Federer's SSC is a little too violent even for him, thus the many ufe's off his forehand side that frustrate so many of us pulling for him. I think this is what you refer to as the "Mondo", or is that the whole forward swing. Our friend Phil in Lugano demonstrated a similar wiggle when he was putting up videos here. (Miss his input.)

In any case, I think a simpler stroke like Popp's that gets through all the critical checkpoints along the way with the least detours and violent wiggles is by far the best way for you to go. And for my students as well. I think that kind of simplicity is why Djokovic is so solid; certainly there is much more than that, but structurally his strokes are very simple within the modern paradigm; they look way too complicated to ever succeed in the paradigm of the 60's!

don

Don,
how do you put a SIDE spin into atp forehand 3?
Thank you

[julian1]

Your home country mentioned

See

http://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/showthread.php?p=19365&posted=1#post19365

post #70

[bottle]

EXTREMELY HELPFUL. Thanks so much.

[tennis_chiro]

Like the idea of making it gradual

"Personally, I always question the flip at the beginning of Fed's forehand." -- Don Brosseau.

Wow! Well, since spreading out layback of wrist early, during the backswing, has improved my flat forehand, perhaps the same change would improve my most vigorously topspun forehand as well.

Any suggestion, Don, for how to do it? One idea I see is what I just said, a gradual laying back of wrist during the backswing. Should one crank down with forearm at the same time? Or save that for later? Or one could have wrist already laid back in waiting/neutral position favoring the forehand? Or anything else?

I understand that in a lot of discussions like this, theory isn't appropriate since the person is better off doing what he or she most frequently has done.

But I'm not partial to that. At my age and mobility, I don't mind screwing up my game a little to discover the absolutely most reasonable, best designs possible-- so long as my doubles partner doesn't catch on to this.

Since we've had the knowledge Brian Gordon supplied in his two articles on the forehand and particularly the stretch-shortening cycle/reflex, I've tried to get my students to incorporate these principles into their stroke as much as possible, especially those that have hopes for competing at a higher or even elite level. While understanding that the action of stretching the muscles of the forearm (and actually the whole hitting structure up to the shoulder and even to some degree back to the core) gives you more power as you swing forward, you have to control that power and keep the wrist as a "somewhat" passive hinge that is primarily concerned with keeping the ball on the strings as long as possible and controlling the direction of the shot. This means you do not snap the wrist forward even though the SSC has stored more power for you to do exactly that. Perhaps that power enables you to maintain the position of the racket and its face through impact rather than collapsing under the force of the collision. If you snap the wrist and flex it forward through the impact zone, you pull the racket off the ball somewhat quicker (what does that mean ...3.5 milliseconds instead of 4; I don't know, but it feels shorter and looks shorter and less solid and feels less solid). Certainly the SSC, even in a dry stroke, offers a feeling of more power in the stroke.

It seems to me that Federer's SSC is a little too violent even for him, thus the many ufe's off his forehand side that frustrate so many of us pulling for him. I think this is what you refer to as the "Mondo", or is that the whole forward swing. Our friend Phil in Lugano demonstrated a similar wiggle when he was putting up videos here. (Miss his input.)

In any case, I think a simpler stroke like Popp's that gets through all the critical checkpoints along the way with the least detours and violent wiggles is by far the best way for you to go. And for my students as well. I think that kind of simplicity is why Djokovic is so solid; certainly there is much more than that, but structurally his strokes are very simple within the modern paradigm; they look way too complicated to ever succeed in the paradigm of the 60's!

don

[bottle]

A Question for Tennis_Chiro

"Personally, I always question the flip at the beginning of Fed's forehand." -- Don Brosseau.

Wow! Well, since spreading out layback of wrist early, during the backswing, has improved my flat forehand, perhaps the same change would improve my most vigorously topspun forehand as well.

Any suggestion, Don, for how to do it? One idea I see is what I just said, a gradual laying back of wrist during the backswing. Should one crank down with forearm at the same time? Or save that for later? Or one could have wrist already laid back in waiting/neutral position favoring the forehand? Or anything else?

I understand that in a lot of discussions like this, theory isn't appropriate since the person is better off doing what he or she most frequently has done.

But I'm not partial to that. At my age and mobility, I don't mind screwing up my game a little to discover the absolutely most reasonable, best designs possible-- so long as my doubles partner doesn't catch on to this.

[bottle]

Secrets of the Drop-Volley in Geezer Tennis

One geezer in our group likes to be a teezer when he contemplates my writing of tennis books.

If I hit a good drop-volley, he says, "Read his book and he'll tell you how to hit that shot."

I guess he's referring to my first tennis book, A NEW YEAR'S SERVE, and not the present one about to go up in the Kindle Store this month, INTERNAL SLINGSHOT: THE KEY TO MODERN TENNIS.

But if anyone really wants to know how to hit a drop-volley, here is the essential information: 1) miss-hit or 2) drop the ball right in front of you without thinking about technique.

[bottle]

Thanks so much for the reinforcement on top of the reinforcement I just got when I went to the court. When I saw that things were going well and even better than when things have gone well in the past, I started to work on orchestration. For a flat forehand I'm now taking wrist back a little at a time, prefer to hit from neutral stance and catch the racket somewhat like I used to only with longer arm, a real sweep as Senator Laxalt advised. The old double bend was interesting, and if one uses no loop at all, just sets the double bend straight back, and then lets gate post of the upper arm creak forward along with other elements and then smoothly lifts the elbow (having delayed it) one can obtain an exceptionally clean hit.

But when I add any kind of loop the clean hit goes away. And after so many years of fooling around with Federfores, I definitely hit forehands of any stripe better with a long though relaxed arm. And as I go down my list of desperate forehand service returns, it's fun to try a flip of the wrist followed by a step across with no other backward bottily turn! Yes, an ugly flip and early! Maybe that one is double bend. Never to be used any time else, except maybe for an impossibly distant ball.

I'm still using a flippant Gordonian flip in Federfores however just before contact. Thanks again.

Oh yeah. For a while I wanted to orchestrate flat and Federfore off the same backswing but have decided that such subtle deception probably isn't worth the effort in geezer tennis unless one stumbles on some exceptionally easy solution one day.

[don_budge]

yes...and yes again!

O tell me, swami, what do you see?

Swami: I see, my son, Federer's shoulders turn as he run. I don't see him hold partially turned shoulders at a single setting the way some players do. No, it's all gradual and smooth. However far away the ball he'll be slightly turning the whole way.

Me: O thanks, swami. I think I became temporarily confused on that point.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Wide&stroke=RFFHWideOpenStanceRear1_250fps.mp4

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Wide&stroke=RFFHWideOpenStanceRear2_250fps.mp4

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Wide&stroke=RFFHWideOpenStanceRear3_250fps.mp4

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Wide&stroke=RFFHWideOpenStanceRear4_500fps.mp4

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/RF_FH_Wide&stroke=RFFHWideOpenStanceRear5_250fps.mp4

Note: Feel free to disagree. First, body and racket turn as a unit. Then independent arm swing starts with both hands on racket: The path is up and around. Then down and around as hitting hand alone holds the racket. Then arm straightening as body pauses before its change of direction. In four of these five videos left arm pointing is integral to shoulders turning. In one of them shoulders may be still while left arm points-- or not. It's close.

Yes, yes....and yes again. Why disagree...when you are absolutely right? The backswing...especially on the forehand and service motion is utterly important. Your observation about the shoulders turning cannot be over emphasized...to beginners or cagey veterans. The backswing for the forehand and the serve is so dependent upon the shoulders turning and rather independent of arm motion that it is the fundamental concept about swinging something...be it a tennis racquet, golf club, baseball bat or even an ax as one student of mine suggested.

Of course there is independent arm motion...but it is subtle and entirely in synch with the shoulders...which are entirely in synch with the hips...which are entirely in synch with the legs...which are entirely in synch with the placement of the feet. In golf they say...never let your arms get ahead of your shoulders. One might say the same thing in tennis, or baseball, or wielding an ax.

Even on the run Roger Federer effortlessly morphs from his ready position into the backswing before he effortlessly morphs into his forward motion...it all adds up to a wonderfully blended swing with impeccable balance producing splendid swings from less than perfect position. His ability to synchronize his whole body into his swing on the forehand side is unparalleled. Others do a great job in their renditions and interpretations, but there is something just a bit more sublime about the way the Swiss Maestro executes.

Pardon me for interrupting...I couldn't resist.