A New Year's Serve

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The Next Idea: So Crazy that You should Dismiss it Before You Even Read this

Unless it reflects a design that works, particularly for rotorded servers, i.e., servers who for one reason or another cannot twist the humerus as far in either direction as they would like.

In rowing we fire both legs together with no sequence between them. In tennis, both Bjorn Borg and Andy Roddick have done this in my view.

And it was Pancho Gonzalez who suggested getting both knees pointed in the same direction whether he had one leg dominance in mind or not.

A rotorded server, it seems to me, does not usually discover a long enough runway up to the ball each time he serves.

But a former tour player once showed me that even the rotorded server can produce some upward ball hop if his toss was rearward enough.

This is not the whole story. So I propose pointing both knees somewhat backward, i.e., somewhat toward the rear fence.

Both knees, having already bent some, will fully activate in middle section of a 1-2-3 serve (Toss, Extra Leg Bend, Serve).

To serve then, the two legs (stronger than one) will drive not forward or upward but upward and slightly backward. This will happen during the curveball part of curveball-screwball sequence.

In latter part of arm extension, in which ISR takes over from ESR, the server will maintain the two power cords started with the double leg drive. (A power cord starts from foot and runs up same edge of the bod. If you now have two power cords, each running up on opposite edge of the bod, you begin to resemble a slanting rocket.)

Unfortunately, you are about to cut these power cords in two, but that conceivably could be good.

In second part of arm extension, the one containing ISR, you want some horizontal push on the ball. Not as much as in a ground stroke but some. A serve should be vertical, sure. Energy goes up, not out. But with just a bit of horizontal push worked in.

There are a variety of ways to provide this. What I propose however is a bump back of the hips. Which produces a bump forward of the shoulders and catch-the-weight footwork. A bit of turning out of the rear hip during the striding forward of outside foot off of the court should re-direct jackknifing power from the gut over the net.

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da Head Bone Connected to da...Hip Bone

Well it is. And what one does affects the other.

So if one gives oneself the green light for the building of the new serve thus far, one can add some provocative head movement durig the second count of 1-2-3, i.e., toss, extra knee bend (now), and serve.

Or one could as Vic Braden once suggested turn to a friend standing by the rear fence and say, 'Hi, how are ya?"

This would be risky. The ball is in the air. One obviously is not watching it. Time to train for this little kata by serving blindfolded from a trampoline.

With all of that good time put in, however, one could next drive from the two legs with knees pointed in the same direction.

And the hips going one way more because of the head going the other way could now reverse all this.

Second serve ace.

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Report

Nice easy serves came in a less dramatic version of all this. The "Hi, how are ya?" was not produced. The two knees pointing in same direction were. A few more abrupt kicks were seemingly produced. Will play tomorrow.

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Double Barrel Shotgun Use of Legs?

Tried it yesterday. Mostly held serve. But, as my old friend Jim said (and he played on the tour after all), some sort of asymmetrical use of the legs usually works better, or at least most playing pros think so. And even when I held serve I felt the serves were a bit mediocre.

Well, I'd rather have too many ideas than too few. What definitely was nice yesterday was the new kata of bent hitting elbow going back as bent tossing arm forms a vertical scimitar.

But one can get too carried away by this. It's entrancing in that it reduces moving parts. It is a unifying, simplifying notion, viz., I recently was straightening toss arm then bending it again for my "hook shot toss."

I just want to try hitting elbow going back level in sync with the whole toss, not just the arm work previous to release.

And clearly, extra knee bend is about to be abandoned. Achieve correct amount of knee bend straight away as part of integrated toss-and-wind. Gladys Heldman and the old TENNIS WORLD magazine were opposed to bending knees during the toss, but rules were made to be broken by those who know them.

Rhythm of serve will still be 1-2-3 but with count # 2 consisting of rear leg drive combined with curveball phase of extending arm.

Count # 3 now to include front leg drive somewhat in a rearward direction combined with screwballing arm action and both shoulders administering minimal push.

Was here before and found it interesting. May have gotten off track with the double barreled shotgun idea.

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The Three Most Interesting Aspects of Rotordedness in Serving

1) You are like most servers in the world.

2) The teaching establishment doesn't give a ____. Or a ____. Or a ________________________. Is this a comment on you or on the teaching establishment?

3) You can't do enough to counteract your rotordedness. To this end I propose getting both knees pointed at side fence in a wide platform stance.

Next toss while gliding under the ball as if it is a limbo stick.

Next skate backward off of front foot.

Next skate backward off of rear foot.

Complete serve. Repeat in 1-2-3 rhythm.

Term: "rotordedness." Look it up in previous posts.

The real subject of this post: Sequential extension of the legs while skating (specifically, cross-cutting) even though initial glide still is operative.

I forgot: If you do point left knee at side fence but splay right knee a bit so it points at two fences instead of one you may generate some better inside out action.

Experiments: Keep them fluid. Don't be overly sure of anything.

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Continuation of Cross-cutting Service Idea but with Reverse Sequence of the Two Legs Firing

There just wasn't enough on those serves-- at least on clay-- but I'm happy to bring across the same initial stance (left knee pointed at side fence, right knee splayed a bit so it roughly points at two fences).

I'm thinking, Start with weight on rear foot. The whole toss-wind mechanism is now so economical that one can get a whole lot of the serve out of the way almost at the outset. You can accomplish a lot you may have always wished for in a short time.

I'm thinking also, Start with legs fairly close together and then step about a foot toward the net but with weight still on rear foot. This can create an effectively very wide platform stance that will help you tilt low.

Then skate from rear foot to tilt even lower. Then skate (cross-cutting toward net) from outer edge of front foot.

Rear foot action accompanies curveball arm work.

Front foot action accompanies screwball arm work.

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1-2, not 1-2-3

1-2-3 is toss-wind-hit.

1-2 is toss/wind-hit.

1-2 is skate off right leg-skate off left leg.

At least for me it is.

This design is for kick and "flat."

For slice, one can rotate hip forward against braced front leg then send arm around the shoulders.

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False Deception Concern

I refer to players who modify stroke design to make themselves more deceptive when often these changes are uncalled for.

Against an extremely shrewd and observant opponent such measures could make good sense.

Most opponents, even some shrewd ones, however, are unobservant.

On big hoop forehand I am therefore thinking of the following orchestration: Set up for a shot down the line. In contact area push elbow smoothly out (with no abruptness!).

For crosscourt off of same preparation and rhythm slowly and unhurriedly ply bent forearm about before the elbow release.

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1-2, not 1-2-3

1-2-3 is toss-wind-hit.

1-2 is toss/wind-hit.

1-2 is skate off right leg-skate off left leg.

At least for me it is.

This design is for kick and "flat."

For slice, one can rotate hip forward against braced front leg then send arm around the shoulders.

These two-count serves did not at first create sufficient racket head speed. But saw improvement if hitting loop proceeded a bit farther before the beginning of the curveball phase.

To this end I now wish for the first time in my life to try an address with the two hands set apart.

I will try anything, reader, you knew that.

Both hands, separated, to start on bent arms with inherently strong ice cream cone ball hold essential.

In count one, despite their initial resemblance, the two arms to function in different ways.

The toss can hold its bent arm shape thus rising like a brandished scimitar. Ball trajectory from hand could also be described as scimitar or "bent arm shape."

The hit arm to squeeze, i.e., its two halves squeeze together preparatory to curveball-screwball sequence.

How front leg extension in the crosscut skating format now being used will reinforce pre-load within humeral twist-- and exactly when in all the katas now put together-- is still to be determined.

The difference in initial address, however, removes one whole element-- level drawing back of hitting elbow-- thus buying time for better coordination between the two hands.

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What Made it Begin to Work

was starting on front foot with conventional down and up rhythm in mind but not accompanied by straightening of the toss arm. Had produced some good serves with this method before. The toss arm stays close to the vest almost as if it is withered. The down and up of the racket gets hitting arm to desired distance and bend behind you with weight now on rear foot..

Hit arm can then squeeze in a more conventional manner as initial skate step gets underway. The toss is late. So there are big differences from anything you probably did before and yet decades of conditioned movement have mostly been preserved or restored.

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100 per cent Wrong

I can't easily find the post I wrote on forehand loops from the shoulder joint only.

Much better at the same time in a big rounded waterwheel forehand to lower elbow through forward hips rotation-- to go for sim instead of seq (simultaneity instead of sequence).

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Two Levels of Flat Backhand: Soft and Hard

Both utilize the inside out philosophy that exists but is far from the whole story in all hitting sports.

Both reject the slapped whip through arm action that often is effective in backhand slice (but again is far from the whole backhand slice story).

Both reject the rolled monstrosities of Richard Gasquet or Stanislas Wawrinka declaring Thiem too virtuoso and unattainable in reliability.

Both levels have in them a small amount of arm roll coupled with minor wrist straightening at their rear end.

This "turns the corner" early, which prepares one for a long level path of inside out travel of both one's loaded elbow and straightening arm.

This form of stroke results in a higher sooner followthrough that is less far around. You could see it in Roger Federer's capture of the 2017 Australian Open.

Soft level moves the elbow around from the shoulder ball fulcrum.

Hard level uses center of the back fulcrum instead. Which means that one's front side scapula goes to work.

John Carpenter of St. Louis once emailed me that when he hits these shots he feels that he is developing muscles on top of other muscles.

An interesting thought, but I am of the belief right now that one should flatten out these topspin backhands and hit them from one identified fulcrum or the other but not both.

In both the soft and hard versions the arm straightens on the way out to the ball rather than barring itself behind the body. And yet this late straightening is a secondary factor subordinate to the longer lever from shoulderball or center of the back.

A final consideration is that inside out swings create a small hitting zone in which the straighter the racket goes the better off one is.

One strokes in a circular manner in other words to create a small concision between line of racket travel and line of departing shot.

After that the racket rises up to abbreviated finish.

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Experiment

I've always liked the notion that backhand slice is a constellation if not galaxy of different possibilities. And perhaps I should be happy with the backhand slices I have, but I'm always up for trying to learn and master a new one. It derives from the change I recently made to my 1htsbh. While I have crossed slices along with chops, and double roll slices in which the final roll happens on the ball, I'd like to do the second roll with racket still behind me, with just a bit of wrist straightening included in this act, followed by an inside out swing to form a brief concision before followthrough goes off in another direction.

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Five-Count Serve Complete with Trick Shoulder and Knee Replacement

We've recently had three-count and two-count serves. But a five-count serve might be the most fun of all.

It has to work with figure eights.

And has to work with both long and short throws of a tennis ball and maybe of an old racket in a field.

1) Elbow slides back level but somewhat low.

2) Hips chime in so that racket points at left fence post.

3) Shoulders chime in producing forward travel and left heel rising on toes, also the toss as hit arm squeezes racket tip to middle of back.

4) Rear leg thrusts as front heel comes down and elbow lifts on straight path toward left fence post as arm straightens on same path and wrist concludes by twisting out as if administering a curve pitch in baseball. Does thrusting rear leg cock elbow up a bit before arm starts to straighten? I think so.

5) The arm now completes its straightening as ISR occurs (screwball action in baseball) and front leg thrusts and limited stomach turn puts pressure on ball followed by scarecrow finish.

Counts one, two and five are simple. Five e.g. can be practiced alone by bouncing balls over the net.

Counts three and four are extremely complicated like certain parts of life. Count three combines the toss and wind that are separate entities in any conventional serve. Count four, which elsewhere I have attempted to call "the speed kata" is also "a wind kata" in that arm continues the body wind and is last part of it.

Also, I think, if elbow goes back and up as described in count four and arm straightens to a right angle or a bit flatter at same time, and racket was open to begin, one may create an interesting new launch place for the ISR (internal shoulder rotation) that comes next.

The real departure here is in sending hand on a straight path back toward left fence post, an important if perhaps imaginary lighthouse used for navigation at various points in the serve.

The elbow doesn't twist yet. The racket has squeezed toward bod from one joint then tomahawked away from bod thanks to two joints.

Curveball action at the end of this kata is all that pre-loads the arm for its ISR.

Great willpower will be needed to overcome the old habits that always try to recur when you stand at the line to serve in an actual match.

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Trial

I tried these five-count compact serves though not in a match yet, discovered that address should occur with both hands behind the baseline, i.e., very far around.

Racket can be close as it goes around bod since elbow will get up to shoulder level in count four.

My mixed race friend Sebastien Foka, winningest singles player ever at Wayne State University, grew up in France hitting with his mixed race friend Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He teaches his Grosse Pointe students to get elbow immediately up to shoulder level, arguing that if they don't do it early they most likely won't do it at all.

But the late elbow rise here is such a structural part of the new design that it should be easy to remember.

Rear leg after all kicks elbow out on same straight path that hand follows which also can be aided by the countering kick.

The racket squeezes toward bod on turned down elbow then flies out from bod on same path. There is no roll between the oncoming and outgoing traffic.

Another court discovery on a sunny but freezing Sunday morning was that if one is going to use the flourish of loosening then tightening fingers, second half of count four is the best time to loosen them right after elbow has thrust out.

Elbow will go out/up; then arm will start to extend (from elbow) as fingers loosen; then one will work one's bent-arm curve ball.

It's a lot to remember all in the count called four but worth the effort.

Other discoveries may be on the way if one pursues this particular design.