A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

The Upward Glancing Contact for Short, Wide Kick

Cylinder has new meaning. The imaginary cylinder from knees to armpits doesn't restrict body twist from the gut, with gut's release or entire, whirling upper body now becoming the horizontal wheel on a ball machine. The second horizontal wheel is unfurling of the arm from the totally screwed up position it belatedly got itself into.

The ball scoots from between these two wheels spinning in opposite direction.

From this description, the arm motion sounds relaxed and uninhibitedly circular and is. Let's turn off the sound and watch the actuality in Naomi Totka's case at 1:37 but do study the other available slow motion sequences of her "sick kick" serve in the same video, too.

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

The racket comes down close behind her head and then helicopters away to the side.

It doesn't push up to the ball and then helicopter to the side, which may or may not be a successful pattern in other concepts of serve.

It rather spirals up to the ball and slings straight upward off of it before it quickly swoops downward and returns upward again to opposite shoulder.

This is not a model either in which the shoulders stop to accelerate the arm-- not at all.

The shoulders accelerate past contact and so does the arm, two wheels revolving in the opposite direction at the same time and squeezing the ball between them. Did I repeat myself? I hope so. Is the image mine? No.

A teacher came up with it in a print article in a professional journal long ago. He now writes that as he gets older he becomes more and more convinced of an essential relationship between excellent tennis and how it is described.

I've always been struck by this image of flat, opposite wheels squirting the ball between them but never could make it work for myself as well as I wanted. Why not? Because my overall service system was inappropriate for that image.

The seven chopping demonstrations in the Totka/Dougherty video show the elbow extending quickly, powerfully and easily in a linear context.

To think clearly, however, we must translate this purpose to a circular context.

What further guidance for this can we draw from Dougherty's commentary? How about his emphasis of the compactness of Totka's hammering motion?

We'll want similar compactness in the circular version, with upper arm internally rotating before arm has fully extended.

In some other video-taped kicks we've seen, the racket seems to make a nice incision in the air and then zip off to the side.

In this kick the racket rather goes down right after the incision.

I'm just playing here as usual and haven't tried this yet. Usual pattern (for right-handers) that most service videos teach us: Knife racket frame at ball and then take a 90-degree right turn.

The experiment here: Reverse these elements, i.e., be sharply circular and then convert the racket into an upward rearing horse. Scrape the ball with the straight part, not the curving part of your swing.

[bottle]

The Hit?

No, I'm not ready for The Hit. I've just been to the court where I decided to eliminate from future thought the clause, "the rear leg thrusts forward just enough to raise heel up on its toes."

We rotorded ones need an idea like that like a hole in the head. Our first concern must always be, "How can I get the racket tip down lower?"

Well, we're not driving to a dump to get the adhesions in our shoulder pulverized along with our car. So:

1) Little finger off butt cap. (Two or three fingers off were too radical and didn't feel good to me even when I prolonged the experiment.)

2) Relax fingers and hand generally.

3) Hit the retro serves being discussed, or, if hitting a modern serve characterized by early leg drive, learn to incorporate more pre-rule-change upper body rotational elements if you didn't already. As Dougherty argues, you'll be able, among other benefits, to swing better with racket head behind your neck.

4) A big one. Start with knees bent and then bow both of them to cantilever them one way while shoulders go the other. Both heels will simultaneously come off of the court. The ramrod straight back will get lower that way and with it the racket tip.

Trying all this together, I saw some kick on first serves I hadn't seen in 20 years. Slice looked more interesting since it now carried a small bit of topspin as well.

I'm wondering about something though. If hips have angulated toward net as almost everybody thinks is a good idea and which certainly is my habit, won't shoulders slope upward? And then with the new, fearsome upper body rotation (basically horizontal while we're learning before we tip our whole apparatus up), won't racket immediately rotate down, if axis is tilted toward the rear fence?

One solution lies in timing vertical body rotation toward the net so that the shoulders are level or even tilting down a little at contact. But for the rotorded server any tilting toward the net means he has lost the get-racket-tip-low contest. So I'm opting for perfectly "square" shoulders (don't know another word to describe this), i.e., no hip bulge toward net, at least for today, just as part of the quest for simplicity. One does what one must. All part of the search.

A complete report on my on court effort to learn shallow, short-angled kick isn't ready yet. Interesting that Llodra didn't hit this shot in Davis Cup Monte Carlo today the way he did in Davis Cup Winston-Salem four years ago, both against Roddick in singles and against the Bryan brothers. Winston-Salem was juiced up fast for Roddick and Blake, Monte Carlo is slow red clay-- could be part of the different outcome plus different partner plus not wanting to give the Bryan brothers the same look plus the Bryan brothers played great. Whatever the French strategy, it didn't work.

But let me say this. Taking both heels up together on toes near beginning of a serve no longer has to mean you're about to lift off from toes, ankles and legs-- sweet intelligence for someone feeling old in all of those joints.

Just because feet are on their toes doesn't mean that you can't wind shoulders past the knees in an elastic way. Just tell the knees to hold still and they will behave.

[bottle]

Another How-About for Backswing and Transition Only

Reduce leg movement by starting with knees comfortably bent. And determinedly keep front knee over or lined up with front foot, developing a strong push-pull love affair between front knee and rear shoulder. Turn from gut while lowering back. (But how does one lower back, i.e, open chest to the sky? By keeping impeccable posture and slightly bowing knees.) This total motion can occur with unbelievable slowness, this to happen during the first gravity drop and slight rise of racket on the opposite side of an imaginary gorge, with this combined motion of course to include a change of linear body direction and the toss.

Let there be continuity and flow. The crucial rhythm is "Toss, hit." The various motions must adjust to that constant rhythm.

Like a tranquil elephant, we'll always move something (or in this case maybe more than one thing). There is transition between the shoulders winding back from the gut and hurling forward, again from the gut. In the split instant when the shoulders are still, the arm is bending and the rear leg thrusts forward just enough to raise heel up on its toes.

Exactly when does arm begin its bend and how much bend will there be at first? (The two halves of the arm will micro-briefly brush together at last.) Should arm start bending in tandem with rising heel? Before? Mess around. Find out. The resultant serves answer one's questions.

This is more than enough information for anybody to try to absorb at one time.

Next: The Hit.

[bottle]

Terrific. And positive. And provocative.

Listen. I've heard plenty of pejorative stories about the Bollettieri camp through the years, some of them from Andre in his autobiography (though he always has had plenty of good things to say about Nick, too, and one should never forget that).

But I received an e-mail once from a teaching pro who introduced himself as an international tour technician, and it was either he or some other pro who complained that kids would come to Bollettieri with obvious technical flaws that nobody would bother to correct.

If that was true, it was foreshadowing of stuff I've seen in smaller "clubs," where the emphasis now is all on cardio, and nobody ever wants to take apart anybody's swing, and nobody ever does, especially the player himself or herself, and too many players end up with weird monstrosities even when they become advanced competitors. Could be good (e.g., Roddick's serve, Lendl's forehand-- imitate them at your own risk) but usually isn't.

You know, though, those criticisms came a long time ago. And Nick may have heard them and taken them to heart. If Pat Dougherty is any indication, Nick has since surrounded himself with first-rate teaching pros, and why wouldn't he? Isn't he a larger than life personality, always on the line, and very smart? Dougherty doesn't seem anything like Nick, so maybe the hiring of him was a stroke of genius if balance is good.

I'm mostly just surmising, per usual, but I liked what Nick said, publicly, about Judy Murray-- he didn't have to be that nice. And to see how relentlessly international Bollettieri is-- and not just about American tennis-- that seems true to the sport. And I love just thinking about how somebody like Naomi Totka could come to Bollettieri since I actually did time in Hungary and went inside some of the huge bubbles in Budapest and saw how the Hungarian tennis teaching establishment had fallen on hard times since the days of goulasch communism when all sports were heavily subsidized by puppet government with Russia at its worst behind everything.

I tell you, there were a bunch of old hirsute, lost-looking pros waddling about. They all looked like they'd been drinking too much and had gone to seed and were short in the energy department.

Reviewing any "franchise" isn't usually my idea of a good time, but I have specific, personal problems like a bum left leg-- not enough to make me quit tennis but enough to make me look for alternatives to an oarsman's leg drive in my serve (actually there seems to be only one alternative) . And I found Dougherty's little video-taped speech about the history of tennis serves as remarkable as anything I've ever heard, with implications for every level of the sport but especially for a gimp with tight rotors in his right shoulder due to a ski crash during a college athletic department race in which I was second and gaining coming into the final turn in Glens Falls, New York in a part of the upper state where the mountains are high.

Note: I've got to re-read the passage in Albert Camus where he talks about "the happiness of Sysiphus."

[don_budge]

The Chest...as a focal point.

I think it is interesting that you have used the chest in your discussion of the serve and the man from the Bollettieri camp used it in his discussion as well.

One of the comments below the video is a guy suggesting that the "chest to the contact point which is towards the sky!"

It seems to me that the service motion is an upside down golf swing in some respects, in many respects in fact...even though the ball is "teed" up at the top of the swing instead of on the ground. There are some rather compelling similarities in the sense that there is a backswing and forward swing and a very important transition point between the two swings where ideally gravity plays a pivotal role, addressing the ball is of significant importance and both motions are rather complex biomechanical chain reactions where each action is dependent upon the action that takes place before it. A beautiful golf swing and a beautiful serve both seem to have an intricate sense of rhythm...usually somewhat slow in nature with an explosive finish.

But back to the point about the chest. One key "swing thought" that I have used through the years in my golf game is one that was suggested to me by one of my Swedish golf mates here...a crusty dude named Sten, which translates to stone in Swedish. Sten suggested to me that one of the keys to hitting good bunkers shots was to "keep the chest on the ball". This thought really helped my bunker play and I continued to use it throughout the rest of my game from the driver to my putter. There is something very fundamental about this thought...something about balance and keeping the head still while rotating and so on and so forth.

I suggested to a couple of students today to try to point there chests to the sky at the highest point in their service motion. It didn't seem to hurt anything.

[bottle]

Toward Totka-like Kick

The ball has come down three inches when Naomi Totka hits it. The toss-hit rhythm is the same as for Amina. Toss, hit is rapid, flowing sequence.

Internal rotation, like a Ricky Fowler golf shot, is mostly what one practices when one forms figure 8's for these serves. "Internal rotation" in this case indicates power loading and releasing from the transverse stomach muscles. Evidence: the front foot stays flat. The back heel rises but doesn't turn in any direction (specifically in Amina's serve which is more of a platform) then finally does turn out. And the front foot finally does leave the court (barely) and turn to the inside in mid-air, but that's in the actual serve.

What's happening? Release of the tummy bands before the hips are finally allowed to whirl? Perfect understanding here is perhaps inadvisable, but I saw documents in which Don Sutton, Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina were encouraged to express themselves on the subject of pitching mechanics, and each of these guys was 5000 times more complicated than I am.

Today, I'd like to stay even more simple than usual. I must assert, however, that front knee stays directly over front foot for most of the serve. That knees don't turn in a backward direction but do, at the end, in a forward direction. And that the upper muscles of one's chest front pull and release very late.

A rule of hand for evaluating how-to-serve videos. Look at the circulation figure, i.e., see how many people before you have viewed the video. Then choose the videos in which this number is relatively low. Those are the ones that are apt to be most valuable, as in the case of Mary Carillo and other tennis-knowledgeable persons at ESPN making a special trip to the Bollettieri tennis camp:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgdXawklcZk&feature=relmfu

[bottle]

Re # 1080

Note how Amina's rear heel comes up before it turns in the figure eight exercises.

Then, when she actually serves, the front foot, flat until then, slightly leaves the ground and turns in mid-air.

Me, I'm holding the racket loosely at all times and with pinky off of the butt rim. I'm saying to myself, "You may be using gravity for your down and up, but, backward turn (a stretch actually) cannot be too slow or too long." In fact, I'm assigning the first half of this body turn to also facing the chest up at the sky. This can work well with toss, which can operate either in sequence or simultaneous with the forcing of the chest up at the sky.

With this new and early openness to the sky complete, the shoulders are then to wind back-- horizontally-- a short piece more.

Finally, I'm experimenting with stance more turned around than the conventional place, and with revival of a lower initial raising of the racket approximately to waist height.

The increased power this immediately produced on flat and slice serves I attribute to my rotordedness. If you don't have a big range of arm motion available to yourself, you should manufacture some. Its harder to counter body with perfect timing when your arm motion is minuscule.

For the out wide kick serve I have to remember to swing four times harder. Timing is everything, which means that, to swing harder, every single part of the serve has to go harder with no loss of proportion anywhere.

[bottle]

Re # 1078

Try keeping front foot flat for a long time like Amina to help charge up the core. (I'm thinking of a car battery.)

[bottle]

This Stuff is for Free

So why shouldn't we take advantage of it every chance we get?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgdXawklcZk&feature=relmfu

[bottle]

In Pitcher's Takeback Predominant Serves

If elbow goes down it must slightly squeeze at the same time-- that's essential part of the overall throw.

One can passively bend arm from reversal of shoulders only if elbow stays up with palm of hand turned down-- maybe not the best course of action for a rotorded server.

I'm thinking of the lady Amina's developing serve:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um5q7Lx107k

Rippling down and up of elbow seems integral part of the forward "pitch."

As arm throws racket head into the ball it can high-five from which-- forearm or whole arm? Either will move the racket farther forward ahead of the hand, which equals hammering, desirable.

If arm is throwing racket head up into the ball for kick one wants strictly defined pronation from the forearm only, a positional device for scraping inside of the ball while delivering spin from late straightening arm. Whole arm then gets to turn out afterward. This all is meant to be a question rather than a statement.

It is very hard to tell when, from video, which is turning out, forearm or whole arm or both.

Later note: Several subjects are being addressed here. As to the idea of "rippling elbow," I've decided to forget it, Amina can have it. Me, I'll raise elbow once as part of my down and up, but not very high. Elbow will then work its way farther up as consequence of what the body does.

[bottle]

A System for DTL/CC

In the three decades that I've continuously played, I've never had such a system, or if I did, it wasn't whittled down or simple enough to be useful.

When I've seen this subject addressed in tennis books, the author was indeed apt to argue for system-- a very small difference, say, between crosscourt and down the line forehands caused only by adjustment of the hand.

My own system which I introduced here a few weeks ago has been simplifying itself. Theoretically, one could line up for a crosscourt every time but then do something different for down the line-- probably hit a slider.

That's a great ploy. But more workably in the long run, I think, one can line up for down the line every time even though crosscourts should happen far more often. One can incorporate the wisdom identified by Steve Navarro (don_budge) in the current discussion of Azarenka's forehand: i.e., one turns to aim before one turns to hit. With double-bend arm structure, which is naturally similar to a choked up bat in baseball, one can combine this with a compact loop. From even a prolonged aiming/measuring moment then-- not a bad idea!-- one can go up back and around and forward and still hit the ball in plenty of time.

Line up for the down the line shot, I say. One's target on the other side of the net is likely to be nearer that way.

Then, to hit the usually preferable crosscourt, do two things: 1) swing at a ghost ball one ball's width to the outside of where the real one will be and 2) roll arm in such a way that strings deflect to the inside.

Regardless of which shot you're hitting, use the same inside out swing that you would employ if you were hitting down the line every time.

[bottle]

Thanks Very Much

Seeing options is always great.

[tennis_chiro]

Good point!

I see no reason to bend the knees as the hands drop in a down and up tossing structure.

A golfer starts out with knees comfortably bent, and a tennis player can do the same in this kind of basic serve.

Having knees already bent allows more time for smoothness of turn and equals one less thing to go wrong.

I've always tried to get my players to "bow" the knees instead of really bending them, but the modern serve has more of a knee bend than the old "classics". However, even with greater knee bend, you do not want to toss the ball with your knees. So you find the loading of the legs with the knee bend takes place after the ball has left the tosser's hand

Roddick knee drop
Andy's somewhat violent knee action clearly takes place after the toss has left his hand

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/pro_men/andy_roddick/andy_roddick_v2/andy_roddick_v2.html?AR1stSDeuceSide-0273003-0001.mov

Sampras knee drop
There is barely any knee bend before Pete releases the toss

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/high_speed/High_Speed.html?PeteSampras1stServe.mov

Becker knee drop

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/modern_legends/borisbecker/borisbecker_serve/bb_toss/bb_toss.html?BB1stSAdTossSide2.mov

Isner knee drop
I thought we had an interactive forum video of Isner's serve, but I may be wrong and in any case I couldn't find it. This is a couple of year's old but it shows the same thing for Isner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r0JilvZXOQ&feature=fvsr

Roger Federer
I would say that Roger "bows" his knees before he releases the ball into the air and then makes his real "knee bend" after he has released the ball

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/Serve/RF_Toss/rf_toss.html?RF_1stS_Deuce_Toss_Side1_250fps.mov

don

[bottle]

I see no reason to bend the knees as the hands drop in a down and up tossing structure.

A golfer starts out with knees comfortably bent, and a tennis player can do the same in this kind of basic serve.

Having knees already bent allows more time for smoothness of turn and equals one less thing to go wrong.

[bottle]

How Tennis Instruction is Taken

I remember reading a tennis book with an introduction by George Plimpton, who explained that because he had an affection for words and images, he frequently took them too literally and therefore was unable to follow most tennis instruction.

I have felt the same way for a long time. A tennis student, I intuit, is expected to make a jump from the presented words or imagery to another action that is totally different. The instruction comes in code, in other words, the bane of "how to" instruction of any kind.

Good little sheeple are best qualified to succeed in this "big jump." They seldom listen to the instruction anyway but rather use it as a clue to pleasing the master. And they're not too apt to challenge their own assumptions-- good jocks, they.

If that sounds too cynical, I'm sorry. In the present situation being examined, I'm actually optimistic. In addition to pulling the racket over the shoulder with rotation of the firm body-cylinder combined with throw from the triceps, one pulls with muscles across the chest-- an exact answer at last as to when somebody should "arch his back."

One part of the pre-load principle must be that as shoulders and triceps apply pressure in a forward direction, the chest must temporarily flex backward, which, coincidentally, lowers the racket tip more than in other more schematic formulae.

After one masters this, one can learn how to tilt the whole apparatus upward.