Retro time (for bottle): John Newcombe Serve

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This is from "Fundamentals of Tennis" Stanley Plagenhoef

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Don,
The book can probably be found used on Amazon. It is a classic, and, in my opinion, a pioneering work. I can only recommend it.... though it is 40 years old....

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Wimbledon 1970 Newcombe versus Rosewall...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS_dB...eature=related

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Thanks so much. Sure does beat the old Arco book in which you had to riffle the pages.

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Phil,

I really do think this thread offers a new opportunity for the rotorded server, both in the Plagenhoef book drawings and in the actual film of Newcombe beating Rosewall.

Look at how high Newcombe's elbow gets in the drawings. I wouldn't think that strict imitation would be the way to go, however.

Rather, conduct an experiment in different elbow levels-- now and now and now.

Now in particular when upper arm twists backward in response to gross body thrust (ew). Precisely how high should the elbow be just then if fantastic, high r.p.s. upward rotation is the goal as it should be?

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You know, I was re-watching this video of Newcombe serving and was recalling another in the Australian VHS "Masters of the Game." I have it but am too lazy or busy or something to hitch up a VHS machine. Anyway, from memory and from Stotty's earlier comment, Newcombe originally gets his elbow way high-- much higher than the drawings in the book by Stanley Plagenhoef which you were good enough to show to us, Phil.

I've been saying that Newcombe brings arm to his right which easily would enable him to brush ear all as part of down together up together stuck.

In other words, I'm perfectly happy to think this Plagenhoef guy was really good and will look for his book, but also think that not just assumptions should always be challenged, no the first drawing of Newcombe's original raising of his hitting arm should be challenged-- he goes higher than that.

Whether he goes up all the way and brushes his right ear, I don't know, but I'm sure he goes up higher than almost anybody. Except for me, of course. I'm going to brush my right ear whenever I do my upper Congo serve no matter what anyone else does or says-- nope, can't be talked out of it, and when the pressure is on and it's not working I'll try lower or middle Congo.

The film you've included, Phil, is very good, maybe the best of Newcombe's
serve there is (and of course I've checked out the other films of him at UTUBE), but the angle is mostly from across the net so we can't really see how high that elbow gets or where it comes down to or where it is at terribly gross gross body thrust when upper arm twists reflexively backward.

I guess that Mr. Plagenhoef, while using Newcombe as his teaching example,
didn't actually want anybody to serve like Newcombe. And coaches today seem united in their opposition to any such serve. What a silly lot. All options should be kept open, particularly for rotorded servers (most servers).