Short Angle: A Tennis Book, Simon and Schuster 2016, 504 Pages

[bottle]

Class Assignment: Find the Simplest Version of Tom Avery's Short Angle

Using one's pre-existing stroke patterns, find the simplest backswing that still will accomplish the short angle goal.

The terms of our commission are clear. From ball machine feed each one of 20 students must hit the short angle target 20 times in a row. In addition, each student must have produced good armature the first week, clay sculpture by third week, a plaster of paris version of Tom about to flick by the fourth week.

In the eighth week, the student will present the bronze version of the flicking Tom, having used lost wax system to make her or his contribution for the class show to be attended by the art critics of all newspapers and magazines within a 30-mile radius.

As your teacher, I have to say, your backswings and mine are not the same nor should they be! While I expect to detect some similarity by the end of the session, overt attempt by any student to imitate the teacher's stroke system will result in an "F."

That said, I must explain my own stroke. (This is, in fact, an absolute condition outlined in the original proposal I gave to our donor.)

The middle of the road or medium separation backswing I developed in pursuit of my McEnrueful can be applied to 3/3 grip as well.

There shall be no loop, only abbreviation as the racket swings down and up.

Mondo will occur on the foreswing, and of a duration that will last all the way to strings out front and finally square and properly aimed and poised to flick.

The Welby Van Horn balance system is my recourse over any sort of a kick (one foot flat, the other pivoted up and then slightly replaced).

No student shall be penalized for using this.

[bottle]

Summary of the Shot

Upon returning to bed after writing barefoot in the middle of the night in Detroit, one needs to draw warmth through one's toes from one's partner, her back turned.

One's arm can cross beyond her, perfectly paralyzed as in the student sculpture, hand a claw with wrist just slightly bent backward.

Because she is asleep, she won't be bored by this.

[hockeyscout]

To say that the 904-page shot evolving here is an example of Vic Braden's sit and hit would not go far enough.

In the old TENNIS FOR THE FUTURE, the best by far of Vic's books, one dropped the racket, i.e., lowered it while settling one's butt onto a real or imaginary chair and stepping out.

Body then performed a connected hit coming up.

The idea of starting arm movement coincident with hitting step in the special short angle proposed here is still present-- only the arm goes much farther than low point.

We are discussing the second of three beats.

1) is unit turn and any movement to ball or vice-versa or SIM. 2) is down and up to describe the body; front foot flat and rear foot pivoting up on toes to describe the hips; racket down and out front to describe the arm; mondo or flip to describe roll down and layback of wrist. 3) is vertical racket brush combined with optional kick-back with sole of rear foot toward the back fence.

Obviously 2) involves too many thoughts and words. Fine. Poor molten taffy, Gorilla Glue, or West System epoxy cement on the whole mess and let it harden and coalesce.

This is EXCELLENT. It is the end of the day and we are trying to dissect it, however, nice. It would be great if you could talk a bit more or send us your thoughts on the positioning of the top arm (non hitting arm), and how you propose one cocks the wrist. If you can tell us how you do self feeds as well, or guide us to some writing on that we'd love to read it. You're the only guy discussing this! Keep up the great work. I think you're a real student of the game and am learning a lot from this thread.

Can you define mondo for us please?

[hockeyscout]

Bottle, every time I turn on youtube I get Tom Avery on going -- STOP! What can be taken from him? I see he has a course? What can you tell me?

[bottle]

My idea re Tom and a lot of other persons is not to take the course since I'm a big believer in "oblique perception," i.e., I just look for sudden illumination in a chance comment or video or photo that might come from anywhere.

Mondo. Exactly the same as flip. That would be a simultaneous layback of wrist and roll-down from the forearm. I tried at times to sequence these motions-- bad idea. It happens at once, on the fly, with Roger no doubt the best model. But a teaching pro from Einstein's part of New Jersey once pointed out that Roger's wrist goes back farther than that of most people.

He was fooling around with ways to extend that motion in a normal person. No thanks. Not for me. Or anyone I like.

One of the most interesting bits I ever heard came from tennischiro at a time when Roger was losing. tennischiro suggested that maybe Roger's mondo (flip) was too "harsh."

And for me, tennischiro got interested one time when I said I was bending back wrist in a gradual manner.

The same person who taught me the two terms mondo and flip once told me he wouldn't teach that thing to a beginner.

I myself studying Roger videos one time decided that Roger actually had hand laid back a little before he even started his backswing with mondo still to happen.

The way I do self-feed is just toss the ball up in the air a little from left hand, let it bounce and then hit it. But I know some teaching pros have had good success doing the same thing for a student, tossing it from different places and angles.

Positioning of top arm: A good question and not often discussed. I just build everything on the waiting position I have slightly cheated to left and taken from ED FAULKNER'S TENNIS, an old and pretty good green-covered book pretty sturdy for a large paperback. This is a book that is packed full of information much of which I've never seen anywhere else.

The racket is pretty high as well as cheated over for a one-hand topspin backhand. I was trying to teach a very good high school player better slice a couple of months ago and was at a bit of a loss since his left hand was positioned so close to his right.

Mine is thumb and fingertips on the V just above the handle. Palm is roughly parallel to the strings.

Thanks for the reaction and the questions.

Note: What left hand does for a forehand from waiting position is very important in my view. Left or opposite hand immediately starts a big point across which helps in turning the body. I see this in Connors, McEnroe, Evert and Austin. Most people, including Roger, don't do that. They carry left hand on racket, some for much longer than others, but all nowadays seem then to point across. In an old video Chris Evert speaks of a "natural turn."

[hockeyscout]

My idea re Tom and a lot of other persons is not to take the course since I'm a big believer in "oblique perception," i.e., I just look for sudden illumination in a chance comment or video or photo that might come from anywhere.

Mondo. Exactly the same as flip. That would be a simultaneous layback of wrist and roll-down from the forearm. I tried at times to sequence these motions-- bad idea. It happens at once, on the fly, with Roger no doubt the best model. But a teaching pro from Einstein's part of New Jersey once pointed out that Roger's wrist goes back farther than that of most people.

He was fooling around with ways to extend that motion in a normal person. No thanks. Not for me. Or anyone I like.

One of the most interesting bits I ever heard came from tennischiro at a time when Roger was losing. tennischiro suggested that maybe Roger's mondo (flip)
was too "harsh."

And for me, he got interested one time when I said I was bending back wrist in a gradual manner.

The same person who taught me the two terms mondo and flip once told me he wouldn't teach that thing to a beginner.

I myself studying Roger videos one time decided that he actually had hand laid back a little before he even started his backswing with mondo still to happen.

The way I do self-feed is just toss the ball up in the air a little from left hand, let it bounce and then hit it. But I know some teaching pros have had good success doing the same thing for a student, tossing it from different places and angles.

Positioning of top arm: A good question and not often discussed. I just build everything on the waiting position I have slightly cheated to left and taken from
ED FAULKNER'S TENNIS, an old and pretty good green-covered book pretty sturdy for a large paperback. This is a book that is packed full of information much of which I've never seen anywhere else.

The racket is pretty high as well as cheated over for a one-hand topspin backhand. I was trying to teach a very good high school player better slice a couple of months ago and was at a bit of a loss since his left hand was positioned so close to his right.

Mine is thumb and fingertips on the V just above the handle. Palm is roughly parallel to the strings.

Thanks for the reaction and the questions.

Note: What left hand does for a forehand from the waiting position I described is very important in my view. It immediately starts a big point across which helps in turning the body. I see this in Connors, McEnroe, Evert and Austin. Most people, including Roger, don't do that. They carry left hand on racket, some for much longer than others, but all nowadays seem then to point across. In a video Chris Evert once made she talks about a "natural turn."

He has double joints (Federer), and a magical rotator cuff. Exactly the same as Sampras. If you taught someone to clone what they did they'd get injured. Special one in a billion body types. Both, ideally constructed to play the game of tennis. Sampras wrote in his book that was his separation, better physical genetics from mom and dad, and he is right.

[hockeyscout]

Bottle -- thanks. IMO, this is the most under taught area (position of the top arm, and I am doing a lot of work with how I want the fingers engaged, curled and the degree I want the wrist turned ETC.

I just see so much slop in this area, even in the best pro's, and its a mission of mine to get it corrected. So often I see no muscles being engaged, or fired in sequential order with that top hand. I want to do this all of course, while not effecting the rhythm of the swing working in unison with the hips - bellybutton - rib cage - collarbone all getting to the right spot on the ball before the window of the play closes it's hole. I like your last point on Roger.

I will ask you a few questions tomorrow on self feeding balls, I have some specific ones, and I know this will kind of get us to our next level here as I like the thought of an athlete getting to know that ideal sweet spot.

PS: You know, it'd be great if you added in some stuff on rowing and boating that would be cross transferable to tennis. It is one sport I know nothing about, and I have no friends in the business who have done that sport. I really believe in bringing in athletic principals, drills and skill sets from other sports into tennis, and it'd sure be great if you could talk about more about your other sport of love rowing, and what unique elements that has brought into your tennis game.

PPS: Me and my team have been going through your stuff now for the past month at least, drinking some beer, and figuring it out, and I have to say you have some neat stuff! It'd be great if everyone had their own thread like this one!

[bottle]

Wedding Party Directions from Hotel to Church

I won't say you should take Slant Street to Obtuse Goose. That would be a disaster.

Let's go back to the beginning? What could be the harm in that?

Just take Upper Slant Street instead of Middle Road and forget the glyph (-~) in your McEnrueful. Don't even bother to modify it to shallow depression in ocean surface somewhere. That's McEnrueful, the simplest forehand on the planet.

This is different. Or all the same if you want to call the whole bunch of these tennis strokes inverted loop.

I'd call them inverted and halved.

You changed grip to 3/3-- everybody knows that. You'd like to take Middle Road but that way you wouldn't get racket out in front coincident with squish the bug and rise of lower bod.

"Squish the bug" is an expression from baseball. The batters in that sport use it all the time. You pivot on the ball of your right foot so that your heel comes up. Under the front part of your foot is a squished bug.

For short angle the front leg has straightened, but is your recently beveled racket out front and square and properly aimed?

This is not as complicated as it sounds.

You just need the stroke pattern that most easily gets the strings to where I described.

Listen, we hit some of these shots last night. And drove to the church just so we wouldn't get lost today.

Have faith. You'll get there. Just go down Upper Slant and call it premature dog pat.

Left hand crosses body as body turns. Right hand performs dog pat as you step out.

Now comes the mondo all the way to the oncoming tennis ball.

Tweak, brush-- I mean flick, and you are there.

"I don't get it. You want me to pet a dog while I'm running for a short ball?"

"A small dog. A Schnauser running along side of you. You might get in one touch."

"Ridiculous. First, Upper Slant Road doesn't go up and down, it's level. So don't say go down it."

"I was just looking for a slightly better way. But I see now I should go Tracycakes but to outside of the slot. Freeze the shot there. And compare frozen position there with frozen position of -~ after the - .

The racket is back now, not out front and to side. So there is more time.
Drop it but do so at drop speed x 2 . Now the racket gets out front just at the right time."

"Fine, do it. You get no argument from me."

[bottle]

Bottle -- thanks. IMO, this is the most under taught area (position of the top arm, and I am doing a lot of work with how I want the fingers engaged, curled and the degree I want the wrist turned ETC.

I just see so much slop in this area, even in the best pro's, and its a mission of mine to get it corrected. So often I see no muscles being engaged, or fired in sequential order with that top hand. I want to do this all of course, while not effecting the rhythm of the swing working in unison with the hips - bellybutton - rib cage - collarbone all getting to the right spot on the ball before the window of the play closes it's hole. I like your last point on Roger.

I will ask you a few questions tomorrow on self feeding balls, I have some specific ones, and I know this will kind of get us to our next level here as I like the thought of an athlete getting to know that ideal sweet spot.

PS: You know, it'd be great if you added in some stuff on rowing and boating that would be cross transferable to tennis. It is one sport I know nothing about, and I have no friends in the business who have done that sport. I really believe in bringing in athletic principals, drills and skill sets from other sports into tennis, and it'd sure be great if you could talk about more about your other sport of love rowing, and what unique elements that has brought into your tennis game.

PPS: Me and my team have been going through your stuff now for the past month at least, drinking some beer, and figuring it out, and I have to say you have some neat stuff! It'd be great if everyone had their own thread like this one!

You are very kind. For now, I'll just say one thing (and I have done real work with college crews of both genders and all abilities where I was the head coach). The same resume (rezoomay) point cannot be asserted in my adventures with teaching tennis although those too are very real.

Here's the one thing. You're in a motorboat alongside of an eight-oared crew.
I think of one women's crew in particular, known as The Pulchra Crew because they all were so beautiful. Yes, I was accused of many things and was indeed the person who chose them. I would say, defensively, "They're athletes who just happen to be beautiful." Perhaps the opposite could be said as well.

One time they had an equipment failure just before the start of a race. The referee's boat had to speed to shore to fetch a replacement part. There were three referees in that boat, and when they came back they were salivating and gasping at the beauty of my athletes. I know because I was in a nearby boat full of all the coaches of the different crews about to race.

It wasn't that time, but another: They (Skidmore College from upstate) understroked St. John's to capture the open championship of New York City out on Orchard Beach Lagoon.

What does understroking mean? It means you rowed slower but went faster with less build up of lactic acid in your muscles.

It also most likely means that you rowed better since a shell is just a few inches wider than the hips of the biggest assed person and very tippy, like a bicycle.

How slow can anyone ride a bike? Very very slow but only if they are good.

The moral of this story and the one thing I have been trying to get to is that slowing down an athletic motion magnifies any flaws for better detection.

Sounds a bit negative and can be, but combined with not too obvious encouragement, this can work out. But if slowing the motion is good, stopping it may be even better.

Do tennis players swing in slow motion? Of course. Could a coach call out the word "Freeze!" somewhere in the middle of a super-slo-mo swing cycle?

In an eight-oared crew you'll often catch seven persons getting the motion you want just right and one person utterly screwing up. But that is part of the unique nature of the sport. Seven of the beauties will freeze with their hands out and one of them will still have her hands in. But she gets to learn fast.

We could have eight tennis players in a row pantomiming the same short angle forehand as people from the Ukranian woods shoot at us, but we ignore the rifles and cry "Freeze!" to see if each beveled racket has opened to square for the subsequent vertical (and raspy) flick.

I'm not easy with the idea though. In rowing everybody has got to do the same. In tennis it would be better if they did not.

[bottle]

Next Wrinkle: That's Life Baby and Would You have it any other Way?

Where did we leave the short angle shot, built on the free-form arm of a McEnrueful?

The McEnrueful, sad that it isn't a John McEnroe forehand, can be hit with bent and diagonal thumb on 7.5, the short angle with same pointer on 8.5 .

For backswing, the McEnrueful uses a modified glyph (-~ before the ocean depression modification to ~), the short angle a level Tracycakes to outside of the slot.

To this Tracy Austin or Tracycaked backswing we now add a gradual bending back of the wrist to exactly where we will need it in the subsequent flick.

Thus there should be no mondo for all McEnruefuls, which are hit with a straight wrist, and no mondo for all the upcoming short angle crosscourts since wrist will rhythmically have taken one half of its available layback as part of the Tracycaked backswing.

Mondo, it would appear, no longer exists in either of these shots.

But I like mondo. So I will still use a bit of it, very mild, for reverse short angle to the opposite tee, adding the last bit of backward availability in the wrist.

If I still want to hit maximum mondo however I'll do the overhand loop and dog pat of a full Federfore.

"Short angle" now is ready for countless repetition walking down the street, sitting in the office, in self-feed out on the court, in recreational competition and city championship play.

Socially speaking, it is unsuitable for a recreational hit with someone you like since you keep spinning the ball with top down 10 adjacent courts.

But I am confident, reader, that, having mastered the McEnrueful and short angle combination, you will hit many more short angles than ever before and with a cuteness rather acuteness previously unattainable except for two or three shots a year.

Note: Shoulders hit McEnrueful with hand halfway between those two rotating jutting promontories and at substantial separation. Hand is opposite navel, you also could say. Short angle is hit by rolling wrist flick, strings going up vertical, and with little or no internal wrist motion toward radius bone.

The hand, no longer equidistant between the shoulders, is opposite the front shoulder by time of the flick.

[bottle]

Credo of Today

1) Lay back wrist gradually as part of running or limping backswing.

2) Check on Tom Avery's two low points. Only one, the first, is true low point, i.e., the lowest point. What matters is second low point just before the flick.

3) When I hit a perfect short angle under the pressure of a service return I just feel the arm moving ahead on a level path-- but the body is going down and up-- I thought? Can body just go down but on a tilt that raises front side and lowers back side with the whole package rather low?

Here I go to the film (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb_Rch1MOUQ). Turn off the sound! Start at 1:30 point.

4) The racket gets so low its tip almost touches the court, and this with the back foot in a neutral stance arrangement which should be preferred method.

5) Shorten level Tracycaked backswing even more so hand goes to middle of the slot rather than outside edge of slot.

6) The step-out is late but fast and immediately succeeded by the hip turn and replacement a few inches to right.

7) As the racket goes down so does the right leg.

8) One reason the racket opens to square in such a sport space is that it starts close to the body.

9) One reason the racket gets around so much despite starting close to the body is the heartiness of body turn but also the large amount of straightened arm travel.

10) I'm recounting the following to myself in order to continue progress: a) make forward hips rotation emphatic and early. b) make hips rotation include a good "squishing of the bug" and a slight replacement step of several inches to the right. c) complete the replacement step BEFORE the flick but do this only on this one particular shot. d) hit this shot more often than before. e) achieve perfect balance and stillness every time for the flick. f) use a little extension from the front leg to reinforce the rolling hand flick. g) get the hand placed by left shoulder before the flick. h) combine vectors somewhat, i.e., hand comes up before the flick. The bowl up is one angle, the flick on another, steeper. The two angles don't coincide but at least move in the same direction-- up. i) replacement step before flick is a radical idea, but I want to try it in competition to see how it holds up since one way or the other it will affect consistency and balance. j) only 810 more pages in this book. One can move toward more simplicity or more complexity. I choose more complexity. k) a kind of simplicity emerges in human movement or anything else when one can not possibly hold the billion bits of necessary information together in one's mind. m) to make time for the increased use of the arm one can perform a "scatter" as one glides to short ball. Gradual wrist layback combined with slight nudge from elbow closes the racket very much and makes the old idea of pointing racket at rear fence increasingly irrelevant. The idea of turning body and then taking arm back would be utterly stupid. n) one preserves closed pitch while lengthening total arm tract if one forces palm straight down. Now the straightened arm can toc forward led by the fleshy drumstick of one's whole thumb. Through this, the racket opens, but not enough to get square in time. So I propose setting up to inside of ball. So that arm tocs sideways as it tocs forward, with both of these tocs serving to open the strings. o) my youngest brother-- the one who won the national over 30's championship in windsurfing-- can hit short angle all day without even thinking about it. So, reader, maybe you need to read his blog rather than mine. His blog however is about sailing since he sells catamarans.

[bottle]

Refinement

No toc to outside is necessary as described in section 10m of the previous post. The stupid little thing making the big difference is the plunging of one's palm straight down practically laying the racket on outside of rear toes or ankle as one steps out in neutral stance.

This is just a way of speaking. You wouldn't want racket THAT close to body.

The hips then fire as small drumstick (your thumb) scythes forward all the way to squareness of strings.

The final distance between the two feet whether taken in one or two steps is great. You need a big distance between yourself and your contact to square the strings with perfect aim.

If you had trouble before, perhaps you were too close to the ball.

Another very important feature of Tom Avery's non-verbal interpretation is that his arm, which started bent at a right angle, then becomes almost fully straight, then bends again (scissors) maybe by 10 degrees just before his flick.

This again is a stupid little thing that makes a big difference.

[bottle]

Avery's Short Angle

The elbow stays pointed down through contact. Roll of wrist therefore comes from forearm. And reinforcement of forearm roll comes from bending at elbow, i.e., "scissoring."

Two possibilities thus are allowed with one prohibited.

Prohibited is any roll of the elbow until the ball is long gone.

When does the scissoring start? On the ball? Coming off of the ball? Before the ball? These three questions should be explored.

The best way to do this at least to start is self-feed.

Elbow could be thrown up (though not rolled) too.

More complicated than first appears the case, no?

[bottle]

All One Sweep Helped by Closed Racket Face in Ready Position

Sim or Seq then? And if there is any Seq, in what order?

Some elements: elbow swinging hand to opposite left shoulder, scissoring of arm, hard roll from forearm.

[bottle]

Rules are Made to be Broken by Those Who Know Them

I'm forbidden to think of more than two items at once. So I shall think of three today. And apply all three simultaneously to my flick.

The elements: relaxed throw of elbow upward, scissoring, hard roll of forearm.

Scissoring: how much or little, how hard or easy, and from when to when?