A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

Petr Korda - interesting - my oldest daughter went and hit at his club when we were vacationing in Prague. His assistant was superb - when we left she gave us this big huge book on the history of Czech tennis that was autographed by Petr. Nice gift. What a great club he runs - VISTA Tennis. The guy who handles all the stringing there is an ex-Swedish pro hockey player and we chatted about a lot of guys we knew from back in the day. First time we ever played on real clay - what great courts. Petr was not around, as I guess he spends half his time in Florida.

http://www.vistatenis.cz -- great facility.

By now I've clicked on all the items in this website. This does seem like a wonderful
place. Wouldn't mind visiting there some day.

[bottle]

Awareness of Wrong End of Racket

That would be the tip. You want to be more aware of the other end.
Or of both ends together, no?

Locking into the shot is one concept. Staying locked with racket kept
square is another.

[bottle]

Forehand to Backhand to Forehand

Repeatability.

Moving wall.

Click on Lock and Key, Part 2 .

(https://tennisone.tennisplayer.net/m...e.outline.html).

[bottle]

Thanks. Greatly interesting guy and family.

[hockeyscout]

Flat Backhand

My model for this shot remains Petr Korda as seen in the following
video ().

I see these backhands as an example of slow racket travel in which straightening body does most of the work.

This shot, if even a bit like Petr's, might be all a recreational player
needs other than his slice.

It is a great challenge however to learn more topspin as in the following
model where the two arms fly faster and farther ().

Petr Korda - interesting - my oldest daughter went and hit at his club when we were vacationing in Prague. His assistant was superb - when we left she gave us this big huge book on the history of Czech tennis that was autographed by Petr. Nice gift. What a great club he runs - VISTA Tennis. The guy who handles all the stringing there is an ex-Swedish pro hockey player and we chatted about a lot of guys we knew from back in the day. First time we ever played on real clay - what great courts. Petr was not around, as I guess he spends half his time in Florida.

http://www.vistatenis.cz -- great facility.

[bottle]

Flat vs. Topspin One Hand Backhands

My model for flat version remains Petr Korda as seen in the following
video (http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...A4DD&FORM=VIRE).

I see these flat backhands (which still carry topspin) as an example of
slow racket travel in which straightening body does most of the work.

This shot, if even a bit like Petr's, might be all a recreational player
needs other than his slice.

It is a great challenge however to learn more topspin as in the following
model where the two arms fly faster and farther but most of all MUCH HIGHER (https://tennisone.tennisplayer.net/m...e.outline.html).

Under "Backhand Training click on
1) One Hand Backhand Dance Kata
2) One Hand Backhand Racquet Kata
3) One Hand Backhand Racquet & Live Ball Training.

I know I use Latinate words sometimes but why not if they're going to help?
The key word here, as far as the shoulders are concerned, is "abduction."
Both shoulders, for this particular administration of topspin, lift up, which
is not the same as scapular clench. SC may happen while the shoulders
become part of the body lift but it doesn't take over. In fact, it may only be
1/2 SC, i.e., scapular clench divided by two.

[bottle]

At Swim-Two-Birds

This is a great book (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Swi...s#Plot_summary)
but could be interesting prescription for an experiment in forehand.

In that case one bird would be your left hand and the other your right hand.

All of unit turn would be accomplished at once with both elbows rising with hands
still forming a hoop including the volleyball distance between the two of them on
the handle and throat.

Next the hands separate. Hitting hand falls at the natural rate of gravity blending
into shoulder lowering as part of the formation of a power pocket.

But let's back up to pick up the action. As both hands separate the two palms roll
slightly open.

As racket softly approaches the oncoming ball (as if to catch it) the two palms roll
inward to square for the huge burst of short power about to occur.

[bottle]

Subtleties in Forehand Contact Area

With semiwestern grip and slightly bent arm, balance ball
on horizontal strings.

Now-- project ball over the net by rolling whole arm so strings
are on back of ball (soft roll) before they shoot it over the net
(hard roll).

Now-- perform the soft roll with elbow held in place. On next
try let elbow roll backward a bit. Note the difference in where
the ball goes and keep this knowledge in mind for future
tennis.

During hard roll, elbow to come slightly back at all times.

[bottle]

A Musing Muse

A muse came to me in the middle of the night, not particularly sexy,
a ship without sails and said, "Keep up your McEnrueful for a day
when you won't miss a single one. It's a crude shot with early sep--
the ball flies flat and fast and low. But hit more backhand droppers
off same grip-- I implore you.

"And just because your McEnrueful is early sep with a smooth bowlback
to get you centered doesn't mean you should do the same thing on a
topspin forehand.

"In fact, I recommend you keep your left hand on your throat for longer
not shorter time than other players. Point your left elbow at the oncoming
ball for cripe's sake. Natural fall will be ready to happen much sooner and
from way back and without the static of a still turning body.

"The fall now will be untainted melding into the further fall of right shoulder
as rotating hips open your strings to bottom of the ball.

"Either that or cut the initial rotation in half and fencegatepin (verb) the bent
forearm the rest of the way back.

"Or just think of one of the low points as beginning of part two in one-two
syncopation. (http://www.bing.com/search?q=syncopa...R&pc=EUPP_DCTE).

"Yes change demarcations constantly, Bottle. Say this is where backswing
stops and foreswing commences, no this is, no this is, no this is. I see four
possibilities. It's just a game so have fun."

[bottle]

This Agonizing Reappraisal Has All to do with Actual Rhythm of Forehands
Not Even in a Good Hit with Another Player but in an Actual Match when one
is getting Pulled Around


Go to 20 in same video as in last post. How to make time for a natural fall in a
forehand backswing? Doug's backswing is relaxed and unstrained and yet his
racket head gets into position very fast. How does it do that? The arm is bent.
The upper arm twists the forearm quickly like the pin in a gate.

Also to note: The natural fall of the racket comes mostly from arm extension
at the elbow, not from fall of the elbow itself. Some bend remains for interactive
hand contact however, the speedy part of which includes some backward movement
of the twisting elbow.

[bottle]

On Forehand and Serve: It's not Forearm Roll (Pronation) First

This is a very subtle very difficult technical and psychological point
but with application to three different places in one's game: 1) forehand,
2) serve, 3) hitting own service line with a volleyball spike to bounce
ball over net to opponent between points in a match.

(https://tennisone.tennisplayer.net/m...e.outline.html).
Click under Forehand Training "Racquet and Live Ball Stroking."
Go then to 14.35 and follow the description. Forehand there is the
subject. And one can see whole arm turning softly before it turns hard.

Now go to 10.25 . Initial turning of hand to high five in serve is somewhat
ambiguous but I think one can see the logo on Christine's arm band turn
somewhat. And when Doug King demonstrates the same soft move the
whole arm turns.

To look for a good training aid for both strokes then, spike balls from baseline
to one's own service line with just a bit of slow full arm roll before the fast full
arm roll.

I said there was a psychological component to this question, didn't I? The whole
notion of katas or detailed components of a whole stroke much as in learning
some phrase that later will become part of a full sentence in a foreign language
can lead a wonk like me to become TOO DETAILED and look for extra distinctions
that shouldn't be there.

[bottle]

Backhand

Some like what I do. Others are annoyed. The reason I write tennis
stroke perambulation doesn't have to do with either group but rather
with what my sister Dru told Hope when I moved in with Hope: "Make
sure the directions you give him are very clear."

Tennis instruction, it seems to me, is the place of clarity. And also of
false clarity. I can listen to a bunch of tennis speeches and seem to
agree with everything. Then I'll think things over and realize there's a
single point that either is obscure or maybe I just don't understand it.

Does the hip really come backward when one squares up to hit a one
hander? How could that be?

I have decided to ignore that idea altogether and go with the butterfly
kata in the video "Dance Kata" (https://tennisone.tennisplayer.net/m...e.outline.html)
to help understand what arms should look like at end of a seamless stroke.

[bottle]

Presentations and Financial Backing for the Development of one's
Ground Game

As a college undergraduate, I had two adventures along these lines.
The first was making initial contact with the late Mr. Hunter Marston,
who subsequently donated to our rowing effort the Hunter S. Marston
Boathouse.

Before that however he donated a first racing shell which with his
permission I named "The Hunter," a choice that was approved by
my crewmates even though The Hunter was a main character in my
first novel.

The second adventure was, that, through the intervention of the late
novelist John Hawkes I was named editor of THE EDITOR, a Brown-
Harvard joint literary magazine which had thrived for several years.

Under my leadership, as I recall, I never put out a first issue despite
my considerable effort to do fundraising once again.

So I understand how these things can go, that TennisOne went bankrupt
and now the videos of Doug King and others are at TennisPlayer, not
in a single spiffy presentation but rather as another motherlode of sometimes
overlapping material, i.e., an added resource.

Funny about repetition in tennis instruction. I don't mind it. Each rendition
yields new meaning.

[bottle]

Interested in this Stuff but Want to Back off a Little?

Click on One Hand Backhand Dance Kata (https://tennisone.tennisplayer.net/m...e.outline.html).

[bottle]

Note

If hips come back then shoulder goes forward and vice-versa. Turning hips
are what propel the racket through its drop and easy twirl. Click on "One
Hand Backhand Racket & Live Ball Training" (https://tennisone.tennisplayer.net/m...e.outline.html).