A New Year's Serve

[tennis_chiro]

That's what Luke Jensen said to do when he was conducting a large clinic at the Grosse Pointe (Michigan) Yacht Club.

The following video appears to support that point of view. It is perfect for players who hate words and don't speak Japanese.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv1uhaYLbZc

Really curious what the writing says, but for my money he is advocating "massaging " the ball way too much, his footwork is actually counterproductive, he doesn't get his body turned at all and his grip is wrong (too much towards forehand).

But other than that maybe he is saying how easy it is to just meet the ball on the volley??

don

[bottle]

And adapting forward trajectory of racket to incoming trajectory of ball, as you have advised-- usefully!-- in the past. But I accept your criticisms of this volleyer and am glad that he isn't me.

[bottle]

Opposite Hand in Emerson and Rosewall BH Slice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7kvBGntW8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXDwZMY1LTg

The two shots are different, but opposite hand is pretty simple in both cases. In the Rosewall, in particular, there may be a temptation to twist left palm upward as racket goes down.

But Rosewall doesn't do that. The left palm gets no more than perpendicular to the court and then turns down (inwardly) parallel to the court at the very end.

Is this important? Does it matter? Is someone jeering? Who cares?

One should always be on the lookout for the small thing that might make a big difference. Dunno. Try it. Seems like pure Tai Chi to me.

[bottle]

Hitting Thumbs: Contrast Between Emerson and Rosewall

Emerson: Thumb along (diagonal)

Rosewall: Thumb wrapped

I'll have both please. With ketchup for the fries. My stringy thumb however needs to go more along my thin handle for the added support I desire.

Just to consider the Emerson, one is all set to hit a drive as well, now. One could straighten wrist while straightening elbow for a slight shrink-wrap to prepare for mudpie catapult and hit the shot with almost exact same rhythm and shallow U-shaped technique as the slice, no?

This shot would resemble that of people standing around at a tournament and miming their flat backhand return against a fast serve, no?

Or one could straighten wrist and elbow backward instead of forward for a bigger backhand, no?

Or just combine grip change with straight down preparation for Oscar Wegner's beginner 1htsbh, no?

[bottle]

Emersonian Slice

That has to be its name so as to include both Roy Emerson and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Fred Emerson, who started the sport of crew on Roger's Lake in Old Lyme, Connecticut, will have to wait.

This shot, as explained by Roy Emerson, approximates a sentence by Ralph Waldo Emerson, with the followthrough resembling the monosyllabic word at the end of elaborately rhythmic Germanic grammatical constructions that Emerson admired so much.

Also, as Emerson points out, this shot is totally consistent-- one could never miss with it.

And, as Emerson points out, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

Equally true: "A clever consistency is the horizon of this here shot."

[bottle]

Some Rosewallian Slice More Like Emersonian Slice

Magnificent additions and thanks to gzhpcu for finding them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rws3xyYbthI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aUnSCp64S0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZSUgx1z9iI

In the first video there is skunk tail (though lopped off from the original by the film editor, who doesn't think that groove is important!). In the second video there is some skunk tail and some not skunk tail. In the third video the direct backswing, with no skunk tail, is much more like Roy Emerson's. I doubt that Ken Rosewall's grip has changed through these videos. I'll study more to try and find out but don't think so. So even when Ken's backswing is like Roy's the shape of the swing is different and Ken uses some form of double roll no matter what. Contact point could be different too but maybe not.

As far as teaching or explaining this material, I return to my self interest defense.
I do write to explain but to explain to myself. And I require a lot of detail. Maybe you, reader, don't, but I doubt that. As my older sister Dru said to my girlfriend Hope, "Just make sure that your directions are very, very clear."

Oh well, too much explanation, instructor, and you've lost your listener, i.e., lost the match. Too little explanation and you've also lost the match. Just right explanation and hey-- not only may you help somebody else but you yourself are going to win a hell of a lot more matches than you used to and I promise that.

We just watched both Hope's daughter and grand-daughter in a Birmingham Players Michigan production of INHERIT THE WIND. The grand-daughter, who represented all the children of the world, had a lot of lines but the daughter had only one, but that one line (word) says it all:

Halleluja!

[bottle]

Editing, Good and Bad

The previous post, # 2046, has just been edited a lot.

[bottle]

Wednesday Self-Feed Ground Stroke System (Play on Tuesday and Thursday)

I. Thumb Along and Fingers Spread Backhands
A. Back, Forward Roll (simultaneous with straightening arm), Slice
B. Lower Straightening Everything and Lift (illustration appended)
C. Double Roll Drive
D. Federfore (ATP3FH)

II. Thumb Wrapped Single Grip Hammer System
E. Double Roll Slice
F. Pendulum (Straight Wrist) Forehand

Notes: For A. try some Back, Straighten Forward, Roll Slice as variation.

For C. finish straightening Arm and roll racket open behind one in conjunction with beginning of forward hips turn per Geoffrey Williams (simultaneous). Setting racket open first will also work but isn’t what I’ve practiced. Mudpie sling, I believe, will work with either a slant or hammer grip.

On first illustration: James Blake went to Harvard University for a year. Is that where he learned this shot? (The illustration is from GROUND STROKES IN MATCH PLAY, by Jack Barnaby, the Harvard coach for 50 years. Please disregard my outdated handwriting and printed scrawl.)

B. Topspin Service Return
No Frills Slider
Bonking a Net Post

Will go to library and scan these three line drawings by George Janes after the self-feed session.

[bottle]

Bye-Bye Skunk Tail

Haven't had time yet to go to the library for scanning purposes. When I do, I'll put up the three Janes drawings in a separate post.

Going to the court with the hand-written little outline of # 2048 proved very interesting however.

Shot A worked well. Hit some with roll relegated to straightened arm part which also worked well. And hit some with last bit of arm straightening delayed and made passive and activated by clenching shoulderblades, which also worked well.

Shot B worked well so long as I didn't try to add mudpie sling to it.

Shot C seemed to have everything I want so long as I remember every single desired detail along with this one: Straighten wrist gradually through the forward swing including contact and forward followthrough. If there is any backward followthrough start returning the wrist to its originally concave (when seen from above) configuration.

Shot D worked well but if I like my little dip and rise so much on my Australian gripped John McEnroe forehand, why not bring that little dip and rise over to 3.5 (Federer) grip just before a small loop.

Shot E, my double roll slice, now abandons its skunk tail. When Ken Rosewall played against Rod Laver, he abandoned his skunk tail. Like him I now abandon it, but against anybody.

Shot F shall not be changed in any way.

[bottle]

Drawings

Here are the promised illustrations for # 2048 . Instructions: Right click on picture. Click on rotate clockwise.

[stotty]

Love those illustrations....

[bottle]

Report

Played okay but not great in Thursday doubles-- thanks to operating with too much information, a bit like Hana Mandlikova.

That however is clearly the price of the new information, all of which seems promising. Net game, which I was thinking least about, was the best part of my game.

Taking racket back to assumed contact height seems the most essential feature of learning the Emerson prescribed backhand slice.

[bottle]

Friday Rejections and Acceptances

Rejected: The backhands of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka as models because they have too much transition in them.

Accepted: The backhands of Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall because the arm straightening in them is a part of their forward dynamic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au6dg52_jZ8

Rejected: The eastern grip backhand slice of Roy Emerson because the Australian grip of Ken Rosewall-- halfway between continental and eastern forehand-- is good enough (understatement).

Accepted: The thumb along eastern backhand grip of Roy Emerson or Pancho Gonzalez for backhand drives.

Rejected: Totally cocked wrist as in Rosewallian slice for my backhand drives. The wrist from grip change will be "comfortably cocked" in the phrase of John M. Barnaby, i.e., partially straight.

Rejected: Hoad's Australian grip for my drive. I just want Hoad's rhythm.

Accepted: The post-match reply of John Boris to my request yesterday that I play ad court in doubles with him simply because I'm working on my backhand. John, director of tennis at the Indian Village Detroit tennis and drinking facility and a Henley-on-Thames Great Britain Championship oarsman from Westside Rowing Club, Buffalo, pointed out that just about all serious tennis players work on their backhand for all of their life.

Accepted: The idea of straightening wrist as part of backhand grip change to thumb along and spread of first two fingers along the racket handle.

Rejected: The idea of rolling and straightening wrist during actual contact.

Accepted: A slower backswing with former functions of the subsequent transition now integrated in forward, liquid swing, viz., straightening of arm and lowering of racket tip to inside before it rolls to outside with this latter roll seen as part of the slingshot.

Accepted: That forward roll to reach karate edge position (see attachment) has become part of the mudpie sling.

Accepted: The idea that double-roll and mudpie sling and spearing with racket handle are the exact same thing. The spearing, as I envision it, sets up the strings to lash as part of a one-piece but elastic swing.

In Bonking a Net Post.pdf first left click on it then right click on it then left click on rotate clockwise.

[bottle]

Self-Feed of the Foregoing

I've wanted to combine wrist straightening with grip change but perhaps that isn't necessary. Found myself straightening wrist on slightly bent arm only as foot went out and shoulders kept turning backward combined with a very weird motion that may or may not be too fancy.

That is, to help bring racket head around and in close like Hoad's, stretch left shoulderblade inward as right shoulderblade stretches the opposite way, i.e., outward.

Then keep front shoulder super-closed in this fashion until you have hit the ball.

[bottle]

Best No-Hand Topspin Backhand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XryKA3z_uWk