A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

And if opening out still is occurring as racket comes up with idea in mind of opening still more in the subsequent throw, the racket handle will not get mired on base knuckle of the index finger-- the knuckle uniquely buried in flesh of the hand. No, the racket will fall into cleft of the hand no matter from how high. We're talking Zambezi River at the bottom of Victoria Falls.

But how soon can this happen? In time for a propellant mix in which internal rotation of arm parts far exceeds the rotorded server's straightening of wrist abetted for niftiness by hand squeeze?

If one is ready to try that, why not delay the wrist straightening (abetted by hand squeeze) until contact or afterward on the theory that how one comes off the ball is what counts big.

Bendables can straighten wrist and still deliver an upward blow through great internal rotation of the arm.

Because they have more racket range in which to work.

The rotorded server on the other hand sends racket up and then down when he would prefer it kept going up.

The adjustment possibility should not be underestimated-- one inch of wrist and fingers throw instead of three, say, or two inches, who knows.

One intrinsic difficulty of mental formulation is that one tends too much toward a round number when maybe some fraction would do better.

Try: A single inch of fingers squeeze to start the racket up before internal rotation takes over.

Now try wrist instead while keeping fingers open.

Fool around with any serve, looking for a break in the serve rather than of the serve.

[bottle]

The Biggest Surprise In My Tennis Inventions So Far

When it comes to racket technique, I don't believe that there are answers, just progressions, iterations.

The biggest surprise? That one can hit an easy one-hander and a stubbed one-hander on successive shots in match play with no loss of internal rhythm.

The easy version uses forward hips rotation to straighten the arm.

The stubbed version gets arm straight before that and uses the same forward hips rotation to build circular tension between the two arms for abrupt release.

Hips gear shoulders around from underneath. The shoulders turn but the racket, transforming into a spear, doesn't. The sudden release then slings the racket tip around.

The first implicit conviction from ED FAULKNER'S TENNIS that has led to all of this is that one-handed drives that change racket pitch are almost impossible to replicate (not so in backhand slice!).

The second is that waiting position for any ground stroke ought to be slightly high and cheated left.

A continuous motion one-hander from there can be short. Here I consult John M. Barnaby in his book RACKET WORK: THE KEY TO TENNIS. Most one-handers turn the racket too far around behind them. If you start by pointing the racket tip at the side fence, by the time you have stepped across it will be just about right.

A person could try all of this and find that these two shots still won't work.

I, in my most sympathetic way, might say, "Tough luck sucker! You probably didn't buy into diagonal thumb on left vertical panel."

This is subtle and difficult stuff. Even Ed Faulkner would not like the scythe-like backswing for forehands I next propose from his patented waiting position.

No, in his big book, he teaches his many students to bring the racket tip around high and level, then drop it-- not exactly an overhand loop but not straight back either.

In a Federfore (not yet invented when Faulkner wrote his book) that would lead to patting the dog.

Not for me. Forgive me my arrogance. Right or wrong, I believe that I am working on something better, a Roger Federer like forehand from a Jimmy Connors backswing.

[don_budge]

"Outsider"....James Scott Connors

Not for me. Forgive me my arrogance. Right or wrong, I believe that I am working on something better, a Roger Federer like forehand from a Jimmy Connors backswing.

I am just finishing up the great Jimmy Connors autobiography and I have to tell you bottle...he would certainly approve.

But you see...he is another case of arrested development. Which is the way to go in many respects. Afterall...why give in to maturity when you can maintain an attitude of adventurism.

[bottle]

Scythey Scythey Scythe

And these scythey shots feel so good. Scythey backward and forward in the case of "flat" shots like Connors' and Evert's, and scythey backward in the case of McEnroe. Maybe McEnroe scythes his forward too to the midstroke point where he rolls the arm.

I've always loved your saying that this roll sends energy up the ball and through the ball in a proportion of about 50-50 in John McEnroe's forehand. That helped me develop some really fast strokes with a McEnroe type grip.

I think it very important though not to crowd on that shot, not to bowl down and up as you swing forward.

Do that and you suddenly have created the need for TOO MUCH roll.

(I'm still trying to figure out why I sprayed in one match.)

As for hitting a Roger Federer like forehand from a Jimmy Connors backswing, all I truthfully can say is that first attempts reveal a shot just as good or no worse than when hit the more conventional way, the way everybody else learning an ATP3 most likely does it.

So why not go with the exciting new iteration which by the way is consistent with a bunch of other shots?

Note: In his McGraw-Hill book, Oscar Wegner asserts that contrary to popular belief Jimmy Connors hits with a bunch of sidespin rather than flat. Flat is what the flat-worlders in the Tennis Warehouse discussion board think. So glad I was lifetime banned from that empty space.

[bottle]

Thumb Trick Cont'd

Placing diagonal thumb on 7.5, 8, and 8.5 for the three forehands-- McEnroe, Evert, and Federer-- could just be a personal fad, a passing fancy, an interim learning device.

The diagonal thumb teaches one accuracy of distinction. That is the point.

Once the accuracy is ingrained, the person resumes his thumb wrap or not depending upon his whim or scores.

Thumb wrestling might be good practice too.

[bottle]

A Sickle is Not a Scythe

One hacks with a sickle. One swings a scythe.

This distinction may be difficult for a modern tennis player upon whom somebody has inflicted a weed-whacker forehand.

But suppose that he is trying to be more one-handed on both sides.

Even if this wretched innocent does not like to read he should sit through a thousand pages of WAR AND PEACE just so that the character Levin can impart to him the true feel of a scythe.

A sickle of course is a one-handed instrument. What we advise, reader, is a one-handed swing that feels like the two-handed swing of a scythe.

That probably is the best way available to learn a Chris Evert forehand, after which one can alter to the grips and forehand strokes of John McEnroe and Roger Federer, both hit from the McEnroe and Jimmy Connors backswing.

Moonball Down the Center

The brother in Virginia who conducted Monica Seles and her mother on a private tour of the White House tried to teach me this shot in the one lesson he gave me. (He had been the captain of Southern Methodist and singled out for special attention by Arthur Ashe. He spoke of Chris Evert's efficiency in employing the deep down the center shot and showed me how he himself did it.)

Now that I am learning more technique, I am not sure whether Chrissie topspin, Chrissie flat or Federfore itself is best way to carry out the stratagem.

One can only answer questions like these in match play.

Note that Chrissie in her teaching video mentions low balls specifically as the cue to hit her particular version of topspin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9WOcEIjGJQ

lobndropshot: Writing in the middle of the night is not good for one's daytime efficiency or in court or on court performance but may be good for ease of prose. The prolific French writer Honore de Balzac wrote all night every night but died from drinking too much coffee.

[stotty]

lobndropshot: Writing in the middle of the night is not good for one's daytime efficiency or in court or on court performance but may be good for ease of prose. The prolific French writer Honore de Balzac wrote all night every night but died from drinking too much coffee.

It was worth it...to write that well.

[lobndropshot]

My coach and I used to spend hours practicing the moon ball. We loved it.

The goal was to either pin the other guy against the back fence or hit the perfect moon ball. A ball that would bounce on the baseline and then bounce over the back fence. We would keep score and first to hit 5 perfect moon balls won. Does that sound boring to you?

Looking back, most of the drills my coach had me do would have seamed boring to an outsider. But, my coach spent little time on practicing hitting the ball hard. He thought hitting hard was easy and hitting the ball in 2,000 times in a row was hard. Which in retrospect is the reason a hard hitting player is my biggest weakness.

Bottle its funny you mention the sickle. I found one in my mother closet. It was from Finland and belonged to my great grandfather. It was one of the things he brought to Bismark North Dakota when he immigrated in the late 1800s.

Being young and not aware of the value of this item to my mother I preceded to take into the back yard to hack away at the enormous weeds we had. Bottle, it was the best forehand practice I had ever had even if my mother wasn't to happy to find out I used an antique to clean up the back yard.

[bottle]

Should have pulled or dug those weeds out by the roots. (I speak as the gardener I currently am. My partner and I and one assistant take care of a number of gardens for loot.)

But no, those perfect moonballs don't sound boring at all. I tried to hook my son on tennis that way. We both hit moonballs until he got good at it. Seemed like a natural transition to lower hit balls loaded with topspin. I tried this with some of my beginning tennis students (again for loot) and was more successful than with my son.

All my son knew was that both of his parents played a lot of tennis and he was going to rebel.

Tell me, lobndropshot, what is your actual experience with lob and dropshot? Did you do it? Did you witness it being done to you as if you were an impartial observer hovering above the court in an out-of-body experience even as you were the actual player being victimized?

In all the singles I've played, strict lob and dropshot (in unvarying sequence) only happened to me twice. The first time was an MIT professor on the public courts in Milford, Massachusetts. The bespectacled guy was so brilliant that he didn't want to waste time or energy ever. So I don't think in all of his tennis history he ever bothered to learn any tennis strokes other than a lob, a dropshot, and maybe a serve. I can't remember his serve but he must have had one. I lost in the third, thoroughly worn down and resolving never to be surprised by this solid strategy again.

Good overhead practice though.

[lobndropshot]

The lob and the dropshot are by far my two favorite shots. The combo is called the Yo Yo because its like having the other guy on a string.

Yes I have lobbed and drop-shotted my way through a number of matches. Making my opponents mutter, curse, and throw their rackets. I once had a player scream at me during a point to "hit the fucking ball you fucking pussy!"

He got that mouth full out before the ball bounced.

Those were the high school days. The team coach couldn't believe I was beating all the top players and had me play them six times before he let me have top spot. In all fairness I wouldn't have let me have the spot either, it is embarrassing to have a pusher in the top spot.

The funny thing is, a few years later I was home for the summer. Feeling cocky, after playing college tennis, I was out at the park and my coach brings this guy out to play practice sets. The guy's name was Bob but everyone called him Polish Bob. This guy was the best pusher I have ever seen. That day Bob humbled me 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. After each set he would change his tube socks and hang them on the fence. It took me the whole summer to figure out how to beat Polish Bob. Talk about a person that could sling a yoyo.

Have you ever played with a yoyo?

[bottle]

Fabulous. I'm glad I asked.

[bottle]

Take Your Hat Off At The U.S. Open, John Isner!

The hat on your head is worse than your ankle sprain, John.

Your continued support of ANATABLOC violates a clause whether worded or implied in your agreement with Jonnie Williams, the CEO of "Star Scientific."

That clause states that you have a relationship of good faith with Star Scientific, with immediate cancellation of the agreement the possibility if either party violates this basic trust.

Jonnie Williams agreed not to embarrass either you or Fred Couples if the two of you became pitchmen for his insufficiently tested dietary supplement.

Jonnie is a sleazebag, John, and I am extremely sorry that you got mixed up with him, but are YOU sorry? I can't see any evidence.

Jonnie trades cars, trips, clothes and other perks for governormental favors. The trial of the McDonnells of Virginia so far has proven at least this much.

("But EVERYBODY does it," whine the braindead conservatives of Michigan. Does that make it right?)

Your name is on the product, John, so take it off.

[stotty]

Dna

One should never underestimate the power of DNA in tennis strokes. Yes, DNA does exist in tennis strokes. I can testify to this from having coached many sets of identical twins over the many years I have been coaching. Twins often (not always) have remarkably similar looking strokes and swing paths to each other. The slight differences they do have is likely down to environment...but DNA clearly is the more influential.

I'm not quite sure what all this means in the context of Federer's forehand...or McEnroe's come to to that, but I guess it must mean both players possess something we simply cannot have because it is theirs and theirs only.

[bottle]

No Miracles

One should never underestimate the power of DNA in tennis strokes. Yes, DNA does exist in tennis strokes. I can testify to this from having coached many sets of identical twins over the many years I have been coaching. Twins often (not always) have remarkably similar looking strokes and swing paths to each other. The slight differences they do have is likely due to environment...but DNA clearly is the more influential.

I'm not quite sure what all this means in the context of Federer's forehand...or McEnroe's come to that, but I guess it must mean both players possess something we simply cannot have because it is theirs and theirs only.

I can accept that-- have to in fact since I cut my acting teeth as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in TWELFTH NIGHT, which is all about twins and how I mistake the one for the other and get in a sword fight with a robust guy who I thought was a feeble girl.

At the same time I can continue thinking that a Federfore, "a John McEnroe forehand," "a Chris Evert forehand," or "a Ziegenfuss" has certain specific characteristics that any player can identify.

Next he can try developing these characteristics in self-fed strokes then rallied strokes and finally in match play.

So the names are really a form of classification, conventions like a sonnet, a limerick, a villanelle.

My proposal is to bring along a cohesive bunch of these name forms just to see where the larger sea voyage will land.

There will be surprises. The shot one thought would work best will prove the worst, etc., but one will end up with a game unlike anyone else's. Which has to be good in a sport where everybody is trying to impose his/her will on everybody else.

The originality may not be vastly effective in itself. Perhaps one would play at a higher level by using the most ordinary shot possible and certainly not a John McEnroe forehand.

On the other hand one's opponents will have to deal with balls they are not used to.

Example of a personal surprise: My talk over the years of hitting a "Ziegenfuss" has led me to the conviction that there is more Ziegenfuss in the Evert/Connors/McEnroe forehand than I thought. And the reverse is just as true. More Evert/Connors/McEnroe in a Ziegenfuss.

Valerie Ziegenfuss (goat's foot) of course was a top tour player before she went into Real Estate.

One time she walked through the double doors of a Texas bar. A stranger there convinced her to swing her arm first and body second to extend her followthrough.

Well, I've now decided-- especially in Evert/Connors imitation-- ,that, thinking of scythe-like arm swing as an entity separate from body swing is not going to harm me or anyone.

Try it right now. With one's best version of eastern grip which is probably the most old-fashioned one (2/3), mime a few arm strokes with racket but no ball or body core.

Then add a subtle burst of kinetic chain somewhere near the middle of the scythe-like stroke.

The form of this shot is different from the Dry Bones template-- where foot bone's connected to the shin bone, etc.

Energy can still rise up through the body "like fast-moving sap" as John Updike put it, but this happens in a concentrated burst in the middle of the smooth swing of the scythe. You simply put some body into the shot. If you have to analyze this, the body weight you apply is both linear and circular.

Kinetic chain has transformed from the foolish, Cartesian and overly conceptual kinetic chain infecting tennis to the true and reliable and very quick kinetic chain of a Muhammad Ali jab from foot to fist. I argue here that kinetic chain should never be protracted, that it is a concentrate set in the middle of a sweep.

But don't think! Thought alert! We all know that too much theory sucks since we're tennis players!

(We also are rather superstitious, being tennis players.)

I still don't know, despite all the Brian Gordon I've studied, whether a Federfore should consist of body first or arm first, whether arm melds into body thrust or the opposite, whether there is arm, then arm and body, then more arm through acceleration-deceleration, etc.

One probably is better off not knowing and just trying some combination while remaining hopeful.

When one starts realizing the similarity between McEnroe and Connors however (thanks again Jimmy Arias for pointing that out), one may gravitate like me toward the body stroke embedded in scythe swing concept.

Federfore may or may not follow this pattern, probably not.

But one can hit practically anything from a Jimmy Connors backswing.

Consider again but all at once: Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, Tracy Austin and John McEnroe. They all won the U.S. Open-- easily-- without the sucky and too teacherly rule that you must keep opposite hand on the racket to turn the shoulders.

The teacher who came up with that forehand rule was a grade school shop teacher and a very bad one at that.

[bottle]

John Isner Could Change Word ANATABLOC To Refer To His Serve?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/08/11/rock-creek-suspends-sales/13926391/