A New Year's Serve

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No Justice, No Pizza

No hitting,
No Tiger wins

No pitching,
No Tiger wins

Rebuilding,
No Tiger wins

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I feel the same sort of thing here in Sweden...the land of Liberalism. But beneath every beating heart lies the beast. The human being. The Human Race. Go ahead...label me a racist. I am the outsider. Always have been and always will be. I don't care if it is 10 billion against one...the odds do not daunt me. I stand alone...on my own merits and my own liabilities.

Don't be a goopy sentimentalist.

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My Older Sister

My older sister says I am lucky to be alive.

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How many of you knew or care, class-- I mean my readers-- that I used to be an education editor? I'm counting the hands. None.

But there is a group in the United States that has this education thing all worked out. Does that include tennis instruction? I would think so.

All one has to do is attend an October conference in Atlanta or Las Vegas, after which one will be an educational consultant making $1000 a day or $364,000 a year.

The group loves people who bring the experience of having taught in prison schools. The group loves retired school teachers whose brains are still seething with the knowledge of things not done right. The group wants to reinvigorate these retirees and set them on their feet so they can go quack-quack.

"We have the substance," a spokesman for the group says. "We just need great presenters."

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I could destroy you. But I am not going to do it. Because Jesus told me so. Don't do it he said.

Ask Jesus if He wants me to hit Ellie-bams or Federfores or both.

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By all means...go and fuck yourself.

What about the new people I've met? And yesterday was my annual physical. My physician was amazed that I had lost 30 pounds so that I am close to the weight at which I want to play tennis. She asked how I did it.

What a nice person she is. And what a refreshment after reading in Montaigne about how awful doctors are.

She suggested that I had landed on my feet once again.

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In Answer to Fyodor Dostoyevsky Supposedly Classifying bottle-- Were the Two to Live in the Same Era-- as "Scum"

don_budge could do like any of these guys described by Michel de Montaigne:

Mark Antony was the first who had himself drawn in Rome-- and a minstrel girl beside him-- by lions harnessed to a chariot. Heliogabalus did as much later, calling himself Cybele, the mother of the gods; and also by tigers, imitating the god Bacchus; he also sometimes harnessed two stags to his coach, and another time four dogs, and yet again four naked wenches, having himself, starked naked too, drawn by them in pomp. The Emperor Firmus had his chariot drawn by ostriches of marvelous size, so that it seemed rather to fly than to roll.

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Set up with Ball to Outside Equally Much for Ellie-bam and Federfore

A reason to do this on a Federfore is that one will mess less with one's string pitch if arm spring is more roundabout than vertical, i.e., forms a more baseball-like than golf-like pathway.

Similar set-up for an Ellie-bam will reduce scope of the ever-straightening arm, thus creating economy of motion while using all the leverage of an inside out swing.

One stroke seems more spring than swing, the other more swing than spring.

Even the spring shot however-- the Federfore-- incorporates its abruptness within a smooth swing of the total bod.

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The Greatest Failure in Tennis Education

Let us extract the culprit, the real bastard, from somebody's personal stable of serves:

7 to 2 .
5 to 2 .
1 to 3 .
5 to 3 .
6 to 12 .
nose to forehead and maybe a left eye painted on the ball.

These numbers as in "I want to be in that number, as the saints go marching in" are:
kick.
kick slice.
low slice.
low slice.
topspin.
flat.

7 to 2 is the hardest shot to learn in tennis. Am I being overly dramatic in saying that? No, I'm just echoing Coach Chris Lewit, whose body is as flexible as Djokovic and whose mind is sharp as a tack.

When Chris Lewit came out with THE TENNIS TECHNIQUE BIBLE, I was one of the ones who questioned the title. I have since reversed my view.

We discussed the 7 to 2 with Chris here at Tennis Player. And he directed just three words to me: "Don't give up."

In BIBLE, he describes his own long-term frustration with 7 to 2, referring to the whole time he played number one for Cornell University.

Only when a circuit pro after college did he solve his 7 to 2, and it sounds to me like he worked out the ultimate solution by himself.

And he criticizes the coaches he experienced up until then.

So the shot is hardest of all tennis shots to master, yes, but why can't more coaches properly teach it, especially when one is young?

To form my own views on this subject, I use a base of 20 senior seniors, not one of whom owns a good kick serve. If I obtain my own by the end of this post I'll be first in the group to do so and certainly will clean up.

But when I lived in Winston-Salem I attended a closed tournament for 20 over 40's doubles players from all around North Carolina, not one of whom lacked a good kick serve.

So how to hit 7 to 2 is commonly known in pockets of players somewhere.

Lewit saves his section on 7 to 2 for the end of BIBLE, a natural place of emphasis in any Good Book.

Students who will master 7 to 2 so that it kicks high and out right from the ad court will already have the commonalities of all good serving firmly in place.

The kernel of this serve occurs in the versatility of wrist available to us all, in what Lewit calls "turning (tilting) the hand inward and closing the racquet face."

Could the missing piece in one's puzzle be as simple as that?

I like to try to incorporate new serving information in a natural throw.

In the Braden-like mechanics that I employ, palm stays down (faces the court) as arm goes up beginning to unbend.

The racket is closed but opening a bit. At which point one snaps. Forearm, actively and muscularly, leads the ISR (internal shoulder rotation). And the wrist flexes inward during application of this pronation and ISR.

To repeat, wrist flexes. it did not already flex. And the flexing changes path of the racket more to inside of the ball thus catching the number 2 in a clock face on the ball as it leaves the ball.

ISR then takes racket out to right.

The racket then goes down and across to one's left side.

The cue that works best is turning the knuckles up toward the sky to brush as part of the dynamic flexing combined with the pronation and ISR.

The flex did not already happen.

It happens as part of the snap that is pronation and ISR.

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Connecting the Dots

klacr, that good man, has spoken of the "discovery" of tennis strokes as if this is something a sensitive individual tennis player can do.

Well, this recognition that a certain player will make discoveries if encouraged to do so while left a bit to his own devices immediately elevates the instructor from shop teacher to detective-facilitator, with the student now becoming a full-time tennis detective on his own behalf.

In my case I now move from Beasley-bam and its modification, the Ellie-bam, to understanding that Ellie-bam retains more of the original characteristics of the Beasley-bam than first thought.

The Beasley-bam in this learning progression was a type 1 monstrosity with preparation way around one's back.

The good thing about it was its inside out structure. The arm gradually straightened to the outside for long-levered intersection with the oncoming ball just as one's delayed hips pivot chimed in to further keep everything moving to the outside.

"Wow!" the baseball announcer would say (but only on Detroit radio), "He extended his arms and put a real good buggy-whip on that baby."

What Ellsworth Vines must have figured out was that he could set up his loop closer to the ball and yet achieve the same great leverage.

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I go back farther in my own time to a forehand which I called my Ziegenfuss, learned from San Diego realtor Valerie Goat-foot Cooper in her famous forehand article (or it should have been famous) in the collector's book TENNIS FOR WOMEN characterized by women pros wearing lace.

I am not a woman and therefore crowded the ball too much, which structure led to reduced power that made me a more consistent player so that I did well or won.

Now though the same type of delayed pivot shot makes arm reach a little to front but mostly to the side.

The loop itself is not a vertical loop but a vertical loop to start that then turns horizontal.

The racket, thus abbreviated, goes down but not much. It goes shallowly out to the side which creates leverage and catch more than a head-on collision.

Same thing on a Federfore, which also is struck way out to the side.

In that shot, however, hips turn early to rearrange the bod and launch a huge bod turn.

Embedded in the middle of this smooth stroke is an abrupt arm spring.

Pathway to the ball is same as in the Ellie-bam-- inside out but begun with a slight baton twirl.

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Spirit of Adventure in Adapting Wise Advice

Try some kickers in which you tilt wrist FIRST before the pronation-ISR instead of during same.

Why take anyone's advice-- not even Chris Lewit's-- when you can easily check out something for yourself? Besides, this discussion could turn on semantics, i.e., the precise way something was worded and hence interpreted.

Concentrating the actions into one snap or sequencing them will prove better-- one or the other.

But whoever you are, arrive at an answer, please!

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Answer

In serving a basket of balls, I found sequencing the better choice-- another rare instance of that.

As with early baton twirl in a Federfore, a bit of sequence led to improved Zen while on the ball.

The sequencing here also leads to nice modification of a previous cue.

A cue for tilting (flexing) the wrist down is raising knuckles toward the sky.

But that movement creates a vertical wall of the upper fingers at the same time, almost makes a punching fist even though the wrist is humped and therefore would be weak for that.

Doesn't matter. The front of the fist now becomes the administrator of the pronation-ISR sequence, with very good purity of Zen Buddhism in that.

And maximum racket head speed with some upward component is the goal.

Second, I realized that wrist tilt can be abetted by a loosening and closing of the fingers.

A good time to loosen them is after discus-like inward coiling of the racket when arm starts to open up to take hand far behind you.

The finger loosening combined with total cocking of the wrist means that wrist gets to extend and flex both in the same move, not to mention that racket tip got lower than it did before.

But I have to say that the logic here is getting ahead of anything I did this morning on the court.

I could foresee eventual dealing of a card up left side of the ball. Well, that would be supination or whatever is the opposite direction of pronation.

Would that be any good? Weak and ineffectual? The tilting would have to be almost forceless, i.e., carry just enough force to pre-load the supination trying to twist the other way just before its release. And once the card was upwardly dealt the forearm would still want to turn over to the right.

One's famous ISR, a tsunami of power (just ask all the sport scientists) would be wasted in countering the forearm after contact to shape a down and across the bod followthrough . The transition from forearm to upper arm going the opposite way would be terrible, harsh, rash and a stupid idea.

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Perception

I realize now that all the Ziegenfusses I hit in the hayday of my youthful competition were overly crowded hence lacked the leverage to which they were entitled.

A Ziegenfuss, like an Ellie-bam or even a Beasley-bam, was a lot of arm swing before one's heinie chimes in.

On the other hand, the moderate pace generated by a shorter lever made me into a more consistent player-- for a while-- and so my results, though not what they could have been, were pretty good.

Now, when I want more consistency and less power, I start hitting McEnruefuls characterized by an easy pendulum backswing.

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Wrist Tilt Kick

One cannot be satisfied with a little improvement when it comes to one's kick serve.

Okay, so all attempts at good kick shall be made from palm side of the racket with racket already craned at wrist-- but just somewhat. Or somewhat straightened-- no one can know from where in total range beforehand embarkation occurs, only that some flexing shall continue while strings are on the ball. The wrist as I see it should project the racket from behind it to in front of it through a total range of straightening and flex both.

To obtain effective upwardness of racket brush the forearm will need to fire (pronate) simultaneous with internal shoulder rotation (ISR).

I want to add tightening of the fingers to the straightening to craning mix having loosened them behind my back to achieve more racket tip lowness than before.

I haven't been to court yet to try it all out and the tennis social is fast upon me. The term "tennis social" suggests tameness when opposite is the case. If last year was any indication, the weakest and strongest players I ever shall face are always there

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A Big New Lump of Information: So What are you Going to Do with it?

Wait until the off-season. He who thinks while playing tennis is dead.

On the other hand if you play tennis all the time the off-season will happen when you're dead.

So you're dead, it would appear. Get used to it.

The lump is a hump, a hump of your wrist also known as tilt or flex for use in development of the hardest stroke to master in tennis.

That is second, kick, or perhaps all-the-time serves in doubles.

So we're going to hump the wrist-- you and I reader-- or else you shouldn't be reading this.

When-- when should we hump it? On the ball? Just before the ball? Some before the ball and some on the ball? Behind one's back? All questions are good.

How about in Braden's palm down mechanics as a very first move? Simply stir the racket under bent elbow while winding back both loose arms around winding bod.

So wrist stays humped all through toss and clench into the gut. All through opening out of arm to a right angle. All through tomahawk slightly to your left accompanied by tightening of the fingers, which implies your having loosened them during the slight opening of the arm.

Where are we now in terms of ISR (internal shoulder rotation theory)? Remember: thinking equals death. So save those thoughts for the off-season when you are dead.

No, I'm going to run them now. And you (I) mentioned the verb "tomahawk." Which means reversal of the pronation to upper arm sequence in normal Vic Braden service mechanics.

And now I'm going to bend both legs pretty late (cue: a carefully chosen point in the tomahawk motion). And eliminate all pre-contact forward hips rotation from this unique serve. I'm going to tomahawk, as I said, while closing fingers.

And I'm going to pronate from 7 to 2 up the inside of the ball while firing all the extensors.

(The late Vic Braden: "Fire the extensors, baby.")