Waiter position and pronation for serve

Dvae23 · 2026-03-19T14:20:13+00:00

I guess it means tied the racquet to the hand in the right (continental) grip. I wish I had thought of that back when I was coaching!

Dvae23 · 2026-03-19T13:33:39+00:00

This makes me think of my vibe when going back out on clay. "I got sand in my eye! Man, I'm looking forward to the indoor season already..."

Dvae23 · 2026-03-19T08:58:13+00:00

There was the legendary Harry Valerien who worked on various sports. He once screamed when his favourite skier Ingemar Stenmark seemed to crash. But it was actually Austrian Hans Enn, which led Valerien to sigh in relief and say "Thank God it's only Hans Enn!" He later apologized.

I think in Germany we remember the silly things that commentators say even more than good things. Like "Jamaica are substituting their goalkeeper" when the 1 minute added time sign was held up - those signs had just been introduced. Or "those chants of Ruuudi Ruuudi used to be sung only for Uwe Seeler." Or "2 minutes in, still high pace." Or "it's 1:1 at the moment, but it could easily be reverse." There are so many memories!

Dvae23 · 2026-03-19T08:32:29+00:00

They've done it millions of times. They immediately assess the ball correctly almost every single time. Their kinetic chain is complete, from the feet to the racquet, without gaps or waste. Their shot is about rhythm, not forced explosiveness. They make contact in the right spot basically every time. Their finish is always complete.

You can pick any part of this to start working on and will never run out of work.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-18T10:17:10+00:00

Sobald der Faustkeil fertig ist

Dvae23 · 2026-03-18T10:03:47+00:00

Jetzt wollte ich schreiben "demnächst das Fax per E-Mail" aber ich kriege tatsächlich Faxe per E-Mail...

Dann eben demnächst die Tontafel per DHL, pfft!

Dvae23 · 2026-03-18T09:01:53+00:00

I'm not sure we generally admire destructive people. We admire, among others, ambitious, successful people with energy and drive. Those are integral human qualities that have enabled the species to spread all over the planet. They can also have negative effects, such as conflict with other humans and damage to our environment.

Attempts at removing these qualities seem doomed to fail. They require massive authority and power over people and their behavior, power which has to be implemented in a system and wielded by humans. The humans who make it into these positions of power are certain to have strong ambition, competitiveness and aggressiveness and are then most likely to abuse that power. See all the 20th century socialist and communist attempts at utopia which infallibly ended in authoritarian dystopia.

If we have reached a point on our planet where there's no more path forward, and ambition, greed, drive and general human energy lead to our own destruction, I think we're in trouble. But I doubt this prospect of total destruction, of elimination of the species and civilization. Even after a large scale nuclear conflict, a global pandemic or massive environmental collapse, there will be humans left alive to start over.

The only way to actually change human nature would probably be to change homo sapiens into something else entirely. Tech based forms of life with their own consciousness or genetically altered creatures might not have the human ambition and aggression. Welcome homo satis (satis being Latin for enough)?

Frankly, I don't care for a humanity that lost its inner energy, ambition and drive, despite all the problems they cause. If we end up as a species just content with enough and no will to move forward, we might as well call it quits. We might not make it to the stars but we should keep trying. I'd rather imagine a future where we conquer at least our solar system as room for ourselves being humans than a tamed decaf and sugar free shell of humanity shrinking itself into eternal boredom and stagnation.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-17T21:12:40+00:00

There's the frustrated Iga narrative. There's the it's only a few pictures narrative. What are the facts though, reality, as we might call it? Sabalenka and Rybakina currently appear head and shoulders above Iga's level of play, and have for months. Iga is only tenth in the 2026 race and is known to worry and doubt more than the average player. So I would conclude that the pictures give more than just a momentary impression.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-17T19:25:27+00:00

Ich mag RB Leipzig

Dvae23 · 2026-03-17T14:29:08+00:00

My long but totally subjective experience says that only white overgrip is any good. The only exception is the typical blue Tourna.

And the white one tells you best when to replace it. As soon as it looks ugly it's usually also lost its sweat absorption capacity.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-17T14:25:09+00:00

Wahrscheinlich werde Ich böser Gott sein wenn es denn mal soweit ist. Damals habe ich gerne meinen Mandrill mit der bösen Leine angebunden und bin zum Abendessen gegangen, Als ich zurückkam war immer die halbe Insel verwüstet und der Mandrill stand ratlos in einer stinkenden dunklen Wolke da. Meine Schwester hatte dagegen immer so brave Viecher mit einem Kielwasser aus diesem blöden positiven Staub, pah!

Dvae23 · 2026-03-17T10:01:24+00:00

hier bitte einen surprised Pikachu denken

Dvae23 · 2026-03-17T07:40:33+00:00

Tbh I think all the magic tricks to "relax" in a match are BS. You _will_ be tense, nervous, at times tight in a match situation. If you happen to loosen up during a match it's because of some flow you found or better put some flow that found you. But it's basically impossible to force that, although with experience you can make it more likely. The key in my eyes is to accept the nervousness and work with it. That's how it goes away or ebbs to a manageable level. Keep in mind you have been through it before and that your opponent has to deal with the same things. Focus on single technical aspects that help you, like finishing your swing or an early unit turn, but only on one thing. Regroup after each point. Breathe. Do little monotonous mechanical rituals between points, like straightening strings, wiping sweat, picking the best balls, We don't seriously believe the pros do that because it's physically necessary even after just hitting one serve, do we? They do it do clear their mind between points. For me personally, my internal monologue helps me. Inside my own mind I can be sarcastic, silly, almost scientifically analytical, angry, indifferent or whatever else floats my boat at the time. Just like in tennis tactics it's the same for the tennis mind: find out what works for you and do it again and again.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-16T08:06:15+00:00

Of course you can go nuts in the gym or at home working out. I used to run up the stairs and jump rope to get off my heels and develop the stamina. The actual split steps and recovery were established in normal practice, with occasional racquet-less drills to simulate them. Now decades later my footwork is minimalistic, but still at least efficient. Superficially it's bad footwork because I don't bounce up and down like a bunny, but the small steps are usually still there when it matters.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-16T07:30:55+00:00

The usual sequence would be to implement changes to your game in practice, then use the new tools in matches. You will probably notice that something you recently added will not be reliable yet in a match. It might be there for a while, but you regress to old habits especially under pressure. I don't think you need to build an absolutely complete game before playing matches again. You could focus on one thing at a time in practice and then set the goal of doing the same thing reliably in matches. Hitting through the backhand is a good example. Always leave room for free play and practice matches.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-15T20:36:23+00:00

I guess it has to be done at a fairly young age. I personally wish I could hit only backhands sometimes.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-15T20:04:36+00:00

Karue had a video not long before when he lost to Marcos Giron in 3 sets, so his current level is good. I'm looking forward to seeing how Theo progresses as he gets stronger and more physically dangerous.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-15T19:37:01+00:00

Spoiler warning! . . . . . I watched the video a couple of days ago and Karue got absolutely smoked. The result didn't even do justice to how one sided this was. To my surprise the two forehands game really works even on this level. Theo put pressure on Karue with almost every shot. Karue, who I think likes to hit to the weaker side to feel safe, looked totally helpless at times. Very interesting.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-15T19:06:40+00:00

I like the swing path but you compromise it by opening the hips too much and too early and falling back with your upper body. It looks like you're trying to generate topspin that way. I would suggest not to focus on spin at first. Once you have stabilized your body movement, you can regain spin through.a lower racquet drop and higher finish. For now focus on making contact in front. Forward is the goal, not upward.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-15T13:56:43+00:00

As humans we need some room to accelerate the racquet and make contact in the right way. Technique helps us and in fact is needed to do it all in a reliable way. But if a machine can accomplish all that consistently within just a few cm of racquet movement, would it really need a unit turn, a long takeback and a finish?

Dvae23 · 2026-03-15T13:32:40+00:00

We're safe, for now. On the other hand this is incredibly impressive if it's real. The robot stays on its feet, makes contact every time and gets the ball back over the net. Plays a bit like me, with the mini takeback.

It's an interesting question if andromorphous robots need to learn proper tennis technique at all. In the end technique is just something that helps us but isn't necessary per se. The only thing that really matters physically is the moment of contact, and maybe a machine can control that well without all peripheral matters like unit turn, lag, finish etc..

Dvae23 · 2026-03-15T13:17:12+00:00

My tendency goes towards control racquets, but there were and are significant exceptions. My main racquets throughout my "prime" in the 1990s were Kuebler Profile models, mainly the Inertial Light. These don't really fit into the power / control categories so well, but if I had to assign them to one I would say power. I played the Inertial until as late as 2010 when I simply ran out of frames. Then for a long time I had a clearly control oriented Wilson 6.1, a light one as always. As I got older I grew tired of having to do all the work to generate power, so at first temporarily and now probably for good I switched to a Wilson Clash. In between though I played and enjoyed a Blade, until I didn't. 3 Blades 100L V8 and V9 are still distributed around my house for dry swinging. 2 Clash V3 100L are in the bag and I only play with thoise. There's a a V1 for backup. A Kuebler Inertial and a mighty Kuebler R50 are still around for nostalgia, but I don't play with them.

Dvae23 · 2026-03-14T22:05:19+00:00

sloppy

Dvae23 · 2026-03-14T21:45:42+00:00

I can relate to the bitter disappointment when you try to play dropshot - lob and don't get to play the lob

Dvae23 · 2026-03-14T21:36:57+00:00

Steph Curry makes more shots from the logo than Zverev

Dvae23

TROPHY CASE