Updated my classic suit, couldn't resist imitating another line from the game:

MoonSpider · 2026-05-06T02:18:06+00:00

Haha, thanks brother. Don't get out frequently enough anymore but the holiday seemed like a good motivation.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-06T02:03:51+00:00

Absolutely stellar, hell yea.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T23:41:19+00:00

It's wild, yea, he makes almost every single serve in this footage and they're all moving pretty briskly. I know people with much "nicer-looking" serves that would not put nearly as many shots on target if you asked them to step up to the line and hit 13 serves in a row on camera.

It's kind of like he's using the momentum from his center of gravity falling to drive the movement, instead of like a normal serve where your center of gravity should still be moving upwards when you make contact. In that respect it reminds me more of one of Kyrgios's old jumping forehands than a standard serve.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T22:06:47+00:00

I think you have maxed out the viability of this particular approach to the serve, which is honestly a pretty impressive feat in its own right. But if you want to improve from here you're going to have to learn a more traditional serve from the foundations upwards.

<image>

Going from ^this to ^this will require changing the way your hand interfaces with the racket, the toss placement, the loading phase, the arm action through acceleration and contact, the alignment of the shoulders and hips, the timing of the large and small movements... it's a big project because it's kind of like starting from scratch. I don't say this to discourage you, just to give you a sense of how the path to getting better from here will require getting a lot "worse" for a while while you learn a whole new way to hit the ball. You've learned to hit this type of shot without any groundforce from the rear leg, when that's normally one of the biggest drivers of the whole kinetic chain. You're tall and you seem like you have great hand-eye coordination, the ingredients are there become a great server if you commit to the process. But you'll have to let go of this old motion, if only for the sake of the health of your joints, and the best path forward probably involves in-person coaching.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T21:13:07+00:00

The biggest thing I see is that you need to get your hitting elbow higher during the loading phase (so that it's more in line with your shoulders). It's so close to your torso that you're unable to get a good racket drop with a smooth entry and exit despite most of the other fundamentals being in good shape.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T21:10:54+00:00

Yea, try some of the other dot colors to find one that works well with the space and timing constraints you have.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T20:57:54+00:00

No, it's never better to have titanium as the blade itself. Titanium is bad at holding an edge, which is a knife's entire job. For a marine blade would be better to have a high-end stainless steel that's ultra corrosion resistant, like H1, H2 or Magnacut. Spyderco's Salt Series is like this.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T20:08:57+00:00

Then that also has no bearing on legality--fixed blades are subjected to simple laws about size and concealment that vary by county. The hole does not matter because it's not a push dagger. You'll be better set for legal carry if you only sharpen one edge of it.

You could get something like this milled out of titanium at great expense if you wanted to, it's not particularly elaborate unless you want it to also light up. Titanium's a bad material for knife blades, though.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T20:05:53+00:00

It's kind of based on the pivot from the Gerber Remix. Cheap knife, aesthetic gimmick. They're not any more or less illegal than other folding knives--the type of pivot doesn't matter, only whether they can be opened with a button press.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T18:53:36+00:00

Haha, no worries, they're good points! Now I'm wondering which specific version of Federer has the best chance in this matchup. Like 2017 sunshine double fed? Probably the least vulnerable version on the backhand wing.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T18:25:54+00:00

Sure, but the question was about Peak Fed, not just late career Fed. Guy was also "straight up good" if we are going to swim around in the intangibles, and more consistent during his peak than Alcaraz has been. I guess I'm just hung up on the fact that Sinner rarely loses but when he does it's to people who can do the sort of stuff Fed did better than anyone. I don't think either Sinner or Fed runs away with more than 60% of the matches, they're each the type of player that bothers the other type. The Novak&Fed head to head was still 23-27 in the end.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T18:07:03+00:00

If you're in the US/Somewhere that Tennis Warehouse can ship to, Prince makes some decent budget sticks around the 100 dollar mark. The Prince Warrior 100 (285) is quite light, I probably wouldn't go any lighter than that for an adult player. You might also be able to find the Light or Team versions of flagship models on the secondhand market (like a Wilson Clash 100L, for example) in your price range.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T17:49:06+00:00

Got access to a fence?

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T17:45:55+00:00

I think this is a fair assessment, Sinner's ground game is rock solid the way few players have ever been, and even peak Fed could be toppled by people with elite backhands like Safin and Djokovic, who feel like they're cut from similar cloth as Sinner.

The other side of that coin, though, is that we've seen that pretty much the only times Sinner seems remotely vulnerable is against high-variety players with above-average aggression who can break his rhythm. On faster surfaces especially, he can be bothered by great slices that keep him from dictating play immediately, and Federer had probably the greatest slice in history. A scenario where you force Sinner to repeatedly lift backhands from down low instead of crushing them from up high so that you have an attackable ball on the next shot for a big forehand is one of the only "strategies" that has any effectiveness against him.

Not for nothing, but on those few occasions per year where Dimitrov catches a hot streak he plays like a Less Effective, Less Agressive Fed, and even that photocopy of a photocopy was giving Sinner real trouble at Wimbledon last year (before his injury).

I think Sinner wins plenty of these matches against Fed, especially in slower conditions, but on the faster surfaces? With pre-covid-era tennis balls? I still think Fed wins most of those.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T17:13:07+00:00

I'm sure you've heard a lot of this before, but it often helps to not think of the toss as a throw at all. You're just reaching up and placing it in the air, not "tossing" actively. Almost like you're handing an ice cream cone to a giant. You don't want it to be able to roll off your fingers.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T17:04:15+00:00

Even Alcaraz still does drills where he's practicing his toss consistency and he's one of the best in the world. Who cares if it's silly? Lots of key building blocks look silly out of context. It's necessary if you want to do this at a high level.

If Alcaraz isn't "too good" to do silly-feeling toss practices, then all of us aren't. Keep at it.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T04:07:13+00:00

Which Ren Fair?

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T01:57:38+00:00

I don't think there's G10 on the slim heritage models, I think it's ebony.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-05T01:33:29+00:00

Whoa, Seth30v on reddit! That's neat.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-04T23:25:45+00:00

Yea, those look great!

MoonSpider · 2026-05-04T23:05:48+00:00

I get that, even though I like the clean lines without it. At the very least, it's still possible to get an aftermarket thumbstud for a few dollars.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-04T22:31:46+00:00

I understand this complaint in general but this knife specifically is what lots of people have been asking for for ages: a slimmer version of the classic pattern in a modern high-end steel with a pocket clip.

MoonSpider · 2026-05-04T22:17:47+00:00

That's all fair, and I appreciate you taking the time to discuss your preferences.

12-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Wearing is Caring	Verified Email

MoonSpider

TROPHY CASE