Making a DIY Topspin Pro

 Making a diy Topspin Pro for Tom.

The Topspin Pro is a great tool for adding topspin to tennis groundstrokes. I bought one for myself using Ryan Reidy’s affiliate link, but thought I could make a second one from stuff laying around the shop for my brother Tom (a Topspin Bro!). A paint roller handle holds a tennis ball that spins on impact; the handle can swing forward when the ball is struck. The square tube inserts into one leg (a round tube) of a tripod and can be adjusted up or down. 

Materials:

Square 1" aluminum tube 

24" PVC pipe (1.5") that fits over the aluminum tube

3-4"paint roller handle

44" ¾" PVC pipe

Epoxy (Bondo auto body filler, though really stinky, might work)

The tripod section of the stand. The main section is hollow so that it can accept the square tube holding the ball. I'm using 1.5" PVC/ABS pipe because I already have 1" aluminum square tubing that slides right in. 

Making the tripod: make a 3" long x 3" wide x 3" high cardboard box. Cut a hole on each end using the pipe as a template. The hole should be ¼" above the bottom. Cut three sides of the box in half horizontally across the holes and one side. Fold the uncut side at the cut. Mix thickened epoxy and fill the box to halfway up the holes. Use sandpaper or a file to roughen up the surface of the pipe at one end for 5".  Lay the end of the pipe in the box with 1-1.5" sticking out. Fold the uncut side of the box over the tube and tape in place.

For the holes to accommodate the other legs (¾" PVC) of the tripod you can use two coupling joints or one corner joint. Modify the joint angle by cutting and trimming. Target angle is about 45-50 degrees. Use PVC cement to glue the pieces together. 

Above: two coupling joints cut at 22.5° and glued together

I made another cut on the coupling joints to improve the fit of the tripod joint 

The joint will be imbedded in epoxy on top of the large tripod section in the box. Before doing that, use sandpaper to roughen the part of the joint that will be imbedded.

 Add thickened epoxy to near the top of the box. Press in the corner joint at the desired angle (60-65 degrees). 

Above: Imbedded in epoxy are the sockets for the 2nd and 3rd legs of the tripod. The epoxy has graphite mixed in, so its color matches the tube.

A large mass such as seen here will get very hot, and in larger masses, hot enough to combust. I removed it to the front porch, just in case.

Preparing the tripod leg for the ball holder.

That ball holder is an aluminum square tube that fits loosely in the leg.

Sand the inside of the tube at the top for 2-3" down. Tape cardboard spacers to the aluminum tube so it fits snuggly in the tripod leg. 

Next, a few layers of plastic bag go over the ball holder tube.

The  aluminum tube goes back into the large tripod leg with an inch or two of the plastic showing. Next, thickened epoxy goes into the gap between the plastic and the tripod leg. The ball holder tube should remove easily after the epoxy cures, leaving a square hole.

The small tripod legs need weight at the bottom to keep the Topspin Bro from moving after impact. For each leg I made a plastic lined paper sleeve about 8 inches long and about 1.5" square. I filled each with about 250-300g of epoxy. One collapsed into the yogurt container holding it. I advise the use of cardboard, not paper for the mold. Better yet, use a 500 ml disposable water bottle with the top cut off.

The tennis ball:  Wrap a 10" strip of paper around the ball. Mark the strip where it begins to overlap itself. Cut off and discard the part that overlaps. Hold the ends together and cut a notch as seen in the pictures below. Mark the ball with a sharpie. Holding the paper on the ball, center the end notches around the mark. Turn the ball and mark the ball through the center notch.

Above: the strip of paper wrapped around the ball and marked where the end touches.

Above: "X" marks the section to cut away

Above: I located the center by folding the strip in half and marking it. Then I cut a square hole at the fold.

Above: I notched the ends of the strip. Here it encircles a mark on the ball.

Above: This is the center mark. I marked it. To check my work, I turned the paper 90° and found the marks to land within the notches of the paper strip.

Check the locations of the marks by turning the paper 90°. Drill a ¼-5/16” hole at each mark. Find a metal or plastic tube that fits loosely over the business end of a 3-4" paint roller handle. Press the tube through the ball's holes and trim to fit the handle. Slide the ball onto the handle. It should spin easily with minimal wobble. If the handle doesn't come with an endcap to keep the ball in place, drill an undersized hole in a small flat of plastic and push onto the handle.

Noc

Attaching the ball holder to the sliding tube. Fabricating the ball holder bracket. I bent a 6” strip of steel to fit about the ball holder. Holes drilled to permit bolting onto the ball holder. A hole drilled in the handle of the ball holder and bolted to the sliding tube.

Above the ball holder bracket holds the paint roller handle. You could use a couple flat corner braces instead.

Above: flat corner brace:

Spring loading the ball holder. 3/32” shock cord, held in place passively by a bolt on both the sliding tube and there ball holder.

Height adjustment. You can make infinite adjustments with a 12 inch strip of cut inner tube wrapped and knotted around the sliding tube. It slides easily up and down, and prevents the tube from sliding into the leg.

The tripod’s detachable legs. Needed: ¾” PVC pipe and 2 coupling joints;PVC cement; drill/drill bits; 3/32” (or ⅛”) shock cord. Cement a coupling joint to the two PVC tripod legs. Drill a ⅛” (or 3/16”) hole at the top of those legs, starting at 90° to get the hole started and then pointing toward the open end of the coupling. Cut two 20” PVC pieces and insert each into the coupling joints. Start a ⅛” hole 8” below the joint and finish by pointing the drill toward joint. Cut 20”of shock cord. Push one end through the t upper hole and the other end through the lower hole. Pull the PVC leg away from the joint, exposing the ends of the shock cord. Pull the ends of the shock together, stretching the cord. Knot the ends of the cord. Move the knot to the bottom end.

Now that the legs are linked to the tripod, hitting the ball won't cause the legs to fall out.

Below, a picture of the tripod.

Below: the ball holder with shock cord attached

The completed thing

Left hip pain/surgery

I had a surgery date to have my right hip replaced. Then the left hip began to misbehave. On 5/17/2021 constant sharp pain at left hip and knee, pain level 8. Aggravated by walking. Not sensitive to touch. Hip pain, sharp and boring. moderate 5-7. both L,R hip/knee pain awaken me at night

5/21 Ecises (from Pete Egoscue book, "Painfree") done at 0645. Maybe less knee pain. Swim hip pain when backstroking. 2 ES Tylenol at 1300. Exercises not working for hip arthritis.

1500 visit to KP with J Ernst. Internal rotation of femur >>pain hip and knee. Ernst Injected hip bursa >>relief (?) with internal femur rotation. 

2200 Sharp pain in L knee, inferior and lateral to kneecap. ES Tylenol taken. 2220 Cold compress applied to knee.

June 1. Pre-op visit with Dr Darrin Trask. All set for surgery on the 9th. 

June 9. 0610 at the surgery center. Some anxiety (blood pressure of 179/ ) IV start. A few minutes and a walk to the OR.a memory of walking into the OR, getting onto the operating table breathing Oxygen through the mask. Nothing else until I woke up in the recovery room. Surgery done at about 10.  not ready for a short walk - puked up some ginger ale. Back to 30 minute naps until the anesthesia wore off. I asked the nurse about the half life of fentanyl--she reads from her phone "one minute and eighteen minutes" completely confusing me. Finally about 1600, up with the walker. To the bathroom, and then readied for discharge. Then to Lydia's basement to my cot and mattress

. I kept sips of water down and slept until morning. Two hundred micrograms of fentanyl messed me up. Will they use it again next time?.   Fentanyl for outpatient surgery? Not sufentanil, or alfentanil?  

I used the walker for a few days. The hip felt like I'd been punched in the upper thigh, like I had a Charlie horse. Going upstairs on the third post operative day, I felt like that leg was weaker or at least inhibited by a the Charlie horse.  At 5 days I went to Kaiser for PT - Tracy moved me to a cane. I was ready for that .

20 days after the surgery I felt well enough to walk and hit tennis balls, even if the left hip was causing severe pain after and sometimes during. After a few more weeks of this, I began the process of getting my left hip operated. I finally had a surgery date: October 13th.

On the morning of October 13, I went into the surgery center, told the anesthesiologist, Dr Lemoine, that I took a long time to awaken after the first hip surgery. I left the surgery center 3 hours earlier than the first time. Since I slept poorly the night before, I napped a lot. The next day, I used the walker to get around, but just a trekking pole to go upstairs.

On post-op day 4, I walked a quarter mile outside. On post-op day 5, I noticed swelling on my lateral leg and remembered the same swelling after my other hip surgery. On day 6, before getting in the shower I noticed my left calf was a little larger than my right. I squeezed it for 10 seconds and left the imprint of my thumb and index finger. The swelling in the lateral thigh and the calf comes from fluid accumulation because the surgical incision interrupts the lymphatics from that part of the legs--after a week or three the cut lymph vessels find their way back to each other or make new channels (Google "do lymphatics regenerate?"). On day 7, I elevated my leg a few times. I walked around the block - distance 0.4 mi. Somehow, the message hadn't gotten to Kaiser physical therapy that I was having surgery, so I just used the PT worksheet I'd kept from my first operation and did the exercises. 

March 2022. Life is great.I drove to Vegas.  I replaced a reverse osmosis filter in my Moms house. I replaced a dishwasher.  Moving well on the tennis courts. Too well. I pulled a hip flexor muscle and slowed down to let it heal. I played some doubles and won all my service games. 

Tennis lesson in the rain

 No. Aberdeen, Washington doesn't have a tennis pro giving lessons. My lessons come from YouTube channels: Tennis Evolution, Tennis Essentials, Fundamental Tennis, Crunch Time Coaching, et al. If I remember, I shoot video of myself hitting the ball.  

Today's goals: 

1. redeem myself for the poor serving of the doubles match last week. For that match, I changed my backswing to a round house loop, instead of the tried and true lift, using the elbow to raise the racquet to trophy position. 
2. Learn to hit the ball using my core to drive the racquet into the ball rather than using my arm and hand.  Learn to hit with a relaxed grip, so the racquet can move faster through the swing path, imparting more spin. 
3. separate the index finger, to gain more feel of the racquet. 
4. Habituate the gaze lingering on the impact area between racquet and ball, while hitting against the wall.

Today's lesson. Slice serve. Serve tips in mind, glove on the toss hand and a pogie on the racquet grip, I hit right handed to the deuce court and left handed to the ad court. Once the balls were wet, I hit them again.  If I hit the ball with spin, water flew off so it looked like I had launched a version of the planet Saturn.  I couldn't always stay focused on spinning the ball.  I struck many balls flat rather than sliced (more work required)

I found a dry covered area (back entrance of the Grays Harbor Hospital, East Campus) to hit balls against a wall. Slow swings from 20, then 30 then 40 feet away helped me develop relaxed grip hitting, initiation by core rotation, a topspin inducing swing path and a proper follow through.

Often, I can hit more easily against a wall than with another player, with whom I impulsively grip the racquet too firmly and whack hard at a ball coming in fast.  

Overall, I succeeded in my goals. Under promise and over deliver.

Tennis thoughts: spin and rackets.

 The most astonishing thing about watching the ATP and the WTA is that the players swing their rackets fast and hard, yet without sending the ball long the way we recreational players do. Every single player uses topspin to keep their balls from flying long. So, no topspin=unforced errors=short rallies.

I hit better with the right choice of racket and the right strings at the right tension. I have a Yonex ezone 98 whose grip was built from a 4 to a 5 using a heat shrink wrap. It weighed 12.3 oz. I read a glowing review by the Tennis Warehouse play-testers for a Prince Phantom Pro 100, 11.4 oz. I bought a used one. I began playing with the Prince last week--fewer balls flew long. I felt like I was getting more topspin even though my swing path was proper using the Yonex. Because the racket was less hefty, I was achieving better strokes by initiating with the core, keeping a relaxed grip, letting the racket lag, minding the swing path and angle of the strings. I think having a lighter racket was actually helping me use the its weight to hit the ball. Other factors that might explain the difference between racquets: string tension, my lack of experience with modern technique. Last fall, I bought a $34 racket from Amazon for unknown reasons. Head heavy. 10.5 Oz. I used it last week. Too light, it didn't have enough mass to provide intrinsic power.

Tons of practice swings and tons of hits with a real ball. Mindfulness.

The serve. I'm trying to learn a slice serve, which doesn't require much leg and body motion unlike a kick serve . Things to get right: the toss, the swing path, orienting the string face, a relaxed grip, rotating so as to follow through on the other side, shadow swings, simulating "throwing" the racket. Practicing with the right arm on the deuce side and the left arm on the ad side.

Nonbelievers

 

At the Safeway store in my town. Over 550,000 dead in the United States from COVID and we have this guy who just doesn't think. NO MASK.

My immediate association was pickup truck driver. I left the store with my purchase and noticed him not far behind me, on the edge of my field of vision. Sure enough. A "man-sized" truck with the tell-tale rattle of a diesel power train.

 He then shouted, "that's the second time you had your phone out!" I didn't respond and kept walking. He drove around the parking lot not far from me, as I walked around--I stopped at a silver sedan and pretended to fumble for my keys. When the diesel rattle persisted, I started to walk back to the store, and he drove off.

This is a perfect example of an entitled person.  He knew he was flouting an important public health measure. People like this are dangerous from a public health standpoint. 

First question for Mr. Pickup Truck: what is wrong with you? Second question for Mr. Pickup Truck, if you were doing nothing wrong, wouldn't you think someone looking at their phone was just checking their shopping list?