[soneca]

“You know how when you hit a tennis ball, it bounces back up and then simultaneously you swing the racket? YC is just getting to this point,” he added. “If you think [my role] is an influential position now, just wait a couple years and see what Sam does.”

No, i don't know. Actually I have no idea what this analogy was supposed to mean, but I am very optimistic about how YC can innovate itself with Sam as president.

I really liked the university concept, with YC as a place that creates knowledge and innovation for the society. I imagine YC being less about a tough funnel that leads to big hits on monetary valuations and more of a innovation powerhouse on different fields (not just different markets).

Best of luck to Sam.

[Denzel]

I think, this is just a guess, he's referring to when a person lobs the ball over the net to you and it hits the ground first before coming back up; you have to time your stroke perfectly to hit it back or risk missing the ball on the come-up. [1] So it's my belief that he's saying YC has been rising all this time, and with the right swing of the racket, they will hit it out of the park (tennis court?). Needless to say it's a confusing analogy. :)

Anywho congratulations to Sam, I can't wait to see what he does!

[1] http://youtu.be/MaN98ZkGXSs?t=4s : The first few seconds of this video might help visualize it.

[rahij]

Yep, it's called a half volley, you need to hit when you are too close to the ball. So., you need to swing the racquet forward even while it's bouncing, as opposed to a later swing in case of a regular length ball.

[pseut]

Anticipation and timing.