The Art of Lawn Tennis

ices and experts in the tennis world. I am striving to interest the student of the game by a

and speak of certain matters which ar

inner who seeks really to succeed. It is a saving in

heavy white socks, and rubber-soled shoes form the accepted dress for tennis. Do not appear on the courts in dark clothes, as

uet upon any player. All the standard makes are excellent. It is in weight, balance, and size of handle th

that fits comfortably in the hand. Do not use too small a handle or too light a racquet, as it is apt to turn in the hand. I recommend a handle of 5 1/4 to 5 3/8 inches at the grip. Do not use a racquet you do not like merely because your best friend advises it. It

o use good tennis balls, as a regular bounce is a great aid

e leading players and strive to copy their strokes. Read all the tennis instruction books you can find. They are a great assistance. I shall

than can ever be learned in actual play. I do not mean miss opportunities to play. Far from it. Play whenever

over for weeks unsuccessfully will suddenly come to you when least expected. Ten

ion, excitement, exercise, and pure enjoyment to the man who is tied hard and fast to his business until late afternoon. Age is not a drawback. Vincent Richards held the National Doubles Championship of America at fifteen, while William A. Larned won the si

No branch of sport sent more men to the colours from every country in the world than tenni

game worth playing and playing well. It deserves your best

amply repaid for all the time spent in analysing th

es are not yet formed. At least once every season I go back to first prin

me ten years of tournament tennis, I believe the following orde

tration o

he eye on

rk and wei

Str

rt pos

neralship o

is psyc

to be able to do this a player must not be hampered by a glaring weakness in the fundamentals of his own game, or he will be so occupied trying to hide it that he will have no time to worry his opponent. The fundamental weakness of Gerald Patterson's backhand stroke is so apparent that any player

importance of such first pri

ENTR

nditions of play or the noises in the gallery often confuse and bewilder experienced match-players playing under new surroundings. Complete concentration on the matter in hand is the only cure for a wandering mind, and the sooner the lesson is learned the more rapid the improvement of the player. An amusing example, to all but the player affected, occurred at the finals of the Delaware State Singles Championship at Wilmington. I was playing Joseph J. Armstrong. The Champion

every point in the game and, finally, every shot in the point. A set is merely a congl

ou do not at all times know the score and play to it. I mean both point score and game score. In my explanation of match play in a later chapter I am going into a detailed account of playing to the score. It is as vital in tennis as it is in bridge, and all bridge p

of all ball games, whether tennis, golf

R EYE ON

tal it is that the eye must be kept on t

andard of play rises the percentage of errors drops until, in the average high-class tournament

e too greatly emphasized. Every time you put the ball ba

riking it. Fully 80 per cent of all errors are caused by taking the eye from the ball in the last one-fifth of a second of its fligh

ound, or a clear moving object and a blurred background. Both suggest speed, but only one is a good picture of the object one attempted to photograph. In the first case the camera eye was focused on the background and not on the object, while in the second, which produced the result desired, the camera eye was f

round. You desire to hit the ball cleanly, therefore do not look at the other factors concerned, but concentrate

is, or how much court I have to

osition. As to your opponent, it makes little difference about his position, because it is determined by the shot you are striving to return. Where he will be I will strive to explain in my chapter on court position; but his whereabouts are known

chance of making a good A 1 2 3 4 B ---------------- return at B is five times as great as if he took his eye off the ball at a point 4, or 4/5 of a second of its flight. Likewise it is ten

imes. He judges the flight of the ball some 10 feet away, and never really sees it again until he has hit it (if he does). A slight deflection caused by the win

t that nothing would worry me, until three years ago at the American Championships, when I was playing T. R. Pell. A press- camera man eluded the watchful eye of the officials, and unobtrusively seated himself close to our sideline to acquire some action pictures. Pell angled sharply by to my backhand, and I ran at my hardest for the shot, eyes fixed solely on the ball. I hauled off to hit it a mighty drive, which would have probably

TWORK, AN

t all strokes should grow. In explaining the various forms of stroke and footwork

lifornian grip as typified by Maurice E. M'Loughlin, Willis, E. Davis, and, to a slightly modified degree, W. M. Johnston, the American c

very successful in the past. Yet the broken line of the arm and hand

owards the ground and the face perpendicular, the handle towards the body, and "shake hands" with it, just as if you were greeting a friend. The handle settled comfortably and nat

e handle, bringing the hand on top of the handle and the

grip exactly, but model your natural grip as closely as possible on

d, the next question is the position of th

nd shots to the right foot as R or "back" foot, and to the left as L

the ball. The weight should always travel forward. It should pass from the back foot to the front foot at the moment of striking the ball. N

r. "Pace" is the momentum with which it comes off the ground. Pace is weight. It is the "sting" the ball carries when it

"pace" are such men

d among the younger p

cote, W. M. Johnston

harles S.

Harold Throckmorton and several o

both "speed" and "pace."

learning stro

ild up a net attack unless you have the ground stroke to open the way. Nor can you meet a

e Ser

ey and Over

ley and other incidenta