The Use Of The Cut In Tennis

Chronicle (Levin), 4 November 1948, Page 8

The Use Of The Cut In Tennis

In the last tennis notes the importance of hitting the ball hard and following through was emphasised. What exactly is meant by following through? It means that the racquet must not jab at the ball, but must carry on in the direction in which the ball is meant to travel. This does not rule out a cut, which, if skilfully done, may have just as great an effort as a full drive, that is it may give the opponent something he cannot reach. Cutting should be resorted to only where a cut ball will force the opponent into an error, or force him to return a weak shot which can be easily " dealt with. Many players put a little cut on the drive, especially on the backhand. This, although sound since the ball will not rise quite so high, is not usualy so fast as a ball hit with over-spin. An over-spun ball is one hit with the racquet facing _ slightly downwards. A ball hit this way is usually taken either at the top of the bounce or on the rise. From the top of the bounce, a ball hit with an over-spin should just clear the top of the net, but should have tremendous pace after it has reached the ground. Its skid off the ground is accelerated by _ the over-spin. This, by the way, is an answer to those who say a cricket ball may gain speed from hitting the gfound. It can, but only if the bowler can give it over-spin, a physical feat that seems to the writer to be almost impossible.