HOW TO PLAY TENNIS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2351, 5 November 1921, Page 4

HOW TO PLAY TENNIS.

BEST METHOD OF MAKING A FOREHAND DRIVE DESCRIBED.

Bv William T. Tilden, Champion of the World. (From the Sydney Referee.) In summing lip the uses the different strokes should be put to, they can be divided into two general classes, although certain defensive or safe strikes may come under the head of offensive, or jointly both. First. —The offensive or attacking stroke. (1) The volley. (2) The overhead. (3) The service. (4) Usually the drive or ground stroke, either forehand or backhand. (5) Occasionally the chop stroke. Second. —The defensive. (1) The lob. (2) Usually the chop stroke. (3) Occasionally the drive. Never use your net game defensively; it must always be the attacking point. With this classification of strokes in mind, we will turn to Ihe forehand drive, or ground stroke. This is the shot which is so often miscalled the Lawford. It is not the Lavvford stroke, and should be developed along totally different lines. We will consider this first from the attacking or offensive attitude. This stroke should be the foundation of every back-court game. Tt, must have: (1) Direction. (2) Length (distance into the opponent’s court). (3) Pace (tennis slang for speed). (4) Top (the spin which .causes the ball to drop holds it in court). Direction comes from footwork; length, from experience; pace, from the swing of the arm in relation to footwork; top is pure racquet work. Repeating from a previous article, every ground stroke is made up of three parts in one swing. (1) Speed, or pace, that part• of the swing made behind your body. (2) Direction and length combined made even with your body, the middle of your swing. (3) Top, made just in front of your body, flic end of your swing. The racquet should swing with very nearly a Hat face —that is, no cut on the ball —and should meet the ball just about Ihe top of the bound, and as the ball starts to fall. The shot should be made with the weight swinging into it at moment of meeting the ball, from the right (or back) foot on to the left (or front) foot. Just as the ball leaves the face of the racquet lei the racquet lean oyer the ball, thus imparting the top. Do not try to put drop on a. tennis ball by either undercutting it, which will cause it to rise, or by an excessive drop imparted by swinging sharply up on it and hitting it a glancing blow. Meet the ball fair with the full face of the racquet, and put your stop on at the end of the shot by “laying over” the ball, as the expressiongoes. Thus your whole weight is hack of the shot, yet it loses no direction, since yon can hit either side by changing the position of your feet. LOOK ON FEET AS RUDDER. Relations between footwork, racquet, and direction of shot will be much more closely understood it one looks on their feet as the rudder which directs the shot and the shot travels along a line determined by the feet. To drive down tin! line from the lirsi, or right-hand court, the feel should be parallel to the line, with left fool about Id to 18 inches ahead of the right. The racquet travels with flat face into the ball at the crest of its bounce, and as it meets the weight shifts from the right fool, into the shot, onto the left, and the top is put on the drive. For the cross-court stroke the same rules hold equally true, except the left foot is advanced nearer the side line and across the right, and there is more pull to your shot and not quite so much speed. From the second or left court the rules for hitting down the line hold exactly as they do for the right court as regards footwork, weight, and racquet, but to hit cross-court from the left, imagine a line drawn from your backhand baseline corner to his backhand baseline corner diagonally across the court, and then apply i the rules for footwork given, namely. feet should be parallel to it, while the toes should make right angle with it.

TO SUM UP

Do not try and change the style of your forehand stroke to hit to different parts of the court. Keep the stroke the same, but vary your court work length and pace. All this has been in the light of the forehand drive as an offensive stroke. Thus, to sum up:

First. —Regulate footwork to determine direction. Second. —Use consistently even, fast pace. Third. —Do not change style of stroke as direction changes. As a defensive stroke, the driver needs comparatively little explanation, since it should not often be used in that manner.

When ,so using it, lesson your pace, and in general merely play it as deep as possible and to your opponent’s bad hand. That policy, if carried out consistently, amounts at times almost to an attack, since a deep shot is always hard to do much with.