TENNIS

Shannon News, 13 January 1928, Page 3

TENNIS

THE GAME AND HOW TO PLAY IT.

(BY RENE LACOSTE)

A series of articles commences in this issue, on the art of lawn tennis, written by the famous French player, Lacoste, who will be in action at Miramar on January 18th and 19th.

SPEED AND SPIN IN SERVICE.

The first time you play against a champion you are certain to be surprised at the speed of his service, and you will wonder how you could ever 'acquire a service of anything like equal force. This speed in service—speed like that of Patterson—results above everything else from serving, not with the strength only of the arm, but, with the body. It is the result of the combined action of arm muscles, shoulder rotation, back muscles, body weight and wrist. You must remember first that you must not lose control of your swing, although at the same time you must Waste no chance of putting speed into the stroke. You must therefore start, your swing slowly (as a golfer does), increase its speed gradually, and bring the speed to its maximum only just before the moment of impact. Your wrist must be taut. If you allow it to be loose and 1 weak you will have a tendency—one which is particularly common with girls—to strike the bottom of the ball instead of its top; and if you strike the bottom of the ball you will not be hitting it as high as you can, which is always essential. In the swing you will follow the actions already described, and you will find that your wrist will act like a spring in controlling the position of the head of the racquet.

But, important as are these details of action, they are certainly no more important than the fact thai you must serve with, the whole of your body instead of merely with your arm.

In the back swing your back is bent and your shoulder depressed towards the left; in the forward swing your back straightcivs and your shoulder comes up and forward to the right. Paterson finds his power in his back. The pace of Johnston's service comes from shoulder rotation. With.both ot them the-weight "of the body, at the beginning of the swing, rests on the back foot and passes forward on to the impact. Similarly, if you watch the service of Richards or Gobert, you will &ee them lean so far forward that if they missed the ball they would surely lose their balance. The Follow-through.—lf you neglect this, or even partially neglect it, your stroke will show less power. The speed of the racquet is bound to be lessened just before the impact if the stroke is meant to end at that point of impact. Not only that, but the follow-through will leave you in the correct position for following your shot to the net, with the result that you will reach the net sooner. Imitate Brugnon and MacLaughlin in the Avay in which they shift the weight of their, bodies and follow through their strokes so perfectly that to maintain equilibrium they are .bound to bring the first step towards following the ball. Throwing Up the Ball.—Von Keluling throws his ball very high and strikes it while it. is falling. I think this is a'mistake. It is much better to know exactly how far above your head you cin reach in the service stroke, and to throw the ball exactly to that point, so that you can hit it when it is neither rising nor falling, but as nearly as possible still. Slow motion* pictures prove that most experts start to throw up the ball with the left hand at the exact moment when the right hand begins the swing, and that the ball leaves tho left hand at the height or the shoulder. It has then to reach the top of its flight in eexactly the time that the right arm is taking to complete the swing. You will be able to hit the ball with the greatest freedom if you throw it exactly over your head. In the straight services of Dccugis and Williams the ball is struck when it is practically over the server's right ear; it is struck full on its back and the follow-through goes straight behind the ball, but rather over it. Spin in Service.—Most experts, like Tilden and Patterson, use the straight service as a first delivery, while many including Williams, Cochet, Anderson and Bototra, hardly use any twist on the second ball. On the other hand, the best, servers o± -/ to-day—Patterson Tilden, Richards and Brugnon—do usa spin on the second ball, and if you want to be sure of sending a reliable second delivery you must kr.ow how to impart it. ... Of the two great varieties of twist service, the American slice service is probably more useful and reliable, as well as'less tiring, than the American twist service. It is this that Johnston uses with great success to make up for his lack of strength. To play this service you must hold the racquet asfor the straight service, but throw the ball more to the right, over your right shoulder; then, with the head of the racquet depressed slightly forwards and downwards, strike the ball from left to right, on the upper part of its right side —that is to say, at the winch, if it were not round, would be its top right hand corner. Do not try to impart this spin so much by wrist action as by shoulder rotation. Finally, follow the stroke through over the ball towards the right. In this service you must not seek increased speed by hurrying your swing; you should get it Tather by increased shoulder rotation and follow-through. The chief alternative to this is the

American twist service, which is used on the second ball invariably by Patterson and often by Tilden and Brug lion. ■

In this also you must hold the racquet as for the straight service, and the head of the jacquet must be depressed; but now you must throw the ball over your left shoulder and strike it still on its top and from left to right, but on its left side. Patterson is the best exponent of this service. His follow-through passes over the left side of the ball, the racquet finally descending well on the player's right, with the striking surface turned towards the ground. Here f.peed comes from the bending of the back and spin from the wrist. It is a veiy tiring action.

It is essentia] that you should learn the straight service, the American slice and the American twist. There are also, of course, the reverse twist and the American reverse twist, which are entirely different from the others, both in footwork and in the completion of the swing. They are effective and can worry an inexperienced player, 'but they do not equal the more orthodox varieties either in aggressiveness or in reliability, they aie more tiring and'it is less easy tofollow them to the net. On the whole, it is more than- doubtful whether they are worth .the trouble that it takea to masterijhom.