TENNIS

Shannon News, 2 March 1928, Page 3

TENNIS

PROPER COURT POSITION.

(BY RENE LACOSTE.)

Nothing marks more definitely the difference between the expert and the “rabbit” than position on the court. Watch Coehet, Johnston and Vincent Richards, for example, and you will see that whether . serving, returning service, driving, volleying or smashing, they are always in exactly the right place. They seem able to reach the fastest shots without apparent effort, and they are usually in exactly the place to which the ball is returned. Most players play from the position from which they can roach the ball with the least effort and remain in that position until they know where the return will come. They are wrong. The same stroke that from one position would be a kill, .from another may be a failure. Not only have you" to learn from where to play the ball, but also to what point you should return in readiness for the next stroke. The Service and the Return.

There is no doubt about the best position from which to serve. All*the experts serve from a point as close to the centre of the base line as can be maintained without violation of the “foot-fault” rule. Serving from the corner across the court may make your service harder to reach, but if your opponent does reach it and returns it fast, to the opposite corner, you will be helpless. * ’ Directly you have played your service, you must make up your mind whether "you will go forward to volley, ing position or. stay back in driving position. Most players only follow very strong deliveries., otherwise remaining near the centre of the baseline or a few feet behind it. When you are returning service, you must naturally stay in the opposite half of the court to that of the server, and you should stand on the imaginary line "which divides the angle between the two utmost limits of service. If the server moves from the centre towards the corner, that imaginary fine also moves and you must move with it. Most players return service from around the base-line, either just behind it, like Tilden, or slightly in front, of it, like Williams and Coehet. Just as after serving, so after returning the service you must instantly make up your mind whether to go forward or to stay back. If the service has forced you out of the court, it will be useless to try to reach the net as you will not have time to reach a good central position. On the other hand, if you have time to reach a close" position and when you have played a very strong return, you should always come forward. Coehet follows most of his returns of service to the net; staying well inside the court and striking* the ball on the rise, he follows quickly to a position close to the net and then hits- most of his opponent’s returns hard enough to kill them. When the ball is in play you may be obliged to reach shots in any part of the court. Above all, you must run hard to come close to the trajectory of the coming ball, whether you are going to strike it with a volley shot before its bounce or with a groundstroke after its bounce. One of these ’ two strokes you must choose; the stroke between them, a low volley or a half volley played just before or just after the bounce, you must always try to avoid. Indeed, the part of the court where such strokes are played, between the base-line and the sbrviccline, should be regarded as forbidden ground in which you must not go to play the ball. Two Schools of Thought.

Tilden, a true base-liner, stays most of the time far beliiud the base-line, but most of the great players of today, Johnston, t Coehct and Richards for example, stay closer to it for their drives. It is true that if you stay far back you will have more time for the playing and the timing of your shots, but on the other hand the ball will have further to travel and so your opponent will have more time also/ There are, you see, two schools of thought about the best position on the base-line for driving; but there is only one rule about the best position at the net for volleying. You must come as close as you can without being so close that you are helplessly lobbed. Whether you are at the net or in the back of the court, you must remember that a defensive shot from the centre is safer than one from the side, for the centre position loaves less of your court open for a return. Therefore the further you arc from the centre line, the harder, the more aggressively, you must hit. Moreover, a fast, shot from the side-line or even from beyond it, will give your opponent greater difficulty than one frdm the centre. When you are out of position, try to copy Tilden in terrific, desperate drives down to the corner. ' But never forget that, unless you are covering a weak position or anticipating your opponents’ shot, you must always get away from the side-line and back to the centre-line as quickly as possible. Anticipation, however, is some times necessary. When your opponent can play hard either to the right or the left, you must realise that from the centre you cannot possibly guard both sides; you must therefore take your chance and go to one or the other. Half-Volleys.

I have warned you against the “forbidden ground” between the serviceline and the base-line. Sometimes, however, to reach a short ball or to kill a soft return, you will be forced into it and compelled, to play a half-volley.

This is a ground stroke in which the ball is struck very low just after it touches the ground. It is less decisive than a volley because it is played from further and lower, and it is less safe than a drive because it is impossible to watch the ball for the fraction of a second between its bounce and the impact, of the racquet. If the ball bounces badly or carries a certain amount of spin, vour half-vol-leying will be ruined. Technically, a half-volley is a. groundstrokc played on a low* hall. To play it, you must shorten your swing, strike the ball on its top,’ never trying to undercut, avoid follow through and rely for speed on the reaction of the strings rather than on swing. Williams, Cochet and Richards often surprise their opponents with marvellously effortless and decisive half-volleys; nevertheless if they had come forward a few more stops they could have killed the ball decisively, and if they had gone back a few steps they could have driven it more safely. Half-volleying is dangerous and rarely unavoidable. Most of the time a safer and better shot could be substituted for it and achieve as good a result. Nevertheless, you must know how to half-volley. But do not play that stroke deliberately.