TENNIS

Shannon News, 20 March 1928, Page 3

TENNIS

KEEP INCREASING EFFICIENCY.

(By Rene Lacoste)

You can play lawn tennis on grass, on wood, on sand (en tout cas), on asphalt, on concrete, and on many other surfaces. Eacli produces different play. Not only that, but the same surface in different atmospheres will make for different play. The game will.be changed by different balls, by playing with a new racquet. Playing the same strokes, the external conditions will make them different in their effect on pace and speed, in the bounce of the ball, in spin. And it is in that constant variety that lies the spice of the game. CHOICE OF RACQUETS.

It is always difficult to choose" a racquet which exactly suits your physical capabilities, your - strokes, the speed, pace and.spin which you want to impart to tiie ball. There are so many things to consideit —the handle, . the strings, thfe weight, and so on. The size of the handle is a flatter merely for your personal convenience. Have it neither too large nor too small. Personally, I like a rather large handle, cut. nearly square. A large handle is good for hard hitting, but a small one is better to get accuracy and for motions of wrist. The weight of the racquet must be considered more carefully. A heavy racquet, particularly with the weight in the head, will add momentum to your stroke, as it does to that of Gobert and Johnston.

Oil the other hand, you will find a heavy racquet tiring to the arm and inclined to make your arm motions slower—you will be able to swing a lighter racquet more easily and more quickly in volleying and in playing very fast strokes. Some very strong players, who could use a very heavy racquet without tiring, prefer to play with a light racquet with its \veight in the handle, on the ground that what'they lose in power they gain in time.' Patterson, a wonderful athlete-who is nevertheless rather slow, uses a very light racquet, and Tilden also uses one that is not heavy. ‘ ‘ STRING THEAI TIGHTLY. ’ ’ You must see to the stringing of your racquet, finding the degree of tightness Vhich best joins good control with speed. A racquet . very tightly strung with thick gut will make y<*ur strokes slower —on the other hand, loose stringing will sacrifice control and—if it is very loose—speed also. The best racquets are strung very tightly, but with very fine gut. You must adapt this question of stringing to your own play: if you rely on your muscles and the speed of your swing, vou will need tight'strings, but if you pbiy with a shorter swing and with your wrist, the strings should be looser. The rougher the striking surface, the more spin you will get, and a rough surface means comparatively loose strings. Then again, the heat of the day will loosen the strings, while cold will tighten them. - BALLS AND COURTS.

To-day there are but slight differ- V eiices in the various kinds of balls.' Those of England, France and America are almost identical. In the same conditions they will fly and bounce in the same wav: but the bounce will be altered by surface and by atmosphere. On a hot day the ball seems much lighter on the racquet and bounces much higher than when it is cold. A few degrees on the thermometer will make an appreciable change in two identical balls—and indeed many unexpected defeats have resulted from this effect on the balls of a sudden change of temperature. I have often found that after playing in the heat with success, rain has fallen in the night and the low'bouncing of the balls has upset my timing. The better you arc and the more accurate your play, the more you will feel accustomed to certain weather conditions and the more a sudden change will affect your play. The weather of course will have less effect on a covered court. Even there, however, the bounce of the ball can be affected. I remember that many times, after playing well in covered tournaments, I have gone to pieces in the final —the reason being that the ball bounced differently owing to the rise in temperature, which resulted from the presence of a much larger crowd at the finals than at any other matchos» Of three surfaces of play, wood, turf and sand, wood is the fastest, the ball there sliding at terrific spe<*d; turf comes next, the ball bouncing low and short and allowing the players very little time to reach it; and the "sand” hard courts coming last with a ball that bounces higher and more vertically, giving the players more time. SPEED AND PACE. Most authorities distinguish between the speed of the ball through the air and its pace after the bounce. I think that if two balls, no matter how they have been struck, travel through the air with the same speed and carry the same spin, and bounce on the same surface, they will bounce in the same way with the same "pace.” The difference in bounce of equal balls comes rather from difference of speeds. Generally speaking, a straight shot is not onlyfastest in the air, but also fastest after its bounce.

Spin always lessens speed and pace, but not always in the same way. Top spin lessens pace -'more than speed, while undercutting lessens speed more than pace. This is simply because top spin is not so much destroyed by the impact with the ground. You must learn both to use spin and to.meet it. Just as you get the most spin off a rough racquet surface, so you will also get more accentuated spin on a roughened surface, speed being absorbed and the spin appearing in a change of direction. When you are playing on wood, hit hard and

straight, for spin, while it will not alter the bounce, will sacrifice speed and pace. On turf, however, you should use spin, varying your straight strokes with it. On, sand, which is a smoother surface than turf, but rougher . than wood, you should use top spin to increase the height of the bounce, rather than undercut. Generally speaking, straight strokes are the best on every surface, but for variation you should use under cut spin on grass and top spin on hard courts. Yet on every kind of surface, spin is necessary in service for the sake of control. The American slice service is chiefly effective on grass. Finally, although changing conditions of play are worrying and. difficult, you, may appreciate that it is the test of the really great player to be able to triumph over that worry, over those difficulties. lie has not only to" fight difficulties but always to increase the efficiency of his play.