LAWN TENNIS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1921, Page 11

LAWN TENNIS.

HOW TO PLAY TENNIS. (By William T. Tilden, Champion of the World.) An important phase of the question of court position is generalship on the court. It involves: First—Position. Second—The other man’s game. Third—Headwork and selection of the 1 style of game you play. Position will be explained at length in the next article. Whenever possible, place the other man in a position that he has to play a shot that he does not like, while you strive continually for the attacking position of the net.

The relation to you of the other man’s game.

Never play the other man’s unless it happens to be your own natural style. There are, generally speaking, the following styles of tennis:

First—The net game: Your opponent •forces the net at all times, follows his service in, and relies on beating you himself, not on your beating yourself. To meet this game rely on: (a) Taking the net yourself whenever possible, thus making your opponent play from a position he dislikes, the back court. Always follow your service to the net.

(b) Hit a sharp, chopping, slow ground stroke at the man’s feet as he comes in, and play generally for the side lines. Do not try to pass clean on every shot, but make him roach and trust to his missing as many as he kills.

Do not rely on speed, since the faster a shot is driven the easier it is to vol-

The real reason Johnston’s game was so effective against both Williams and McLoughlin’s is that they relied on speed instead of hitting slow drop shots at his foot when he played mid-court. (e) When pressed and out of position. lob, and lob high and deep. It is better to lob out and have your opponent chase it than lob short and have him murder it, since it gives him confidence to hit successful overheads. Second—The back court driving game is the second style of plav. TACTICS. There are many ways of meeting this game. (a) You can play him at his own game and drive from the back court. This is not a good plan unless it is your natural game.

(b) You may chop and relv on his missing, owing to the spin ‘on your shot. This is Wallace Johnson’s and Joe Armstrong’s method of beating this game, although Armstrong also comes to the net.

(c) You can drop short shots, and jvhen your opponent is drawn out of his favorite position, either lob or drive deep, thus catching him retreating, an almost fatal blunder for any man. (d) And by far the best method is to take the attack in your own hands and go to the net whenever possible and volley oft short. This will give no chance to your opponent to make his favor. Ic ground stroke, and will put you in the most advantageous position in the court. Let all young players develop the net game rapidly as 'possible, no matter how often they get beaten in the practice while doing it. Third—-The chop stroke back-court game. The same remarks which apply to the ground stroke game, just analysed here, except that it is more imperative to go to the net, since the chop is a hard stroke to successfully play from the hack court. Fourth-TJw “pat-ball" or steady game. J When meeting a man who plays this most exasperating style of tennis, start out with two thoughts: (a) I wont play his game. . (b) t will attack all the time. Never let a steady player put you on the defensive. Hit consistently hard all the time, and go to the net whenever possible. Keep the game moving as rapidly as possible, and mix your shots as often as is practicable. “FORCE THE OTHER MAN.” The notable examples of this style of games are Norman Swayne, Stanley Pearson, Stanley Rogers, “and L. C. Wister. These men usually allow the other man to beat himself, and seldom really put the finishing punch in any match. Thus we see that wo must either force the other man to play our game T?, 8 should be done whenever possible —or adapt our game to meet the style oi the other man. Therefore it is a good thing to learn as many different strokes as possible, and learn to mix them as easily as possible. In the foregoing it has been taken for granted a man could vary his game. In this we will take it for granted' th«at wo have a brain and then let us use it. It is hard work, rapid thinking, and quick judgment which determine the shot to be played when you have the choice of two or more.

In general play the shot that comes natural when all you need is to get the ball back, but whenever you are out of position and the other man is in. hit for the unusual and unexpected shot, and since, if you make it, you score one for yourself and take a point away from your opponent that he is counting on. which always has a discouraging effect on him, while if you play the obvious shot you not only waste method, but give the other man an opportunity to make a kill which gives him more confidence. If you must lose a point, lose it trying for it and not just offering it up as a sacrifice. POINTS TO REMEMBER. The following points are well to bear in mind. First—Make the other man run whenever possible. Second—Shoot for his backhand as a rule, since that is the weak spot of most game'. Third -Aim to make the other man play from a position he does not. wish to. or a shot ho is not used to. Fourth —Always consider the psychological effect of all shots, oven the ones yon miss. Remember that if yon can get the other man watching for the unexpected and paying attention to your game instead of his own, you have destroyed his attacking, since that depends solely on complete concentration on the person’s own game who is attacking. Fifth —As far as possible never throw away easy points by trying for the spectacular kill or shot. It counts too much against vou in the psychology of

time will often give the other man sufilcient confidence to pull the match out of the fire while you arc still wondering just why you missed that shot. There are certain places in the court where no man can play correctly. We now come to the last of the court essentials of n successful tennis game, and it is one that is more capable of individual interpretation and development than any other. Every man has a pet tneory about which part of the court to play in, and, accordingly, tries out his theory; but if ha is honest with himself he is usually fpreed to admit that there arc certain places in the court where no man can play successfully. There are others that no man should try to play, and there are a few that any man can play. These are the things we must decide in taking up court positions: IMPOSSIBLE PLACES. First, where are the impossible places The answer is short and concise. Any place from two feet inside the base line (the back line) to about six feet inside the server’s line. The reason for this seeming startling statement is simply that no man can continuously score off a shot placed at his feet which he must play on a pick-up, or in tennis slang, a “trap shot.” If a man makes a successful return of the pick-up at all it is apt to be a short, high lift which his opponent can run in and kill. Now, it is very hard to put a sufficient drop on a bail to make it bounce inside the service line by more than a few feet, especially if the shot, has any speed. Therefore, if you come in beyond the service line a few leet you can meet the ball on the full and volley it instead of having to trap it, as you would if you were playing “in the blank,” as the distance between the service line and base line is sometimes termed. It can easily be seen from this explanation that any position which makes it necessary to score the ball on a pick-up is faulty and open to an attack. If in playing back court you find yourself drawn in to a few feet inside the base line for a short shot, do not remain there, as the next deep shot will come at your feet and force you to play a weak shot or a trap shot. Notwithstanding the success of William S. Johnston in playing hig sensible volley game in the National.

NEARER PLAY’ MID-COURT. To play mid-court will open your defence to the almost sure attack of the shot at your -feet. Your opponent won’t best you yon will '"best yourself if you try it. Remember that the midcourt game has only once proved successful, and it took a marvel of the game from the back court to even give it a chance of success. Johnston is really better from the last court than he is from mid-court. That explains why lie can work his way into his fourth position. Those three positions mentioned take in the places a. man cannot play successfully, and the ones he should not try to play for that reason. A shot to ‘be made in correct position, should not ‘be hurried, and the player should be on top of the ball when it reaches him, not chasing it as it passes him. Th© back-court position should be about from two to four feet, back o-f the base line, and little, on the side of the centre of the court if the ball is in play. In other words, be closer to the straight return from your opponent than the cross-court, since, first, it has a shorter distance to travel in your court and therefore gives you less time to cover it; and. second, it will 'be ft faster shot on the average than th© cross-court. “THE WORST FORM.” By playing behind the base line in this manner one can run in on a shot and meet it, while one is never forced to run back, which is so disconcerting to correct forwards.

The worst form of bad position found in young players is a tendency to try to cover up the weak point of their game, the backhand, by running around the shot and playing forehand. The result of this is easily seen. The evils are threefold:

First: It will never build up or strengthen the backhand, as it tends to rob one of confidence and gives one no practice on the shot.

Second: It means that the player is going out of court towards the backhand side line, and cannot recover often to get back in position to cover the next shot. It gives the opponent a big opening on either side. Third: It ruins good footwork and often makes a player run into the bail itself and have no chance df serving at it.

Tlius we find that good footwork depends on correct position to a great 1 extent. In playing a back-court game, always be able to run in on a ball, never back from it. In playing net the question of position is twofold: First: How close to the net? Second: In which part of the court parallel to the net shall a man play? VOLLEYING A DRIVE. The first is determined Iby the height of the player, and varies from six to ten feet from the net. The taller the player, the closer he can afford to go. Still, Jo not let the shorter men ami boys get in the habit of staying back, or of their coming in and playing deep and getting caught on their feet. Always be close enough to the net to volley a drive on the full and not have to trap it. As regards the question of position across the court, in playing net it can be summed up as follows: First: Cover the straight return down the line. Second: Look for the cross-court shot. In other words, when you follow your shot in, follow the genera] lino of the ball and stay closer to the side line the ball is near than the centre. The wider you shoot to the side line the closer to that line you go. always closing the shot down" that line. Remember that the deeper the shot the harder it is to pass you, so follow’ in on your deep shots and stay back on the short ones. 1 Romem'ber, too. that the faster shot is the straight shot, and a fast, sharp cross-court shot will often go out. So in summing up net. play wo can say: First: Cover the straight shot, which will be fast, and keep an eye open for the cross-shot. Second: Go in on the deep shot: stay back on the short. Third: Play about, six to twelve feel from the net, according to your height and the drop on your opponent’s shot.