MATCH AND TOURNAMENT PLAY
When you have acquired a certain knowledge of the game and can play the
various strokes in the correct way, then, as I have said, tournament and
match play is the very best method of improvement. I would emphasize the
need for a certain standard of efficiency, because I am convinced that
at the present time there are too many weak players competing at open
meetings. The style of these players has only to be watched to be
condemned, and their knowledge of the game is hopelessly limited.
Invariably making strokes in a wrong way, tournament play only serves to
consolidate weaknesses and check advance.
But assuming you have practised on sound lines and are fit to take part
in what, after all, should be a test of trained skill, tournaments will
then be a great help to you. You will more often than not play against
better players than yourself--an advantage denied you in practice--and
against all varieties of attack and defence. You have the chance of
watching first-class matches and learning at first hand how the
different strokes should be played. You should be careful, however, to
limit the number of your tournaments, especially when the excitement and
strain are new to you; otherwise you will do much more harm than good. I
am convinced that, generally speaking, players attend too many meetings.
Instead of their play improving, it may deteriorate. They run the
fearful risk of staleness--one of the greatest dangers to a lawn tennis
player--and they become physically worn out. As soon as you find you are
losing interest in the game, when it becomes an effort to go into court,
give the game a rest. It is clear you have overdone it and need a
period of recuperation. One or two tournaments at a time, and then a
rest to practise the new strokes and tactical moves you have learnt and
seen, would, I feel sure, be much more helpful to your game than
tournament touring, week-in and week-out.
Some people advise you to dismiss the coming match entirely from your
mind before going into court. Personally I find this physically
impossible, and I do not commend the suggestion. I think it is much
better to study your opponent's game before pitting your own against it.
Many matches may be lost while you are finding out the right line of
attack. Therefore I advise you to think about the match you are going to
play. Mentally rehearse your mode of campaign. But do not worry over the
possible result. At all costs it must not be allowed to disturb your
sleep the night before--there is nothing puts me off my game so much as
a sleepless night.
As soon as you know who your opponent is, seize every opportunity to
watch her play, get to know her strong and her weak points, and map out
your plan of campaign. Then come the first preliminaries, the toss for
choice of sides or service. In choosing your side you must take into
consideration the position of the sun, the wind, the slope of the court
(if any), and the background. If you have won the toss and do not mind
on which side you start playing, and also have a good service, elect to
begin the service. If you have won the toss and for some good reason do
not wish to serve first, you can make your opponent serve; but remember
that you also give her choice of courts.
One of the great things to remember in match play is this--do not strive
to win outright with every stroke. Especially does this maxim apply to
the return of the service. So many players are inaccurate with this
important stroke simply because their sole ambition is to make it end
the rest. Much better to work for your opening. Try to imagine where
your opponent will be after taking a certain stroke, and then according
to this position determine which is the best stroke to play next. It is
similar to playing chess. You should think a move or sometimes two moves
in advance. Length, variety of stroke, and direction are the chief
factors in success when playing a single. Very often when the place to
send the ball is obvious, even to the spectators, it is just as obvious
to your opponent, and she will probably be making for that place before
you have even hit the ball. Then is the time to return the ball, not
where every one, your opponent included, anticipates, but straight back
to the original place--that is, the spot your opponent is just hurriedly
leaving. She will most probably be beaten by this simple device. Trite
though the hint may appear, always try to send the ball where it will
be least expected.
[Illustration: TWO WELL-KNOWN PAIRS WHO COMPETED IN A PRIVATE MIXED
DOUBLES TOURNAMENT AT THORPE SATCHVILLE MRS. C.W. HILLYARD AND MR.
NORMAN BROOKES MISS PINCKNEY AND MR. G.W.HILLYARD]
Again I would urge the importance of keeping your whole attention
absorbed on the game. Complete concentration is absolutely essential.
You _must_ lose yourself in the game--eye, mind, and hand all working
together. If you find that events transpiring outside the court are
attracting your attention, you cannot be watching the ball. Many
players, even when concentrating, take their eye off the ball too soon,
with the result that it is not properly timed and not hit cleanly in the
centre of the racket.
In match play remember that a game is never lost until it is won. Never
give up trying. Matches have been won (you have only to read the
experiences related in the final chapter of this book) after a player
has had a set and five games to love called against her. Therefore,
unless the game is over, it is never too far gone to be pulled out of
the fire. Even if your opponent requires only one more stroke to win
the match, remember how difficult it often is to make that one.
[ILLUSTRATION: MISS D.K. DOUGLASS AND MR. A.F. WILDING MISS EASTLAKE
SMITH AND MR. R.F. DOUGHERTY TWO WELL-KNOWN PAIRS WHO COMPETED IN A
PRIVATE MIXED DOUBLES TOURNAMENT AT THORPE'S SATCHVILLE]
The same applies if you have a good lead. Play hard the whole time;
never for one moment slack off. For if you do it is very hard to get
going again, and you may find yourself caught up and passed at the post
before you have a chance of getting back into your stride. I well
remember being a set up and five games to one against Miss C.M. Wilson
(now Mrs. Luard) one year at Newcastle, when victory for me meant
permanent possession of the challenge cup. This cup was very valuable,
for it had a splendid list of names inscribed upon it; it had been going
for very many years. Miss Wilson seemed so off her game, and I was
winning so comfortably, that I could almost see that cup on my
sideboard! But it was not to be. (At any rate not that year. I was lucky
enough to win the Cup outright in 1908, when it was even more
valuable, as Miss Sutton's name had been added.) Whether I
unconsciously slacked off, thinking the match was mine (which is a fatal
thing to do at any time), or whether Miss Wilson suddenly found her
game, is impossible for me to say, but she eventually won that match and
the cup and championship for the year. She never gave in, but played
most pluckily right up to the end. I remember another match where the
result hung in the balance for some time. I was playing Miss A.N.G.
Greene at Eastbourne in 1907; again the Cup would be my own property if
I won it. I met Miss Greene in the second round. She won the first set,
and was five games to four in the second set, and seven times she only
wanted one point to win that match. I was able to make it five games
all. It was very bad luck for Miss Greene, as the moral effect, after
having had seven chances of winning the match, was so great that it
completely put her off her game, and I won that set and the third quite
easily.
Be careful also, when you are behind, and are slowly but surely catching
up your opponent, that when you do draw level _you do not relax your
efforts_. This danger is most insidious, and must be fought against. The
strain and anxiety involved in catching up, and the great relief when
you are games all, provoke a reaction unless you are on your guard. A
rest is taken, often involuntarily. It is fatal, because before you
realize it and can get going again your opponent has run out a winner.
This happened to me at Wimbledon in 1908 against Mrs. Sterry. I was
behind the whole time, and it was a great relief in the second set to
hear the score at last called five games all. But I had hardly taken a
breather when Mrs. Sterry secured the set by seven games to five. The
eleventh game I played almost unconsciously, so relieved was I at
getting on even terms, when I ought to have spared no effort to win
that critical game, even if I had failed. These three matches--and I
could mention many others--show how important it is to play hard right
up to the last stroke of the match, letting nothing put you off, never
losing your temper, taking umpire's bad decisions and all the little
annoyances that may disturb you in a sportsmanlike manner--keeping your
whole attention, in fact, absolutely concentrated on the game.
[Illustration: MISS MAY SUTTON, WHO WON THE LADIES' CHAMPIONSHIP AT
WIMBLEDON, 1905, 1907]
In a single it is best when serving to stand as near the centre of the
base-line as possible. In this position you have greater command of your
court, and there is not so much scope for your opponent to put the ball
out of your reach. Miss May Sutton, the American lady champion and
ex-champion of England, in her desire to stand as near the centre of the
court as she possibly can, gets so close that umpires find it very
difficult to tell whether she is serving from the right court or the
wrong. In fact, I think I am right in saying she has actually been
pulled up for stepping over the centre line of the base-line. If you
stand as close as she does you are liable to step over the line
unconsciously. Stand as near the centre line as possible, but without
any risk of stepping over it. On the other hand, there are players who
prefer to serve from the other extreme end. Mr. A.W. Gore, the present
champion of England, is one of these, but personally I cannot see any
advantage in this position. It seems to leave so much open court, of
which your adversary will not be slow to make use.
Use the overhead service for choice, but have an underhand service ready
at your command--it may come in very useful for a change. Remember that
a good-length, well-placed service is better than a very fast one, and
much less tiring in a long match. Keep your opponent wondering where the
service will come next; vary it as much as you possibly can, both as to
pace and direction. Be sure to make your opponent move to take it.
I have tried the American service, but I think the strain is too severe
for the average girl, and the advantage gained would be very slight, for
the rest of your game would deteriorate, owing to fatigue. It places so
much tension on all the muscles of the body, and I do not think it would
do a girl's health any good to cultivate it. Of course if she were
abnormally strong and did not feel the effects of the physical effort,
she would be a tower of strength in the land, and her service would be
an invaluable one.
I am not an advocate of persistent volleying in a lady's single. I think
it is too great a tax on the physique. Nor do I think it pays in the
long-run. A volleyer, to my mind, is much easier to play against than a
base-liner, and most of the first-class base-line players agree with me.
The great physical exertion entailed in running continually to the net
will after a time make the ground strokes weaker and weaker; and you
_must_ have good length to be able to come up and volley with any
success. Miss E.W. Thomson (now Mrs. Larcombe), one of our best lady
volleyers, put up a magnificent game in the first set against Miss
Sutton at Wimbledon in the championship singles of 1905. She had
carefully watched Miss Sutton's game and thought out the best way to
play her. Volleying most judiciously, she would force Miss Sutton up to
the net with a short drop stroke, and then, lobbing over her head nearly
on to the base-line, take up a position at the net, winning the ace with
a neat cross volley. These tactics she repeated again and again, and
actually led by five games to two. If she could have lasted she must
have won that match. But she could not keep it up. She became obviously
exhausted, did not get up to the net quickly enough, and her length got
shorter and shorter. Miss Sutton eventually won that set and the next
easily. I do not know what would have happened if Miss Thomson, when
she found she was tiring, had stayed back for a little while and then
resumed her tactics at the net. Perhaps she would have come much nearer
to victory.
A very large majority of non-volleyers in singles have won the ladies'
championship, and I think that fact helps to prove my argument. Miss
Maud Watson, Miss Rice, Mrs. Hillyard, the late Miss Robb, Miss Sutton,
Miss Boothby and myself are base-liners. Miss Dod and Mrs. Sterry are
the only two volleyers. Every girl, however, should learn how to volley.
You may be inveigled up to the net, and you should then know how to play
and place a volley. And you should go up now and then on a good-length
ball.
In _Doubles_ of course it is different. I think then a girl should
volley. It will greatly improve her play all round, and will also make
the game so much more attractive. I think it would be an excellent plan
if ladies' doubles were always played like men's doubles, both players
moving together and keeping parallel with one another, going up to the
net together and retiring to the back of the court together. Competitors
would improve their volleying, and the double, instead of being the
dreary, monotonous affair it is now, especially for the base-liner,
would be varied and instructive. I am sure referees would welcome the
change with avidity. The much-dreaded, interminable ladies' double event
would be a thing of the past. If we played the double with the new
formation, perhaps we should succeed in re-establishing the event at
Wimbledon! But it is very difficult to get ladies to volley at a
tournament. They think they have more chance of winning from the back of
the court. Perhaps they have. But they have much less chance of
improving their game and learning a variety of strokes.
Miss V. Pinckney started a great work in 1908, organizing a ladies'
volleying league, in which all ladies who entered a ladies' doubles
event at any tournament were obliged to volley. A most successful
experiment took place at the Beckenham tournament. Miss Pinckney and I
played together at the Reading tournament, and although we were both
base-liners, we determined to go to the net. We found at the end of the
event (which we won, owing fifteen) that we had both much improved our
volleying. Of course we made endless mistakes and were frequently in the
wrong place, but it was experience so badly required. Unfortunately Miss
Pinckney, the pioneer, did not play much last season, and I think the
ladies have rather gone back to their old ways. It seems a thousand
pities.
In _Mixed Doubles_ a girl has a very important part to play.
Practically speaking, she has to work for all the openings for her
partner, who comes in and kills. And very often if in watching a mixed
double you are inclined to think the man is doing little work, or that
he is playing badly, it is because his partner is getting him no
"plums." She is playing a poor length, or not keeping the ball out of
the reach of the opposing man. It is a good plan to keep your head well
down, and of course your eye glued on the ball, until the very last
moment, so that it makes it difficult for the opposing man at the net to
tell in which direction you are going to hit the ball. The late Miss
Robb, who was a magnificent mixed doubles player, used to play in this
way. Men have told me it was impossible to anticipate her returns.
Keeping your head down will also help you from getting flurried or put
off, however "jumpy" the opposing man is, or however much he is running
across. You can always have a mental vision of him to tell you where he
is without looking at him.
To play a mixed double you must be able to lob. It is really the most
necessary stroke to cultivate. A very good return of the opposing lady's
service, when both men are at the net, is a lob back to the server. It
is much safer than lobbing over the man's head--if at all short your
ball will be instantly killed--and it also gives your partner at the net
plenty of time to anticipate any kind of return. It will be difficult
for the server to return a good-length lob out of your partner's reach.
The opposing man at the net will not be able to do anything with this
lob--it is quite out of his reach--and it would be useless for him to
run across as he might do for a cross drive. It is usually best, I
think, for a lady to serve down the centre of the court in a mixed
double. It shuts up the angles of the court more, and there is less risk
of her partner being passed down his side line.
Do not enter for too many events in a tournament. You may get thoroughly
worn out and not able to do yourself justice in any, and you would
probably have to play when you were very tired--bad for your game, and
worse still for your partner's chance in a double. Remember that before
playing an important match it is very injudicious to watch another game.
It is likely to put your eye out. If possible, do not travel by train
just before playing, or carry anything heavy, such as your tennis bag,
for this will make your hand shaky and unsteady.
To sum up, there are five golden rules which I have found very helpful
to me when playing an important match. I give them to you in the hope
that they may prove equally valuable. Always remember that constant
practice of these rules will make their pursuit natural in a match.
I. KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL
You have so often been told this, I know, and perhaps the familiar ring
about the advice may evoke contempt. Yet unless this rule is implicitly
obeyed you cannot expect much success at lawn tennis. Taking your eye
off the ball is the secret of every mis-hit and mis-timed stroke. You
must not be content merely to look at the ball, but follow it right on
to your racket; watch it up to the actual moment of striking. The court
and the position of your opponent must be mentally engraved at the same
time. How frequently attentive observation will reveal a player lifting
his or her eye from the ball a fraction too soon! Always be on your
guard against this inclination. It is at first done almost
unconsciously, but it soon becomes a habit.
II. KEEP YOUR MIND ON THE GAME
This is a most important rule. As I have remarked before, complete
concentration is absolutely necessary to success. If you are worried
about anything, business or home affairs, it is bound to affect your
game. Think of absolutely nothing but the game you are at the moment
playing. Your whole personality must be absorbed. To play the game well
demands the use not only of limb and muscle, but heart, eye, and brain.
The first rule will help the second, because your attention must be more
or less fixed on the game if you are carefully watching the ball the
whole time.
III. KEEP PERFECT CONTROL OF THE TEMPER
This rule some players will find much more difficult than others. You
hear of a person having the right temperament for games, of being
naturally imperturbable. It is a priceless quality, for to my mind it is
half the battle if nothing can disturb your equanimity. To be calm and
placid at critical moments, never to get excited or flurried, or in any
way put out, whatever little worries may turn up--and sometimes these
worries seem endless and try one to the uttermost limit--that is one of
the keys to fame on court. I think if a good games' temperament is not
natural to you, it can to a great extent be cultivated. But it requires
much practice and an abundance of will-power and self-control. It is a
very important quality to possess, because to lose your temper, or to be
upset over any trifle, not only puts you off your game, but helps your
opponent to take a new lease of life and encourages her to play up
harder than ever. She naturally thinks that if you are so upset at
something or other your game is bound to deteriorate, and she will have
a much better chance of winning the match.
IV. KEEP YOUR HEART IN THE GAME
By this I mean do not get easily downhearted and discouraged. Fight
pluckily to the end, however things are going against you. Courage and
pluck are wanted above all things to carry you successfully through your
matches. Never say die, however hopeless the score may sound against
you. If you are very done up, try not to make it too obvious. Your
opponent may be just as played out as you are. Seeing your signals of
distress, she will buoy herself up and continue the struggle with
renewed hope and vigour.
V. KEEP YOUR METHOD ON THE MOVE
This maxim is rather difficult to explain. What I mean is, you should
vary your manner of play and re-adapt it in order to counteract your
opponent. Upset her usual game by your tactics. It is always a great
mistake to keep up a method of attack or defence if it is proving
unavailing. If necessary, keep your own method of play continually on
the change. A change of tactics has often meant a change of fortune in
the game. Never let your opponent know what you are going to do next; do
what she would least expect. Always try to make a stroke. Give her
plenty of the strokes you know she doesn't like. I have often felt
myself improving an opponent's weak stroke by pegging away at it. It
gives her plenty of excellent practice, of course, and when you find she
is beginning not to mind it so much, give it a rest. When you go back to
it you will probably find it successful again. Use your brain, and
always know what you are trying to do. Play with an object of attack and
defence. Do not merely return the ball aimlessly; let each stroke have
its little work to do to complete the whole victory. This is difficult,
I know, but it is so much more fascinating, and is, I am sure, the way
the game was meant to be played. There is much science that can be
brought into lawn tennis, always something new to learn. And that is the
reason why we never tire of playing it.