pastime as it is in the manners and usages of polite society, and the
cultivation of style is not an achievement purely confined to the
wayfarer in the paths of literature. In lawn-tennis, as in everything
else, a good beginning makes a good noontide; and really, when one
comes to think about it, it is as easy to learn well as badly.
Therefore it is never advisable for a beginner to be content with
another beginner as her opponent. No doubt a certain diffidence may
be felt by the inexperienced player in throwing down the gauntlet to
a more practised hand, because of the lack of interest and excitement
for the latter in the game. But this consideration should never be
allowed to deter the seizing of an opportunity of playing against
an opponent from whom something may be learnt. There are plenty
of good-natured people in the world, and an ounce of practical
demonstration, is worth a ton's weight of written explanation as to the
different actions necessary for playing the varied strokes, which go to
compose the game of lawn-tennis.
_Service._ Like everything else worth having, a good service is
extremely difficult to acquire. It is always best to ascertain by
experiment and observation what particular style of service would seem
most within one's power of attainment, and this style should be kept
to. There is nothing more detrimental to good play than indecision or
constant change of form. Experiments, though doubtless necessary at
first, should be discontinued as soon as possible.
The majority of ladies, for a variety of reasons, prefer to serve
underhand. Miss L. Dod, in her able contribution in the _Badminton
Library_, is of the opinion that unless in exceptional cases, overhand
service tends merely to a waste of strength without making the stroke
more difficult to take than the ordinary underhand service.[8] In
the face of such competent authority it would be fatuous to advance a
contrary opinion; but if any special aptitude is felt for the overhand
service, it will probably be found easier to practice with success than
the underhand.
The server should stand either in the middle of the base-line, or a
few feet to the right or left of it, though she is at liberty to take
up any position on the base-line that she chooses. According to Law 7
of the game: "The server should stand with one foot beyond--_i.e._,
further from the net than--the base-line, and with the other foot
upon the base-line, and shall deliver the service from the right and
left courts alternately, beginning from the right." This law is of
great importance and should never, even in the most ordinary play, be
disregarded. _For the underhand service_, the body should be slightly
bent and the racket swung well up. I have seen the swing carried high
above the right shoulder, the ball being dropped in front of the racket
as it arrives near the middle of the downward stroke (Fig. A). _In the
overhand service_, the body should be inclined somewhat backward, and
the racket brought well above the head (as in Fig. B) to obtain the
utmost possible reach. The ball is held somewhat below the level of the
left shoulder, and thrown gently in front of the descending racket.
Before a great degree of swiftness is attempted in either of these
two services, accuracy should be ensured. In fact a well-known saying
might be profitably adapted for the use of lawn-tennis players, both
proficient and non-proficient: "Take care of accuracy, and brilliancy
will take care of itself."
For the purpose of training the eye, it is no bad device to place a
ball on the spot where the service is intended to drop and take aim at
it. The satisfaction of hitting the mark will not be frequent, but the
practice will at least impart some idea of locality. In service when
one fault has already been made, it is wonderfully easy to drop into
the bad habit of sending an easy catch to represent the second stroke;
neither is this reprehensible custom entirely confined to beginners who
might, perhaps, be excused for exercising a certain amount of caution
over their last chance. Over and over again I have seen ladies, who did
not by any means count themselves tyros, indulging in this defective
style of play. They appear to think that one ball either "smashed"
into the net, or sent a dozen yards out of court absolves them from
further effort; their second stroke being as harmfully innocuous as
their first was mistakenly vicious. And in this case again, nothing but
practice will give equality. _To obtain a twist_ the ball should be
struck first with the left side of the racket--which will be held in a
more horizontal position than for the regular forward stroke--and as it
were run across its face, or in other words the racket is twisted round
the ball from right to left.
_To receive a service_ the striker-out should, generally speaking,
stand near the base-line, opposite the centre of the service court,
a position which commands either a fore or back-handed stroke. Of
course her position must naturally depend upon the style of service
given, and here again, nothing but experience will impart the intuitive
consciousness of the exact spot on which the ball is likely to drop.
Through excess of zeal and over anxiety to make a correct return, the
non-proficient player will nearly always commit the error of rushing
at her stroke and hitting the ball while it is yet rising, instead of
waiting to catch it in the fall and lift it with a nearly vertical
racket over the net. The ball should so to speak be allowed to meet the
player half way _for an ordinary stroke_. Of course in the case of a
cut or a screw, which may bound backwards instead of forwards, it is
advisable to approach the stroke more closely, but even in such a case
it is better to wait and see the angle of rising before striking. Any
undue hurry will cause the ball to perform the feat known as "going
through the racket." _For the fore-handed stroke_, the racket should
be held in a firm grasp (as in Fig. C), great care being taken that
the position of the fingers is correct from the first, the ball being
struck with a full racket. _For the back-handed stroke_, the grip
is changed (see Fig. D). This change may at first appear a serious
difficulty, but after a little practice at fore and back-handed strokes
alternately, the change will become both unconscious and mechanical.
The back-handed stroke is a weak point with many players, for which
reason extra attention should be bestowed upon its cultivation. Any
attempt to run round the ball, or to take it "with both hands," should
from the first be severely discouraged. Practising for the back-handed
stroke against a blank wall is advised by many competent authorities
as a useful means of overcoming preliminary awkwardness.
[Illustration: _Figure C._
_FORE-HANDED STROKE._]
The position of the feet and body in lawn-tennis is of the utmost
importance. The player should await her stroke standing facing the net
with the feet a little apart, and the weight of the body resting on the
toes. In the case of a fore-hand stroke the left foot should be brought
quickly across the right, by way of turning the body sideways, while
the racket is swung back in readiness to receive the stroke. When the
ball is struck, the weight of the body is shifted from the right foot
to the left. For a back-handed stroke the right foot is brought across
the left, and whilst striking the weight is shifted from the left foot
to the right. _The Volley_ has ever been a subject of controversy in
lawn-tennis annals. We all know what an instrument of defence the
stroke became off the rackets of the Messrs. Renshaw; but at present we
are considering lawn-tennis from a woman's point of view, which is a
very different thing. The ordinary variety of the volley is employed to
save change of position necessary in taking a ball off the ground. This
stroke resembles a "lob," and should be so placed as to obviate the
chance of punishment. _The volley from the net_ is an overhand stroke
and may be played with either a bent or extended arm, according to the
force employed. The latter variety, known as the "smash," is given
with an uncontrolled swing of the racket. In the former stroke, where
the force used is not so great, an excellent effect may be obtained
by a quick turn of the wrist, either to right or left, at the moment
of striking the ball, causing it to drop near the base of the side
line. _The volley from the service line_ is played with a horizontal
racket, which may be held either below the bend of the shoulder, or
almost close to the ground, when the player is obliged to stoop for the
purpose of "lifting" the ball over the net.
_The half volley_ is a stroke as difficult to attain as to describe.
Briefly it consists in blocking the ball--roughly speaking--within
the first half-foot of its rise from the drop. The difficulty of the
stroke lies in estimating correctly the exact spot on which the ball
will drop, and in having the racket ready _just behind_ that spot. The
stroke is chiefly used in cases where retreat is impossible, or at
least likely to be attended with ill-success, and when the reach is too
short for a volley; but it is a stroke which should be indulged in with
caution, as, unless in the case of exceptionally good players, it is
likely to prove a dismal failure. That it can generally be dispensed
with by either a step forward, or a few steps back is consoling to the
medium performer.
[Illustration: _Figure D._
_BACK-HANDED STROKE._]
_The "Lob"_ claims Mr. Haslow as its discoverer. This gentleman,
chiefly owing to the agency of the stroke, succeeded in defeating the
champion, Mr. Spencer-Gore, who first practised volleying tactics, in
1878. The "lob" is a useful invention against net play, being merely
a stroke lifted high over the opponent's head, thus preventing a
volleying return. The counter tactics to this stroke are technically
known as the "smash," to which reference has already been made, and
the "lob volley." The former of these two strokes consists in getting
the racket--either by reach or springing into the air--above the ball
and smashing it with all the strength at the player's command, to the
confusion of the opponent, and the alarm and consternation of the
bye-standers. _The "lob" volley_ consists in catching the dropping ball
with a vertical drive similar to the ordinary forward drive played off
the ground.
Lady players will, as a general rule, find the back game quite as
effective, and a good deal more graceful than forward or volleying
tactics, which owing to various circumstances, such as the necessity
for extra reach and freedom of movement--are more suited to a man's
play than a woman's. The back game with the aid of judicious "placing"
will always prove hard to beat, a few well-worn maxims for its
successful issue being: to hit as hard, and to keep the ball as low as
possible. Neither to court nor to avoid volleying, but to take it as it
comes. To thoroughly master the art of "placing." Never to relax good
style by slovenly play, and finally to follow in all cases the advice
of a well-known authority, "To start at once, to arrive in time, and
never to be in a hurry."
M. Marshall.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Lawn-Tennis, Chap. VII. Badminton Library. C. E. Heathcote.
[8] Lawn-tennis, Chap. XVI., _Badminton Library_.
APPENDICES.
GLOSSARY OF NAUTICAL TERMS.
_Abeam_: Said of an object that is in a line at right angles
from the centre of a vessel's side.
_About_: The act of a vessel going from one tack to the other,
when working to windward.
_Abreast_: Beam and beam; abeam. Two ships are said to be
abreast when alongside of each other.
_A-lee_: The situation of the tiller or helm when it is put
down or to leeward, when going about, or luffing.
_All in the wind_: When a vessel's sails are shaking from
sailing too near the wind.
_A-weather_: The opposite of a-lee. The helm is a-weather
when "put up" in the direction of the wind to bear away for
"gybing," "wearing," or merely to alter course and keep a
point or so more off the wind.
_To back a sail_: To bring the sail round so that the wind
comes on its other side.
_Backstays_: Large ropes used to support the masts. They come
aft either side of the ship from the masthead.
_Balloon foresail or fore staysail_: An enormous sail set
on the forestay of cutters and schooners, and used for
close-hauled sailing in light weather.
_Balloon-jib_: An enormous jib made of light canvas carried
by fore-and-aft rigged craft; the foot extends from the
bowsprit end to the fore-rigging. It is used when sailing
from one to eight or nine points free.
_Balloon-Topsail_: A square-headed gaff topsail of very large
proportions, set with a yard and a jack-yard at clew; to the
latter the sheet is bent.
_Battens_: Strips of wood let into the mast to prevent its
wearing. Strips of wood put round hatches over tarpaulins
to keep the latter down. A batten of wood is also used for
several purposes on a vessel's rigging. A thin splint of wood
used by naval architects for making curved lines.
_Beam_: The breadth of a ship. The midship side of a ship.
Abaft the beam is behind the centre of the ship's side, and
forward of the beam is in front of that centre. See also
"Abeam."
_Bear away_: To put the helm up and cause the vessel's head to
go off the wind.
_Beating to windward_: Making for a point to windward by short
tacks.
_Belay_: To make a rope fast to a pin or cavel, without
hitching or seizing. "Belay there!" Stop hauling, and make
fast.
_Bend_: To attach a sail to a yard. To bend a cable is to
attach it to an anchor. A knot by which two ropes are
fastened together.
_Bight_: The loop of a rope when doubled.
_Bilge-pieces_: Placed on a vessel's side to support her when
grounding.
_Blanketing_: A slang term, used when one vessel covers or
becalms another with her sails.
_Board_: The distance a vessel traverses before tacking when
working to windward. To make a "sternboard" is to make way
by the stern, as a vessel will often do in a tideway or when
in irons. To go "by the board" is said of a mast when it is
carried away.
_Bobstay_: A rope or chair with tackle and double blocks
attached to the bowsprit end and stem of a vessel, and used
to keep the bowsprit down when the jib is set.
_Boom_: The spar that extends the foot of fore-and-aft sails.
_Bowline_: A rope used to stretch taut the after leech of a
sail when on a wind. A vessel is said to be on a bowline when
close hauled.
_Bowsprit_: A spar that extends from the bows of a vessel.
A "running" bowsprit is such as a cutter has, and is
horizontal, and can be reefed at pleasure.
_Brace_: A rope by which a yard is worked.
_Break off_: A vessel when close-hauled is said to break off
when the wind comes more ahead.
_Bridle_: Two or more ropes extending from the leech of a sail
to which the bowline is attached.
_Cable length_: 100 fathoms, or 200 yards. A cable length
denoted on a chart is 607·5 feet.
_To Check-sheets_: To ease them off.
_Claw_: To beat to windward off a lee-shore, or generally to
beat to windward when such is difficult on account of heavy
weather.
_Cleat_: A piece of wood used to belay ropes to.
_Clew_: The after lower corner of a fore-and-aft sail.
_Clew-line_: A line used to hoist up the lower corners of a
sail.
_Close-hauled_: When a vessel's sheets are hauled so flat that
she sails as near the wind as possible. A schooner yacht will
sail 4-1/2 points off the wind, and a cutter about 4-1/4.
_Coamings_: Pieces of timber forming a frame on the deck round
a hatchway or skylight.
_Crank_: Said of a vessel when she will not stand up well to
her canvas. A narrow and deep vessel is sure to be "crank."
_Cross sea_: A sea or swell caused by a wind different from
that blowing at the time the cross sea is running.
_Cross-trees_: Pieces of timber supported by the trestle-trees,
used to spread the topmast rigging.
_Crutch_: Forked pieces of timber or iron fixed into a socket
of the taffrail, and used to support the boom when the
mainsail is stowed.
_Cuddy_: A cabin under the deck, put in the fore-part of small
boats.
_Davits_: Iron stanchions or pieces of timber fixed on a
vessel's side or stern, to carry boats, they being hoisted to
the davits by tackles.
_Earings_: Small ropes used to fasten the upper corners of
sails to the yards.
_Ease off, or Ease away_: To slacken out the fall of a tackle,
sheet, or any rope that is belayed.
_Ease the helm_: To put the helm down when close-hauled, so
that a vessel's head may enter a sea fairly. Generally to put
the helm more amidships when it has been put either to port
or starboard.
_Eyelet-hole_: Holes in a sail through which a lacing is passed
or reef nettles rove.
_Fair_: Said of a wind which a vessel has when she can lay her
course a point or any number of points free.
_Fetch_: To arrive at a point when sailing to windward by
weathering it.
_Fly up in the wind_: Said of a vessel when she comes up
suddenly head to wind, by reason of her griping or through
the bad steering of the helmsman.
_Foot_: The lower part of a sail or mast.
_Fore-and-aft sails_: Sails that are set on gaffs and stays,
and not on yards.
_Fore-reach_: When close-hauled to sail ahead of another
vessel. To fore-reach to windward is to sail ahead of a
vessel and yet to windward of her at the same time.
_Free-wind_: When a vessel has the wind so as not to be
close-hauled. When the wind comes abeam or on the quarter,
a vessel is said to be going large. A fair wind may mean
free, large, or any wind that blows between 1-2 points of
the compass from the point on which the vessel would be
close-hauled.
_Gaskets_: Ropes used to secure sails to their yards or booms
when furled or stowed.
_Goose-winged_: Said of a schooner whose mainsail and foresail
are extended on opposite sides as she runs before the wind.
_Guy_: A rope used to prevent a boom swinging aboard either
fore or aft. In running before the wind a guy is often
attached to the main boom of a schooner to prevent a sudden
gybe.
_Gybe_: When running before the wind, to bring the wind on the
other side by putting up the helm, and thereby cause the
sails to fall over.
_Halyards_: The ropes used to hoist sails, yards, etc.
_Hatches_: Openings in the decks.
_Haul aft a sheet_: To haul a sail flatter or at a less angle
to the wind.
_Haul her wind_: Said of a vessel going free, when she comes up
closer to the wind and flattens her sheets.
_Helm_: Generally applied to the tiller, but properly it means
the whole apparatus for steering.
_Housed_: The situation of a topmast that has been lowered.
_In irons_: A vessel is said to be in irons when in going about
she comes up head to wind, and will not fill off one way or
the other.
_Jack-stay_: A stay along a mast or yard to which a sail is
bent.
_Jack-yard_: A small yard used to extend the foot of a
fore-and-aft balloon topsail that extends beyond the end of
the gaff.
_Jaws_: The part of a gaff or boom which encircles the mast.
_Jib_: A triangular sail set on a stay in square-rigged ships,
and then called a standing jib.
_Jib-boom_: A spar that extends beyond the bowsprit. A flying
jib-boom is another spar that extends beyond the jib-boom.
_Jib-foresail_: The fore-staysail of fore-and-aft schooners.
_Jib-purchase_: A tackle used for setting up a jib.
_Jib-topsail_: A triangular sail set on the fore-topmast stay
of fore-and-aft vessels.
_Jib-traveller_: The travelling ring that encircles the
bowsprit to which the tack of a jib is secured and hauled out
on the bowsprit or jib-boom, as the case may be.
_Larboard_: Port. (Obsolete.)
_Large_: A vessel is said to be going large when she has the
wind three or four points free.
_Leech_: The outer edge of a sail.
_Luff_: To sail closer to the wind.
_Lug-sail_: A sail set on a yard, as generally used in small
boats.
_Main-boom_: The spar that extends the foot of the mainsail of
a fore-and-aft craft.
_Mainsheet_: The sheet of a mainsail.
_Martingale_: A short spar under the bowsprit, used to give
more spread to the stays that set the bowsprit or jib-boom
down.
_Nautical mile_: 2025·2 yards: thus 13 knots or nautical miles
are nearly equal to 15 statute miles.
_Nautical day_: From noon till noon, 24 hours.
_Nothing off_: Said to a helmsman when he has to keep a vessel
as close to wind as practicable.
_Off-and-on_: Working along a shore by standing off, and then
on, by short boards.
_Painter_: A rope attached to the bows of a boat, used to make
her fast to a landing-place, etc.
_Preventer stays_: Additional ropes set up taut to prevent
spars carrying away when a vessel is under a press of canvas.
_Reef-points_: Short pieces of rope by which the foot of a sail
is secured when a reef is rolled up, or, as the nautical term
has it, hauled down.
_Reef-tackles_: The tackles by which the reef-pendants are
hauled down.
_Schooner_: A fore-and-aft rigged craft with two masts.
Sometimes schooners carry square topsails, and then are
distinguished by being called "square-topsail schooners."
_Spinnaker_: A modern adaptation of a jib-shaped sail, often
seen set from the top masthead and boomed out from the mast.
It is made of light canvas, and hoists to the topmast-head,
and is boomed out from the mast. Some cutters carry enormous
spinnakers, containing in one sail nearly as much canvas as
is spread in mainsail and topsail. A spinnaker is a very
handy sail, and preferable to a squaresail in light weather.
_Steady!_: An order after the helm has been put to port or
starboard, to put it no farther in either direction, but
bring it back amidships. When the wind is fair, an order
given to a steersman to "Steady!" is to keep the helm as it
is.
_Tack_: The lower weather corner of a sail.
_To tack_: To go about from one tack to the other.
_Tackle_: A purchase composed of blocks and a rope, for
multiplying power.
_Tail block_: A tackle consisting of two blocks, to one of
which is attached a length of rope for fastening to any
object at pleasure.
_Taunt_: Tall.
_Taut_: Tight.
_Thwart_: Athwart; across. The seat of a boat.
_Tiller_: The bar of wood or iron by which the rudder is
worked.
_Toggle_: A pin placed through the bight or eye of a rope to
secure it round a stay, mast, etc.
_Top a boom_: To raise one end of it by hoisting on the
topping-lifts.
_Topmast_: The next mast to the lower mast; in ships, the
topmast is succeeded by top-gallant mast and royal mast.
_Wear_: To come round with the wind until it blows on the
opposite side. In tacking, a vessel is turned round against
the wind.
_Yaw_: A vessel is said to yaw when in running she flies off
her course.
_Yawl_: A vessel rigged like a cutter, with the addition of a
short mizzen-mast.
LAWN-TENNIS.
LAWS OF THE GAME.
THE SINGLE-HANDED GAME.
1.--For the single-handed game, the Court is 27 ft. in width and 78 ft.
in length. It is divided across the middle by a net, the ends of which
are attached to the tops of two posts, which stand 3 ft. outside the
Court on each side. The height of the net is 3 ft. 6 in. at the posts,
and 3 ft. at the centre. At each end of the Court, parallel with the
net, and at a distance of 39 ft. from it, are drawn the _Base-lines_,
the extremities of which are connected by the _side-lines_. Half-way
between the side-lines, and parallel with them, is drawn the
_half-court-line_, dividing the space on each side of the net into two
equal parts, called the _right and left courts_. On each side of the
net, at a distance of 21 ft. from it, and parallel with it, are drawn
the _service-lines_.
2.--The balls shall not be less than 2-1/2 in., nor more than 2-9/16
in. in diameter; and not less than 1-7/8 oz., nor more than 2 oz. in
weight.
3.--In matches where Umpires are appointed, their decision shall be
final; but where a Referee is appointed, an appeal shall lie to him
from the decision of an Umpire on a question of law.
4.--The choice of sides and the right of serving during the first games
shall be decided by toss; provided that, if the winner of the toss
choose the right to serve, the other player shall have the choice of
sides, and _vice-versâ_; and provided that the winner of the toss may,
if he prefer it, require the other player to make the first choice.
5.--The players shall stand on opposite sides of the net; the player
who first delivers the ball shall be called the _Server_, the other the
_Striker-out_.
6.--At the end of the first game the Striker-out shall become Server,
and the Server shall become Striker-out; and so on alternately in the
subsequent games of the set.
7.--The Server shall stand with one foot beyond (_i.e._, further from
the net than) the base line, and with the other foot upon the base
line, and shall deliver the service from the right and left Courts
alternately, beginning from the right.