HOW TO MAKE A LAWN-TENNIS NET.
LET us see; it was that old medical gentleman, Galen the Greek, who
first wrote upon tennis, speaking of the sport as healthy exercise, was
it not? Well, girls, it really does not matter much to us whether he
was the first to write it up and the Greeks the first to play it, or
whether the game originated in France in the fifteenth century, as some
claim. What _we_ want to know is, can we all learn to play tennis? Does
it cost much? What kind of gowns and shoes must we wear? And is it an
enjoyable game?
There is no doubt, we think, of its being a right royal pastime, as it
has been called both the “king of games” and the “game of kings;” the
latter because it was enjoyed by princes and nobles—so much enjoyed,
that in both England and France edicts were published forbidding the
common people to play it.
Girls, do you wonder if they always had the choice of courts, and so
never took part in the fun of spinning the racket in the air while
the adversary called out “rough” or “smooth;” or whether they played
as we do, taking their defeats pleasantly and wearing their honors
gracefully, while always doing their very best?
They must have played well, for it is said that Louis XI., Henry II.,
and Charles IX., were experts, and that Henry VIII. of England was
extremely fond of the sport.
We can easily learn to play this most popular and exhilarating of
games. But we must be suitably clothed in order to thoroughly enjoy it
and receive all the benefit the recreation brings to both mind and body.
Flannel seems to be the best material for a tennis suit—it is so soft
and yielding, and so well adapted for a defence against either cold
or heat. Then, make your tennis gown of flannel; the skirt in plaits,
without drapery; the postilion basque of Jersey cloth, soft and
elastic, matching the skirt in color.
Sew the skirt of your gown on a sleeveless waist, made of lining or
muslin. The Jersey will fit nicely over this, and you can play better
and feel far more comfortable than when the weight is allowed to drag
on the hips. For it is nonsense to attempt to take part in any athletic
game unless you can have perfect freedom of action; in short, you
should be so dressed as to be utterly unconscious of your clothing.
[Illustration: An Old Game.]
Either crochet a Tam O’Shanter hat or make one of the dress material,
as these are not so apt to fall off while running as a straw hat.
“Last, but not least,” come the shoes. Of course, rubber-soled shoes
are the best. But if these are not to be had, remove the heels from an
old pair of ordinary shoes, and they will do very well; heels roughen
and cut the courts.
The actual cost of a lawn-tennis set need only be the price of the
rackets and balls, and rope and cord necessary when you learn
=How to Make a Lawn-Tennis Net,=
which is not difficult.
First procure two pieces of cotton rope, three-sixteenths of an inch
in size, each thirty-four feet long, costing about twenty-five cents
apiece. Then one and a half pound of hammock twine or macrimé cord, No.
24, which will not cost more than fifty cents. Next, two lengths of
cotton rope for guy-ropes, each five feet, price, both included, ten
cents; making the total amount $1.10 for a strong, firm, tennis net
which will prove serviceable and last many a season.
[Illustration: Stake.]
[Illustration: Peg.]
[Illustration: Runner.]
[Illustration: Runner and Guy-rope.]
[Illustration: The Fid.]
The other materials necessary are all home-made. These consist of two
stakes, each five feet long (Fig. 12). Any kind of a strong pole, when
sharpened at one end and a notch cut at the other, will answer the
purpose. Four pegs, each one foot long (Fig. 13). These may be easily
made of old broomsticks. Four runners (Fig. 14), each five inches long,
one and a quarter wide, and about half an inch thick, with holes bored
near each end large enough to allow the guy-rope (Fig. 15) to pass
through. A fid or mesh-stick of any kind of wood (Fig. 16), about a
foot or ten inches long, with circumference measuring three inches. A
hammock-needle (Fig. 17), nine or ten inches long and one wide, which
may be bought for ten cents, or whittled out of a piece of ash or
hickory by some kind brother. Tassels are not necessary, though it is
much better to have them, as they make the top line of the net more
distinct and add to its appearance. Make about forty bright-colored
tassels of worsted, or bits of flannel cut in very narrow strips, three
inches long, allowing ten or twelve strips to each tassel. Commence
your tennis net by first threading the needle; take it in the left
hand, and use the thumb to hold the end of the cord in place while
looping it over the tongue (see Fig. 18); pass the cord down under the
needle to the opposite side, and catch it over the tongue. Repeat this
until the needle is full.
[Illustration: Hammock-needle.]
[Illustration: Fig 19]
[Illustration: Fig 20]
[Illustration: Needle Threaded.]
[Illustration: Knots.]
Next, take a piece of rope thirty-four feet long, and make a long loop
in one end, tying the knot so that it can readily be untied again.
Throw the loop over some convenient hook or door-knob (Fig. 19) with
the knot at the knob or hook. Tie the cord on the needle to the loop,
place the fid or mesh-stick under the cord close to the loop (Fig. 20),
with the thumb on the cord to hold it in place (Fig. 25), while you
pass the needle around the mesh-stick, and, with its point toward you,
pass it through the loop from the top, bringing it over the mesh-stick.
This will make the first half of the knot (Fig. 21). Pull this tight,
holding it in place with the thumb while you throw the cord over your
hand, which forms the loop as seen in Fig. 22. Then pass the needle
from under through the loop, pulling it tight to fasten the knot. Hold
it in place with the thumb, and repeat these movements for the next
knot. Fig. 23 shows a number of these knots finished. A in Fig. 23 is a
knot before it is drawn tight; B in Figs. 21, 22, 23 is the string that
runs to the needle, C is the rope, and D is the mesh-stick. About two
hundred and sixty-four of these knots or meshes will make the net the
regular length, thirty-three feet.
[Illustration: Fig 24]
In knitting across, the meshes will accumulate on the fid; shove them
off to the left, a few at a time, to make space for others. When the
desired number of meshes are finished to form the first row, shove them
all off the fid, as shown in Fig. 24.
Begin the next row by again placing the fid under the cord (Fig. 24).
Take up the first mesh, drawing it close to the mesh-stick, hold it
in place with the thumb while throwing the cord over your hand, pass
the needle on the left-hand side of the mesh from under through the
loop (Fig. 25); pull this tight, and you will have tied the common
knitting-knot. Repeat this with all the loops until the row is finished.
When it becomes necessary to thread or fill the needle, tie the ends
of the cord with the knot shown in Fig. 26, which, when properly
tightened, cannot slip. Wrap each end of the cord from the knot
securely to the main cord with strong thread, to give the net a neat
appearance.
Continue netting until the net is three feet wide. Then untie the rope,
and spread the net by sliding the knots apart, and fasten the second
rope to the bottom of the net by tying the rope securely to the first
mesh with the cord on the needle; then carry the rope and cord to the
next mesh, hold the rope, cord, and mesh firmly in place, and throw the
cord over your hand, passing the needle down through the mesh under
the rope and cord out through the loop (Fig. 27). Pull this tight,
and continue in like manner, knitting each successive mesh to the
rope until the net is all fastened on. Turn back the end of the rope
and wrap it down neatly with strong string (Fig. 28). In the same way
secure the other end, and also the ends of the first or top rope.
[Illustration: Fig. 25.]
[Illustration: Fig. 26.]
This completes the lawn-tennis net proper. The bright tassels can now
be tied at intervals along the top of the net, and four pieces of twine
fastened on each end of the net at equal distances apart. These are for
tying the net to the poles (Fig. 29).
[Illustration: Fig. 17]
[Illustration: Fig. 18]
To erect the lawn-tennis net, plant the two poles firmly in the ground
a little over thirty-three feet apart, tie the net to the poles, then
drive in the pegs, two to each pole, about five feet from the pole
(Fig. 30); slide a runner on each end of the two guy-ropes by first
threading the rope through one of the holes in the runner, then pass
the rope over the side down through the other hole and fasten it with
a knot (Fig. 15). Next tie around the notch in the top of the poles the
guy-ropes, with runners attached, and slip each loop made by the runner
over each peg (Fig. 31), allowing the rope to fall in the groove A near
the top of the peg; tighten the rope by pushing up the runners. The
stakes are thus held in position by ropes running out to the pegs in
the ground (Fig. 30).
[Illustration: Fig 27]
[Illustration: Fig. 30.—The Home-Made Net.]
Now we understand how to make and erect a lawn-tennis net; but what
shall we do about the court? Of course, that must be all ready before
we can set up the net. We must now learn how to lay out a
=Lawn-Tennis Court.=
The best ground for this is turf, though it may be of asphalt, or earth
mixed with fine gravel; sometimes wood is used.
The diagram on page 64 (Fig. 32) shows the construction of a
lawn-tennis court for two, three, or four-handed games.
Lay out the court with a hundred-foot measuring-tape, by marking the
lines with whitewash, chalk, paint, or plaster-of-Paris.
First the side line, seventy-eight feet, AB. This gives you one side
of your court. Then the base line, thirty-six feet, AC, which, with
their parallel lines CD and DB, form the boundaries of a court for
four-handed games. Now lay off the side lines of the single court,
EG and FH, which are parallel to the others and four and a half feet
inside of them. Divide the court across the centre by the net, fastened
to the poles O and P. The lines EF and GH are called base lines.
Twenty-one feet from the net, mark the service lines, MN and TV. Then
make the central longitudinal line, IJ, and the court is complete.
[Illustration: Fig. 31]
Now everything is prepared for the game. Hold your racket firmly, and
try to keep the ball flying over the net, back and forth, as often as
possible.
For the guidance of those who have had no opportunity of learning to
play lawn-tennis the following rules are given, as adopted by the
United States National Lawn-Tennis Association.
First, however, we would say that it is not necessary always to have an
umpire or a referee, as spoken of in the
=Rules for Lawn-Tennis.=
THE GAME.
1. The choice of sides, and the right to serve in the first game, shall
be decided by toss; provided that, if the winner of the toss choose the
right to serve, the other player shall have choice of sides, and _vice
versa_. If one player choose the court, the other may elect not to
serve.
2. The players shall stand on opposite sides of the net; the player who
first delivers the ball shall be called the _server_, and the other the
_striker-out_.
[Illustration: Fig. 32
LAWN-TENNIS COURT.]
3. 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 all
the subsequent games of the set, or series of sets.
4. The server shall serve with one foot on the base line, and with
the other foot behind that line, but not necessarily upon the ground.
He shall deliver the service from the right to the left courts
alternately, beginning from the right.
5. The ball served must drop between the service line, half-court line,
and side line of the court, diagonally opposite to that from which it
was served.
6. It is a _fault_ if the server fail to strike the ball, or if the
ball served drop in the net, or beyond the service line, or out of
court, or in the wrong court; or if the server do not stand as directed
by law 4.
7. A ball falling on a line is regarded as falling in the court bounded
by that line.
8. A fault cannot be taken.
9. After a fault the server shall serve again from the same court from
which he served that fault, unless it was a fault because he served
from the wrong court.
10. A fault cannot be claimed after the next service is delivered.
11. The server shall not serve till the striker-out is ready. If the
latter attempt to return the service he shall be deemed ready.
12. A service or fault, delivered when the striker-out is not ready
counts for nothing.
13. The service shall not be _volleyed_, _i.e._, taken, before it has
touched the ground.
14. A ball is in play on leaving the server’s racket, except as
provided for in law 6.
15. It is a good return, although the ball touch the net; but a
service, otherwise good, which touches the net, shall count for nothing.
16. The server wins a stroke if the striker-out volley the service,
or if he fail to return the service or the ball in play; or if he
return the service or the ball in play so that it drops outside of his
opponent’s court; or if he otherwise lose a stroke, as provided by law
18.
17. The striker-out wins a stroke if the server serve two consecutive
faults; or if he fail to return the ball in play; or if he return the
ball in play so that it drops outside of his opponent’s court; or if he
otherwise lose a stroke as provided by law 18.
18. Either player loses a stroke if he return the service or the ball
in play so that it touches a post of the net; or if the ball touch him
or anything that he wears or carries, except his racket in the act of
striking; or if he touch the ball with his racket more than once; or if
he touch the net or any of its supports while the ball is in play; or
if he volley the ball before it has passed the net.
19. In case any player is obstructed by any accident, the ball shall be
considered a _let_.
20. On either player winning his first stroke, the score is called
15 for that player; on either player winning his second stroke, the
score is called 30 for that player; on either player winning his third
stroke, the score is called 40 for that player; and the fourth stroke
won by either player is scored game for that player, except as below:
If both players have won three strokes, the score is called _deuce_;
and the next stroke won by either player is scored _advantage_ for that
player. If the same player wins the next stroke, he wins the game; if
he loses the next stroke the score returns to deuce; and so on, until
one player wins the two strokes immediately following the score of
deuce, when game is scored for that player.
21. The player who first wins six games wins the set; except as
follows: If both players win five games, the score is called _games
all_; and the next game won by either player is scored _advantage game_
for that player. If the same player wins the next game, he wins the
set; if he loses the next game, the score returns to games all; and
so on, until either player wins the two games immediately following
the score of games all, when he wins the set. But individual clubs, at
their own tournaments, may modify this rule at their discretion.
22. The players shall change sides at the end of every set; but the
umpire, on appeal from either player, before the toss for choice, may
direct the players to change sides at the end of every game of each
set, if, in his opinion, either side have a distinct advantage, owing
to the sun, wind, or any other accidental cause; but if the appeal be
made after the toss for choice, the umpire can only direct the players
to change sides at the end of every game of the odd or deciding set.
23. When a series of sets is played, the player who served in the last
game of one set shall be striker-out in the first game of the next.
24. The referee shall call the game after an interval of five minutes
between sets, if either player so order.
25. The above laws shall apply to the three-handed and four-handed
games, except as below:
26. In the three-handed game, the single player shall serve in every
alternate game.
27. In the four-handed game, the pair who have the right to serve in
the first game shall decide which partner shall do so; and the opposing
pair shall decide in like manner for the second game. The partner of
the player who served in the first game shall serve in the third, and
the partner of the player who served in the second game shall serve
in the fourth; and the same order shall be maintained in all the
subsequent games of the set.
28. At the beginning of the next set, either partner of the pair which
struck out in the last game of the last set may serve, and the same
privilege is given to their opponents in the second game of the new set.
29. The players shall take the service alternately throughout the
game; a player cannot receive a service delivered to his partner;
and the order of service and striking out once established shall not
be altered, nor shall the striker-out change courts to receive the
service, till the end of the set.
30. It is a fault if the ball served does not drop between the service
line, half-court line, and service side line of the court, diagonally
opposite to that from which it was served.
31. In matches, the decision of the umpire shall be final. Should there
be two umpires, they shall divide the court between them, and the
decision of each shall be final in his share of the court.
ODDS.
A _bisque_ is one point which can be taken by the receiver of the odds
at any time in the set except as follows:
(_a_) A bisque cannot be taken after a service is delivered.
(_b_) The server may not take a bisque after a fault, but the
striker-out may do so.
One or more bisques may be given to increase or diminish other odds.
_Half fifteen_ is one stroke given at the beginning of the second,
fourth, and every subsequent alternate game of a set.
_Fifteen_ is one stroke given at the beginning of every game of a set.
_Half thirty_ is one stroke given at the beginning of the first game,
two strokes given at the beginning of the second game; and so on,
alternately, in all the subsequent games of the set.
_Thirty_ is two strokes given at the beginning of every game of a set.
_Half forty_ is two strokes given at the beginning of the first game,
three strokes given at the beginning of the second game; and so on,
alternately, in all the subsequent games of the set.
_Forty_ is three strokes given at the beginning of every game of a set.
_Half court:_ The players may agree into which half court, right or
left, the giver of the odds shall play; and the latter loses a stroke
if the ball returned by him drops outside any of the lines which bound
that half court.
THE BALLS.
The balls shall measure not less than 2-15/32 inches, nor more than 2½
inches in diameter; and shall weigh not less than 1-15/16 oz., nor more
than 2 oz.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: The May-Pole Dance.]