The Volley
The first volley one learns - for in effect, although perhaps not technically so, it is a volley-is the service.
This being so, it is amazing to see the want of confidence exhibited by most players in dealing with any overhead volley a little way from the net. It is extremely rare to see a player launch himself at the ball and kill it by sheer pace, yet this should be quite a common stroke with first-class players. Here, again, one may be generally advised as to the overhead volley or smash, as it is generally called. The motion in > [LAWN TENNIS playing it is similar in nearly every respect to throwing a stone. It is really exactly the same stroke as the plain overhead service.
The two great errors in smashing are that players give the stroke no body, and they do not get underneath the ball. As, in the service, the ball should not be thrown up in front of one, so, in the smash, the ball should not be attacked a foot or two in front of the player. At the moment of impact it should be almost directly above the right shoulder, and, instead of standing still and using the arm like a semaphore, one should be stepping forward as one hits the ball. This is the only proper way really to smash a ball.
There are, of course, varieties of the smash. The plain smash, properly played, is good enough in most cases, but the smash with forehand cut is a most difficult ball to pick up, and can be placed with deadly accuracy. The reverse overhead cut smash is another most deceptive stroke. It is rarely seen, but it is one of the fastest and best strokes in the game, and when England comes into her own again it will be quite a favourite. The nature of the hold for this stroke causes the force of the blow to fall on the wrist in the way it cannot bend.
P. A. VAILE. BACKHAND DRIVE (V.). FINISH, SHOWING THUMB now ABOVE HANDLE.
This gives great pace to the stroke. These two strokes are exactly the same as the forehand cut and reverse overhead cut LAWN TENNIS services. They are most useful strokes for taking advantage of the sharp angles of the court, and for concealing till the last instant the direction of the ball's flight.
Most well-played volleys at the net are played with cut, especially if the return be fast and low. Meeting this with the plain face and a stiff wrist often means putting it out. A little cut or chop softens the impact, and enables one to drop the ball much shorter than can be done by the plain stroke, and, more valuable still, at a sharper angle across court. 3 Both the forehand and backhand lifting drives, especially when the player is near the net, make beautiful and effective volleys.
This is particularly so with the backhand stroke.
There is, generally speaking, too much straight volleying. The ball should, where possible, be cut across the court at a sharp angle. It really is not difficult if one gets well up to the net, and, as a scoring stroke, is incomparably more effective than a straight return.
A good way to smash volleys near the net is to hit them so hard on to the court as to bounce them beyond your opponent's reach.
It is distinctly necessary to try to hit this stroke downwards.
When volleying near the net, get well down to it. It is easier to volley low balls C Nearly all volleying should be crisp.
The ball should be smartly struck with a firm grip on the racket all the time. Near the net much of the work is so quick that P. A. VAILE PLAYING A SMASH. well if one's eye is in the line of flight. One of the finest low volleyers in Australia is a persistent " croucher."
H. L. DOHERTY PLAYING A SMASH. BALL LEAVING RACKET. there is little time for swing or bothering about weight transference. When there is time, all the general rules apply, and will in time be quite naturally used. When there is not, the stroke is frequently made by a snap of the wrist, or a push with a very firm wrist. It really is a stab. Some of the Australians play these stab-shots very well. A very sharp angle and great pace can be got with these strokes.
It should be the constant aim of every volleyer to secure a position near enough to the net to enable him always to volley downwards. If one has to play the ball upwards, it is quite impossible to kill it.
The half-volley is used practically only as a defensive stroke. It is, however, frequently most valuable as an offensive shot, for the time gained by half-volleying instead of waiting for the bound often means the difference between passing one's opponent and being cut off at the net.
The great secret of the half-volley is covering the bound. Fig. 9 shows clearly the principle involved. The drawings are not to scale, but the futility of attempting to half-volley with an upright face is shown, as is also the method of correcting it. The half-volley cannot be advantageously em- COURT Vertical rigidly-held racket and natural rebound.
O COURT TENDENCY. DOTTED LINE SHOWS CORRECTED REBOUND. ployed against a player who knows how to use cuts. The bound of the ball is rendered so uncertain that it becomes practically an impossibility to half-volley consistently well.
The stroke is frequently played without any follow through, a snap or wrist shot played with a push downward and a sudden check almost on the ball. At other times it is played with a beautiful free follow through, and is converted into practically a drive off a rising ball. This, however, is a very rare shot, and is not to be advised, for, under modern conditions, the half-volley should if possible always be converted into a volley. and The Lob. This is one of the most neglected strokes in the game. It is one of the simplest-in fact, it is the first stroke one plays naturally, yet to play it consistently and well requires nerve delicacy of touch. The height of a lob depends on the length of one's opponent.
The best lob is the lowest, and all that is necessary is to clear one's opponent, but it is not advisable to cut it too fine. When one is playing with the sun behind one it is a good plan, when pressed, to lob fairly high to one's opponents. If, when one is against the sun, they retaliate, let the ball bound and kill it on the bound, or reply by another lob if they are, as they ought to be, in position at the net. [LAWN TENNIS If one finds that one is lobbing too far, it is a good plan to toss them a little higher.
Put some of the strength into height. Do not go for the side lines in lobbing. Confine your risk as much as possible to length.
It will be enough. Many players find that they lob very accurately by cutting their lobs. There are practically three cut lobs the forehand, the backhand, and the chop.
The chop can be played on either hand, of course. It is, however, comparatively rare on the backhand, although it is, when well played, a most effective stroke. It is very curious to observe that the cut on a lob deceives a player more than in any other stroke. One does not appear to anticipate the false bound in the apparently innocent lob.
The Single Game. -A very great fault with many lawn tennis players is endeavouring to win outright off an unsuitable ball, instead of being content to return it with the object of putting the opponent at a disadvantage and perhaps obtaining a winning opening next stroke. This is very marked in the return of the service, which is so frequently slammed into the net a foot below the tape, even when the opposing player is on the base-line. A foot above the net would have given a fair length with a medium to fast lifting drive, so one has THE LATE MR. H. S. MAHONY PLAYING A BACKHAND SMASH.
The ball behind his racket is passing across from another court. made an error of two feet in the trajectory in a very short distance. The main thing is to put the ball into play. One must be LAWN TENNIS] able to do this consistently before one begins to think of driving very hard. Accuracy first and pace afterwards must be the motto of the beginner.
The proper way to play a single is to play from or close behind the base line, until one has either got one's opponent out of position, or has delivered such a wellplaced service or return that one is justified in advancing to the net with the object of volleying the return. That is the genuine old English game, and modern tactics have shown us nothing better. It is fashionable nowadays to charge up to the net on every service, quite irrespective of its merit. This comes off a good deal, mainly on account of the poorness of the passing shots, but as a matter of tactics it is bad to go up on anything, service or otherwise, that does not warrant it. That is how the game ought 3 cross-court shot is a very nasty return for one's opponent to pick up. He gets to it, up... if at all, when it is very low, and he has to play it. It does not assist him at all as the fast ball does. Many players think that a ball down the player's backhand corner is quite the best to go in on, but it will be seen from Fig. 10 that this is not so. A player driving a ball from, say, six feet outside the base-line as at C to the extreme diagonals of the court at A and B, is practically covered by the man at the net H, If, however, the ball is at D, the player is driving it into the court, which it is never even over until it reaches A, and he has his quick-dropping backhand cross-court shot to E, so that he has practically both sides of the net open to him. One may say a player need not drive down the extreme diagonals.
That is so. He may try to reach the side ७ A I K - / F F / ०९ to be played, and is how it would be played by scientific players of equal skill, but it must not be forgotten that it often pays to "bustle" one's opponent at the net. The persistent rusher has much in his favour, but his methods must not be accepted as the true science of the game, which consists in choosing one's opportunity, and going in on it like a flash. It is bad to allow one's opponent to become accustomed to anything.
He should not know whether one is going to remain on the base-line, or to charge up to the net. Keep him guessing. It is stimulating, and he will not play his strokes so accurately if one gives him plenty to think of each rest.
Return of the Service. - The two methods of returning the service that are most frequently used are side-line or crosscourt drives, and they are both good, especially if one's opponent is running in on his service. If he is, the cross-court shot should be as sharp across as possible, and with plenty of lift, which makes it drop quickly. It need not be very fast. A slow lines nearer the service line, but he will have a poor chance of escaping the man at the net with any except a first-class shot, if the attacking player is at H, and the striker-out at C, and, moreover, he is risking the sidelines all the time. 66 This centre theory is of great practical value in the single game. Its efficacy is attested by that great tactician, Mr. E. G.
Meers, while M. Max Decugis, the famous French player, in his preface to the French edition of Modern Lawn Tennis," describes in the most sportsmanlike manner, years after I had forgotten the circumstance, how by following my advice and using it, he beat the redoubtable A. W. Gore in the final for the Championship of London in 1904. It is not sufficiently used because players do not understand it well enough yet.
It must not be thought that in anything that has been said there is any attempt to discourage volleying, which is of the essence of the modern game, although it is carried to extremes by some of the leading players.
On the contrary, it may be laid down as a good general axiom: "When in doubt, race for the net, as, for instance, when one is caught a bit out of position in the threequarter court. It is always easier to run up than to run back, and the moral effect of bustling one's opponent cannot be exaggerated."
How to Receive the Service. - The service may be so varied that it is hard to lay down any fixed rule. There are, however, certain general directions that are worth remembering. Always keep as nearly as possible diagonally opposite your opponent. Never be flat-footed. Be always on the balls Q [LAWN TENNIS one the reply will quite often be weak.
These are two strong points in favour of the centre drive. If one is playing the lifting drive, it is extremely hard for an opponent to say what returns will go out. When he has left a few, and seen them pounce down on the base-line, he will stop a few genuine wanderers.
The Cross-court Drive. - This stroke may be played either forehand or backhand, preferably with plenty of lift on it, and the more sharply one can put it across the court the better. As in the single game, so, and more so, in the double, the slow passing shot is a most useful and telling stroke.
OA E A'S SERVICE TO C B RETURN CTOF SHOWING SIDE LINE SHOT CUT OFF RETURN C TO E SHOWING SHARP CROSS COURT SHOT NOT POSSIBLE of your toes with your knees ready flexed.
Hold your racket in both hands, the splice resting in your left. Always be far enough back, for again it may be emphasised that it is always easier to advance than to retreat.
Come in a little closer for the second service, for generally it will be slower.
The Double Game. The principal strokes in the double game are: The Centre Drive. This is probably the most useful return. One has not to risk the side line, and, so long as one escapes the server's partner and gets one's drive in before the server is quite in position, one has a good chance of scoring, and, moreover, if he has come up a bit wide, one has a good chance of going clean between one's opponents.
There is also always on the striker-out's side the advantage of the uncertainty that exists as to which of his opponents ought to take this return; moreover, not only does the striker-out take no risk of the side line, but in the little time allowed the server in his run up he will often give one the benefit of the doubt as to the length of the return, and if this has been a very good The Side-line Drive. It must be remembered in going for this shot that the net here is about 6 in. higher than in the cross-court shot. One must not go for it too often, but it is good to get in a straight pass now and again. It tends to prevent the man at the net interfering too much with one's cross-court shots.
The lob is, of course, an indispensable shot in the double game. It is not used enough. Too much of it is sickening, but in its place it is a useful and scientific stroke.
In a double, unless otherwise arranged, each player should attend to his own lobs.
The Service. The service in a double is a great advantage. It is discounted a great deal in England by its stereotyped diagonal nature. There is no variety, and it comes in always on the good old diagonal. Not unnaturally it frequently goes back by the same road with interest. Centre theory is of great importance in a double. Centring the service is a valuable means of scoring against nine pairs of ten. Fig. II shows the value of centring the service. It will be seen here that the side-line pass is cut LAWN TENNIS] right out, and the player's cross-court shot woefully restricted. This is a match-winning point that should not be overlooked.