DEDICATION. To William Renshaw , Esq., Champion of England, this book is dedicated by his friend and pupil the Author. PUBLISHED BY WRIGHT & DITSON, BOSTON, U. S. A., AND “PASTIME” OFFICE, 28 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E. C. COPYRIGHT 1886, By JAMES DWIGHT....

There is at present no work on Lawn-Tennis written by any of the well-known players or judges of the game, and it is with great diffidence that I offer this book to fill the gap until something better comes. It is intended for beginners, and for those who have not had the opportunity of seeing the best players and of playing against them. To the better players it would be presumption for me to offer advice. I should not, indeed, have ventured to write at all had I not had unusual opportunities o

When you begin to play games, do not try all the strokes that you see made. Begin by playing quietly in the back of the court. Try simply to get the ball over the net, and to place to one side or the other, and to do this in good form, i.e. , to hold the racket properly, and to carry yourself in the right way. As you improve you can increase the speed of your strokes, and can play closer to the side-lines. Remember that a volleying game is harder to play, and you should learn to play well off th

Rackets. —The choice of a racket is an important matter, and it is also a difficult one. Young players seem to take pleasure in selecting the most extraordinary rackets in a shop. Let me strongly advise them to avoid all unusual handles, heads, or methods of stringing. All these eccentricities are useless at the best. Nothing is so good as the simplest form of racket, possessing an octagonal handle, and strung in the usual way. Such a racket is used by all the better match-players in England. Op

The backhanded underhand service is precisely similar, but is made on the left side with the right foot forward. The ball is struck with the rough side of the racket, and of course breaks from left to right. There is only one other service that need be mentioned. The arm is at right angles to the body, with the elbow slightly bent, and with the head of the racket a little higher than the wrist. The ball should be struck at the height of the shoulder, and the racket, after striking the ball behin

3.—There is another stroke, and the most difficult of all. It is to play the ball slowly across the court to the farther side-line. The ball should strike the ground as near to the net as possible, so that a player who is coming forward cannot reach it before it has bounded and passed on across the side-line. If made correctly, there is no answer to the stroke, except a half-volley. It is an essential part of the stroke that it should be played very slowly, or else the ball must go out of court.

To become an adept at the game, the player must be able to volley well; he must know how the stroke is made, and he must be able to make it, no matter where the ball may come—high or low, right or left, straight or dropping. One common principle applies to all volleys, namely, that the ball must not be allowed to hit the racket, but the racket must hit the ball, and a distinct stroke should be made. A step should always be taken with the opposite foot, i.e. , with the left foot in a forehanded s

These two volleys are used with the ball from four to six feet from the ground, both in coming forward from the back of the court, and, more often, when already in position, and your opponent tries to pass you. Both strokes are easy in themselves if the ball comes within reach and if you can foresee on which side it is coming. The real difficulty lies in getting into position for the stroke, and not in the stroke itself. A more difficult ball to volley is one that is only a foot or so off the gr

My advice would be never to use a half-volley if the ball could be returned in any other way, and, if compelled to use it, to put pace on the ball and play it as a fast stroke, and not as a slow one. A lob is a ball tossed in the air so that it shall fall far back in the court, and shall be out of reach of a player standing as far forward as the service-line. The object is, of course, to make a stroke that cannot be volleyed, except from the back of the court, where the volley is seldom severe.

It is much easier to lob forehanded, and the ball should be taken well in front of one, and to the right if possible. Always lob toward the windward corner of the court, but if there is little or no wind one should choose the backhand corner. Remember that a lob must go back nearly to the base-line or it will give an easy stroke. In the preceding pages I have tried to give some idea of the different strokes and of the manner in which they are made. My object now is to take the game as a whole, a

Before this can be done, we must speak of the different styles of game that one meets. I do not refer to garden-party lawn-tennis, but to the styles of the best match-players only. Seven or eight years ago no one thought of volleying a ball that could be easily played off the ground. The game consisted of carefully placed strokes of medium pace, and the result was long, tedious rests of twenty, forty, and even eighty returns. The first change in this game was caused by the present champion, Mr.

The same thing is done at four games-love, at five games to one or two, or at any such score, and the player who is ahead is often justly rewarded by losing the set. Another player will be tempted in the opposite way. He gets a good lead, and, to make sure of the set, begins to play a very cautious game. The moment he does so he is playing a weaker game. His real game gave him his lead, but that does not show that he can hold his advantage unless he plays as well as he has been playing. I saw on

It is hard to say just where the server should stand to serve, but it should not be so near the middle as in the single game, because he has more space to cover on one side and none on the other. Perhaps the best place is about the middle of his own half of the base-line, but it is rather a matter of taste. His partner should stand on the other side of the court just in front of the service-line, and near enough to the side-line to make it impossible for the ball to pass him on that side. There

What the man should do is harder to say. My own idea is about as follows: If the service comes to the man, he should return it hard to the lady opposite, and then follow up to volley her return. In coming forward he should not take the middle of the court, but should keep towards his own side, so that there shall be little danger of her passing him down his own side-line, and also so that his partner may know which side of the court she is to cover. Supposing that the ball is returned to his par

Remember that an umpire is an unfortunate necessity, and his first object should be to make himself as little conspicuous as possible, and to annoy the players as little as he can. What the players want is an umpire who will attend to the game and will give an honest decision as quickly and distinctly as possible. They do not want any fancy umpiring done at their expense. About the worst umpire that there can be is one who is trying to show off his umpiring. I believe myself that players are as

There is little to say about odds in themselves, as it is settled by law how they shall be taken; thus fifteen is one stroke given at the beginning of every game of a set, and no judgment can make it anything else. There is, however, one important exception, the bisque. A bisque is one stroke given in each set of a match, either by itself or to increase or diminish other odds. In other words, a player to whom a bisque is given can at any time in the set add one stroke to his score simply by clai

I will now try to give the reasons for taking a bisque in each of the above cases. 1. Three games love is a winning score. Two games to one is a level one. Four games to one is about three games more (practically) than three to two. So in a still greater degree is there a difference between five games to one and four games to two. In each of these cases, winning the game will give a commanding lead, and therefore it is right to take the bisque to make sure of it. The same reasoning applies to Ca

III. The service is delivered before the striker-out is ready. He tries to return it and fails. Is he entitled to have it played over again? Decision. —No. If he attempts to return the service he is deemed ready. IV. The striker-out calls “Not ready” for a second service. The ball strikes beyond the service-line, and the striker-out claims that the fact that he was not ready makes no difference since a fault cannot be returned, and therefore that two faults have been served. Decision. —The secon

Winner Championship. Double Championship. Ladies’ Championship. IRISH CHAMPIONSHIPS. Gentlemen’s Singles. Ladies’ Singles. Doubles. SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIPS. Singles. NORTHERN CHAMPIONSHIPS. Gentlemen’s Singles. Gentlemen’s Doubles. Ladies’ Singles. Ladies’ Doubles. BATH CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND. Gentlemen’s Singles. CHELTENHAM. EXMOUTH. LONDON CHAMPIONSHIPS. PRINCE’S CHAMPIONSHIPS. BUXTON. Gentlemen’s Doubles. Ladies’ Doubles. EASTBOURNE. Gentlemen’s Singles. EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY OPEN

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