LAWN TENNIS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 14, 27 October 1938, Page 3

LAWN TENNIS

HINTS ON PLAYING. SERVICE, SMASH AND VOLLEY. There are three strokes in tennis that may well be considered as the decisive strokes of the game. They are the service, the volley, and the smash. It is well, therefore, to devote some attention to them. The service in its origin was merely the method by which the rally for a point was started. It is now no longer regarded in that light. It is meant to be an attacking stroke. Indeed, the server hopes to send over a ball that the receiver cannot return and so win the point without the necessity for displaying any skill in a subsequent rally. It behoves every tennis player, therefore, to pay special attention to the cultivation of a service that will be a points’ winner. But in doing so he must he careful to develop his service within the rules—not as Adrian Quist has done outside the rules.

A server has plenty of latitude, but he has not unlimited freedom. He must come to a dead stop behind the baseline before commencing to serve; he is not allowed to touch the baseline with his foot; he is not allowed to swing his foot over the baseline before he has hit the ball; he i 9 not allowed to walk, or take a step, while serving; he is not allowed to hop or jump, so that both feet are off the ground when he hits the ball. Subject to these restrictions he can stand anywhere between the centre line and the side line of the court he is serving from, provided he remains behind the baseline; he can choose his own time to serve; he has a fairly large area of court to serve into and so make it difficult for the receiver to make an effective return; he has the right to serve a cannon-ball service (provided he has the height to make it practicable) or a service with deceptive “work’’ or “twist” on it so that the ball bounces in a planner that the receiver does not expect on landing. The receiver also has certain rights. He has the right to all the protection that the rule allows him. He has the right to be protected from a server who persists in delivering a service in a manner adjudged by the rules to be unfair. The Service.

In taking up his stance to serve, the server should be sideways to the > net, exactly the same way as for any other stroke. Be careful to throw the ball up high enough that you can hit the ball with the centre of your racquet when your . arm is at comfortable stretch. Throw the ball up, and throw it up to such a position that if allowed to fall it would strike on your left shoulder (your right shoulder if you are a lefthander). Do not throw the ball up so that if allowed to fall, it would strike you on the head or even fall behind you. Don’t try to serve a ball beyond your strength. Strike to serve both balls at an average pace, so that if you should fail to get your first service ball into court, the second one will not be merely a pat ball. Personally, I would like to see only one service ball allowed. One would see less blind hitting and more care taken, so that serving would become an art, as indeed it is and should be.

Unless you are over six feet tail, don’t try the straight hard cannon-ball service. You will have no hope of getting the ball into the service court even if you clear the net. If you are under six feet in height you should cultivate a service with “work’’ or "cut” or "twist” on the ball, and rely on placement to iput the opponent at a disadvantage.

In serving, don’t pull the ball down in an efFort to bring it into court. It will come down of its own accord if you

hit, through it at the right height and in the correct position. It will pay you to get a dozen or so old balls and go out on a court by yourself orVith a friend and practise serving. Don’t be satisfied unless you can be reasonably certain of getting your first ball into court almost every time and to a spot very near to where you want it to go. Don’t be content with blind hitting. The Smash.

The smash, the big gun in lawn tennis, has been called a service into all the opponent’s court. And that, in very truth, is what it is. Instead of hitting the ball into just a small area in your opponent’s court as you are compelled to do in service, in the smash you can crack the ball to any spot in his court. It is a sound rule that anything overhead inside the service line that you can reach should be hit hard. Your endeavour should be to win the point by the devastating nature of the stroke. For this stroke you should hit deep. See that you get right over the ball. If you cannot, then it should be your aim to play a defensive placement. There are times when it is # not possible to smash a, ball hard. Sometimes, too, it is much better to play the ball with reasonable speed to a particular point in your opponent’s court —a point determined by your confident belief that he will not be able to get to the ball in time to make a good return. There is much less risk in this stroke.

When smashing, some players leap in the air with both feet off the ground. To accomplish this successfully you must have sound judgment, sense of timing and perfect eyesight. As a general rule it is safer to keep one foot at least on the. ground. The Volley.

Like the smash, the volley should be a decisive stroke. Too many players stand so far from the net that they are compelled to volley from below the level of the top of the net. Thus their stroke is a defensive volley upward. The v oil eye r should not be further than eight feet from the net; if possible much closer to the net than that. Hjs aim should be to deal with the ball from above the net so that he can punch the ball hard downward to a spot where the opponent not only is not but has little prospect of getting to it in time. To dpfend a volley is to place yourself in a dangerous position. From being the attacker you allow the attack to go to your opponent. Unless you kill your volleys you leave yourself open to a passing shot or a lob. If your opponent is entrenched on the backline and his return is weak and you are sitting on the net it is a good plan to play a stop volley—that is, let the ball just fall off your racquet so that it is practically dead when it hits the ground, or to angle the ball sharply so that it runs almost parallel with the net. . Both these shots demand great accuracy and also necessitate the player being very close to the net.

All volleys, like the smash and the service, should be hit from a point somewhat in front of the body, and the body kept sideways to the net. The rules of footwork apply to the volley equally with any other stroke in tennis.