TENNIS HISTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 138, 12 June 1926, Page 38

TENNIS HISTORY.

THE MODERN GAME. ONLY FIFTY TEARS OLD.

(H. TILLaIAN.)

When man lived in caves, and his women-folk wore nothing but fur coats, then, according to that pictorial historian Lawson Wood, the children played at football about the entrances to their homes. Even apart from that eminent illustrator, it.is quite certain that Rugby and Soccer are very old games, and that the streets of Athens, Rome, and earliest London, rang often with the shouts of urchins kicking a home-made ball. Cricket, too, has a long history, and every schoolboy knows that Drake refused to forsake his game of bowls for the mere- sight of Spain's gleaming Armada. With tennis, however, it is different. Marcus Aurelius never had his philosophy tried with a partner who gave short lobs, neither had King Arthur's chivalry to stand the supreme test of giving his opponeri't a doubtful point with the score 5—4 and vantage against him. Modern tennis started not earlier than 1874, and the rules under which we now play were not agreed on till 1877, so that fifty years will cover the history of the game. It is true that a game called La Longue Paume was in vogue in France a century or two before. It was plaj'ed in the open with a cork ball hit with the. hand across, an earthen bank. In England Henry VIII., is reported to have played "tenys" and to have worn a highly coloured "tenys cote." However, from any picture that the writer has ever seen of that monarch, it is quite evident that his royal nibs did not play any game like the modern one. Recently, in a second-hand shop, I purchased "Lawn Tennis," by H. W. W. Wilberforce in 1889. In this handbook he describes the game and shows how it should be played. Tennis was very young then, and the book affords a study of the progress we have made. In this author's account of the history of the game he relates that a Major Wingfield introduced a game called "Sphairistike." It was played on an hour glass court, 60ft by 30ft, narrowing to 21ft at the net, which was 7ft high at the posts, and 4ft 8m at the middle. This was in 1874, and for the next three years each player made bis own rules as he went along. In 1877, three men, Henry Jones, C. G Heathcote Julian Marshall, met, and lawn tennis made its bow to a world that probably did not appreciate the greatness of the event. The game and rules adopted by these men with one very slight alteration, is that played to-day.' Six years later the net was .lowered from 4ft 9in at the posts, and 3ft 3in in the middle, to the height in use to-day. There it remains, still too 1 The ° r r u?es ß have remained, but the manner of playing the game has changed considerably. Mr. Wilberforce does not mention who was the first man to discover the volley. And history is silent on whether he was a fat man who could not run, or a lazy man who would not, or merely a genius. But that the Galileo of tennis suffered the same as all pioneers is certain. Mr. VVilberforce mentions that at firJt the stroke was considered ungentlemanly, and that at a club match he saw one of the players throw down his racquet in disgust, and refuse to go on with the game because a low fellow persisted in volleying, a particularly pet stroke which the disgruntle, player had up till then found unreturnable. Before 1880 the game was more a test of endurance. In a match between Lawford and Lubbock, Mr. Wilberforce saw a rally of eighty-three strokes. In this year, however, Woodhouse, and then the Renshaws, brought the volley game to the fore, coming to net as the champions do to-day. It may be here mentioned that Lawford last April, at Dess, Aherdeenshire, in his seventy-fifth year. He was champion m 1887, and runner-up in the two years previous, William Renshaw being his conqueror. Lawford was the inventor of the "Lawford drive," a he_vy topped affair that everyone copied for a time, and then, like all freak shots, was soon discarded. Wilberforce was, with P. B. Lyon, doubles champion (then called "four handed") in 1887, and the game of doubles he teaches is still worth reading, rlthough" some of the advice reads strange. He says: Swearing at one's partner, whatever else it may do, certainly won't make him play better. The world has changed. The oaths were freer. They bet, and drank heavier then. Even wh_ training for a tournament, Wilberforce merely suggests the players to be abstemious in the matter of drink, and go to bed not later than/ (twelve. He .says: It is far better, not to drink at all during a match, but simple rinse out the mouth with strong brandy and water. In regard to betting his advice is: Audible betting, at any rate, should be discouraged. For my own part, I should like to see no betting at all, but that, however, I fear is a counsel of perfection. Who can doubt but that the world moves ? The author goes on to describe the best methods of making the various strokes. His ground strokes are against modern practice, being made facing the oncoming ball, and with the head of the racquet pointing to the ground, but in regard to the value of length in a drive, and the need of going to the net, he is on sure grounds. Not the "east interesting part of the book are the advertisements. Would it not gladden the eyes of a 1925 secretary to read an advertisement for nets at 5/3 and '6/, and the best, copper bound and canvas covered, 16/, or cf racquets, the dearest of which are 25/. But in regard to the price of balls the difference is of the most importance. In the good old days a price list read: Cloth covered, 7/ doz., "Champion," 8/6 doz., Ayres "Championship," 12/ doz. Fancy a pair of Ayres for 2/. If balls were that price now, and the best recquets could be bought for 25/, every week would be like Easter.

OUG