GOOD SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 146, 21 June 1924, Page 19

GOOD SERVICE

METHODS IN LAWN TENNIS

PLACING, SPEED, AND TWIST

CHOICE AND CULTIVATION OF

EFFECTIVE STYLE.

Accuracy and difficulty of return arc* the fundamentals of a good service in lawn tennis, and these factors are best ensured by a blend of Epeed and twist guided by a skilful choice of direction. The best type of service is probably 40 per cent, placing, 30 per cent, speed, and 30 p«r cent, twist.

rhe drawbacks of the plain slam service, admittedly- the most spectacular and the fastest when properly executed are that it is the least safe and one of the easiest to handle if the receiver can reach it, writes B. H. Liddell Hart in tne -Manchester Guardian." Its very speed gives it a boomerang effect if returned, for it comes back so fast as otten to catch the server before he has tune to move to meet it. If the server attempts to follow in his service to the net, as he must in doubles at any rate, he frequently finds himself trapped in that perilous "no-man's land" in midcourt It is for this reason that few farst-class players use this service in doubles, even as an occasional resource, and that when employing it in singles they rarely attempt to take the net on it.

Its greatest defect, however, is its narrow margin of safety; even in the case of a six-foot man, whose reach allows hun to strike the ball at a height ot me feet from the ground, tests have shown that he has only a margin of eight inches for a fiat-hit service iust clearing- the net, to fall within the limits of the service court. As an attempt fo shave the net is risky, the margin iv P^* 1? 0 's usually smaller still. In faco of this knowledge it is «t surprising to find in club tennis, -/lien; the plain fast service is the nowfial evening gim, that the majority o/ fi rst services are I SUiCS.

A TESftIS CRIME. From a mat^n-winning point of view, an occasional outright ace is not an economic compensation for the ' average player's habit of thus throwing away nearly half his chances, and so heavily increasing his risk of double faults. Tho practice leads, moreover, to the all too snTTJ^w S, £COnd servioes s° slow and short that they give the opponent *b\ T* °f a winnin S return. A short and easy bounding second service tLn ten, nis,,crime hardly less heinous sirtr r andl, cT Rubles do we see the server of such feeble stuff look aggrievtLni^% hIS Pu af tnel' is Passed t>v the re- & i l\?^ h\ t0 be more widely rea™d '" tlus 5¥ s of tennis that the tertnf +£ c "f IS abnoSfc hel Pless to i«-

=mt 2-as. ssa 5,;: er'K V er fi VV he Secon* "ster than the first-a trick that R, N SSST °Ccasionally with

Ivot only for the star, but also for the average player, the service with moderate spin and as muc h speed as the P^er can safely impart is the best ta a standard weapon, for it not only carries a greater margin of safety than the flat-hit service, but because of its swerve is likely to draw a miss-hit from the receiver, or at l east force a defensive return. As its .flight through the air is slower, it also enables the server to get closer to the net when following up to cut off the return. Heavy spin however, is inadvisable, for it slows down the shot so greatly that when once, the opponent has got on terms with it he can often return it at unreachable angles. Another defect of all extremeforms of twist is the physical tax they impose on the server. So it was that in the famous David Cup struggle of 1905 after Holcombe Ward had taken the first two sets off H. L. Doherty, his strength gradually faded and he lost the next three sets by large margins. SLICES AND TWISTS. • • ?? c I?.ain Tariety of the spin service is the slice, where the server stands-at an angle to the base-line and his racquet travels from behind his back from right to left towards the net—the angle c£ the racquet face imparting the spin, and the natural swing of his body giving the speed. Th c ball curves and bounces to the left, towards the receiver's forehand, forcing him to strain for the ballThe other main kind is the American twist, where the stance is the same, but the ball is thrown rather behind the head, and the racquet passes up and over the ball from left to right and forward, so that it curves to the left aisd then bounces to the right, to the re^ ceiver's backhand. While Johnston mainly uses the slice, Tilden mixes the two forms, so that his opponent is constantly perplexed. The 'reverse twist, where the ball ig hit with the racquet travelling from right to left across and in front of the body, with the server facing the net, imparts a spectacular break, but is so awkward to execute that no speed can be obtained. Bundy. M'Loughlin's doubles partner and "the husband of the great May Sutton, was "perhaps its foremost exponent, but most other players Who have ' tried it, among them M'Loughlin in his early days, have abandoned it. While its marked curve to the server's right (followed by a sharp and high break to the left on bouncing) 13 disconcerting when first met. it is one of the easiest services to drive when one grows accustomed to it. It is by its very nature a freak sen-ice, and all such are unwise except as an occasional weapon of surprise. Mishu is, of course, the best known exponent ot freak services, but it is noteworthy thafs his employment of them usually marks the beginning of a losing period. No better advice can be given to the aspiring player than to cultivate a service with just sufficient slice or twist to keep it in court and to be not too easy to handle, and to avoid any excess which will cramp his free swing and so reduce his speed. Having acquired this, let him devote all his attention to the placing of the service, varying constantly its direction. Above all, cut out those slashing "hit or miss" first services and develop an effective second