LAWN TENNIS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 76, 30 March 1926, Page 5

LAWN TENNIS

THE GROOVED BALL

TENDENCY' TO SLOW-UP THE GAME.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 7th January. Mr.'A. Wallis Myers, who is watching the lawn, tennis, tournament very closely in the South of France, says that the serenity of the opening contests "was broken by the advent of a new ball and by a discussion upon it. The grooved ball, the ball with an indented cloth face, has-been invented for nearly two years, but hitherto, though its merits .have been sung, it has not been used in open competition until the present fixtures. Mr. Wallis writes: "Of its durability, its length of service, I do not think there is any question. That is a factor that appeals to club members and to players who are neither -wealthy nor privileged enough to employ new balls every time they step into court. If quality of manufacture were the only test, the grooved ball might anticipate a successful career, for. it is produced by the same company that supplies the ball used in the championships at Wimbledon. But I have not yet heard of any player in the front rank to-day who is hankering to hit it in a championship match, nor who would not be prejudiced against the experiment. That its flight is true is admitted. Firstclass lawn tennis, however, is a matter of controlled speed, of the ball's adaptability to aggression, especially on the service and on the drive, and of the decision which can be obtained from it on the volley. The grooved ball, in my opinion, does not fulfil these requirements ;it tends to alow up the game; it places a premium on the cut which at its worst is a weakness and at its best a defensive expedient. If the grooved ball were employed generally, the effect would be to make still softer the not very robust game which prevails in England to-day. A RETROGRADE MOVEMENT. "In coming to this opinion, I am not influenced by individual experiences. The man whose game has showed up by advancing age or by the declining calibre of his opponents might - deceive himself and deceive others in consequence that the grooved ball was the produce of a progressive age, and had about its face something commendably novel and attractive. But in the last analysis the test of a ball is its application to conditions of stroke and tactics as they have been advanced and intensified by successive generations. The grooved, ball will tend to take the game back, not propel it forward. It will increase caution, not stimulate enterprise. As an old player myself, anxious to keep back the hands of the clock in order that the pace of younger men might not outstrip me, I might bless it, even though I should know instinctively that it did not come to hand so smoothly and did not answer the volleyer 's arm so crisply. But as one who has seen the pace and- athletic attributes of the game steadily increasing, who.has seen the development of the service and of its counter, who realises that the world-wide spread of lawn tennis is largely due to the appeal which it makes to physical ardour and speed of foot and hand, I should view with alarm any change in equipment which would impose any retrogression. COMMON CODE.. "When lawn tennis was first invented there were competing methods of scoring—as in tennis and as in rackets. A player would ask politely, 'How shall we score?' before the game began. The scoring uniformity which the early pioneers effected in the late 'seventies gave an immediate impetus to the young pastime. ! Were the question now to be launched before a match, 'Grooved or plain-faced "balls Y the spirit of common code and custom upon which lawn tennis has thrived throughout the world, would be impaired, and the effect on international-organisation would be disastrous: ■-.... "Happily, there is no great fear of any such devleopment. The Kegional Committee on the Biviera has decided that every tournament shall be free to choose its own ball. . Already some of the larger and later tournaments- have announced their intention of employing the plainifaced standard, ball. I suspect that the note of alarm struck by some of the leading French players has had som^ influence. The French, having greater experience, of international match play in recent years, are in a better position to judge the part played by the ball's . surface—on the racquet and on the ground and through tho air. They know that the Americans would not tolerate .the grooved ball; they are mystified why British manufacturers, at n time when the British game-needs speeding up, should desire to push its claims, It looks like an attempt to try it on the Biviera dog. But the dog is beginning to growl." 85, Fleet street.