TENNIS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 10 December 1926, Page 4

TENNIS

||| COURT TACTICS. - 1 tfK RENE LACOSTE’S. COUNSEL. If you would improve quickly in, lawn tennis, you must first JOe in good physical condition (writes Rene Lacoste, the French player). if you want to play- lawn tennis only for tne pleasure of the game, do not play 71 too much. Rather, divide your leisure between several sports. But if your are ambitious and wish to derive real satisfaction from lawn tennis, play as much as you can and with pleasure. Most players do not play enough for . fear of playing too much. Lawn tennis practice is much more than merely playing games and sets. You should take lessons from an 7 instructor or with a friend who will make you play all the strokes separately, one after the other. When playing sets, concentrate on the shots you play, badly without caring whether you win a point or lose it. When practising, try to find the best opponent you can. It will assist your progress tremendously. But if you cannot find a good player, it is better to play against a bad one than to forego your altogether. There are few players who have not any good strokes in their game. Make your opponent play his best shot an<L try to return it. This will be useful to you. Before you enter a tournament you must understand some of the conditions which make tournament play so different from ordinary games. There are players who always win in practice, but never in tournaments. Under the’strain of the competition their game goes to pieces. In a tournament, the first thing you must do is to remain a good sport, no matter how great the strain. Win and lose- with the same grace. Never worry your opponent ; accept the decisions of the umpire and respect the crowd.. There are not many tennis players who play all shots equally well. That is why against every shot played by his opponent a good tactician Has one shot that is more useful to play than any other. In a tennis match a good strategist must try to play in a manner that will permit him to' use his best shot when his opponent is obliged to play his weakest one. That is why perfect tactics in on© player and baa tactics in another can make the former as good as his best shot and his opponent as bad as his weakest one. With the remarkable number of tournaments played each year, lavra tennis tactics are so well developed) in modern champions that nobody—except stron g players like Til den and Suzanne Lenglen—can be certain of avoiding - defeat from players who are not their eoual in strokes. To be a good tactician the first essential is to learn the- spin of the ball. You must know. 7 first and foremost, the bounce of the different strokes you may plav. the breaks of the American twist service, the long bounce of, the top spin drive, and so oh. You must, by experiment. learn that it is difficult to volley a top spin drive, that it- is difficult to <x service, and that this shot is slow and easv to volley. Do not try to half-vollev or take vour drive early on cut balls.'They often bounce untrulv and. as vou havo little time to watch the ball after it bounces, you can easily make mistakes. Then, you must learn the importance of a shot according to its placement. Learn to make your opponent run from one side of the court to the other. Play short and long strokes to catch him out of position. Learn the value of a shot played twice at the same spot. Your opponent, starting back towards the centre of the court after the first ball, will be unable to stop and return for the second. Try a drop shot when your opponent is far from the net and learn when it is useful to lob. Find out, also, when it is better to plav in the centre than in the corner. When yon know the answers to every shot and _ their valne, analyse your own game, its possibilities.' and the game of the opponent you are up against. Use vour mind as much as you can. Do not” fear to concentrate all the time. Some champions say one must concentrate more on certain points than on others, and on certain games of the set. hut I. do not advocate this for beginners, because I am afraid they will concentrate more on some points at tHe expense of the others, and that does not do. . . . _ In men’s doubles and mixed double®, as well as in women’s doubles, the great principle of match play, “Play your best shot against the weakest of your opponent,” is true, but court position, much more 1 than technique, will provide you with the best openings. Your worst stroke -, played from the right placets often more useful in doubles than your best stroke played from the wrong place. Tactics become more or less a question of placement of the service, anticipation, lobbing or concentration- on the game and on the weaknesses of your opponent. Good team work, resulting from many matches played together. helns two players more than brilliant individual tactics. Matches are won not- by the racquet, hut by mental qualities which permit von to use your shot and vonr mind to the best advantage. These mental qualities are perhaps more essential in lawn, tennis than in anv other -sport. When a voung player has quick judgment. good concentration and correctanticipation, he has an excellent chance of goinc - far even if his strokes) are’ bad. Willingness, calmness and courage make the tennis champion.