LAWN TENNIS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 23 November 1938, Page 4

LAWN TENNIS

HINTS FOR GROUND STROKES SPEED A GREAT ADVANTAGE BY DONALD BUDGE (Copyright) Great interest is being taken in the articles on lawn tennis, written by Champion Donald Budge. Players old and new will find much of value in the helpful hints and advice they contain. The first and second instalments appeared in our issues of Saturday and Monday last. In the third instalment to-day hints for ground strokes are given.

The back-swing for the ground strokes may be a circular type or may be straight back. I believe that I start my racket movement with a slightly upwards, as well as backwards, swing As I reach the complete depth of the swing I straighten out the racket and bring it through level with the height at which I wish to hit the ball. The player should plan to hit the ball at that distance from his body which allows him to relax his arm comfortably while it is fully extended. The racket assumes a slight bevel at the moment of impact, with the top edge in front of the bottom edge. The purpose of this is to impart top spin to the ball. I think that the player should prolong the moment of impact with the ball as long as possible, for the longer the ball rests on the strings of the racket the greater the control. The forward swing should start on a horizontal plane, but deviate to a slightly upward stroke at the moment of impact. This upward stroke is the beginning of tiie follow through, which continues up and over the shoulder nearest the net. When sufficient time allows I prefer a long follow through, to match the long back-swing. Where a short backswing is used I advise a shortening of the follow through, because this increases control. Scientifically the backswing and follow through should match each other exactly as in golf. POSITION OF WRIST One other important point in making the ground strokes is the position of wrist. I think that its function has been best defined by J. Parmely Paret, the famous coach, when he points out its similarity to a hinge. The wrist in the 1 back-swing represents the open door or ! bent back part. As the racket is swung forward the wrist straightens itself out at the moment of impact, and bends slightly forward to finish the stroke. When making ground strokes the wrist must on no account be relaxed, as this takes away all the “sting” put into the shot by good timing and hard hitting. The flat-hit ball differs from the top spin drive in the impact and follow through. The impact is made with practically a vertical racket face. The follow through continues on the same level, at the same plane, with almost no change | in the bevel of the racket. I believe the flat shot can be used 1 effectively about one quarter of the j time. Its advantage is that the ball takes a hard, fiat and low bounce. It is of j wonderful use as a forcing weapon, j either in putting the ball away from the ! baseline or in paving the way for a position at the net. On the other hand. ; it is a difficult shot to control, there j being not nearly as great a margin of safety as with the top spin drive. A third possibility exists in the undercut drive, which must not be confused with the “chop.” This stroke merely reverses the theory of the top spin drive. The bevel of the racket is reversed—making the forward edge of the racket, at the moment of impact, at the bottom. The follow through is made with a slightly cramped blow to main-

tain the bevel. This snot is often the result of a well meant flat drive gone astray. I do not recommend its use because of the great danger of error. Its advantage is mainly on grass courts, where it causes the ball to take a low. skidding bounce, but the difficulty of mastering the stroke does not seem to me to compensate for the small advantage gained. It also forces a player to lift the ball slightly so that the attacking opponent will find

it easy to cut off the undercut drives at j the net and put the ball away with a full blooded “kill” volley. Of the three types of drives I suggest that the top spin be mastered first. Only when he has mastered this stroke should the player go after the fiat stroke. As the top spin is safer I sug- ! gest its use on most shots, but when 1 the opportunity arises for a placement \ use the flat stroke. The great success of Bunny Austin j : has been founded to a large extent on j | the tremendous speed he gains off the j ground. This is the result of a perfectly j hit top spin drive and a keen follow | through. It often beats an opponent who thinks he has time to get into position to'stroke the ball only to find himself playing too late. SPEED IS IMPORTANT The element of speed is vitally important in tennis. My brother always

insisted that my ground strokes should be well-controlled before I attempted speed. He thus forced me to stroke the ball properly, but only as hard as I felt would allow me to keep the ball under full control. This plan worked well for me. Speed is of great advantage in placing the balls out of reach and in surprising an opponent, but it can often be less effective than the perfect timing that allows a player to take the ball on the rise, hit with less effort, more safety, and probably, greater eflect. Speed f*an often become a handicap in a match with a steady player. I try to mix my shots. 1 have made it a cardinal point to hit the ball with no more than good lively speed until an opening presents itself, and then to apply the pressure. I believe that time spent on improving footwork and timing will do more for a player’s game than a frantic endeavour to acquire speed. Without good footwork the body weight cannot be put into the shot and this itself causes loss of speed. Two shots which I often use from the ground are the drop shot and the lob. The former is a short chop stroke designed to drop the ball just over the net for the purpose of drawing an opponent into the net. or winning a point when he is too far back to reach it. Anita Lizana, the American champion is probably the most famous exponent of this shot, which gains her innumerable points, particularly on hard courts. 1 lie lob is made with the same stance as the drive but consists of hitting the ball into the air over the head of an adversary already stationed at the net or charging it. These two shots arc an advantage because they enable a player to run his opponent back and forth in the court more easily than with drives, which are primarily used to cause side to side running. They should be employed particularly when J an opponent is tired. After a player has sufficient feel of racket and balance to drive the ground strokes he is usually quite able to acquire the drop shot and lob. Some players are able to get fairly good results with poorly-made ground strokes. These players, however, are usually the ones that can't quite get to the top. Defective methods may be covered up to a certain extent by good tactics and courtcraft, but they are a real handicap and should be overcome if possible. BUDGE ANSWERS A QUESTION To conclude this part of the series dealing with the mechanics of the ground strokes 1 would like to answer a question put to me with regard to my game. The question is as to how my forehand was developed so long after my backhand. As I stated before. I started to play with my brother when I was eight years old. The first strokes I learned then were a forehand similar to the one I use now and my present backhand. 1 r.layed only in periodic spurts until 1 was fourteen but continued to use that forehand until then. I suddenly felt that I wanted a forehand like my brother's so changed my grip to the semi-Western that he used.

This grip worked well enough for the rest of my junior days. However, when I first went East to play in senior events I ran into great difficulty. 1 was constantly exposed to attacks in my deep forehand corner. After a season ol this I came back and had a try at a Continental drive which was less successful than my Western. At the suggestion of Ellsworth Vines I went back to my first beginnings of an Eastern drive. It was not remarkable that I was able to develop this stroke, for I had had early experience with it I would say that the late “coming of age” on this wing was due to my indecision in selecting the stroke best suited for my purpose. Had I stuck to the original I would probably have arrived at the present state of development sooner. I want to stress here that all players should be prepared to experiment in this way with their grips and even their strokes. Ifthey are not comfortable while holding their racket they cannot hope to play any strokes with confidence Even when they get to the top of the tree and play in Davis Cup and Wightman Cup matches players are continuing ot experiment with their play. They find that different types of grip

help them with different bounces and so are constantly changing their grips during a match If you watch a player’s hands for a game or two you will see how each different type of ball is stroked and how the grip is changed to make that stroke fluent That is one ot the delights of the game, there is so much to learn and always room for improvement.