STRATEGY IN TENNIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19124, 16 September 1925, Page 17

STRATEGY IN TENNIS.

Docs strategy play the important part it should in high-class lawn tennis. This question is suggested by Mm MoKane's account o£ her championship match with Mil©. Lenglen. She wrote: "My previous experience ot Mile. had led me to helieve that she is .so far above everybody eko in steadiness from the back of the court that ray best chance was to get to the net and to volley as much as Possible. B~i Miss McKane confesses that her shots were "put back pW, passing her down the linos with mathematical accuracy. . To succeed on the tennis courts something more than ciever strokes and agihty are required. Tactics are supremo, and that qnick brain work that must be ever instantly adapting itself to take advantage ° f TnL Tstrategy and is a great of the play of Mile. Lenglen, who_ is credited with an " uncanny anticipation oFher opponents movements, which are out of the question if a player rigidly adheres toia line of plav decided on beforehand. That is playing a game on fixed lines, which your opponent easily discerns. This is the lesson which Siiould be taken to heart by young tennis players, and i speak with over 40 years experience of the same, having been one of the faun den. of the Gal'ery Lawn Tenni3 Club at Du*wich in 1885. . , 1 think a good deal of the failure o: English tennis is due to the want of appreciation on tho part of many p.ayere t»f tho strategical, demands of the courts. Favouxite strokes are cultivated ana excelled in. Yery good. There is qirtck movement—also so ucessary. But- aias . too ulten there are methods that fiiiriosu become stereotyped with some Each one has a favourite stroke position., and the aim too frequently is to find an opportunity for making the best of .. j What is wanted, rather, is all-round excellence. This will be best, secured by the player who can vary his or her play to meet tho exigencies of the moment For this reason a player should not always be reproducing in stereotyped fashion HTs or her play, but be capable of surprising an opponent. Thin, I think, Is the basis of the success of MHe. Lenglen, who idwayjj- rises to the occasion by Wring tho measure of her antagonist.