LAWN TENNIS

NZ Truth, Issue 882, 21 October 1922, Page 9

LAWN TENNIS

The Opening Gun

RISE OF THE SERVICE.

"Red Mac." the Pioneer.

(By "Umpire-")

Service is the Big Bertha of tennis. It is the stroke which puts the ball into play, and it is the development of service which has wielded such an influence over the rise of the game. The old idea was simply that the service should not be more than the beginning of a rally. It was thought impolite to ser^d the ball over the net at more than a maiden lady's pace on the way to church. In those days people played m top hats, and the thing: was te. keep the ball m play as long as possible and never to hit for your opening 1 . THE SMASH WIAS UNKNOWN. Chop, slice and half -volley were all awaiting discovery, and Billy Johnston's mother wasn't born. • , Later the game evolved, but the service lagged behind.. S. H. Smith, a man with a terrific forehand m his day, calmly wiped the courts with his genteel opponents, and the English awalcened"to the fact that tennis was meant for exercise and not to fill m time till afternoon tea. But even Wheri-A. W. Gore and E. D/ Black, the first representatives of the British Isles, went over to America m 1900 the service was not taken seriously. Meanwhile, however, A ? THE YANKS HAD BEEN BUST. Baseball pitching had shown their tennis players. the value of spin. And, : «as a result, they had evolved a fearful and wonderful delivery. In thia the server doubled himself tip and bit up and over the ball, Which swerved m the air and then kicked viciously m the other direction. Dwight F. Davis gave the Englishmen their introduction to the service m the first match of the Davis Cup. i Black waited calmly for the ball, which plonked on the court, and then shot away hard and low to his forehand, leaving him flat-footed on the court. The gallery howled witfc delight at the Britisher's open-mouthed , astonishment. Black was nonplussed, but managed to win the first set. The service proved too much for him after that, and he lost the remaining three seta m a row. The Englishmen returned home SADDER AND WISER MEN, and for years a controversy raged over the merits ana. demerits of the American service. It did not take root m the British Isles, for the next year witnessed the rise of the, Dohertys, those very correct brothers, on the cross of whose style British tennis has been crucified. English players held to the straight delivery and Americans to spin, and so the years passed-. Neither Brookes nor Wilding contributed anything to the service game, and the English players con-tinued-to be cast m a hard mould. The rise of J. C. Parks m the British Isles witnessed the drop of service, for Parke's service' was absolutely piffling and., was continually hit off the earthBut m the meantime Maurice McLoughlln, "THE RED RUSHER," . as he was called, a fiery-headed Californian colt, had broken from his stable. "Red Mac" had one slogan, and that was "speed." He had been trained on the hard courts m the west and he founded the tradition of hard-hitting Californians which culminated m the miraculous midget Billy Johnston." This Calif ornian cornet swept all before him, and when m, 1911 he entered for the Wimbledon Championship he played skittles with established reputations. His victorious career was ended by Tony Wilding, who met him m the final and slammed him* off the cour.t; but that was owing to Mac's weak backhand. The boy beat, Norman Brookes at his best m the Davis Cup, and slammed the Canterbury champion properly m 1914, purely by service. . R. N. Williams, another erratic star, supplied the antidote. He stood m and, played McLoughlin's service with his phenomenal half volleys. The

Calif ornian went out m a blaze oZ% glory, but he had done his ;-work. He had proved that service eoiuld be all but predominant m the. hands of a skilful man. And lie dropped out of sight himself only because all hia strokes were designed TO MAKE A NET ATTACK, and because once his service was coped -with, his armoury was very defective. ' But it wasn't many years • before we knew his successor m 'Gerald Patterson. ' Jerry only proved how purblind are the English on matters of service. He went over to Wimbledon with a terrific ordinary slice delivery which shot down over the net like a sniper* and then made a prodigious hop. And he struck fear into the hearts of the poor fellows who had barely seen a hard ' court, and waS'Classed< as /an "American" server. But Patterson also went overboard when the six-foot greyhound, Tilden, sought out his wealmess. It was the McLoughlin- Wilding match over again. And Tilden went on to show that he had more speed and direction than Patterson' and a - bagful of shots to back it up. Tilden and Johnston are the two most terrific servers m the first flight of the game. And their delivery proves that THE "AMERICAN" SERVICE IS : DEAD. Both ordinarily use the slice, which: is the easy and natural stroke, though W.T.T. is capable of such a tremendous flat wallop down the centre-line that at Auckland the line umpires couldn't see it. This delivery, hit -with a flat racket face without spin op twist; is useful only for a tall man. It is a point- winner, but its margin of error is small, and even Tilden nets as many as he puts m. Not even Andre Gobert's six feet three can guarantee the accuracy of this delivery. . . ' That is the position ..to-day. No longer omnipotent, the service Is of supreme importance. Until we pay more attention to it In New Zealand, and especially to the ordinary "slice," our chances of seeing the Challenge Round of the Davis Cup are very slim. ' i ,