RULES OF STYLE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19953, 10 November 1934, Page 16

RULES OF STYLE

EXPERT’S VIEWS In the latest issue of “Lawn Tennis and Badminton” (Eng.) is an excellent article by Dr. F. H. Pearce, under the heading of, “On Wimbledon, 1894-1934.” Dr Pearce was formerly a good standard player, though not a champion, and is regarded as a sound judge of the game. Regarding style he says:— “It is astonishing to many of those who study the game how so many experts seem to get along in a marvellous way though breaking nearly every taught theory of the game. I mentioned this to a man very well known at Wimbledon, and he said, ‘You must realise that the large majority of these firstclass players are men or women who would shine at any game they took up, but lawn tennis happens to be their fancy, and they have probably never had a lesson in their life.' I saw his point at once, the fact being that they can, and do, make their strokes excellently in a somewhat wrong manner but can keep the rally going till they get a winner.

“The form displayed by Wood, Austin, and Craw/ord seemed to me far in advance oFalmost all the other men I saw—l am sorry that I did not see Perry extended, but I did see that his pace, accuracy, and strength would enable him to do almost anything. “With regard to these three, .hey all seemed to have that happy knack so ably displayed by Suzanne Lenglen of getting into approximate position (I mean with the left foot in advance for the forehand and the right for the backhand) with a few quick steps compared to a dancer’s. Others seemed to be quite content to take the forehand with feet spread out with a line drawn through their shoulders and the feet parallel and not at right angles with the net, and the backhand taken

as one can call it ‘off the body’ without advancing the right foot in any way. These casual strokes were all very well, and to a large extent served their purpose, but—and it is a big ‘but’ —once let them be collared, and these very strokes began to let them down, for the simple reason that, made as they were, they did not carry the proper sting (pace, as Tilden called it, meaning that when such a ball hit the ground it went away at once with life in it, and totally different to the hardhit but wrongly-timed ball which looks faster) than it should.”