LAWN TENNIS.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15113, 23 December 1921, Page 3

LAWN TENNIS.

TIPS FOR BEGINNERS. (By A. D. Prebble, the well-known tennis player, in Pearson's Weekly.) During the last 10 years the popularity of tennis has advanced by leaps and bounds, until, at the present time, it is safe to say that no game is so universally played as that all-British invention, lawn tennis. The recent championship's at Wimbledon, where representatives from France, Holland, Spain, Norway, America, .India, Japan, and many other countries fought for supremacy, show how world-wide is the interest taken in the game. For that reason, I am glad that lawn tennis is now being played at practically all the big schools, for it is only by catching them young that we can hope to train the world's champions. Not that I would say a word against our national game of cricket. Cricket is a magnificent game, but it is not played all over the world like tennis. Fortunately, the oldfashioned* prejudice against tennis for schoolboys has now died out, and most schools have hard courts where the boys can practise nearly all the year round. For this reform, much credit is due to the Lawn. Tennis Association, which has worked untiringly to popularise tennis, and has, in many cases, given assistance of a financial nature where it was required.. THREE SIMPLE RULES..

To become proficient at tennis, there are only three simple rules to follow. They are, first, keep your eye on the ball; second, when making a forehand stroke, keep the left foot and shoulder forward; third, when making a backhand stroke, keep the right foot and right shoulder forward. Get those rules into your head, and practise hard, and you will soon find that your game will improve out of all knowledge. Don't try to cultivate a "freak" service. A plain, straightforward fast service is far more effective if you learn to place it so that your opponent always has to run after it. That is one of the great secrets of tennis —to put the ball where the other fellow isn't.

Girls should hardly ever try to serve overhand. The only reason for serving overhand is that it is possible, by making the service severe enough, to win points off it. There is practically no lady playing to-daj' whose service is good enough to win points outright. ~ Therefore, as it is far more tiring to serve overhand, and the average girl wants all her strength for the game itself, she will find that her play, on the whole, will be much better if she serves underhand. KEEP YOUR TEMPER.

My last piece of advice is to "keep your temper." I will tell you an amusing little story to show you how my sense of humour got the better of a fit of temper and won a tournament for me. Some years ago I was invited by the people I was staying with to take part in a small provincial tournament. When my partner and myself arrived at the scene of play, we found that all the courts were full up, and we had to start our series of matches at a private court, some distance away. •As we were supposed t.o be the "stars" of the meeting, we were rather annoyed at this, but obediently followed our guides. We were led over two miles in the blazing sun, till we arrived) extremely hot and tired, at a tennis court at the other end of the town. The lawn was very shaggy, and the court apparently situated in the middle of something between a vegetable garden and an orchard. Our tempers got worse and worse, and we lost the.first set almost without scoring a point. And then the whole thing struck me as being rather funny. So I had a few quiet words with my partner, and pointed out that we were silly to lose our tempers over what, after all, was only a game. She heartily agreed with me, so we pulled ourselves together, beat our opponents, returned to the main ground, and eventually won the tournament. '