LAWN TENNIS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 237, 7 October 1936, Page 12

LAWN TENNIS

Providing the weather remains fine and the courts are fit, the Wanganui East Club will open its season on Saturday week and it is to be hoped that the season will be ushered in on grass courts by a large attendance of members and visitors from other clubs. This popular club, with its 16 courts, always presents a most attractive appearance on opening day and from an inspection of the playing areas and surroundings made last week I feel confident that the club will have a successful season. An excellent slogan in tennis is “keep the racket head up.” If you let It drop, you cannot get any power into your shots and this is particularly noticeable amongst women players, who endeavour to lift the ball and yet speed it across the net. If your wrist is not strong enough to keep the racket head up, that is, above the level of the wrist, you must try and strengthen it till you can. A good wrist strengthening exercise is to hold your arm out at full length, clench the fist tightly, thumb over lingers and palm facing forward, then "throw” the hand open, backwards so that fingers and thumb are all spread to their widest extent, and palm faces upwards. Don't do this gently, the hand must be thrown open as if it were a spring uncoiling. Practice this about a dozen times, not more, two or three times a day, and you will soon find your wrist much more capable of the work you want from it. When playing tennis never stand still. Not only be ready to move, but go to the place where it seems likely your opponent will return the ball. Really great players don’t run much, but when the ball comes back they have already got to the right place to play it. This is anticipation, only to be acquired by long practice, but the most valuable asset any player can have. Without it no player can become any good. Another don't is, “Don’t serve double faults.” It is hard enough to present your opponent unnecessarily with a point in a single, and in a double it is worse than that, because you are disheartening your partner. Don’t think of anything else but the one stroke you are playing. You can only do one thing at a time; put all your mind and body into that one thing. If you do you will probably make the stroke well, but don’t be in too much of a hurry to think that, if you have made it well, it is a certain winner. Be prepared, however good it is for your opponents, to return it. During the week-end I was discussing suitable wearing apparel for tennis and I was surprised to learn that many players did not seem to give much attention to their footwear, which is probably the most important. The choice between light and heavy shoes is a matter of individual liking. Many prefer a light shoe, which, in a long match, means less weight to carry about and therefore a longer time before they become tired. Some like a heavier shoe because it gives a feeling of security and firmness, especially for volleying. At any rate whatever type you buy get a tightish pair, because they will always wear looser. Shoes that are too loose blister the feet. Spend a good deal of trouble in selecting your shoes; they are really an expensive item of your outfit and worth taking care of. Always carry a spare pair of sox with you, to change after the hard early single’s game, as tired feet can make or mar a pleasant game or a match. One or two players lately have complained of sore arms and elbows and are wondering whether “tennis elbow” is setting in. All I can reply is that if they have tennis elbow they will definitely know all about it as it is most painful. Tennis elbow can be caused by several things. Gripping too tightly, having too large a grip, having too small a grip or playing a backhand stroke wrongly, and the wrist muscles work too much on the elbow. Often, too, excessive play will cause the damage. If tennis elbow has really been caused, then complete rest for a couple of seasons is the only remedy. The half-volley is certainly the most rapid and most difficult stroke in the game of tennis. In any case, it can be only played on perfect surfaces, the least irregularity in the bounce of the ball meaning complete failure, as there is no time to rectify the position. Well executed this stroke is extremely effective as it allows the player to gain a fraction of a second in comparison with a normal stroke used in counter attack. The racket must be held very tightly in the hand and the ball is swept forward. Fred Perry and Henri Cochet are two examples of perfect half-volleyers and they sweep the ball forward in their stride. Badly played or mistimed, a half-pie lob results and it is a real gift for a smashing return, so keep your eyes glued on the ball and half-volley boldly and not half-heartedly. On October 26, Labour Day, the St. John’s Club will be holding a Yankee tournament, details of which I shall give you later. Do women tennis players give their husbands, if they have any, a good service of meals? Do they play tennis at the expense of their husband’s digestion, temper and health” A correspondent of the Sydney Sun, apparently a male, more in sorrow tnan in anger, describes women tennis players as putting cold corned beef or meat pies before their husbands evening after evening after after playing tennis till 6 or 6.30 p.m. He says that a wife should be home by 5 p.m. at the latest to cook for the man who has to work, not play. "Men should be pleased—and I think the large majority are—that their wives do take an interest in a healthy sport like tennis,” says Mrs. G. S. Warburton, secretary of the New South Wales Lawn Tennis Association Women’s grade committee, replying to the male’s plaint. “Every I woman must have a break from 1 housework. She is far better off, and so is her husband, if she gets her recreation on the tennis court, and not in somebody else’s home, playing cards for hours, or sitting in a stuffy picture show. In any case, a late tea once or twice a week is surely not too high a price to pay for a wife’" health. 1 say once or twice a week, for I really do not think any woman plays tennis till 6 or 6.30 every day in the wee!;.”