LAWN TENNIS.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17242, 29 October 1927, Page 20 (Supplement)

LAWN TENNIS.

TENNIS TOURNAMENT. PLAYERS UNDER 21. Owing to unfavourable .weather conditions the tournament arranged to be played at the Hamilton courts on Labour Day was' postponed until Saturday, November 19. Play will commence at 1 p.m. sharp. Post entries will be received up to the time of commencing play, and a revised draw will be published on the courts. The committee greatly regrets the lack of interest displayed by many junior players in Hamilton, as shown by the fewness of the entries, and it hopes that many more will take advantage of Mr Caro’s offer, and submit their names as competitors. Players from any club in Hamilton under the age of 21:1 are eligible.

TACTICS IN THE GAME. HINTS TO YOUNG PLAYERS. It cannot be too frequently insisted upon that tennis is a matter of fundamental brain work, both in the production and executing of the strokes, and in the tactics employed against your opponent. Different opponents require different styles of play for you to defeat them. It should be a point of study to see what style and what strokes your opponent -is least at home with. All the cunning in the world will not take you very far if the production of your strokes has not been brought to the highest standard of efficiency, or if their variety is too limited. Strokes, more stiokes, and still more strokes* is not a bad maxim for a tennis player, but along with the cultivation of them, cultivate also accuracy. All the brains you possess will only be. a handicap to you if your strokes continually find the net or go soaring over the base line. Patterson, when he won the world’s championship in 1919, did so, not because he possessed the brains or cunning, but because he had harder strokes and was more accurate than anyone against whom he was called upon to play. He was beaten the next year by a mail who played a harder game had a greater variety of strokes, with also the addition of better tennis brains and an excellent tennis temperament. Hurricane strokes, not tennis brains, pulled PaLterson through. Hurricane strokes and tennis brains enabled Tilden to beat ‘Patterson the following year. Two things must always be remembered: the direction your stroke is to make and the anticipation of your opponent’s return. Your method of placing must, of course, be dependent upon the style of play employed by your opponenjt. Placing is but another way of' describing your endeavours to put the ball into that part of your opponent’s court as to make impossible, or at any rate very difficult, for him to return it, or, H he is able to return it, he will do so m such a manner that you will be able to make a clean winner out of your return. It is really the endeavour to manoeuvre him out of position. Discover your opponent’s weak spot, and go for it for all you are worth. With most people this will be the backhand.

“Don’t Despair.” If in difficulties yourself do not despair. Many a game has _ been pulled out of the fire when the position has seemed to have been hopelessly irretrievable. Great fighters have been known to triumph against men who so far as strokes were concerned w'ere their superior, but not gifted with the temperament able to allow them to give of their best at the most critical time. “ Sinew', superlative nerve, and the heart of a big sportsman.” These are things essential in tennis. - Tilden favours the diagonal shot, on the principle that to beat your man you must angle him. Gobert and Johnston on the other hand advocate the straight shot. Clearly each is advising with a full knowledge of his own strength and limitations and weaknesses. Let it be remembered, too, that heavily chopped and severely cut halls, dropped short, will go far towards breaking up the game of a player whose long suit is the drive, and w’hose armoury of strokes is limited almost entirely to it. The cultivation of a service with plenty of backward spin will go far towards checking the tendency of a driver to drive hard or, if he does, the ball will go out of court with, to you, commendable consistency. ■ _ Players must learn their tennis at the net by experience. Generally speaking it is unwise to go to the net on a weak short return, but profitable to go well in on a good deep return. Volleying is a matter of anticipating where your opponent intends to put his shot and then getting there sufficiently fast to be able to intercept the ball. It can only come through carefully observing your opponent as he prepares himself to execute the shot. It cannot be too frequently repeated that “the base for the back player, who cannot pl&y 3- rising 1 ball, should be just behind the middle of the base line. To the general player hovering about between the line and the service line spells trouble. It is far easier to run forward to play a drive than retreat.”