The Back-hand Drive.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 23, 7 December 1910, Page 11

The Back-hand Drive.

A LOST ART IN LAWN TENNIS.

(By

P. A. VAILE.)

I read with close attention and much pleasure, writes Mr. Vaile in the “Pall Mall,” the very interesting article entitled "The New Era in Lawn Tennis,” which appeared in a recent issue. I am not guilty of idle flattery when I say that lawn tennis could do with many such articles; for there can be no doubt that lawn tennis properly played is a great game, and it is just as certain that it does not occupy quite the position that it ought to in the public regard. Still, as you point out, its popularity is increasing at an amazing rate. Today it is the most cosmopolitan game. It is practically played everywhere and under exactly the same rules. Men realise now that it requires an athlete to win the highest honours; while for recreation a.t home there is no more charming pastime. Articles such as yours do much to raise the dignity and increase the “tone” of the game—and lawn tennis, not from any fault of its own, can do with this. There can be no doubt that "The New Era in Lawn Tennis” has dawned, and the most remarkable thing about this new era is that it simply means a return to the good methods of the English school

that obtained before the Dohertys induced English players to try to copy the personal methods used by them so sue eessfully. >The only difference that I can think of is the American service. That is a development of recent years, and does not affect the body of the game, which is to-day substantially the same, in so far as the production of strokes is concerned, as it was fifteen or twenty years ago. In saying this I am not, of course, referring to what 1 call the Doherty “hiatus” in the game. It is well known that I regard the production of both the fore-hand and back-hand strokes in England as extremely defective. Quite recently Air A. E. Crawley, the versatile lawn-tennis player and author of the didactic part of “The Complete LawnTennis Player,” publicly admitted his conversion to my ideas, although he was one of the first to attempt to ridicule what he called my “theories.” Air Crawley is a scholar and a thinker, and I have no doubt that his change of ideas will benefit the game. Air Crawley is himself, in my opinion, the finest exponent of the backhand drive amongst English players, and his stroke is obtained by methods so opposed to his somewhat faulty production on the fore hand that I wonder his conversion was so long delayed. The ordinary English back-hand is a very feeble stroke. At its worst it merely waves the ball back across the net; at its best it forces it over with a lot of undercut, but the player has practically no command of direction, for it is an arm-stroke. In the real backhand drive the command from beginning to end of the stroke is in the wrist. That is the essential difference. I do not think that anyone will deny that R. F. Doherty's back hand was’ as good as that of any English player in first-class company. A glance at the instantaneous photographs of him in “Great Lawn-Tennis Players” shows that his stroke is got by loin rotation and a semi-circular sweep of his racket across the ball. This is so marked that his finish in every case is across his right foot. Now tire essence of good footwork in a backhand drive of the old school —and the modern school has not improved on it—is that the player’s ■weight shall be thrown down his foot, as if he were starting for a sprint—which, in truth, lie generally is. The defect referred to is bad enough, but the greatest’defect of all is that the racket handle and the forearm are not in the same straight line at the moment of impact. The English angle is in many eases quite ridiculous, and reduces the players to one-sided men. In the back-hand drive, as played by the “giants of old,” the men who made lawn-tennis the great game it is, the hold of the racket changes as it swings backward well above the left shoulder, so that the stroke is played with the side of the racket opposite to that used in the fore hand stroke. For a drive parallel with the side-line the player should almost face the sideline, liis left foot pointing to it at almost a right angle and his right foot pointing to the net almost parallel with the sideline. Tais leaves him a clear swing to his racket, so that when he finishes his stroke his weight goes right down his foot. Nearly all English players are bad with their feet in the back-hand. Roper-Bar-rett rarely plays a back hand stroke with his right side to the net. A. W. Gore, if 1 remember, sins in this respect frequently, and so does A. E. Beamish, although the latter is improving a lot by reducing the “ English angle.” The only way to get good direction at golf or lawn-tennis is to punch the ball as much as possible down the line one moans it to take—in other words, to follow-through well. The real back hand drive has a very fine follow. One goes straight out after the ball. There is no pulling across it; and the stroke quite naturally puts a good deal of “ drop” on the return, which enables the player to control the length nicely. Ritchie plays the stroke naturally, but his feet are often crossed—a fatal fault—and he has no follow-through. The secret of following-through on the back hand drive is simple, but nevertheless puzzles many. At the moment of impact the elbow is pointing towards the net, and the little finger is nearest the net. This, of course, leaves the thumb underneath the racket. The continuation of this stroke as in Miss Sutton's finish, produces a most cramped position, for the arm inevitably " locks on the shoulder.” The proper finish, one of the most graceful and effective in the game, is pro-

duced simply by allowing the forearm to turn so that the wrist comes up and at- the trnKhAif the stroke has tuened the racket until 'the' thumb lies above the handle; but sufficient wrist commaud must always be kept to make the racket, head point in the line the ball is meant to take when the stroke is finished. J. C. Parker is a fine player who very nearly has the right stroke. His game reminds me of what lawn-tennis wae. Anthony Wilding, for a player or his class, has a poor Lick-hand. It is typical, neither English nor New Zealand. To get the best results the stroke must lie made with the straight line from elbow to ball, and the command must be in the wrist as much as it is when one is striking a blow with a cane. The extraordinary pace that one gets from this drive is obtained from the natural timing of the body on to the. ball and down the line of drive, but particularly from the fact that the force of the impact falls across the wrist joint in such a way that the wrist cannot yield. The additional firmness gives great pace oil the racket. The same remark applies to overhead smashing with the natural grip. Quite the best grip for this most natural stroke is that advocated in all the old books. In those days the leather was always held in the hand. It leaves one a delightfully free wrist, and ere long many will be using it. again. For years past, for reasons which seemed adequate to me, I have, of my knowledge alone, assisted to form thought in this and other matters, and have often smiled to sec ’ the result of my hard practice, ami the observation of the world’s best, dubbed " theory ’ by those who knew it hot. Now, however, that is over. The importance of'the game is recognised. Its science and claims to consideration are" well established, blit—our players do not know the strokes of Ihe game. I did not see a back-hand drive at Wimbledon that I coveted, nor an American reverse, nor a chop, nor a service generally. I have an idea that I can assist English players at least to find a better back-hand stroke than the present effeminate production. lam already doing it by teaching dubs in my spare moments- for love, of course; but'[ must, not lose my amateur status! 1 shall be glad to assist any club I can get to, and the only condition I shall make will be that dubs receiving benefit shall state so. and anyone finding me out in spreading false doctrine—shall do likewise; for lawn tennis.is of more importance to England ami her youth than is realised, and—" The New Era in LawnTennis” has dawned.