Sports and Entertainments
HOW TO PLAY TENNIS: HINTS THAT y WILL IMPROVE YOUR, GAME. i The majority of lawn tennis players, once they have attained a standard of proficiency that enables them to play the ball backwards and forwards over the net a few times, are inclined to be satisfied, with the result that they remain “pat ball” players instead of becoming virile tennis exponents, k. If the game is to be enjoyed, and not made V. the excuse for an occasional half an hour of meandering about a. court carrying a racket, a certain amount of trouble should be taken in improving your play. Points for Quick Service. Lawn tennis should be a fast game—and hard, wild slogging alone will not make it fast. When yon are playing you should be on your toes all the time, never slacking until the final score has been called. If you always try to get to the return that appears well out of reach, you will be surprised to find how often you can move faster than you think you can, and at the end of a few weeks your speed and footwork will have improved. When playing a volley be careful not to allow the head of your racket to drop below the line of your wrist. If you do you will “spoon,” thus losing all the power and “life” in your shot. Even when taking a very low ball you should not drop the racket head, but bend from your hips and knees in order to keep wrist and hand below the line of your objective. Your wrist should be absolutely stiff, as if you have any “give” in it you \will “slice” your return. When serving do not be content merely to send the ball over the net. Try for speed and length, but if you do serve a “fault” let it be through the ball going out of court rather than into the net. If you watch players in public parks, you will see that four out of five service faults are the result of feeble, ineffective “dabs” with the racket that send the ball into the net instead of over it. If these initial strokes were made with a little more energy ( and confidence, faults might still result, but in any case a certain proportion of the balls served over the net would drop into the right court. Do not hit your service down if you servo overhand, but if you find that you are getting into the wrong court time after time, try standing a little farther behind your own base line. If you adopt the underhand service, drive rather than lob the ball over. Do not bend the elbow, but keep a straight, stiff arm.. An effective change from the ordinary underhand service can be obtained by cutting the racket across the ball from right to left. This is useful when taking the initial stroke from the right-hand court, as if your service is directed towards the centre line it will the ball to break back sharply away "from your opponent’s back-hand. From the left-hand court a similar stroke should be directed towards the side line, so that the break will carry the ball out of H court.
If you put power into your drives, refraining from checking the course of your racket after the moment of impact, you will soon begin to wonder what induced you to no content with your slow “pat ball” game. — Tit-Bits. -
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 49, 10 December 1924, Page 41
Word Count
582Sports and Entertainments New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 49, 10 December 1924, Page 41
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