Outdoor Sports and Games

by Claude Harris Miller

The steady growth in popularity of lawn tennis as well as the splendid exercise that results from playing this game has given it a sure place in the field of athletic sports. It is a game that requires a great deal of skill, and as no one realizes this fact more than those who are experts, a beginner should not be deterred from playing tennis simply because he may fear the criticism of the more experienced. The only way to learn the various strokes and to be able to play a good game is to practise at every opportunity. It is better to play against some one who is more skilful than ourselves and who will keep us on our mettle to make a good showing.

The eye and the muscles must work automatically and with precision. No amount of written instructions can give us this skill. The personal outfit for playing tennis is of course very simple. Every player should own his racket and become accustomed to it. They cost almost any price up to eight dollars, which will buy the very best rackets made. The weight and size of the racket will depend on our strength. The average weight for a man is about fourteen ounces and for a boy an ounce or two lighter. A skilful player becomes so accustomed to the feeling and weight of his own racket that often he will play an indifferent game if he is forced to use any other.

The game of lawn tennis was first played on a lawn or grass court, and many players still prefer this kind of a court, but the difficulty of obtaining a good sod, and after having obtained it the greater difficulty of keeping it in good condition, have increased the popularity of a skinned or clay court, which is always in fair condition except immediately after a heavy rain. The expense of maintaining a tennis court is more than most boys or most families would care to undertake.

As a rule, tennis courts fall in the same general class with golf links in that they lend themselves readily to the joint ownership of a club or school, where the expense falls on a number rather than on an individual. In a great many places the boys of a town or village have clubbed together and have obtained permission from some one owning a piece of vacant ground that is not likely to be sold or improved within a few years and have built a tennis court on it. This arrangement helps the appearance of the land, that should be secured at a very low rental, or none at all if the owner is public spirited and prefers to see the boys of his town grow up as healthy, athletic men rather than weaklings who have no place for recreation but in the village streets, where passing trucks and automobiles will endanger their lives, or at least cause them to be a nuisance to the public.

The dimensions of a tennis court

To build a tennis court properly means a lot of work and it should only be attempted under the direction of some one who understands it. The things most important are good drainage, good light, and sufficient room. A double court is 36 feet wide by 72 feet long, but in tournament games or on courts where experts play it is customary to have an open space about 60 feet wide by 110 to 120 feet long, to give the players plenty of room to run back and otherwise to play a fast game. A court should always be laid out north and south or as near these points of the compass as possible. In courts running east and west the sun is sure to be in the eyes of one of the players nearly all day; this is of course a very serious objection. While it is very pleasant to play tennis in the shade of a tree or building, a court should never be located under these conditions if it is possible to avoid it. A properly placed court should be fully exposed to the sun all day.

First of all it will be necessary to decide whether a grass or “dirt” court is to be built. If the grass is fine and the place where the court is to be happens to be level, there is little to do but to cut the sod very short with a lawn-mower and to mark out the court. If, on the contrary, there is much grading or levelling to be done, a dirt court will be much cheaper and better in the end, as constant playing on turf soon wears bare spots. The upkeep of a grass court will be expensive unless it is feasible to move its position from time to time.

Whatever the court is to be, the first question to consider is proper drainage. If the subsoil is sandy the chances are that the natural soakage will take care of the surplus water, but on the contrary, if the court is at the bottom of a hill or in a low place where clay predominates, it is necessary to provide some means of getting rid of the surplus water from rainfalls or our court may be a sea of mud just when it would be most useful to us. To level a court properly we shall need the services of some one expert with a levelling instrument of some kind. It is not safe to depend on what seems to be level to our eye, as our judgment is often influenced by leaning trees, the horizon, and other natural objects. With a few stakes driven into the ground, the tops of which are level, we are enabled to stretch lines which will give us our levels accurately.

A court should have a slope of a few inches from one end to the other to carry off water. After the level is determined, all there is to making a court is to fill in or cut away soil and earth until the proper level space is obtained. As a rule it is better to dig away for a court rather than to fill in, as we thus obtain a better bottom and one that will require but little rolling. In the case of a slope, it is well so to locate the court that the amount of earth excavated from one end will be just about sufficient to fill in the other.