Lawn-tennis

by James Dwight

I believe that the superiority of the champion lies mainly in the completeness of his game, in his ability to play any kind of game that may be required. Mr. Lawford no longer plays wholly from the back of the court, but volleys a great deal, and very effectively too. The only player who sticks completely to a back-game is Mr. Chipp, and he has told me that he wishes that he could volley. On the other hand, perhaps the most bigoted volleyer in the world is myself, and I wish most sincerely that I knew how to take a ball off the ground.

It is not possible to lay down fixed rules for volleying certain balls and letting others bound; were it so, all players would play the same kind of game, and the difference between them would be only in speed and accuracy. Every player must judge for himself if he can volley any particular ball more effectively than he can play it off the ground.

Position is nearly everything in the present game, and a player’s first object should be to get into his place; once there, the chances are all in his favour. I do not mean that the player nearest to the net has necessarily the best of it, that must depend on the last stroke and on the place where his opponent is. If he comes up after making a good stroke that has driven his opponent back to the base-line, he has a great advantage, but if his last stroke has been slow and has struck inside the service-line, he is almost certain to be passed, if his opponent does not make a mistake. I cannot dwell enough on the fact that there is no use in volleying unless a distinct advantage can be gained by it, or, at the worst, that the back player must not have an easier return than he had the time before. The moment that a volleyer fails to make a severe or at least a well-placed stroke, he is at a disadvantage, and would be better off in the back of the court than where he is. It is seldom that the two positions can balance, so to speak, and if a volleyer is not distinctly up, he is pretty sure to go down. Of course I do not mean that every ball that is to be volleyed should be smashed; far from it, but I do say that a volley should always be played hard on to the base-line or across the court to the side-line. If neither can be done, it is wrong to volley the ball at all.

Smashing I hold in great disrespect. As a rule, it is a most unsafe stroke, and, when it can be played without risk, a hard volley will generally be just as good. It is a great satisfaction, both to the gallery and to the player himself, to see a ball smashed through an umbrella or a parasol, but it is an amusement that should be strictly confined to exhibition matches.

Do not volley a very low ball if you can possibly help it. For instance, one is coming forward, and meets a slow return that has passed just over the net and is dropping fast. Such a ball must be volleyed upwards to cross the net, and it will therefore be impossible to make a severe return, and the stroke itself is a difficult one. Let such a ball bound, unless time is of unusual value. Off the ground you will probably be able to make a stroke that will give you a greater advantage than if you had volleyed the ball instead of waiting.

A difficult but useful stroke is the volleying a ball near the ground in the back part of the court. The player is going back, or, more often, coming forward, and meets the ball about half-way between the base-line and service-line. If he can volley it fairly well he can follow up his stroke, and gain the advantage in position which he must have yielded in going back to take the ball off the ground. One saves a great deal of time and of exertion by such a volley, but it is a stroke that cannot be recommended to any except a good volleyer.

One of the hardest balls to volley well is a lob. It is easy enough to return it over the net, but, as I have been trying to explain, there is little use in returning a ball slowly into the middle of the court. I do not believe that it is right to smash a fairly good lob, but I think that it should be volleyed carefully, but still hard, far back in the court, and, if possible, into a corner. There is a long time to think as a lob drops, and many players lose heart and decide to play for safety instead of trying to kill the ball. As a matter of fact, it is safer to hit fairly hard, and the moment that a player begins to hit gently, for fear of putting the ball out of court, he descends to a lower level as a player and diminishes his own chance of success.

Speaking of returning lobs brings me to the question of lobbing, as distinguished from low play. There is undoubtedly a prejudice against lobbing, and a feeling that the low hitting makes the finer game. With this I have nothing to do. I am simply looking for the best game that one can play to win.

I believe firmly in low hard hitting down the lines or across the court when one’s opponent is not quite in position, as, for instance, when he is just coming up, or has had a hard ball to play and has not yet recovered himself. If there is a good chance to pass him, try to do so by all means. If you cannot pass him but can make a stroke that cannot be volleyed hard, in fact, can only be stopped, try it, and the next stroke you can probably pass him.

When, however, one is in the extreme back part of the court, especially in the middle, the chance of passing a good volleyer seems to me to be small. If one is in a corner of the court, one has two strokes to choose from, one down the side-line and the other across the court. If the volleyer does not foresee which stroke will be played, it is unlikely that he can do more than save the ball. But, as just said, if he is in the middle of the base-line, the angle at which the forward player can be passed is very small, and the chances are that the ball will be killed. In such a case I believe that it is good play to lob. It is worth remembering this fact, that it is harder for your opponent to pass you from the middle of the base-line than from the corners of the court. With a strong back-player against you, if you do not get a chance to make a severe stroke into the corner, and have got to return the ball slowly, you will be safer if you return it to the middle of the base-line.