If you change sides every game, and are really better than he, you should be able to win every set, or, at least, three sets out of four.
If your opponent is better than yourself, on no account change sides if you can help it. Try to win two sets in the good court, and trust to luck for the odd one. There is always far more chance that the worse player will win any particular set than that he will win two in three or three in five if the conditions are equal.
In one word, if you are the better player, do all that you can to exclude luck from the game, because, if there is no luck for either side, you will probably win. If luck is to come in, no one can say who will get the best of it.
The next point to consider is the service. With duffers the service is an advantage, because the striker-out misses so many balls, or, at least, returns them weakly. With good players, I believe the service to be a decided disadvantage. On a good ground almost every service can be returned. The first service, if fast, seldom comes off; if of moderate speed, it can be returned with ease. A second service should leave the striker-out free to do what he chooses with it.
I should, therefore, always give my opponent the service if I could, unless sides were to be changed every game. In this case the service will always come from one end, and if you lose the toss you can choose from which end.
Against the sun and wind most services will be weak; therefore, if you serve better than your opponent, put the service with the sun and wind. If he serves better than you, you can diminish his advantage by putting the server in the worst court.
If you can serve the reverse overhand service, always put the server against the wind and sun. This service will twist more against the wind or going up hill, and the ordinary service will suffer. Moreover, in serving it, one looks to the left, and can often keep the sun out of one’s eyes when one’s opponent will have to face it.
Should there be a slope in the court, a fast service down hill will be unusually severe. If you are playing a weaker man, put the service up hill; if a stronger serve down hill.
The present rule of changing sides at the end of every game works rather absurdly in one way, as it is a disadvantage to win the toss. It is seldom that a player has not a decided preference for serving from one end rather than from the other, and his opponent will probably prefer the opposite. It is a small advantage to have the better court for the first game, compared with the arrangement of the service. If the winner of the toss chooses the court, his opponent can make him serve or serve himself, as he prefers to have the service come from one end or the other. If the winner chooses to serve he can be put in either court that his opponent sees fit. If you are unlucky enough to win the toss, take the service, if you want the service to come from the worst court, and your opponent may prefer to let it be so rather than to give you the best court. If you want the service to come from the best court, make him serve so that he shall have to choose the worst side to prevent it.
A good instance of the value of the toss happened to me last season. In a double match I lost the toss; my opponents, after consulting, came to me, and offered me the choice on the ground that it made no difference to them. I naturally answered that they had won the toss, and could choose what they liked, but that they must choose something.