Lawn-tennis

by James Dwight

9. This rule simply means—don’t forget the bisque. There have been a great many matches lost because a player has forgotten to take the set when it was won.

As said above, it is seldom right to take a bisque to make deuce, because at deuce the giver of odds will probably win, and the bisque will have been wasted. The probability, of course, varies with the difference between the two players. Thus, if receiving thirty and a bisque, it would be folly for the worse player to take his bisque to make deuce; if giving thirty for a bisque, the bisque should not be taken to make game. In both these cases deuce should mean a certainty for the better player.

Where a bisque is given with small odds, as at half-fifteen and a bisque, the difference between the two players is not so marked, and the bisque may be taken to make deuce or game as occasion demands.

All that has been said is meant to apply to cases where a bisque is given alone or to increase other odds, as it is not now the custom in lawn-tennis to give a bisque to diminish other odds. Should this be done, the bisque should be taken to make deuce, and not game.

It is well to remember that there is a moral effect in a bisque. Few men play up with as much confidence with a bisque hanging over them as they do when it is gone, and for this reason a bisque should not be taken early in a set except to secure a commanding lead. It should never be taken in the first two games.

There ought to be no need to explain that there can be no use in taking a bisque at forty-love or at forty-fifteen. The bisque will make game just as well at forty-thirty, and if the game can be won without it so much the better. Moreover, no good can come of taking a bisque at deuce; there is quite time enough at advantage for either player. There is another point too often overlooked. There is no object in taking a bisque unless there is a reasonable prospect of winning the set after the bisque is gone. With the score at five games-love, a bisque should not be taken to make one game to five, because at that score there is no real chance for the set. The only hope is to win two or three games with the bisque still in. This may not be possible to do, but it is the right thing to try for.

It is very common to see a player who is losing take a bisque or two bisques almost at random, from a morbid fear of never taking them at all. In this way he adds a game or two to his score, but he forgets that it is sets, and not games, that win matches. It is far better to risk losing the set at six-love than to give up a chance of winning it by taking a bisque for the sake of saving one game. In such cases the best chance is to keep the bisque in, and if the set does go wrong, and the bisque is never taken, the player can console himself with the thought that he has taken all the chances in his favour, and could do no more.

With two bisques given, one of them can be taken a little more freely than if it were the only one; but even then it is almost always wrong to take it in the first two games. One may often be taken to make deuce at a critical time, and I should myself always take the first one to make three games to five.

To take a bisque well a player must make up his mind how much he can expect to do after the bisque is gone. If he does not see his way to winning, it is always justifiable to reserve the bisque for a better chance later. Thus, if a player thinks that the odds given him are too small, he is quite right to run a good deal of risk rather than take a bisque early in the set.

Before concluding, it seems in place to speak of the value of a bisque as compared with other odds, that is, how many equal fifteen. I believe that about six bisques have been calculated to be the equivalent of fifteen, but I cannot help thinking that four would be nearer right than six in actual play. It seems to me impossible that the number can be determined exactly, because the practical value of a bisque must vary, and because the moral effect cannot be gauged. The average number of games to a set is about nine where advantage sets are not played; therefore fifteen equals nine strokes on the average, one given in each game. In how many games of the nine is that stroke actually of value? I do not know; but there are always a number of games which are hollow for one side or the other. In one case the stroke given is useless, and in the other it would probably not have been needed. Let us suppose that fifteen represents the difference between two players, and that they play level. Will the weaker player win any games? I fancy that he will win two or even three games, and he wants a sufficient number of bisques to win three or four other games. Let us suppose that he wins two games level. I think that there will be at least two other games that can be won by a bisque each. Should this be the case, the score could not be worse than five games to four against him, and two bisques still in—by no means an uneven set.