III. KEEP PERFECT CONTROL OF THE TEMPER
This rule some players will find much more difficult than others. You hear of a person having the right temperament for games, of being naturally imperturbable. It is a priceless quality, for to my mind it is half the battle if nothing can disturb your equanimity. To be calm and placid at critical moments, never to get excited or flurried, or in any way put out, whatever little worries may turn up--and sometimes these worries seem endless and try one to the uttermost limit--that is one of the keys to fame on court. I think if a good games" temperament is not natural to you, it can to a great extent be cultivated. But it requires much practice and an abundance of will-power and self-control. It is a very important quality to possess, because to lose your temper, or to be upset over any trifle, not only puts you off your game, but helps your opponent to take a new lease of life and encourages her to play up harder than ever. She naturally thinks that if you are so upset at something or other your game is bound to deteriorate, and she will have a much better chance of winning the match.
IV. KEEP YOUR HEART IN THE GAME
By this I mean do not get easily downhearted and discouraged. Fight pluckily to the end, however things are going against you. Courage and pluck are wanted above all things to carry you successfully through your matches. Never say die, however hopeless the score may sound against you. If you are very done up, try not to make it too obvious. Your opponent may be just as played out as you are. Seeing your signals of distress, she will buoy herself up and continue the struggle with renewed hope and vigour.
V. KEEP YOUR METHOD ON THE MOVE
This maxim is rather difficult to explain. What I mean is, you should vary your manner of play and re-adapt it in order to counteract your opponent. Upset her usual game by your tactics. It is always a great mistake to keep up a method of attack or defence if it is proving unavailing. If necessary, keep your own method of play continually on the change. A change of tactics has often meant a change of fortune in the game. Never let your opponent know what you are going to do next; do what she would least expect. Always try to make a stroke. Give her plenty of the strokes you know she doesn"t like. I have often felt myself improving an opponent"s weak stroke by pegging away at it. It gives her plenty of excellent practice, of course, and when you find she is beginning not to mind it so much, give it a rest. When you go back to it you will probably find it successful again. Use your brain, and always know what you are trying to do. Play with an object of attack and defence. Do not merely return the ball aimlessly; let each stroke have its little work to do to complete the whole victory. This is difficult, I know, but it is so much more fascinating, and is, I am sure, the way the game was meant to be played. There is much science that can be brought into lawn tennis, always something new to learn. And that is the reason why we never tire of playing it.
CHAPTER IV
RACKETS, COURTS, DRESS, AND TRAINING
A good lawn tennis racket is indispensable; indeed, to use a weapon of inferior make is to court failure from the start. You cannot be too particular to have a really well-made racket. Fortunately there are now so many good makers that it is a player"s own fault if she is not suitably equipped. It may be a little more expensive to buy a really first-cla.s.s racket; but the few extra shillings are well worth while if you mean to take up the game seriously, and to get out of it all the enjoyment you can. Personally I always play with a "Slazenger" racket, preferring their make to any other; but there are many other good manufacturers.
The weight of your racket should vary according to your strength of wrist, and should depend on whether you volley or play entirely from the back of the court. I am inclined to think there is a tendency on the part of lady players to use too light a racket. I have often seen them with a 12-1/2-oz. or 13-oz. These are too light, and may be condemned.
If you use a racket that is too light, it means that the maker has not been able to string it as tightly as it ought to be strung--the frame would not stand the tension. I do not think a racket should be lighter than 13-1/2 oz., which is the normal weight for ladies. Myself, I prefer and always play with a 14-oz., and hold that unless there is a weakness of the wrist, or some personal reason why the player should knock off the extra half-ounce, this weight is the best for ladies to use. I like my racket slightly weighted in the head, but I think most players prefer one evenly balanced. The latter may be recommended to a beginner.
The handle should be about five inches in circ.u.mference--at least, that is what I use and recommend for a natural and easy grip. Of course the circ.u.mference must vary a little according to the size of the player"s hand or length of her fingers, but I counsel all ladies to fight shy of the handle that is abnormally large. I am quite sure it is a mistake; it tends to tire and stiffen the hand. Endeavour to standardize your requirements. Find out by careful trial what weight, what size of handle, and what stringing suits your game best; and then you will find, when you use a new racket for the first time, that the tool is familiar and has a friendly influence over your strokes. What more embarra.s.sing experience than to play a match with a racket you cannot recognize?
You should always take a wet-weather racket with you when you go to tournaments; it is, like a pair of steel-pointed shoes, a necessary item in your tennis bag. In England, with such variable weather, it is necessary to play in the rain, or at any rate on a wet ground, and with sodden b.a.l.l.s; and the very best gut in the world cannot stand rough usage. It is a good plan, too, to take to tournaments at least two rackets as much alike as possible. If anything goes wrong with one, you will have a good subst.i.tute, one that is not strange to you.
Always take great care of your rackets. They are very susceptible both to damp and excessive dry heat, and should always be kept in a press when not in use. A warped frame is fatal. If you do not use a tennis bag, your racket should be protected in a waterproof case. It is a good plan, after use in the wet, to rub the surface of the strings with a little beeswax or varnish. Most makers keep a special preservative in stock.
And now for a few remarks on dress. There has been a great improvement during the last few years in the costumes worn by those who take part in tournaments held all over the country. First-cla.s.s players know from experience how to dress to be most comfortable and least hampered by their clothing. But the less experienced are wont to appear in a "garden-party" trailing skirt, trimmed hat and dressy blouse--a most unbusiness-like costume for the game. It is essential to remember that you want, above everything else, free use of all your limbs; physical action must not be impeded in any way by your clothing. An overhead ball which may require your arm to be extended as far as it will go, a low volley at the net where you must bend down, a run across the court or up to the net--all these strokes you must be able to perform with freedom and facility.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ON TOUR: THE LATE MISS C. MEYER, MISS PINCKNEY AND MISS E.W. THOMPSON (MRS. LARCOMBE)]
I advise a plain gored skirt--not pleated; I think these most unsuitable on court--about four or five inches from the ground. It should just clear your ankles and have plenty of fullness round the hem.
Always be careful that the hem is quite level all round; nothing is more untidy than a skirt that dips down at the back or sides--dropping at the back is a little trick a cotton skirt cultivates when it comes home from the laundry. A plain shirt without "frills or furbelows"--if any tr.i.m.m.i.n.g at all, tucks are the neatest--a collar, tie, and waistband, go to make an outfit as comfortable and suitable as you could possibly desire.
The material that this plain shirt and skirt is made of does not so much matter, and must be according to the taste of the wearer. Serge, flannel, and cotton are the most popular, and the last predominates.
White is undoubtedly the best colour to wear. It washes well and does not fade, and looks very much neater on the court than a coloured material. I prefer white shoes and stockings, for I think it looks nicer to be in one uniform colour. But this is a matter of taste. Some people urge that white shoes make your feet appear much bigger than black or brown. I do not agree. If you are wearing a white skirt, the black or brown shoe must show up more distinctly against it than a shoe of the same colour.
I have also heard it decided that when girls are compelled to play in the rain or on dreadfully muddy courts, as unfortunately they often are, it is better for them to don a dark skirt of thicker material. This seems to me a great mistake. A white skirt will wash well, and it does not matter how dirty it gets; so long as you do not have it trailing in the mud it cannot come to much harm. It looks as neat as anything can look that is surrounded by rain and mud. A dark stuff skirt, on the other hand, which many players use in wet weather, does not wash, and is absolutely ruined after a soaking. Moreover, it is twice as heavy to drag about the court.
If you do not happen to have steel-pointed shoes with you, and are called upon to play in the wet, it is a good plan to wear a pair of men"s thick shooting stockings or socks over your tennis shoes. It is wonderful what a firm grip they give without in any way impeding your movements.
I find, after having tried nearly every sort of shoe for tennis, that the simple white gymnasium shoe suits me best. Most players use a proper tennis shoe or boot with a thick sole. I have tried these, but find they make me much slower in court and are not as comfortable as the "gym"
shoe. Some people say the thicker sole is less tiring to the feet, but I find I am much less foot-weary after a match when playing in the thin shoe--there is less weight to carry about. Of course thin soles soon wear through, but then they have the advantage of being very cheap. I pay half a crown a pair for mine, and one can have several pairs in use and can always replace them without any great expense.
I think it is best, if you can, to play without any hat at all. There is not the bother of keeping it on, and it is much cooler. Nor is it easy to find a suitable hat for lawn tennis. A girl"s hair is generally a good safeguard against sunstroke. A long warm coat is a very necessary article of wearing apparel, especially for girls who are playing in tournaments. It should be put on immediately after a strenuous match, however hot the day. There is the great danger when overheated of contracting a chill. The coat should be of a thick warm material--blanket is very popular and serviceable--and it should reach to the end of your skirt, if not beyond.
I do not think it is wise to wear bracelets when playing unless they are plain and tight to the wrist. Although you might not think it, ornaments, however small, can and do get in your way. I remember one match that was entirely lost because of the presence of a gold curb bracelet with a small dangling chain attached. Putting up her hand to adjust a hairpin, the owner did not know that the chain had caught on to her fringe-net, and, bringing her hand down quickly, the fringe-net and most of the hairpins were dragged from her hair. The result was that the player, who might easily have left the court and fixed up her hair again firmly, adjusted it as best she could, her hair blowing about in all directions. In between every stroke she had to clutch wildly at stray portions that blew across her face and into her eyes. This diversion naturally upset her game, and I think that was the last time she wore a bracelet in court.
_Training for match play_ is rather a difficult subject for me to write about, for I have never gone in for proper "training." The great secret is to keep perennially fit. Remember that an important match is a great strain, a challenging test of stamina. To come through the ordeal successfully you must be in a good condition of health. If you are not, you ought not to be playing. Personally I know what it means to play an important match when feeling really ill. Honestly it is not worth it. It is no enjoyment to yourself, and it is no pleasure to your opponent to beat you when she knows you are unfit. Besides, it is very injurious to your own health. On the other hand, if you are in good condition, and leading a healthy outdoor life, a well-contested match cannot harm you; it is most beneficial in every way. Therefore I think the best training for an important match is to be always in "training"; not to have to alter your habits before a match is the secret. To change your diet and mode of living suddenly, as some players do, is more calculated to upset you than to make you fitter for the ordeal. Common sense must of course be used. For instance, you should not eat a heavy meal just before playing. I generally prefer bread-and-cheese, a milk pudding of some sort, and perhaps a little fruit for lunch if I have a match, in the afternoon. I find this diet very satisfying and sustaining, and of course much lighter than meat. Bananas or apples go very well with the cheese. As I like this sort of lunch at any time, I do not have to change my diet materially before a match. After the day"s play is over, I make absolutely no difference, eating for dinner in the evening whatever is going. Lunch is the chief meal over which care should be exercised, for important matches generally begin about two o"clock. A heavy meal would make me slow and sleepy. I know of one well-known player who never has any breakfast at all. She may play hard matches all the morning, and when the luncheon interval arrives she has only bread-and-cheese and fruit. Of course this is a very exceptional case, and I should not care to try it myself. I find a good breakfast a necessity before a long and hard day at a tournament. But the no-breakfast regime certainly suits the player in question. She is always "fit," and has great stamina, coming through exhausting matches without showing the slightest sign of distress. I need not add that sleep is one of the chief factors for making you feel buoyant and well; if you have not had your right measure of sleep the night before an important contest, you are greatly handicapped. Remember, too, how necessary it is to sleep in a well-ventilated room with the windows open.
As to _Courts_, there are so many surfaces now used for the game, such as gra.s.s, wood, asphalt, cement, gravel, and sand, that it is possible to play the game all the year round, under cover or out in the open. I think, however, most players will agree with me that a good gra.s.s court is the ideal surface for lawn tennis. The sensation of playing a genuinely hard match with evenly balanced players on a _good_ gra.s.s court, under ideal weather conditions, has only to be experienced to be appreciated. It is then you realize what great enjoyment this game gives to any one who loves it. Alas! the really good gra.s.s court and ideal weather are very hard to get in England. I suppose there was scarcely a day in 1909 that could be described as perfect for lawn tennis; and our good gra.s.s courts are few and far between.
The climate we cannot control, but I often wonder why there should be such a dearth of true gra.s.s courts at open meetings. Of course maintenance involves a certain amount of expense, but surely many clubs are quite well enough off to command at least one or two really good courts. Can it be ignorance, or is it a want of necessary energy and constant attention? Lawn tennis seems to suffer in this respect more than most games. There are hundreds of splendid golf greens and cricket pitches all over the country, but for some inexplicable reason a good gra.s.s lawn tennis court is, as Mr. G.W. Hillyard has remarked, "almost as rare a sight as a dead donkey." Happily we get this rare spectacle at Wimbledon under Mr. Hillyard"s able care and management.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GROUP OF PLAYERS AT THE NEWCASTLE TOURNAMENT, 1902]
What a difference a general improvement in surface would mean! I am convinced that if courts were better the standard of play would advance more rapidly. It is marvellous what beneficial effect a good court has on play. I have seen an average player, who had always played on bad courts, with cramped surroundings and poor background, put up a really good game the very first time he played on a first-cla.s.s court--I refer to a well-known private court at Thorpe Satchville, perhaps the best in the country. That player surprised himself and every one else present.
He performed about half-thirty better than his usual game. The moral is that if other players had the opportunity of playing regularly on a true and fast court they must essentially improve. On bad courts you can never be sure what the ball will do; it is a toss-up whether you get a false bound or not. A player once told me that he thought it a good thing to have these bad courts at your house or club to practise upon.
When you went to tournaments, he argued, you would not mind what you found there, as the conditions could not be worse, and might be better, and you would always be in the happy frame of mind of not expecting too much and never being disappointed. Your game would not be put off by depressing conditions--you were so used to them! But that is poor logic.
After all, we play the game for pleasure, and there can be no enjoyment in playing on wretched courts. Many unfortunate players, if they wish to play the game at all, are forced to play on what Mr. Mahony used to call "cabbage patches"--("Sorry, partner, it hopped on a cabbage," was his favourite expression after missing a ball in a double); but I cannot understand any one voluntarily choosing such a surface.
A wood floor has such an absolutely true bound that it must provide very good practice, and one winter"s play on the indoor courts at Queen"s Club is to my mind a quicker way of improving your game than two or three seasons on gra.s.s courts which are not of the best. These covered wood courts are very scarce, and it is a thousand pities there are so few of them. Would that this winter game were in the reach of everybody!
On the other hand, you can overdo the game by playing continuously; and if you have been playing all through the summer with scarcely a break, it is a good plan to rest during the winter months, taking up some other game to keep your eye in and your condition fit.
Since true gra.s.s courts are so scarce in this country, I sometimes wish we could dispense with turf altogether, and have at our tournaments the same surface which finds favour abroad, at places like Cannes, Homburg, and Dinard. The bound of the ball on these courts is absolutely uniform, the surface being hard sand. One great advantage they possess--we should welcome it over here--is that when it rains play is quite out of the question. Wading about in the mud and playing in a steady downpour, often our lot in England, is unknown on the Continent. And foreign courts also dry quickly after rain, and often play better for their watering.
CHAPTER V
TOURNAMENT AND CLUB MANAGEMENT
I wish an "Order of Play" could be used more at English tournaments.
That is to say, I wish matches could be arranged to take place at a certain hour, following the plan adopted at Wimbledon and at all the meetings on the Continent. Such an arrangement would greatly add to the comfort and enjoyment of compet.i.tors, and would, I imagine, be a great boon to the referee. Spectators, I know, would welcome it. I think a time-table might prove unworkable where handicap events are concerned, but in the case of open events I feel sure it could be introduced with great advantage to all concerned. I have so often sat hour after hour at a London tournament (having only entered for the open events), perhaps playing one match, perhaps not playing at all. If I had been told overnight that I should not be wanted, or exactly at what hour my match would take place, it would have been so much more satisfactory and saved so much wasted time. This waiting about takes away half the pleasure of playing in London meetings. Even if there are good matches going on you do not care to watch them incessantly; there may be a chance of your playing off a tie, and it would tend to put your eye out. On one occasion, having a long way to go to a tournament in which I was only entered for the open mixed doubles, I telephoned to know whether I should be wanted or not. "Well," replied the referee, "if I call you and you are not on the ground, I shall scratch you. In your own interest you had better come over." For my partner"s sake, as well as my own, I was bound to go. As I expected, I sat the whole afternoon and evening doing absolutely nothing. When I begged to be allowed to play, as I had come some distance for this one match, the referee examined his programme and said, "Oh, it is quite impossible to-day. They have not played the round in front of you yet!"
[Ill.u.s.tration: AFTER THE LADIES" FINAL AT WIMBLEDON: TEA ON THE LAWNS]
This sort of thing implies gross mismanagement, besides resulting in unnecessary wear and tear for the compet.i.tors. If there was an order of play arranged for each day, all the bother would be obviated. I believe that business men who cannot get away in the early afternoon have their matches timed and arranged for them. Why are not all compet.i.tors treated alike?
While I am on this subject of "waiting about," let me say that I think ladies do not take nearly enough care of themselves after playing. They ought to wrap up well if they have not time to change before their next match. Men are much more careful. They put on their coats immediately they leave the court, and change their clothes as soon as they can. But you will see girls chatting after a match, and even having tea, without deigning to put on an extra wrap. It is courting disaster. The colds and more dangerous ailments that arise from this little want of care naturally afford people a line of attack when they object to girls engaging in violent exercise.
You cannot be too careful after strenuous play. I am well aware that ladies are catered for very badly at most of the tournaments in regard to changing-room accommodation. Some places we have had to put up with are disgraceful. I think most lady players will agree with me when I say that Wimbledon and Queen"s Club are about the only two grounds where you can change with any degree of comfort. This is not right, and I am sure if men had to experience the changing-room accommodation afforded for our use there would not be many of them competing at tournaments. I think the two clubs I have mentioned are the only two where we even get a bathroom! Some tournaments provide a draughty tent for our use.
Moreover, there is generally only one dressing-room, and feminine spectators often crowd round the one looking-gla.s.s, staring at the players as if they were animals on show! It is sometimes even impossible to sit down to rest after a hard and tiring contest.
I appeal to secretaries of tournaments for some reform. A number of lady players have asked me to use this opportunity to point out some of our most pressing grievances. I hope these remarks, which are none too strong, may bear fruit. Visitors who come over from other countries are always loud in their complaints, and I am not surprised. I believe the Beckenham authorities are doing all they can to impart a little more comfort to the ladies" changing and resting-room, and they have greatly improved their accommodation. It is time other meetings followed their example. At the seaside meetings it does not so much matter. Most of the players stay near the ground and can go to their own rooms and be back in time to play again, if necessary; but in London tournaments, where there is often a long drive or train journey before one reaches home, it is most important that there should be a good changing-room.
[ILl.u.s.tRATION: A TOURNAMENT HOUSE-PARTY AT NEWCASTLE _Front row (left to right_): THE LATE MISS C. MEYRE, MR. G.W. HILLYARD, MRS. HILLYARD, MRS.
LAMBERT CHAMBERS, MR. N.E. BROOKES, MR. A.J. ROBERTS]
There is another improvement which I feel sure would be greatly welcomed by compet.i.tors, and that is a separate tea-tent for their use. Often a player has only a few minutes to get her tea, and, with the general public engaged in the same amiable pursuit, she is not able to be served and has to go away tealess. If there were a compet.i.tors" tea-tent, a player could obtain her tea in comfort when she wanted it.