Tennis

Implements.-The

balls vary in the three countries where the game is chiefly played, England, America and France. In England balls weigh approximately and are 24in. in diameter. They are made of strips of cloth wound tightly together and tied with twine, in a special way, to keep them together. Over this "tie" in modern days is placed a little more twine wound round the ball and the outside cover is of white Milton cloth. Black balls are used in two courts (neither full sized) where the floor of the court is white. The French ball is harder and faster than the English, and the American ball, which is machine made, lies somewhere between the two. The racket is usually about 27in. long and weighs about 16 oz. The head is about 9in. long and 6in. broad, but there are no restrictions as to size or weight. The head is somewhat pear-shaped, but its centre line does not correspond with the centre line of the handle, as it is curved upward. Some of the early rackets were strung diagonally, i.e., in diamonds; later, verti cal-horizontal stringing was universally adopted; then followed knotting at the points of intersection, which has now disappeared.

Scoring and Handicapping.-A

match consists ordinarily in England and America of the best of three or the best of five sets, a set being scored by the player who gets six games first. Sets of "eight games," i.e., the set won by the player who gets eight games first, are generally played in France and sometimes in England.

Often vantage sets are played, i.e., when each player has scored five games nr seven games as the case may be ; the set continues until one player gets an advantage of two games. In these condi tions sets sometimes continue for a very long time, and sets where over 6o games have been played are recorded. In matches for the world's championship the best of 13 sets of six games are generally played on three different days with an interval between them. A game consists ordinarily of four winning strokes, called by the marker as "'s," "3o," "4o," "game"; if the score is "40-all" the marker calls "deuce" and two strokes have to be won in succession by one of the players. When one has won a stroke his score is called "vantage"; if he wins the next, he wins the game; if he loses it, the score reverts to deuce. The score of the player who won the last stroke or made the last chase is called first. In handicapping, the usual odds are (I) bisques, which may also be given in addi tion to other odds, or to balance odds received; (2) half-15, or one point to be taken at the beginning of the second and every alter nate game ; (3) or one point in every game; (4) half-3o, or one point in every odd game and two points in every even game ; (5) or two points in every game; (6) half-4o, or two points in every odd game and three in every even game; (7) 40, or three points in every game. Other handicaps are : Round services, the giver of odds having to serve so that the ball hits both side and end penthouse; half the court, the giver of the odds confining his strokes, except service, to one side of the court as divided by the half-court line, a stroke played into the other half counting to his adversary ; touch no walls, the giver of odds confining his play except service to the floor ; bar the openings, the giver of odds los ing a point if his ball goes into a gallery or into the dedans or grille ; bar winning openings, which are closed to the giver of odds, who loses a point if the ball enters them ; side walls, the giver of odds losing a point if he plays the ball on to any side wall, the end penthouses being open to him, and the dedans and grille. In these cramped odds, the Pules do not apply if the ball goes out of limits after the second bound.

The Game and Hints on Play.

The players decide who shall serve by spinning a racket on its head. One spins and the other

calls "rough" or "smooth," the rough side of the head of the racket showing the knots of some of the lower strings. The winner takes the service side, service being an advantage. In four-handed games the winners of the spin often take the hazard size, as by doing so they can decide which of their opponent's service each one will elect to take. He serves from any part of the court and in any way he thinks best, and the ball must go over the net, strike the side penthouse, and fall into the service-court. His opponent ("striker-out") tries to return the ball over the net before it has touched the ground a second time; he may volley or half-volley it. For a stroke to be good, it must be made before the second bound of the ball, and the ball must go over the net (even if it touches it), and must not strike the wall above the play-line, nor touch the roof or rafters. The first point to be attained is to be sure of getting the ball over the net, the next to do so in such a way as to defeat the opposing player's attempt to make a good return.

It often happens that a player, either intentionally or from inability, does not take or touch a ball returned to him over the net. In this event, chiefly on the service side a chase (in Italian caccia, in French chasse) is made, the goodness or the badness of which depends upon the spot on the floor which the ball touches next after its first bound. The nearer this spot is to the end wall the better the chase. The chase lines are numbered, being one yard apart, the shorter lines representing the half-distance. The chases are noted and called by the marker. Thus if a ball fell on the line marked 4, he would call "chase 4"; if between 4 and 3, he would call "better than 4," if it fell nearer to 4 than the short line, "worse than 3" if it fell on the short line or between the short line and 3, for if the ball falls on a line the striker is credited with the better stroke. Strokes into the galleries and doors, with the excep tion of the winning gallery (last gallery, hazard side), count as chases. The making or, in technical language, the "laying down" of a chase does not immediately affect the score ; it has to be won first, i.e., the other player tries to make a better chase ; if he fails, the original maker wins. For this purpose after two chases have been laid down (or one, if either player's score is at 40) the play ers change sides, e.g., if X has been serving and Y has laid down two chases, Y becomes the server and tries to defend them, X to win them by making the ball fall nearer to the back wall after its first bound than Y did. Either player wins the chase if he finds (i.e., hits the ball into) one of the winning openings, or if his oppo nent fails to make a good return. The winner of the chase scores a point. The chases are played off in the order in which they are made. Should X in trying to win a chase make the same chase as Y originally laid down, the chase is off and neither side scores. In France the chase is played again. The rest goes on till one of the players fails to make a good return, or deliberately leaves the ball alone in order that his opponent may lay down a chase (a proced ure to be followed at the discretion of a player in whose judgment the chase will be a bad one), or lose a chase already laid down and in the course of being played off. Either player can score, there being no "hand-in" or "hand-out" as at racquets. A point is scored by that player whose opponent fails to make a good return stroke in a rest, or who strikes the ball into a winning opening, or wins a chase, or to whom two faults are served in succession. A player loses a stroke who strikes the ball twice, or allows it to touch him self or his clothes.