TENNIS, a play at which a ball is dri ven by a racket, which requires great practice to make a good player, "so that nothing can be done without it ; all we presume to do is, to give an insight into the game, by which a person may not seem a total stranger to it when he hap pens to be in a tennis-court.
The game of tennis is played in most capital cities of Europe, particularly in France, whence we may venture to de rive its origin. It is esteemed, with many, to be one of the most ancient games in Christendom, and long before King Charles I.'s time it was played in Eng land. This game is as intricate as any game whatever ; a person who is totally. ignorant of it may look on for a month together,- without being able to make out how. the game is decided.
roe size of a tennis-court is generally. about 96 or 97 feet by 33 or 34, there being no exact dimension ascribed to its proportion, a foot more or less in length or width being of no consequence. A line or net hangs exactly across the mid, die, over which the ball must be struck, either with a racket or board, to make the stroke good. Upon the entrance of a tennis-court, there is a long gallery which goes to the dedans, that is, a kind of front gallery, where spectators usually stand; into which, whenever a ball is struck, it tells for a certain stroke. This long gallery is divided into different compartments or galleries, each of which has its particular name, as follows ; from the line towards the dedans are the first gallery, door, second gallery, and the last gallery, which is called the service side. From the dedans to the last gallery are the figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, at a yard distance each, by which the chaces are marked, and is one of the most essential parts of the game, as will appear in the following description.
On the other side of the line are also the first .gallery, door, second gallery, and last gallery, which is called the haz ard-side. Every ball struck into the last gallery on this side reckons for a certain stroke, the same as the dedans. Between the second and this last gallery are the figures 1, 2, to mark the chaces on the hazard-side. Over this long gallery, or these compartments, is a covering, called the penthouse, on which they play the ball from the service-side, in order to be gin a set of tennis, from which it is call ed a service. When they. miss putting the ball (so as to rebound from the penthouse) over a certain line on the service-aide, it is deemed a fault, two of which are reckoned for a stroke. If the ball rolls round the penthouse, on the opposite of the court, so as to fall beyond a certain line described for that pur pose, it is called passe, reckons for no thing on either side, and the player must serve again.
On the right-hand side of the court from the dedans is what they call the tambour, a part of the wall which pro jects, and is so contrived in order to make a variety in the stroke, and render it more difficult to be returned by the ad versary; for when a ball strikes the tam bour, it varies its direction, and requires some extraordinary judgment to return it over the line. The last thing on the right-band side is called the grill, where in, if the ball is struck, it is also 15, or a certain stroke.
The game of tennis is played by what they call sets ; a set of tennis consists of six games : but if they play what is called an advantage-set, two above five games must be won on one side or the other successively, in order to decide; or, if it comes to six games all, two games must still be won on one side to conclude the set ; so that an advantage-set may last a considerable time ; for which kind of sets the sour. is paid more than for any other.
We must now describe the use of the chaces, and by what means these chaces decide or interfere so much in the game. When the player gives his service at the beginning of a set, his adversary is sup posed to return the ball ; and wherever it falls after the first rebound untouched, the chace is called accordingly; for ex ample, if the ball falls at the figure 1, the Chace is called at a yard, that is to say, at a yard from the dedans: this chace remains till a second service is given ; and if the player on the service-side lets the ball go after his adversary returns it, and if the ball falls on or between any of these figures or chaces, they must change sides, there being two chaces ; and he who then will be on the hazard-side most play to win the first chace ; which if he wins by striking the ball so as to fall, after its first rebound, nearer to the de dans than the figure 1, without his ad versary's being able to return it from its first hop, he wins a stroke, and then pro ceeds in like manner to win the second chace, wherever it should happen to be. If a ball falls on the line with the first gallery door, second gallery, or last gal lery, the chace is likewise called at such or such a place, naming the gallery-door, &c. When it is just put over the line, it is called a chace at the line. If the player on the service-side returns a ball with such force as to strike the wall on the hazard-side, so as to rebound after the first hop over the line, it is also called a chace at the line.