The Great Game of Tennis - A Collection of Classic Magazine Articles on the History and Techniques of Tennis

By Read Books Ltd.

Carefully selecting the best articles from our collection of classic magazines we have compiled a series of informative publications on the subject of sport. The titles in this range include 'Correct Technique for the Great Sport of Golf,' 'The Great Sport of Hockey,' 'The Gentleman's Sport of Hunting,' and many more. Each publication has been professionally curated and includes all details on the original source material. This particular instalment, 'The Great Game of Tennis', contains information on the history and techniques of tennis. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Sep 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473359208

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The Back-hand Drive at Lawn Tennis

By P. A. VAILE

Illustrated by Fry’s Magazine

IN England it is of almost more importance to dress a game well than to be proficient at playing it; and dressing the part means to wear everything the same as the other man does.

In England as a lawn tennis player you are not quite the thing (horrible phrase) unless you have a blanket coat, and wear a shirt, trousers, and heavy, red-rubber-soled shoes. You should wear your sleeves down, and dangling about your wrists, and on no account use a hat. If you do all these things you will be excused if you know only half the game; whereas, an ye do them not, you may be next door to a champion and you won’t get much credit for it. This does not apply only to lawn tennis. It is very apparent—in fact, in my opinion, too apparent—in sport generally. I pardon it a little outside of sport, and in London.

Fig. 1.—English back-hand grip.

In the colonies we are not so hidebound in these matters. Some wear knickerbockers, others who like them wear hats or caps; many wear sensible, light shoes, and nearly all roll up their sleeves as if they mean business. I always consider knickerbockers the most suitable dress for a strenuous athletic game like lawn tennis, but that is not of so much importance as the question of light footwear. In England many players use the heavy-soled shoes, which have carried them through their covered court engagements, all through their summer tournaments on good grass courts. The consequence is a very noticeable slowness about the court, for there is no place where weight anchors a man as it does when placed on his feet. However, this is by the way.

The main object of this article is to illustrate clearly the manner in which the proper back - hand drive is played. There is not a single front-rank player in England to-day who drives a ball on his back-hand. Many there are who are fairly consistent on the backhand, and who succeed in getting the ball back so as to try for position for the next stroke, and to give the other man a chance of missing it; but there is nobody who can win outright on it, like the American player, Clothier, for instance.

This is, firstly, because the stroke is not properly understood here; and, secondly, because the defective English unchanged grip renders it practically impossible to anyone who uses that unsound hold. In Fig. 1 the English back-hand hold is illustrated. It will be apparent to anyone who carefully considers the matter that the greater portion of the power which produces this stroke must pass down the line C D. It is necessary, also, that there should be some of the force at the striking point, E. The point of impact, E, is off the line of power, if I may call it so for the sake of explanation, by the length of the line D E. Thus, instead of the power of the blow being concentrated in one line, as is shown hereafter in the case of the proper stroke, it is spread over the space between the lines A B (or at least A E) and C D, and directly contact with the ball takes place at E there is all the leverage from the line C D to the point of impact E contending against the player’s effort to produce the most perfect stroke possible. The same defect exists in the English fore-hand stroke.

Let us now look at the grip used by the colonials and Americans. This is shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2.—Colonial and American back-hand grip.

Here it is apparent that from the elbow A to the point of impact B the racket and the forearm are in the same straight line. This is a cardinal rule in practically all ball games, and certainly in lawn tennis. The power must be concentrated as much as possible in one line from its production to the point of impact. There is here no undue leverage, and the full value of the force expended is obtained.

Fig. 3 shows the weight well on the rear foot, and the racket is carried well back to give momentum to the stroke. The thumb is up the back of the handle, but this is entirely optional, and many colonial and American players get fine back-hand drives with a firm natural grip right round the handle.

Fig. 3.—Start of proper backhand drive.

Fig. 4 serves to show very clearly the waste of power in the English stroke. Over and above the defect of the angle between forearm and handle of racket hereinbefore referred to, there are two other serious defects in the stroke. Firstly, it will be seen that the back of the player’s forearm is facing towards the direction the ball is to be propelled in. Nature obviously never intended the arm to be used this way. Anyone can try it for himself, and he will speedily be satisfied of this. Secondly, the stroke, as may be seen, puts a lot of undercut or backward rotation on the ball. This is never desirable in a standard stroke, either on the fore-hand or the back-hand, for it tends to make the ball fly farther, and so go over the base line, instead of dropping quickly at the end of its flight as it should do, and as it does when played with lift or forward rotation.

Fig. 4.—English back-hand stroke (impact).

Fig. 5.—The true back-hand drive (impact).

Fig. 5 shows the moment of impact in the true back-hand drive. The ball is here taken a trifle nearer in to the body, and a little lower than is generally convenient. Owing to the elbow being turned upwards the forearm is practically hung at the end of that portion of the arm between the shoulder and the elbow, and the racket is thus receiving a combination of three motions at the moment of impact. It is being thrown forward in the usual way to play the stroke. It is being, on account of the peculiar position of the upper portion of the arm, naturally drawn upwards, and, so as to secure a free and effective finish the wrist is beginning to turn so that the thumb may go up on top of the racket handle; and this latter action imparts a slight side movement to the racket head in the direction A B. This side flick as the wrist turns plays no unimportant part in the stroke if so desired, and by means of it the direction of the ball may be effectually altered at the last moment. This stroke naturally imparts a lot of lift or forward spin to the ball, and so aids the player in keeping a good length, a lack of which is one of the greatest defects of England’s men players. It should be remembered too that in this stroke the mere straightening up of the player’s body puts a certain amount of lift on to the ball, for the motion adds to the natural upward draw of the racket.

Fig. 5a.—Back-hand drive (impact).

Fig. 6.—Back-hand drive with cut from left to right.

Fig. 5a is a side view of the back-hand drive. The dotted line A B clearly explains how the racket passes up across the ball at the moment of impact. It is not necessary to have the thumb down the handle as shown. The stroke may be almost perfectly produced with this grip, or with the thumb round the handle. The foreshortening