Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-13
THE TENNIS SEASON.
Hints for Beginners Which Should
Lead to Good Play.

Hints for Beginners Which should
Lead to Good Play.
With the opening of the tennis season a
few hints to the young fry" in regard to
form of play may prove beneficial. Lawn
tennis Is strictly a game of skill. and be-
tween the first-class players and the gen.
eral average of those who play the game
there is not a gradual descent. but a wide
gap. In billiards the same remark would
apply even more forcibly. and the differ
ence between the great professionals and
the amateur Is as great as that between
the latter and one who never handled a
cue.
N The qualities necessary to attain perfec-
Ption in lawn tennis are form, accuracy.
pace, strategy. confidence and endurance.
No player combines all these qualities to
perfection, but some possess several of
these requirements in a marked degree.
By form is meant the proper way OF exc
cutting a stroke. If the beginner starts in
to play without instruction and hits the
ball in a way that is most natural to him.
he will acquire a certain amount of skill
against those who play in similar way.
but he can never hope to compete with
tournament players. In other words, he Is
playing pat balr' against the swift
strokes of an opponent who has studied
form. If a novice Is ambitious to become
a good player he must throw aside all de-
sire to defeat his rival until he has ac-
quired proper form, and he must neces-
sarily expect to be beaten. This is the
main reason why men who take up tennis
late in life seldom advance beyond the
putty stage.
Five Years for Form.
It generally takes about two seasons of
regular play for a beginner to acquire
GOOD tennis form. At the end of the first
on he may master the four-hand drive
execute fairly we'll the back-hand
strokes and volleys. Toward the close of
the second year he will probably develop
into player somewhat beyond the general
average. No rule, of course, can be laid
down, for some learn more readily than
others. while there are many who could
AS a general rule, it requires about five
years for the player to show his best form.
When a player reaches a certain point he
seems to stop improving, or his advance
it. 1t is at this juncture that many be-
come disguised and drop the game. The
player comes out one day, plays the game
of his life and goes away elated. but the
next day and perhaps for a week he can
not approach the form he showed on that
occasion. If a man wishes to play a strong,
steady game he should keep himself in the
condition which will be most likely to pro-
duce that result. Tennis players seldom
train or pay any attention to their physical
well being. and this largely accounts for
the variable form exhibited by the expert
players during the season. Tournament
playing is a great strain, and the difficult
ties of a hard-fought five-set match are quite
as exhausting as any other form of ath-
letic exercise. The tennis player who would
train as college athletes do. avoid injurious
eating or drinking and retire early at night
would find his chances Of winning doubled.
But tennis. closely associated as 1t is with
fashionable watering places and social en-
joyments. is far from conducive to a frugal
regime.
A Few Pointers.
Practice is most essential. but 1t should
not be overdone. Three times a week is
sufficient to keep one in good FORM but the
work must be earnest. A tournament play
er should either avoid playing with in
feriors or play just as earnestly against
them as he would against his equals. If
one. cannot accept a defeat from an in
ferior or play an earnest game against him
he had better play with none less prof.
cient than himself. 1t is well to find out
the weak points of your adversary. If he is
weak on the back-hand.. play for that side.
If you get in tight place. lob. Strategy
Is also a most essential element to success.
Pace Is a great point In lawn tennis but
is subservfent to accurate placing, and to
hold a high rank as a player pace Is alb
solutely necessary. Pluck and nerve are
also essential to successful tournament
prayer. his, OF course, ID inherent IN the
player more than an acquired quality, and
yet 1t can be obtained in a measure by
playing in tournaments, which, after all,
is the best possible practice for the game.
Some men can never acquire pluck. and are
Immediately overcome by nervousness
when pitted against an opponent who never
lcses his head. A lack Of nerve Is said to
be the reason for the non-success of Mr..
Mansfield as a tournament player, although
he is acknowledged to be one of the best
players in this country.
Weinberg Took the boswell,
Twenty-one bookmakers started In the
scramble at the st. Asaph track yesterday,
and, as three second choices. favorite
and two outsiders caught the eyes of the
judges first, the gentlemen on the stands
finished tr!fie behind. The attendance was
again very large. the track was the fastest
of the meeting and the racing first-class
The event of the day was the boswell
stakes, for three-year-olds and upward, at
six furlongs. Hugh Penny was made a 3
to favorite, but could only finish fourth,
the winner turning up in Jimmy McLaugh-
Inns brown colt Weinberg. by Muscovy out
of Holmdel. the race being run in LIS
nd "a,