The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-05-28
TIMELY TENNIS TOPICS
 By the United State Lawn Tennis Association
PRACTICE

IT
 ! A good coach can help you to avoid the usual mistakes of begin- ners by telling you why your strokes go wrong; and he can show you how to make the strokes with least ef- tort and most power. But no coach can make you champion unless EVou have the will to win and the determination to practice; in the Nnal analysis you must depend upon yourself to win your spurs.
 Attsnd one of the many tennis icllnics which schools, colleges, clubs and parks are holding, where free Instruction in essential strokes is provided, and sometimes exhibition matches, also. As you improve, enter a few tournaments. There are many more opportunities today for am- bilious girls and boys to develop their tennis than there were Q few years ago, and the next generation should prduce many more fine play CTS, even than there are today, Schoolsh and colleges are helping the game to develop rapidly by provid- ing their tennis teams with better coaches who are trained in modern methods of stroke production.
 So if you arc really ambitious to succeed at tennis, think over the suggestions in these articles and then, If they appeal to you as sound aadvice, go out on the court and practice. Probably no champion ever succeeded in winning the title without conscientious practice.
 To be Q champion today, q player can have no serious weakness; for If he has his opponent will quickly uncover 1t and pound that weak ness. It is only by practice that you can strengthen these weaknesses, If you have a weak backhand, for ex- ample, don't run around the ball so as to take 1t on your forehand; prac- tice hitting on your backhand every tiine you get chance.
 Years ago, Tilden spent an entire winter re-learning his backhand drive. He willingly lost many matches until he finally perfected his strike to such e point that 1t became one of his most brilliant shots. Perry was at one time so discouraged over his inability to take the ball on the rise that he almost gave up; but Fortunately he kept working on this stroke until he developed one of the best running drives to the net that has ever been soon. Tn the case of Donald Budge, 1t was his forehand drive which caused him the most . lkaAvthlA tVN tAie nttAys took change of grip and two years of hard practice before he gained sufficient confidence to make this stroke consistently with speed and accuracy.
 There are several wsys to practice. one good way Is to get friend to go out on the court and feed balls to your forehand, or to your back hand, so that you can concentrate on one stroke exclusively for ten or fifteen minutes.
 Both Ellsworth Vines and Fred Perry say that 0 practice board helped them tremendously. Els worth found a smooth board fence near his home, painted line across 1t to represent the net, and then practiced driving. Before long, his accuracy improved, and finally he learned to hit the ball hard and only Q few inches above the line. That drive of his was so fast and so &C., curate that he beat the great French player, Henri Cochet, for our cham pionship in 1882 in three straight sets. In one rally, Ellsworth drove the ball so hard that he knocked