LAWS ADOPTED BY THE M. C. C., AND A. E. C. & L. T. C., AND BADMINTON. BY JULIAN MARSHALL, Author of the Annals of Tennis," &c., &c. 1879. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by C. F. A. HINRICHS, in the Lawn-tennis is played by one player against another, by one against two, or by two on each side-never more. The object is to return the ball over a net, hung midway across the whole Court, so as to drop within the lines which define the portion on the other side of the net. A ball, it should be stated at the outset, which drops on any of those lines, is held to have fulfilled the latter condition. A ball which touches the net en passant, is held to have fulfilled the former. In order to start the ball in play, a player must take it in his hand and strike it with his racket, so as to make it pass over the net-this is called serving, and the player who 3 performs this act is called the Server. The service, however, is limited by certain conditions: in giving it, the Server must stand with one foot outside the base-line of one of the HalfCourts which he has to defend; he must then deliver the service so that the ball shall drop in the space, not directly, but diagonally, opposite to him, on the other side of the net-a space bounded by the net, the side-line, the half-court-line, and the service-line. He must serve first from his right-hand HalfCourt. The ball served by him must, therefore, drop within the space bounded by the net and the above-named lines of his opponent's right-hand Half-Court, or upon any of those lines.* These Half-Courts are commonly called his right and left Courts. But, as there is, in spite of recent legislation, still some advantage attached, or believed to be attached, to the service, it is necessary to decide, before beginning, who shall have this advantage. This may be done by tossing a coin in the air, and crying "heads" or "tails," but it is more usual for one player to spin a racket, and for the other to call "rough" or "smooth" before it reaches the ground; † if it shows that side uppermost which he called, he wins; if the other, he loses. The winner may then either choose to serve first, in which case he leaves the choice of sides to his opponent; or he may leave him the right of first service, and take either side with whatever advantage there may be, in his opinion, on that side. Playing up-hill, against the wind, or facing the sun, are all considered disadvantages; and the player who chooses the *A description of the whole Court, with these lines, on a diagram, is given in the laws, (p. 7.) + The side called "smooth" has no knots; the "rough" side shows the knots, or turns of the cross-strings round the main strings. end of the Court, or the side, as it is technically called, chooses so as to escape those disadvantages during the first set. At the beginning of the second set, and of every succeeding set of a series of sets, the players change sides, and the server of the last game of one set becomes the striker-out—i. e., the player who receives the service-in the first game of the next. When the service has been duly delivered, according to the conditions described above, it is necessary for the striker-out to return it, that is, to play it back with his racket, so that it pass over, or beyond, the net, which it may touch in its passage, and drop anywhere within the lines which define the side, or Court, on the opposite side of the net to himself, or upon any of those lines. The player who fails to return the ball over the net, or returns it out-of-Court, loses a stroke; and his opponent, whether Server or Striker-out, is said to win the stroke so lost by the former. A description, however, of the losses and gains to either player, consequent upon failure or success in returning the ball, will be better given by the Laws of the game than by any paraphrase of them; and they are, therefore, at this point, commended to young players' most careful study. |