above the board but on or below the service-line, in which case
it is called a “cut”; or (2) touches the floor on the first bound,
outside the proper service-court, when it is called “short” or
“fault” according to the position of its pitch (see below). If
the “hand-out” player to whom the fault is served “takes”
it (i.e. if he plays at it), the fault is condoned and the play
proceeds as if the serve had been good. If, however, the fault
be not taken, the server must serve again from the same box;
and if he serves a second fault he loses his “hand” or innings,
and his partner or his opponent, as the case may be, takes his
place. Two consecutive faults have thus the same result as the
loss of a stroke in the rally by the “hand-in.” A serve which
makes the ball strike the board, or the floor before reaching the
front wall, or which sends it “out-of-court” (i.e. into the gallery
or roof of the court), counts the same as two consecutive faults;
it costs the server his innings. Skill in service is a most important
part of proficiency in racquets; a player can hardly
become first-rate unless he possesses a “strong service.” As
in tennis a great deal of “cut” may be imparted to the ball by
the stroke of the racquet, which makes the ball in its rebound
from the wall behave like a billiard ball carrying “side” when
striking a cushion; and when this “cut” is combined with
great pace in the bound of the ball off the side wall, the back
wall, and the floor, at varying angles which the server has to a
great degree under his control, it becomes exceedingly difficult
for hand-out to “get up” the serve (i.e. to hit it on the first
bound, sending it above the play-line on the back wall), and
still more so to make a good stroke which will render it difficult
for his adversary in his turn to get up the ball and thus continue
the rally. It often happens, therefore, that a long sequence of
aces, sometimes the whole 15 aces of a game, are scored consecutively
by service which hand-out is unable to return. A
noteworthy instance of successful service occurred in the semi-final
tie of the doubles Amateur Championship matches at the
Queen’s Club in 1897 when W. L. Foster opened service and
scored all the aces in the first two games, and added six in the
third, thus putting on a sequence of 36 aces before losing his
“hand.” To obtain first innings is therefore an initial advantage,
although in doubles it is limited by the rule that only one partner
shall have a “hand” (innings) in the opening service.
The question which side shall have this advantage is decided by spinning a racquet, the “rough” and “smooth” sides of which take the place of “heads” and “tails” when a coin is tossed. The side winning the spin opens the game by serving as described above. The server may begin in either of the service boxes, but when he has started, the service must proceed from the two boxes alternately till the close of the innings of the side, whether singles or doubles. When the other side obtains the innings they may in like manner begin in either box, without regard to where the last service of their opponents was delivered. In singles, hand-out changes sides in the court after each serve, answering to the change over of the server; in doubles the serve is taken alternately by the two hand-out players, who permanently occupy the right- and left-hand courts respectively, being allowed to change the order in which they receive the service only once in any game, or at the end of any game or rubber. Except in the very rare case of left-handed players most of the play in the left half of the court, including the taking of all service on that side, is back-handed; and the stronger of the two partners in back-hand play usually therefore takes the left-hand court. The best position in the court for the hand-out about to take the serve depends entirely on the nature of the service, and he has to use his judgment the instant the ball leaves the server’s racquet in order to determine where it will strike the floor and at what precise point in its course it will be best for him to attempt to take it. A strong fast service, heavily cut, that sends the ball darting round the corner of the court, leaving the back wall at an extremely acute angle, or dropping almost dead off it, can only be got up by standing near the back wall a long way across the court and taking the ball by a wrist stroke at the last instant before it falls to the ground a second time. On the other hand when the server avoids the side wall altogether and strikes the back wall direct and hard, whether he achieves a “nick” serve (i.e. the ball striking precisely in the angle between the back wall and the floor) or hits the wall high up, hand-out will have little time to spare in changing position to get within reach of the ball. Some good players make a practice wherever possible, especially in the case of heavily cut service, of taking the serve on the volley (i.e. before the ball reaches the ground), sometimes of taking the ball after it leaves the side wall and before it reaches the back wall; practice alone enables the player to decide with the necessary promptitude how each stroke is to be played. In returning the serve, or in playing any stroke during the rally, the ball may strike any of the other walls before the front wall; but though this “boasted” stroke is quite legitimate, and is sometimes the only way of getting up a difficult ball, it is not considered good style deliberately to slash the ball round the corners in order to keep it in the fore end of the court. Good play consists for the most part in hard low hitting, especially as close as possible along the side walls into the corners of the back wall. One of the most effective strokes in racquets is the “drop,” which means that the ball is hit so that it only just reaches the front wall and drops close to it, while the player conceals his intention by appearing to strike hard. “The drop-stroke,” says Mr Eustace Miles, who regrets that it is less cultivated than formerly, “is one of the most beautiful, and of all drop-strokes, the volley or half-volley is the best." The “half-volley,” in which the ball is struck at the moment of its contact with the floor and before it has had time to rise, is also employed with great effect in hard play; it makes the return much quicker than when the ball is allowed to rise to the full length of the bound, and requires corresponding quickness on the part of the adversary. It sometimes happens, too, that the player finding himself too near the pitch of the ball to take it at the end of the bound, yet not near enough to volley it, is compelled to take it on the half-volley as the only chance of getting it up. Accuracy in volleying and half-volleying, especially if the ball be kept low, is a most difficult art to acquire, but a good long rally in which are included a number of hard rapid half-volleys within a couple of inches of the board, is the prettiest feature of the game.
If hand-out succeeds in returning the serve, the rally proceeds until one side or the other fails to make a good return. A good return means (1) that the ball is struck by the racquet before its second bound on the floor, and without its having touched any part of the clothes or person of the striker or his partner; (2) that it is hit against the front wall above the board without first touching the floor or going out of court; and (3) that it returns off the front wall into play (i.e. to the floor of the court or to an adversary’s racquet) without going out of court. If hand-in be the one to fail in making a good return, he loses his “hand,” or innings, and (in singles) handout goes in and proceeds to serve; in doubles one of the hand-in partners loses his “hand,” and the second partner goes in and serves till he in turn similarly loses his “hand,” except that in the case of the opening service in the game there is (as already mentioned) only one “hand” in any event. If hand-out fails to make a good return to the serve or to any stroke in the rally, hand-in scores an ace, and the side that first scores 15 aces wins the game. When, however, the score reaches “13-all” (i.e. when each side has scored 13 aces), handout may, before the next serve is delivered, declare that he elects to “set” the game either to 5 or 3, whichever he prefers; and similarly when the score stands at “14-all,” hand-out may “set” the game to 3. He makes this declaration by calling “set-5!” or “set-3!” and it means that 5 aces, or 3 aces, as the case may be, shall be required to win the game.
In the confined space of a racquet court it is not always easy, especially in doubles, for the players to avoid obstructing each other. It is provided in the rules that “each player must get out of his opponents’ way as much as possible,” and that it shall be a “let” (an Old English word for impediment or hindrance) and “the service or rally shall count for nothing. and the server shall serve again from the same service-box,
