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The Aesthetics of Tennis

Lifetime Treasury of Tested Tennis Tips
By Bill and Chet Murphy
Parker Publishing Co., NY
240 pages/1981

I retrieved two books from the storeroom. This, in soft cover, is aged and discolored while the other book, HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR TENNIS, is relatively in good condition. I never really appreciated this gem of a book until now because I wasn’t into playing tennis when I purchased it from MPH at Crosby House and the other from Marican & Sons at DBS Building. One can well imagine how old and out-of-print these publications are since Marican went out of business years ago. I remember this ‘mama’ bookstore as my one of my lunch-time haunts and the astonishing array of books they stocked, one for each title, was absorbing. In short, there was always something new to enkindle an interest you never knew in you. Through that outlet, I acquired several treasured books, friction and non-friction, never to be seen in bookshops anymore now.

Leafing through the TIPS book quickly, I realize it is a simple yet cleverly arranged “how-to-do it” book that you would be hard put to find for the subject like playing tennis. It covers systemically all facets of the game of tennis with ingenious tips and cues, catchy picture words, simple analogies and concepts that make it easy for you to understand the basic principles behind each technique. With simple pencil stretches and text as concise as possible, the book asks you to visualize simple yet vivid images that you can easily recall, like an egg-shaped swing, or use a saucer swing rather than a tea cup swing, or beat a rug to volley. For example:

The normal volley should be made with a short, firm, compact jabbing motion, not too much back swing or forward swing is necessary.

If you are over swinging on your volleys, the concept of “beating a rug” with your racket head will help you make a more effective short, crisp swing.

Pretend that a rug is hanging over a laundry line and is suspended downward in a vertical plane that passes through the point at which you want to hit the ball, and that you are standing just to the side and in front of the rug. As the ball meets the plane of the rug, beat the rug with your racket head, pretending to slap it with the flattened out racket face. The short, firm swing you’ll use will result in a firm controlled volley.

The book further explains when you should block jab or drive your volleys because “eating a rug” concept is just elementary without taking into account variables like the angle, speed of the ball and reaction time.

The mechanic behind a stroke is not something that you must constantly think when you’re on the court. To do so would be quite impractical. Still, you should know what the stroke feels like, either in its entirety or at some specific point, and you should know how to make it feel that way, say the authors.

At the time when the open stance was not taught, traditional coaching methods have been viewed by Oscar Wegner as “mythical”. I have no doubt he was referring to more than a few of these in the book but remember that Tennis Tips is the collection of over 200 tips whose authors have been recognized in their own country by a Tennis Foundation for “outstanding contributions to tennis teaching methods.” Surely not all are concepts misconceived.

The book ends with miscellaneous suggestions for playing three-man singles if one of the foursome fails to turn up, how to do warm-up for agility and flexibility, and as for the buying of balls, there is a very good reason for not playing with old balls:

Buy Pressure-Packed Balls:

It is practically impossible to develop good, sound tennis strokes if you play with old, light, worn-out balls. When the outer layer of fuzz is worn off a ball, the ball is simply not go where you hit it; it will sail and float wildly when hit. The fuzz on a ball serves the same purpose that feathers on an arrow do; it keeps the ball going where you aimed it.

Be sure you buy the ones that are packed under pressure in a sealed can marked “heavy duty’ or ‘extra duty’.

This is a book that one can refer to off and on-court. Written more than 25 years ago, the basic principle behind each stroke production remains unchanged today. However, this book is certainly too elementary for advanced players while coaches may pick up concepts for imparting to their students















How To Improve Your Tennis Style, Strategy, and Analysis

By Craig R. Wilson
A.S. Barnes & Co., New Jersey
205 pages/1974, hard cover

This is clearly a more ‘advanced’ book. Given that it was written in 1974, it claims that it is the first to offer a conceptual model encompassing the game of tennis in its entirely (i.e. style, strategy, and analysis) might well be true. How it does so within 205 pages with black-and-white photo illustrations is a wonder.

The book begins by talking about the aesthetic quality of the game when it is executed properly. It may bore you but it was precisely the display of ‘poetry-in-motion’ I see of “traditional” tennis players on the court that drew my admiration. I remember the grace and fluidity of Evonne Goolagong on grass when she won two Wimbledon titles ten years apart and the athletic and leggy Steffi Graff who might well be a successful ballerina by choice had she wanted to. I do not think that likening the movements in tennis to that of a ballet performance is far-fetched. Additionally, the book appears to take a scientific approach in the analysis of tennis and in this respect I am reminded of Martina Navratilova who probably was the first player, male or female, to transform her game “scientifically". There is no doubt that the application of science gives one the edge.

The book progresses systematically from the practical aspects of sound stoke development, through a detailed study of percentage decision-making on the court, to the strategy and tactics necessary to compete successfully in tournament-level competition, and concludes with a theoretical model to objectify both individual career development and competition performance.

Tennis was already an art-form and a science as early as 1970's.

Hmmmm….. certainly not for me, a recreational player. To bisect and disect to the point of suffocation takes the joy out of playing tennis. For example. the discussion on delivering the American Twist serve leaves me dizzy with its twists and turns; I catch no ball. It is easier to rock and roll to the Twist than to serve up a Twist and get my torso twisted.

posted by Victor Lai @ 10:36 PM