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His present, and your pains, we thank you for: When we have match'd our rackets to these balls, We will, in France, by God's grace play a set, Shall strike his father's crown into the Hazard: Tell him, he made a match with such a wrangler, That all the Courts of France will be disturb'd with chases " King Henry V by Shakespeare |
game is begun by a service which is always from the same end of the court (the
service side). The opposite end of the court where the receiver stands is
called the hazard side. The service does not alternate with each game as in
lawn tennis. The server changes ends and ceases to serve only when a chase has
been laid. The meaning of a chase will be explained below. To be a good
service the ball has to touch the penthouse roof at least once on the hazard
side of the net and drop in the service court. If it does not touch the
penthouse roof or if it hits a window or the roof it will be a fault.
A chase is laid where the ball bounces the second time without being hit by
the player. On the service side a chase is laid wherever the ball bounces a
second time. On the hazard side a hazard chase is laid if the ball bounces the
second time between the net and the line parallel to it furthest from the net.
If it lands a second time between that line and the back wall, it is a point
for the server.
The galleries on either side of the net also count as chases, with the exception, on the hazard side of the winning gallery. If the ball enters the winning gallery, it is a point for the server. Other winning openings which provide outright winners are the dedans on the service side and the grille on the hazard side. 
If a chase is laid, the point is not won by that shot, the point is kept in
abeyance until the player changes ends. When the players change end, the
receiver (who was previously the server) has to beat the chase. The players
change ends if two chases have been laid or if one player reaches game point
and there is one chase. If it is a hazard chase, the receiver will beat the
chase by playing any shot which the server cannot return, either on the floor
or by hitting one of the galleries on the service side. If it is a service
chase, the receiver will beat the chase by the second bounce landing nearer
the back wall than the chase. To assist in determining where precisely a ball
bounces the second time, lines are marked on the floor at intervals of one
yard. The figures above the lines on the opposite wall show the number of
yards measured, on the service side, from the back wall and, on the hazard
side, from the service line. The nearer a chase on the service side is to the
back wall, the more difficult it is to beat.
When the players change ends, the first point to be played is the chase. The marker will call out the chase which the receiver hopes to beat. If the chase is exactly on a yard line, the marker will call out the number of yards, e.g. "chase 2 and 3" means two and a half yards from the back wall. If the chase falls between a yard and a half-yard line, the marker will call out "better than" or "worse than" the yard line, depending on whether the ball fell nearer the back wall, or further from the back wall, than the yard line. If the ball went into a gallery, the marker calls out the name of that gallery, e.g. the Last Gallery. Each gallery has a line on the floor opposite to the centre of the gallery. If the chase is laid on the floor between galleries, the marker calls out "better / worse than" say, the Second Gallery. |
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