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can be said with some justification that tennis is the most difficult of all
ball games to play. A correspondent of The Times newspaper described it as
"running, jumping and hitting chess". The reason is that since the
ball is solid, it can be hit hard and fast and can be spun in all directions.
Furthermore the angle of wall and floor and the peculiar hazard of the tambour
(which diverts the ball across the court) makes an inexperienced player very
uncertain in which direction a ball will travel. Finally the racket head is
small and to hit the ball in the middle of the racket is at all times
extremely difficult. To spectators it may seem easy to hit the ball. To
players it often seems unbelievably difficult.
If the ball is undercut, then, when it strikes the wall at the other end of
the court it will drop sharply downwards, making it difficult to return. For
this reason good players cut the ball and do not, as in lawn tennis, top spin
the ball which causes it to bounce high off the back wall and presents an easy
shot to the opponent. The winning openings provide both players with ever
present opportunities of winning points; and the tambour is tactically very
important since a ball hitting it will change direction abruptly through about
90°.
players can, as in lawn tennis, score for themselves. But, as some of the
other pages have shown, to remember the score correctly requires effort and to
mark a chase accurately requires skill. For these reasons a marker who
shelters in the box adjoining the net is a great help. Originally the
"marqueurs" were apprentices to the "paumiers" or
ball-markers. Today the markers are the court professionals. There are at
present about 14 professionals in Great Britain and about 10 professionals in
other countries. The continued existence of the game is largely to be ascribed
to their efforts since they train successive generations of players.
Furthermore they have been leading exponents of the game and often world
champions.
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