No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 November 2016
In view of the popular appeal of Lawn Tennis, and of the fact that a large number of professional mathematicians depend upon this game for much of their recreation, it seems strange that no one has pointed out that a good deal may be learned (as to suitable tactics) by applying a few quite simple principles of dynamics and geometry to the game.
* The players are supposed also to be right-handed: the necessary modifications due to one or two left-handed players can be easily introduced, but no new ideas are involved.
† Accurately 78 feet; but exact figures are not very valuable here.
* In actual play, the flight is modified a good deal by “cut” and “top-spin.” The former is a very important feature in Court-Tennis, and consequently figured largely in the early days of lawn-tennis—in modern good fast play, “cut” is almost non-existent. “Top-spin” on the other hand may be seen often, but its effect is too complicated to be considered here.
* In what is usually called “smashing” the ball will be hit at a height of 6 or 7 feet: here we have used the phrase smash as a conveniently short phrase to distinguish the two types of stroke.