Most important is the fact that, whether by blind evolution
or The first age of the game is assumed to be the thirteenth intelligent design, the walls and their variations, the tambour century. By the end of the fourteenth poets like Gower and half-court and chase-lines on the walls of a tennis court are and so make difficult and generally interesting, the bound and surmounted by crowns of red and gold, reminding us that this flight of a ball. At the same time the surface is as perfect as is "the game of kings." Though no European monarch to- that of a billiard table. The net ensures a certain elevation ; day plays tennis much, if at all, it has been played by kings, the chase system ensures—but to write the philosophy of chiefly French and English, for 500 years. chases would require a volume. Suffice it to say that chases But the full significance of its proverbial description is that make tennis the only game in which you get some satisfaction it has always been the game of Anglo-French aristocracy, out of a bad stroke, and double satisfaction out of a good one. Or shall we say, to avoid a word which political panmixia. The player of a ball on the floor which is too good or too bad for his opponent to reach has in effect to play double or quits. has made almost as much of an archaism as " democracy," This he must do by defending such ball and preventing his that tennis was and is the characteristic game of the men who Organize States and are their guardians P Developing in the opponent from sending a better one that he cannot reach. It also eliminates chance and it conduces enormously to beet days of chivalry it was the pastime of knights, whether accuracy—accuracy comparable to, but greater than, that of kings, nobles, or gentlemen. To-day it attracts dominant personalities still. Very typical is the fact that an American, MI'. Jay Gould, jun., has won its amateur champion- Considered in the light of the comparative method tennis ship. So does it attract new nations that have won their is not only the sum of ball games ; it is the Absolute in, spurs. Of the sixty odd tennis courts in the world America games. Possesses twelve and Australia two. What, one often wonders, was the form of the old playera?
Indeed, besides its predominant historic associations the How would Henri IL, the best of royal amateurs, or game serves as a political barometer. It has never been, and Francois I., or our Henry VIII. have compared with modern hardly could be, a national game. But it has marked the amateurs ? The improvement of implements is always a great periods of understanding between France and England as it factor in the evolution of skill at games. But the medieval was conspicuous in their previous union. When England tradition. of excellence in handicraft certainly was stronger went to Holland and Germany for her monarchs, the game in the art of racket and ball manufacture, and longer-lived was less played by Englishmen than it had been, and by the than in many more important social necessaries and more eighteenth century they were forming a, national game— spectacular luxuries. Yet in the memory of men living the cricket. The fall of the French aristocracy meant the fall game has developed in the direction of faster and more boundary be a, simple piece of wood that can be One reason why it cannot be a game for the crowd is an turned back and put completely out of the way when indirect result of the conditions which make it, in the opinion the carriage is not full and passengers wish to of all who have played, the greatest of games. This is the lounge or lie on the seats. Next, let every seat be numbered. very limited space available for spectators. Clearly a popular It should be possible to book a seat in advance in any train game must be one which can admit crowds to view it. The on any line. According to our theory companies ought to essential condition for such a game is an open space around think of themselves as sellers of " transport space." At present which thousands of devotees may sit or stand. But in a they sell to you the right to be conveyed in a train, but they tennis court barely fifty persons can see all the play from the do not sell the right to what can reasonably be called a place dedans, another fifty part of it from the galleries proper, 'and in the train. If they would look at their services to the public another hundred part of it from the top of the walls, the in a different light they would probably see the practicability gallery in a modern sense. And this limitation is duo to the of selling as much " transport space "•as a passenger wished character of the strokes in the game.
needed to keep his leg up—be could buy two seats oppo- It is the variety of the strokes, in ultimate analysis the variety of the court, that makes tennis the most difficult eke to each other. The present exhausting scrainbling, of ball games and also the best. A fine player and critic struggling, searching, and bribing for seats in crowded trains would be avoided. If the companies objected that the of insight has described it to the writer as "moving chess." It is that and more. The defender of the dedans narrow arms we' propose would reduce the total seating room in a train we can only reply that that proves—what every has the work of the football goalkeeper. The grille and winning gallery arc pockets in aerial billiards. The game traveller knows—that the room in a third-class carriage is has force, in both senses of the word; a heavy ball to the already insufficient.. We feel pretty sure that any company --. dedans is as dangerous as a drive to mid-on in cricket. The which saved its passengers from the present terrors would be ball itself is just of the weight and solidity to provide the rewarded with an increased revenue from the pockets of those ideal conditions for the combined rise of skill, strength, and who now travel for pleasure as seldom as they can. control. A player like Fairs or Covey can do more tricks with a tennis racket than can a footballer with his boot, a THE KING OF GAMES. fives player with his hand, • a cricketer with his bat, or a
11HE origin of tennis is shrouded in medieval mystery, racket player with his "racket." Players of the strongest Even its English name, which is French, is a problem physique can hardly play on consecutive days. Players of yet unsolved. For no one, except a lexicographer, can be the greatest genius cannot master its full potentialities. No satisfied with John Minsheu's derivation from a hypothetical one, it is probable, has yet sounded the depths of tennis. tenez ! with its hypothetical meaning of "receive the ball!" Even Peter Latham will admit that he knows little about it.
Most important is the fact that, whether by blind evolution or The first age of the game is assumed to be the thirteenth intelligent design, the walls and their variations, the tambour century. By the end of the fourteenth poets like Gower and the penthouses, and the relative poSitions of the galleries and Chaucer drew metaphors from it, and in 1316 Louis to Hutin dedaus comprise the sum of all the angles which can alter, died front a chill caught while playing tennis. To-day the a half-court and chase-lines on the walls of a tennis court are and so make difficult and generally interesting, the bound and surmounted by crowns of red and gold, reminding us that this flight of a ball. At the same time the surface is as perfect as is "the game of kings." Though no European monarch to- that of a billiard table. The net ensures a certain elevation ; day plays tennis much, if at all, it has been played by kings, the chase system ensures—but to write the philosophy of chiefly French and English, for 500 years. chases would require a volume. Suffice it to say that chases But the full significance of its proverbial description is that make tennis the only game in which you get some satisfaction it has always been the game of Anglo-French aristocracy, out of a bad stroke, and double satisfaction out of a good one. Or shall we say, to avoid a word which political panmixia. The player of a ball on the floor which is too good or too bad for his opponent to reach has in effect to play double or quits. has made almost as much of an archaism as " democracy," This he must do by defending such ball and preventing his that tennis was and is the characteristic game of the men who Organize States and are their guardians P Developing in the opponent from sending a better one that he cannot reach. It also eliminates chance and it conduces enormously to beet days of chivalry it was the pastime of knights, whether accuracy—accuracy comparable to, but greater than, that of kings, nobles, or gentlemen. To-day it attracts dominant a great bowler at cricket. MI'. Jay Gould, jun., has won its amateur champion- Considered in the light of the comparative method tennis ship. So does it attract new nations that have won their is not only the sum of ball games ; it is the Absolute in, spurs. Of the sixty odd tennis courts in the world America games. Possesses twelve and Australia two. What, one often wonders, was the form of the old playera?
Indeed, besides its predominant historic associations the How would Henri IL, the best of royal amateurs, or game serves as a political barometer. It has never been, and Francois I., or our Henry VIII. have compared with modern hardly could be, a national game. But it has marked the amateurs ? The improvement of implements is always a great periods of understanding between France and England as it factor in the evolution of skill at games. But the medieval was conspicuous in their previous union. When England tradition. of excellence in handicraft certainly was stronger went to Holland and Germany for her monarchs, the game in the art of racket and ball manufacture, and longer-lived was less played by Englishmen than it had been, and by the than in many more important social necessaries and more eighteenth century they were forming a, national game— spectacular luxuries. Yet in the memory of men living the cricket. The fall of the French aristocracy meant the fall game has developed in the direction of faster and more Revolution there were brilliant play. Forcing for the openings tends to overshadow of their game in France. Before the a hundred and more tennis courts in Paris. • The game was floor play. America has introduced twisted overhead railroad not revived till .Napoleon III., when Edmond Barre, greatest services, of French paumzers, and " Bihoche " Delahaye played a match The modern game, but how continuous with the ancient! in 1855 to inaugurate the reopening of the Versailles Court. was well illustrated in last week's great match for the world's ' Inc Serment Flu Jew de Paurne is a typical case of fate's championship. Such an crest is MKS in the game ; tennis irony. In the fourteenth century and later Freuch monarchs makes no count of time, just .as it never has stooped to advertisement. One "record" in a generation or a decade is enough for it.
Both "Punch" Fairs, the defeated champion, and Covey his conqueror by seven sets to three were pupils of Peter Latham. Neither has his intellect, but Fairs has much of his steadiness and grace, with a proportion of his brilliance. Covey has the beauty of a footballer, and his brilliant " forcing " is the keynote of his game. On the other band the match showed Fairs weak in defence. The winner's assault on the grille was analogous to a run of winning hazards at billiards. His mastery of the volley and of the backhand stroke are assets of immense value. Covey has the reputation of a match-winner. So has Fairs. It seemed rather that the Winner owed his victory to his exploitation of the " openings." Probably this part of the game has never been so well worked out before. It would, of course, have been wrecked if based on bad floor-play.
Whether the new champion has a tennis brain remains to be seen. He did not beat Fairs by subtlety. Both men are splendid physical types. Fairs is an Angle or Jute with the equanimity, steadiness, and pluck of the pure English race. Covey is of a Norman cast : this implies restlessness and aggressiveness, and should imply adaptability and resource. Given equality in skill, Covey's aquiline face spelled winning; Faire's serene, open-eyed frankness spelled acceptance. Both could express anxiety, and when the match was at its crisis both were set and no quarter was asked or offered. Covey worked at high pressure and made mistakes. Fairs made mistakes, and they seemed bad luck.
Some such reflection might have been made when Senlac was lost and won. It would be both historically and ethno- logically appropriate if the game of tennis were a child of the Anglo-Norman breed.
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