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Service is the opening gun of tennis. It is putting the ball in play. The old idea was that service should never be more than merely the beginning of a rally. With the rise of American tennis and the advent of Dwight Davis and Holcombe Ward, service took on a new significance. These two men originated what is now known as the American Twist delivery.
From a mere formality, service became a point winner. Slowly it gained in importance, until Maurice E. M’Loughlin, the wonderful “California Comet,” burst across the tennis sky with the first of those terrific cannon-ball deliveries that revolutionized the game, and caused the old-school players to send out hurry calls for a severe footfault rule or some way of stopping the threatened destruction of all ground strokes. M’Loughlin made service a great factor in the game. It remained for R. N. Williams to supply the antidote that has again put service in the normal position of mere importance, not omnipotence. Williams stood in on the delivery and took it on the rising bound.
Service must be speedy. Yet speed is not the be-all and end-all. Service must be accurate, reliable, and varied. It must be used with discretion and served with brains.
Any tall player has an advantage over a short one, in service. Given a man about 6 feet and allow him the 3 feet added by his reach, it has been proved by tests that should he deliver a service, perfectly flat, with no variation caused by twist or wind, that just cleared the net at its lowest point (3 feet in the centre), there is only a margin of 8 inches of the service court in which the ball can possibly fall; the remainder is below the net angle. Thus it is easy to see how important it is to use some form of twist to bring the ball into court. Not only must it go into court, but it must be sufficiently speedy that the receiver does not have an opportunity of an easy kill. It must also be placed so as to allow the server an advantage for his next return, admitting the receiver puts the ball in play.
Just as the first law of receiving is to, put the ball in play, so of service it is to cause the receiver to fall into error. Do not strive unduly for clean aces, but use your service to upset the ground strokes of your opponent.
Service should be hit from as high a point as the server can COMFORTABLY reach. To stretch unnecessarily is both wearing on the server and unproductive of results. Varied pace and varied speed is the keynote to a good service.
The slice service should be hit from a point above the right shoulder and as high as possible. The server should stand at about a forty-five degree angle to the baseline, with both feet firmly planted on the ground. Drop the weight back on the right foot and swing the racquet freely and easily behind the back. Toss the ball high enough into the air to ensure it passing through the desired hitting plane, and then start a slow shift of the weight forward, at the same time increasing the power of the swing forward as the racquet commences its upward flight to the ball. Just as the ball meets the racquet face the weight should be thrown forward and the full power of the swing smashed into the service. Let the ball strike the racquet INSIDE the face of the strings, with the racquet travelling directly towards the court. The angle of the racquet face will impart the twist necessary to bring the ball in court. The wrist should be somewhat flexible in service. If necessary lift the right foot and swing the whole body forward with the arm. Twist slightly to the right, using the left foot as a pivot. The general line of the racquet swing is from RIGHT to LEFT and always forward.
At this point and before I take up the other branches of serving, let me put in a warning against footfaulting. I can only say that a footfault is crossing or touching the line with either foot before the ball is delivered, or it is a jump or step. I am not going into a technical discussion of footfaults. It is unnecessary, and by placing your feet firmly before the service there is no need to footfault.
It is just as unfair to deliberately footfault as to miscall a ball, and it is wholly unnecessary. The average footfault is due to carelessness, over-anxiety, or ignorance of the rule. All players are offenders at times, but it can quickly be broken up.
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Planning a great party does not have to be that hard. All you really have to do is find a way to make your event great. You will find that when you get the great ideas to make your party special, you will get an over whelming response to the event and it will be a great time that is had by all.
One of the best ways to make a great event even better is to have some kind of great entertainment. You will want to find someone to come to your party and make it great. You can get any type of entertainer that you would like and it will be a great addition to your party.
You should think about the type of party you are having. Who will be the guests and what type of party is it going to be? These are things that you will want to think about so that you can make the most of the great time. You will want to bring out someone that will entertain all of your party goes and keep them interested in the event.
If you are looking for an entertainer to come to your party, you can check out the phone book. There are plenty of party entertainers that are listed there to help you. You will see that there are plenty of different options and you will need to choose the ones that will give the crowd a great night of fun. You can get comedians, musicians, and even guest speakers. No matter what type of entertainer you decide to get, you will be able to hire someone to help you keep everyone there and having a great time.
If you do not want to hire an entertainer, you may want to find a mingler to get the party going. You will see that a mingler will keep the people talking and keeping them moving. They will be able to talk to the guests at different times and getting the guests ready for a night of entertainment. The mingler will be great for you so that you have time to sit and relax at your own party. You will of course want to talk to the guests and make them feel welcome as well as having some time out for yourself.
One great idea to have at your next event is to have someone to keep the crowed entertained and get them involved in the fun. You can have an entertainer that will bring the crowd up on stage and keep them involved. This is something that you can do easily and with little time and expense involved. You can usually find these people in the phone book or you can go online and find the help that you are looking for.
You can even work with your entertainer and bring more fun to the party. You can be a helper or get someone from the crowd to help as well. Either way, you will see that when you are able to get the guests having fun, you will be setting the stage for a successful party that will be a great time and memory for everyone. This is a great opportunity and one that you should do any time you want to make your next event the most that it can be.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to make your friends happy. You want them to talk about your event for many years to come and the best way to do that is to keep it interesting and exciting.