f play and re-adapt it in order to counteract your
opponent. Upset her usual game by your tactics. It is always a great
mistake to keep up a method of attack or defence if it is proving
unavailing. If necessary, keep your own method of play continually on
the change. A change of tactics has often meant a change of fortune in
the game. Never let your opponent know what you are going to do next; do
what she would least expect. Always try to make a stroke. Give her
plenty of the strokes you know she doesn't like. I have often felt
myself improving an opponent's weak stroke by pegging away at it. It
gives her plenty of excellent practice, of course, and when you find she
is beginning not to mind it so much, give it a rest. When you go back to
it you will probably find it successful again. Use your brain, and
always know what you are trying to do. Play with an object of attack and
defence. Do not merely return the ball aimlessly; let each stroke have
its little work to do to complete the whole victory. This is difficult,
I know, but it is so much more fascinating, and is, I am sure, the way
the game was meant to be played. There is much science that can be
brought into lawn tennis, always something new to learn. And that is the
reason why we never tire of playing it.

CHAPTER IV

RACKETS, COURTS, DRESS, AND TRAINING

A good lawn tennis racket is indispensable; indeed, to use a weapon of
inferior make is to court failure from the start. You cannot be too
particular to have a really well-made racket. Fortunately there are now
so many good makers that it is a player's own fault if she is not
suitably equipped. It may be a little more expensive to buy a really
first-class racket; but the few extra shillings are well worth while if
you mean to take up the game seriously, and to get out of it all the
enjoyment you can. Personally I always play with a "Slazenger" racket,
preferring their make to any other; but there are many other good
manufacturers.

The weight of your racket should vary according to your strength of
wrist, and should depend on whether you volley or play entirely from the
back of the court. I am inclined to think there is a tendency on the
part of lady players to use too light a racket. I have often seen them
with a 12-1/2-oz. or 13-oz. These are too light, and may be condemned.
If you use a racket that is too light, it means that the maker has not
been able to string it as tightly as it ought to be st