Racquets, tennis, and squash . is often the best,but much depends upon the particular lot from whichones gut has been taken. This, again, depends on thetime of year etc. A fortune awaits the maker who canproduce a uniformly good gut. The racket itself shouldbe free from knots and flaws. Many prefer to havemuch of the weight in the handle, which is now farthicker than it used to be, though not so thick as theLawn Tennis handle. A press for rackets is almost essential to economy aswell as to enjoyment. When once a bat is warped, itcan seldom do itself justice again. The Racquet ball is illustrat
Racquets, tennis, and squash . is often the best,but much depends upon the particular lot from whichones gut has been taken. This, again, depends on thetime of year etc. A fortune awaits the maker who canproduce a uniformly good gut. The racket itself shouldbe free from knots and flaws. Many prefer to havemuch of the weight in the handle, which is now farthicker than it used to be, though not so thick as theLawn Tennis handle. A press for rackets is almost essential to economy aswell as to enjoyment. When once a bat is warped, itcan seldom do itself justice again. The Racquet ball is illustrated in Photograph XVIII,side by side with the Fives and Squash balls. The sizeof the Racquet balls is uniform, but their hardness are made of cloth inside, the cloth being verytightly packed; round this is wound fine thread; thencomes the covering. New insides seldom provide goodballs ; play improves the insides. According to the softness or the hardness, we havetwo different games of Racquets: the soft balls giving. M Ph P4 W w fe. Fig. 19.—The Grip. (Not unlike Lathams.) (See page 154.) CH. XX] THE COURT AND IMPLEMENTS 139 the better practice for beginners, because the rallies arelonger, and the killing strokes are fewer, and the killingServices are fewer; a soft ball takes less cut, and cutdrives the ball quickly down off the Back-walls andSide-walls. The balls should be regularly dried andwarmed before play. They are not satisfactory in modern times, perhapsbecause few will take the trouble to make and re-makethem carefully. I do not think that those who makethem are underpaid, but the drudgery is said to beextreme, and probably a great deal of the work is care-lessly done. It certainly seems to me that the ballsto-day are far more carelessly sewn than they have everbeen before. I never played so many games in whichso large a proportion of the balls have been discarded notbecause they have lost their shape, but because they havecome unsewn. Here there is urgent
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