I am called at times a chop-stroke player.I SELDOM CHOP.My stroke is a slice.
A chop stroke is a shot where the angle towards the player and behind the racquet, made by the line of flight of the ball, and the racquet travelling down across it, is greater than 45 degrees and may be 90 degrees.The racquet face passes slightly OUTSIDE the ball and down the side, chopping it, as a man chops wood.The spin and curve is from right to left.It is made with a stiff wrist.Irving C.Wright, brother of the famous Beals, is a true chop player, while Beals himself, being a left- hander, chopped from the left court and sliced from the right.
The slice shot merely reduced the angle mentioned from 45 degrees down to a very small one.The racquet face passes either INSIDE or OUTSIDE the ball, according to direction desired, while the stroke is mainly a wrist twist or slap.This slap imparts a decided skidding break to the ball, while a chop "drags" the ball off the ground without break.Wallace F.Johnson is the greatest slice exponent in the world.
The rules of footwork for both these shots should be the same as the drive, but because both are made with a short swing and more wrist play, without the need of weight, the rules of footwork may be more safely discarded and body position not so carefully considered.
Both these shots are essentially defensive, and are labour-saving devices when your opponent is on the baseline.A chop or slice is very hard to drive, and will break up any driving game.
It is not a shot to use against a volley, as it is too slow to pass and too high to cause any worry.It should be used to drop short, soft shots at the feet of the net man as he comes in.Do not strive to pass a net man with a chop or slice, except through a big opening.
The drop-shot is a very soft, sharply-angled chop stroke, played wholly with the wrist.It should drop within 3 to 5 feet of the net to be of any use.The racquet face passes around the outside of the ball and under itwith a distinct "wrist turn." Do not swing the racquet from the shoulder in making a drop shot.The drop shot has no relation to a stop-volley.The drop shot is all wrist.The stop-volley has no wrist at all.
Use all your wrist shots, chop, slice, and drop, merely as an auxilliary to your orthodox game.They are intended to upset your opponent's game through the varied spin on the ball.
THE HALF VOLLEY
I have now reached the climax of tennis skill: the half volley or trap shot.In other words, the pick-up.
This shot requires more perfect timing, eyesight, and racquet work than any other, since its margin of safety is smallest and its manifold chances of mishaps numberless.
It is a pick-up.The ball meets the ground and racquet face at nearly the same moment, the ball bouncing off the ground, on the strings.This shot is a stiff-wrist, short swing, like a volley with no follow through.The racquet face travels along the ground with a slight tilt over the ball and towards the net, thus holding the ball low; the shot, like all others in tennis, should travel across the racquet face, along the short strings.The racquet face should always be slightly outside the ball.
The half volley is essentially a defensive stroke, since it should only be made as a last resort, when caught out of position by your opponent's shot.It is a desperate attempt to extricate yourself from a dangerous position without retreating.NEVER DELIBERATELY HALF VOLLEY.
Notwithstanding these truths, there are certain players who have turned the half volley into a point winner.The greatest half volleyer of the past decade--in fact, one of the greatest tennis geniuses of the world-- George Caridia, used the stroke successfully as a point winner.R.N.Williams, the leading exponent of the stroke in the present day, achieves remarkable results with it.Major A.R.F.Kingscote wins many a point, seemingly lost, by his phenomenal half-volley returns, particularly from the baseline.These men turn a defence into an attack, and it pays.
