The fact that a ten-year-old would have won the point means nothing. The gallery yells itself hoarse. There are few general tactical rules for mixed doubles, since the game is too uncertain in class, but there are a few:
1. Hit at the girl whenever possible.
2. A sudden shift down the man’s sideline, particularly if made by the girl, will often pay.
3. One player up and one back, which is fatal in men’s doubles, is a safe and, at times, sound formation in mixed. Take your pick of who’s up and who is back.
4. The lob over the girl’s head is one of the best shots in mixed doubles, provided you play it far enough to her side so that she has to cover it or make the man run a long way to save her.
5. The middle shot in mixed is not so good, since the man is usually covering centre court.
6. Speed to the girl, finesse to the man, will pay in the mixed game. Remember that a girl’s fastest shot is a man’s average pace, so if you use real speed against her, it will prove a tremendous pressure under which she is apt to break. The man is tuned to speed, so fool him by finesse.
There is one thing about mixed doubles that you must remember in these days. The modern girl in athletics is going to handle men’s shots better than you’d expect. The girls of today practice so much with men that they are tuned to greater speed than they themselves can hit. Such girls as Gertrude Moran, Louise Brough, Nancy Chaffee, Beverly Baker, etc., play infinitely better tennis in practice against men than they ever do in matches against each other. Because of this, all these girls are apt to play extremely well in mixed doubles, where they are hitting many of their shots off men’s speed.
With this glimpse into the doubles and mixed doubles games, I have fairly well covered the actual playing of tennis from A to Z. If I have managed to get over the point that there is a much wider field of technique and brainwork than the present school of tennis uses, I have carried my message to you. There is still much to learn.
Some of you may want to teach the game, professionally or on an amateur basis. There are definite ways of teaching tennis that will get results. Same of those I have tried to explain. We have a great future for tennis in the United States, if we will develop our youth soundly. We are a champion nation today, but that is due more to the war and its effect on other nations than it is to our real strength. The other countries will come back strong.
Let us be stronger. We have a group of young players today who, while good, could be still better, while our players of tomorrow need a tremendous amount of hard work and a new goal to strive toward. Let us set out to make the Champion of Tomorrow the greatest champion in tennis history.