For him who would excel in lawn-tennis a strong fast service is hardly less necessary than a heavily "cut" service to the tennis player and the racquet player. High overhand service, by which alone any great pace can be obtained, was first perfected by the brothers Renshaw between 1880 and 1890, and is now universal even among players far below the first rank. The service in vogue among the best players in America, and from this circumstance known as the "American service," has less pace than the English but is "cut" in such a way that it swerves in the air and "drags" off the ground, the advantage being that it gives the server more time to "run in" after his serve, so as to volley his opponent's return from a position within a yard or two of the net. Both in singles and doubles the best players often make it their aim to get up comparatively near the net as soon as possible, whether they are serving or receiving the serve, the object being to volley the ball whenever possible before it begins to fall. The server's partner, in doubles, stands about a yard and a half from the net, and rather nearer the side-line than the half-court-line; the receiver of the service, not being allowed to volley the serve, must take his stand according to the nature of the service, which, if very fast, will require him to stand outside the base-line; the receiver's partner usually stands between the net and the service-line. All four players, if the rest lasts beyond a stroke or two, are generally found nearer to the net than the service-lines; and the game, assuming the players to be of the championship class, consists chiefly of rapid low volleying, varied by attempts on one side or the other to place the ball out of the opponents' reach by "lobbing" it over their heads into the back part of the court. Good "lobbing" demands great skill, to avoid on the one hand sending the ball out of court beyond the base-line, and on the other allowing it to drop short enough for the adversary to kill it with a "smashing" volley. Of "lobbing" it has been laid down by the brothers Doherty that "the higher it is the better, so long as the length is good"; and as regards returning lobs the same authorities say, "you must get them if you can before they drop, for it is usually fatal to let them drop when playing against a good pair." The reason for this is that if the lob be allowed to drop before being returned, so much time is given to the striker of it to gain position that he is almost certain to be able to kill the return, unless the lob be returned by an equally good and very high lob, dropping within a foot or so of the base-line in the opposite court, a stroke that requires the utmost accuracy of strength to accomplish safely. The game in the hands of first-class players consists largely in manoeuvring for favourable position in the court while driving the opponent into a less favourable position on his side of the net; the player who gains the advantage of position in this way being generally able to finish the rest by a smashing volley impossible to return. Ability to play this "smash" stroke is essential to strong lawn-tennis. "To be good overhead," say the Dohertys, "is the sign of a first-class player, even if a few have managed to get on without it." The smash stroke is played very much in the same way as the overhand service, except that it is not from a defined position of known distance from the net; and therefore when making it the player must realize almost instinctively what his precise position is in relation to the net and the side-lines, for it is of the last importance that he should not take his eye off the ball "even for the hundredth part of a second." By drawing the racquet across the ball at the moment of impact spin may be imparted to it as in tennis, or as "side" is imparted to a billiard ball, and the direction of this spin and the consequent behaviour of the ball after the stroke may be greatly varied by a skilful player. Perhaps the most generally useful form of spin, though by no means the only one commonly used, is that known as "top" or "lift," a vertical rotatory motion of the ball in the same direction as its flight, which is imparted to it by an upward draw of the racquet at the moment of making the stroke, and the effect of which is to make it drop more suddenly than it would ordinarily do, and in an unexpected curve. A drive made with plenty of "top" can be hit much harder than would otherwise be possible without sending the ball out of court, and it is therefore extensively employed by the best players. While the volleying game is almost universally the practice of first-class players--A. W. Gore, M. J. G. Ritchie and S. H.