Do not at first attempt a fast service; keep your ardour down until you have gained a mastery of the ball and can vary its direction.  Place is always better than pace; this applies, generally speaking, to other strokes besides the service.  Try to cultivate a second service which bears a likeness to the first.  That is to say, if you have served a fault (and the best players in the world cannot be absolutely sure that their first delivery will not pitch just over the side-line or service-line or hit the top of the net), do not be contented with a soft and guileless second which has no length and which gives your opponent an excellent chance of making a winning drive.  Most players are weaker on their backhand.  Remember that fact and place your ball accordingly.  It is a good plan, when serving from the right-hand court, to aim for the spot where the centre line bisects the service-line.  Length and direction will both be good, and in nine cases out of ten your opponent will be required to move to make the return—­always a point in your favour.

Remember that variety in service, as in tactics and general play, is essential.  However fast your service may be, if its pace and placing are stereotyped, a good deal of its efficacy is lost, since your adversary knows what to expect, where to stand, and the kind of stroke suitable for return.  It is better to possess a variety of slow services, if they have good length, than to own one fast service which has no particular merit except speed.  And, of course, the faster the ball comes off the racket the more liable is it to go astray.  Another reason why you should temper zeal with discretion is that a vigorous service will tire you out like nothing else, and in a long match stamina should be judiciously preserved.  You never know when an extra spurt may not be required to turn the scale in your favour.  I have often noticed the difference in length and sting between the service of some players at the beginning of the match and in the third set, and I am sure that one of the reasons why so many matches are ultimately lost after a promising start is the decline in the service, in its sustained vigour and in its length.

By the way, why do many lady players, even those who compete at open tournaments, stand several feet behind the base-line when serving?  Are they aware that the length of their service is probably just so many feet short of what it ought to be and that they voluntarily give themselves an extra journey to recover short returns, even if they reach them at all?  You will never find expert players, who appreciate what I may call the geometry of the court, penalise themselves in this manner.  Yet the habit, for some reason or other, would appear to be on the increase.