In match play remember that a game is never lost until it is won.  Never give up trying.  Matches have been won (you have only to read the experiences related in the final chapter of this book) after a player has had a set and five games to love called against her.  Therefore, unless the game is over, it is never too far gone to be pulled out of the fire.  Even if your opponent requires only one more stroke to win the match, remember how difficult it often is to make that one.

[ILLUSTRATION:  MISS D.K.  DOUGLASS AND MR. A.F.  WILDING MISS EASTLAKE SMITH AND MR. R.F.  DOUGHERTY TWO WELL-KNOWN PAIRS WHO COMPETED IN A PRIVATE MIXED DOUBLES TOURNAMENT AT THORPE’S SATCHVILLE]

The same applies if you have a good lead.  Play hard the whole time; never for one moment slack off.  For if you do it is very hard to get going again, and you may find yourself caught up and passed at the post before you have a chance of getting back into your stride.  I well remember being a set up and five games to one against Miss C.M.  Wilson (now Mrs. Luard) one year at Newcastle, when victory for me meant permanent possession of the challenge cup.  This cup was very valuable, for it had a splendid list of names inscribed upon it; it had been going for very many years.  Miss Wilson seemed so off her game, and I was winning so comfortably, that I could almost see that cup on my sideboard!  But it was not to be. (At any rate not that year.  I was lucky enough to win the Cup outright in 1908, when it was even more valuable, as Miss Sutton’s name had been added.) Whether I unconsciously slacked off, thinking the match was mine (which is a fatal thing to do at any time), or whether Miss Wilson suddenly found her game, is impossible for me to say, but she eventually won that match and the cup and championship for the year.  She never gave in, but played most pluckily right up to the end.  I remember another match where the result hung in the balance for some time.  I was playing Miss A.N.G.  Greene at Eastbourne in 1907; again the Cup would be my own property if I won it.  I met Miss Greene in the second round.  She won the first set, and was five games to four in the second set, and seven times she only wanted one point to win that match.  I was able to make it five games all.  It was very bad luck for Miss Greene, as the moral effect, after having had seven chances of winning the match, was so great that it completely put her off her game, and I won that set and the third quite easily.

Be careful also, when you are behind, and are slowly but surely catching up your opponent, that when you do draw level you do not relax your efforts.  This danger is most insidious, and must be fought against.  The strain and anxiety involved in catching up, and the great relief when you are games all, provoke a reaction unless you are on your guard.  A rest is taken, often involuntarily.  It is fatal, because before you realize it and can get going again your