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TENNIS.
A Tennis Cou rt is usually ninety-six or ninety-seven feet long, by thirty-three or thirty-four in breadth. A net hangs across the middle, over which the ball must be struck, to make any stroke good. At the entrance of a tennis-court there is a long covered passage before the dedans, the place where spectators usually are, into which, whenever a ball is played, it counts for a certain stroke. This long passage is divided into different apartments, which are called galleries, viz., from the line towards the dedans, is the first gallery; door, second gallery ; and the last gallery, is what is called the service-side. From the dedans to the last gallery are the figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, each at a yard distance, marking the chases, one of the most essential parts of this game. On the other side of the line is the first gallery ; door, second gallery ; and last gallery, what is called the hazard-side ; every ball played into the last gallery on this side tells for a certain stroke, the same as into the dedans. Between the second and this last gallery are the figures 1, 2, marking the chaces on the hazard-side. Over this long gallery is the pent-house, on which the ball is played from the service side to begin a set of tennis, and if the player should fail striking the ball (so as to rebound from the penthouse), over a certain line on the service-side, it is reckoned a fault; and two such faults following are counted for a stroke. If the ball pass round the pent-house, on the opposite side of the court, and fall beyond a particular described line, it is called passe, goes for nothing, and the player is to serve again. |
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