If you do, you
will receive it in return.
Take every advantage of any and every weakness in your opponent's
game; but never trespass on his rights as regards external
advantages.
Personally I do not believe in "defaulting" a match. To "scratch"
or "retire," as the term goes, is to cheat your opponent of his
just triumph, and you should never do this unless it is
absolutely impossible to avoid. Sickness or some equally
important reason should be the sole cause of scratching, for you
owe the tournament your presence once your entry is in.
Match play should stimulate a player. He should produce his best
under the excitement of competition. Learn your shots in
practice, but use them in matches.
Practice is played with the racquet, matches are won by the mind.
J. C. Parke is a great match player, because he is not only a
great player but a great student of men. He sizes up his
opponent, and seizes every opening and turns it to his own
account. Norman E. Brookes is the greatest match player the world
has ever known, because he is ever ready to change his plan to
meet the strategy of his opponent, and has both the variety of
stroke and versatility of intellect to outguess the other the
majority of times. Brookes is the greatest court general, and, in
my opinion, the finest tennis intellect in the world. His mind is
never so keen and he is never so dangerous as when he is trailing
in an important match.
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