after discriminate practice you will find, probably to your surprise,
that there are not so many weak spots after all to remove, that your
game is opening out and steadily advancing. Do not get easily
disheartened if you find improvement slow; for a game that is worth
playing at all is worth playing well, and to play lawn tennis well you
must go through a stiff apprenticeship. You must school yourself to meet
disappointments and failures; you must cultivate a philosophic spirit,
or you will never reach the goal of perfection. I need not say that if
you wish to go forward enthusiasm is essential. Lawn tennis players
never seem to me to be nearly so keen on their game as golfers. So many
of them appear quite satisfied to remain at a fixed stage. They will
certainly not get their handicap reduced unless there is an ardent
desire to become better acquainted with the science of the game. A
struggling golfer is never tired of learning talking about his
pastime--often, I admit, to the annoyance of people who are not so
obsessed. Nevertheless, he is on the right track; and being so
thoroughly absorbed and in earnest, he ought to improve. You will find
him buying every new book that comes out and poring over its pages. He
may play in a few competitions, but his time is more seriously occupied
with practice and improvement. He wisely deprecates the continuous
strain of match play. He prefers to acquire a working knowledge of the
game, to make the various strokes with some degree of accuracy, before
he pits his skill against others.

I think this lack of adequate practice is one of the reasons why there
is such a dearth of rising talent among lawn tennis players. Some of the
competitors one meets at tournaments have been for years at exactly the
same stage. They never pause to take stock of their game. They never
advance or cultivate a new stroke. They go from one tournament to
another, struggling to win by hook or by crook. Assisted by a generous