the American Twist delivery.

From a mere formality, service became a point winner. Slowly it
gained in importance, until Maurice E. M'Loughlin, the wonderful
"California Comet," burst across the tennis sky with the first of
those terrific cannon-ball deliveries that revolutionized the
game, and caused the old-school players to send out hurry calls
for a severe footfault rule or some way of stopping the
threatened destruction of all ground strokes. M'Loughlin made
service a great factor in the game. It remained for R. N.
Williams to supply the antidote that has again put service in the
normal position of mere importance, not omnipotence. Williams
stood in on the delivery and took it on the rising bound.

Service must be speedy. Yet speed is not the be-all and end-all.
Service must be accurate, reliable, and varied. It must be used
with discretion and served with brains. I believe perfect service
is about 40 per cent placement, 40 per cent speed, and 20 per
cent twist.

Any tall player has an advantage over a short one, in service.
Given a man about 6 feet and allow him the 3 feet added by his
reach, it has been proved by tests that should he deliver a
service, perfectly flat, with no variation caused by twist or
wind, that just cleared the net at its lowest point (3 feet in
the centre), there is only a margin of 8 inches of the service
court in which the ball can possibly fall; the remainder is below
the net angle. Thus it is easy to see how important it is to use
some form of twist to bring the ball into court. Not only must it
go into court, but it must be sufficiently speedy that the