The first set is vital in a 2 out of 3 match. Play for all of it.
The second and third sets are the turning-point in a best of
5-set match. Take the first where possible, but play to the limit
for the next two. Never allow a 3 out of 5-set match to go to,
the fifth set if it is possible to win in less; but never give up
a match until the last point is played, even if you are two sets
and five games down. Some occurrence may turn the tide in your
favour.

A notable example of such a match occurred at Newport, in 1916.
Wallace F. Johnson and Joseph J. Armstrong were playing Ichija
Kumagae, the famous Japanese star, and Harold A. Throckmorton,
then junior Champion of America, in the second round of the
doubles.

It was Kumagae's first year in America, and he did not understand
Americans and their customs well. Kumagae and Throckmorton were
leading one set at 6-0, 5-1, and 40-15, Kumagae serving.
Throckmorton turned and spoke to him, and the Japanese star did
not understand what he said. He served without knowing, and
Armstrong passed him down the centre. Johnson duplicated the feat
in the next court, and Kumagae grew flustered. Throckmorton, not
understanding, tried to steady him without result, as Kumagae
double-faulted to Armstrong, and he, too, grew worried. Both men
began missing, and Johnson and Armstrong pulled out the set and
won the match in a runaway in the last stanza. Johnson and
Armstrong met W. M. Johnston and C. J. Griffin, the National
Champions, in the final and defeated them in five sets,
inflicting the only reverse the title-holders suffered during