humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare

Greg Reynolds wrote:
>
> We have Oxford shoes.
> We have Oxford shirts.
> How come we have no Oxford service?
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<court (the *SERVICE* end) and the ball must touch the penthouse above
and to the left of the server once before touching the floor in the
"HAZARD" (receiving) end of the court. There are numerous and widely
differing styles of *SERVICE*, many with exotic names to distinguish
them, such as *railroad SERVICE*, *bobble SERVICE*, *poop SERVICE*,
*pique SERVICE*, *boomerang SERVICE*, and *giraffe SERVICE*. The game
has other complexities, including that when the ball bounces twice at
the serving end, the serving player does not generally lose the point
outright. Instead a "chase" is called, and the server gets the chance,
later in the game currently being played, to replay the point from the
other end, but under the obligation of ensuring EVERy shot he plays
has a second bounce further back from the net than the shot he failed
to reach. A chase can also be called at the receiving ("HAZARD") end,
but only on the half of that end nearest the net; this is called a
"HAZARD" chase. Those areas of the court in which chases can be called
are marked with lines running across the floor, from left to right,
generally about 1 yard apart - it is these lines that the chases are
measured against. One result of this feature is that a player can only
gain the advantage of serving through skillful play (viz. "laying" a
"chase", which ensures a change of end). This is in marked contrast to
lawn tennis where players alternately serve and receive entire games.
It is thus not uncommon, in real tennis, to see a player serve for
sEVERal consecutive games, till a chase be made. Indeed, an entire
match (theoretically) could be played with no change of *SERVICE*, the
same player serving EVERy point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_tennis

Real tennis is featured in the film The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, a
fictionalized meeting between Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud. One
of the film's plot points turns on Freud being forced into a grudge
set with a Teutonic nobleman. The film The French Lieutenant's Woman
includes a sequence featuring a few points being played. Also The
Three Musketeers (1973) and EVER After briefly feature the game.
Although presented with varying degrees of accuracy, these films
provide a chance to see the game played, which otherwise may be
difficult to observe personally. The Showtime series The Tudors (2007)
portrays Henry the VIII playing the game. In the film version of Tom
Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead the two lead characters
play word games in a court, scoring points as if playing the game.>>
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Jerry delivers a fierce serve which beats Milos, and almost hits him
in the face.

MILOS: (quietly, to Jerry) Hey, c'mon, what're you doing? (to his
audience) Huhuh. The baby got lucky on that one! Hahah.

Jerry walks back to deliver another serve. Kramer enters and looks
around for someone. On another court, Shellbach is facing an automatic
serving machine.
.
KRAMER: (waving) Shellbach.
.
Shellbach waves vaguely back to Kramer, who has begun to walk round
the room to get to him.
.
Meanwhile, Jerry returns a shot to Milos, with some venom. Milos
stretches desperately to try and reach it, but loses his grip on his
racquet. The racquet arcs across the hall, watched by Patty, and then
spotted by Kramer.
.
KRAMER: Racquet.
.
The racquet plummets from the air and strikes the guy who is operating
the automatic serving machine for Shellbach. The guy is knocked
unconscious and, as he falls, he pushes against the machine, turning
it to point at Kramer. Kramer stands transfixed, as it continues to
launch balls at him. Several
balls in rapid succession strike him in the head, until he slumps,
unconscious, to the floor.
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Art Neuendorffer