I know what it means to play an important match when feeling really ill.  Honestly it is not worth it.  It is no enjoyment to yourself, and it is no pleasure to your opponent to beat you when she knows you are unfit.  Besides, it is very injurious to your own health.  On the other hand, if you are in good condition, and leading a healthy outdoor life, a well-contested match cannot harm you; it is most beneficial in every way.  Therefore I think the best training for an important match is to be always in “training”; not to have to alter your habits before a match is the secret.  To change your diet and mode of living suddenly, as some players do, is more calculated to upset you than to make you fitter for the ordeal.  Common sense must of course be used.  For instance, you should not eat a heavy meal just before playing.  I generally prefer bread-and-cheese, a milk pudding of some sort, and perhaps a little fruit for lunch if I have a match, in the afternoon.  I find this diet very satisfying and sustaining, and of course much lighter than meat.  Bananas or apples go very well with the cheese.  As I like this sort of lunch at any time, I do not have to change my diet materially before a match.  After the day’s play is over, I make absolutely no difference, eating for dinner in the evening whatever is going.  Lunch is the chief meal over which care should be exercised, for important matches generally begin about two o’clock.  A heavy meal would make me slow and sleepy.  I know of one well-known player who never has any breakfast at all.  She may play hard matches all the morning, and when the luncheon interval arrives she has only bread-and-cheese and fruit.  Of course this is a very exceptional case, and I should not care to try it myself.  I find a good breakfast a necessity before a long and hard day at a tournament.  But the no-breakfast regime certainly suits the player in question.  She is always “fit,” and has great stamina, coming through exhausting matches without showing the slightest sign of distress.  I need not add that sleep is one of the chief factors for making you feel buoyant and well; if you have not had your right measure of sleep the night before an important contest, you are greatly handicapped.  Remember, too, how necessary it is to sleep in a well-ventilated room with the windows open.

As to Courts, there are so many surfaces now used for the game, such as grass, wood, asphalt, cement, gravel, and sand, that it is possible to play the game all the year round, under cover or out in the open.  I think, however, most players will agree with me that a good grass court is the ideal surface for lawn tennis.  The sensation of playing a genuinely hard match with evenly balanced players on a good grass court, under ideal weather conditions, has only to be experienced to be appreciated.  It is then you realize what great enjoyment this game gives to any one who loves it.  Alas! the really good grass court and ideal weather are very hard to get in England.  I suppose there was scarcely a day in 1909 that could be described as perfect for lawn tennis; and our good grass courts are few and far between.