A tip from the 1970s can fix your contact point today. (AP Photo)

The game of tennis has changed a lot in the last 50 years. Still, there’s much that’s the same when it comes to tennis instruction. In celebrating 50 years of TENNIS Magazine last year, we looked back at the tips we’ve published over the years to find ones that withstood the test of time.

Here's one from the second decade of TENNIS.

Learn proper contact
with the magic hat
trick

Learn proper contact with the magic hat trick

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Before there were small racquets and soft tennis balls, instructors had to improvise when teaching the basics to beginners. Teaching pro Pepe Villamil liked the “hat trick,” which he demonstrated in the February 1972 issue. He would cut out the strings on a wooden racquet, fit a big hat on it and instruct students to catch the ball.

The point is just as important now as it was then: Solid, consistent contact is easier to teach when the student doesn’t have to worry about whether the ball goes over the net or in the court. Villamil’s method lets the student concentrate on making the ball land in the center of the racquet. It also encourages them to continue to watch the ball, rather than immediately popping up. “This provides a challenging way for the student to learn to move on court, keep his eye on the ball—and accommodate the position of his body to the trajectory of the ball,” Villamil writes.