Pre videos and DVD’s the way to show a tennis shot in motion was via Flicker books. By grabbing the corner and flicking quickly through 40-50 images you will see how the players moved to the ball, set their backswings, follow through and finish.

These go back to the mid 1920’s and were popular up to the late 1960’s, early 1970’s.

The first shot is of P.O’Hara Wood c mid 1940’s, maybe earlier. The books were made in such a way that you could see 4 different strokes, 2 shots top and 2 shots bottom.

The Rod Laver book is a chuckle because being a left hander and to suit a majority right hand playing audience, they reversed all the photos to show Rod as a right hander. Published by Thumbflix it shows a serve,smash, forehand and backhand (c maybe early 70’s).