Real balls
Sir: Your diarist Dominic Lawson (8 June) is unfair to Walpole in the matter of tennis balls. Of course, every schoolboy knows that poor Fred was killed by a cricket ball but he could have been killed by a tennis ball, because in his day it would have been a Real Tennis ball not the harmless fluffy thing they use in Lawn Tennis, which had yet to be invented in Fred's day. If Mr Lawson has any doubts about the lethal quality of the Real Tennis ball he should ask Robin Simpson QC, who had a whole lot of front teeth knocked out by one of the Crowe brothers at Lord's last year. The Crowes hadn't played before and obviously thought the same about balls as Dominic Lawson. If the diarist is still unconvinced, perhaps he would like to join me on court one day and I'll hit some at him.
Tim Heald
305 Sheen Road, Richmond, Surrey
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