They first hit the ball and wait (7)

I believe the answer is:

servers

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'they first hit' is the definition.
The definition suggests an adverb but the answer is not.

'ball and wait' is the wordplay.
'ball' becomes 'rs' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'wait' becomes 'serve' (to wait on someone is to serve them).
'rs' put after 'serve' is 'SERVERS'.

'the' is the link.

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I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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