The Art of Lawn Tennis Part 11

THE 1921 SEASON

The season of 1921 was the most remarkable year in tennis history throughout the whole world. More tennis was played and more people viewed it than ever before.

The climax of famous Davis Cup compet.i.tion was reached when England, France, j.a.pan, Australia, the Philippines, Denmark, Belgium, Argentine, Spain, India, Canada and Czecho-Slovakia challenged for the right to play America, the holding nation.

This wonderful representation naturally produced not only many new stars, but also thousands of new enthusiasts in the various countries where the matches were played.

The early rounds saw several brilliant matches and naturally some defaults. Argentine and the Philippines could not put a team in the field at the last moment. Belgium, after defeating Czecho-Slovakia, was unable to finance her team to America to meet the winner of England and Australasia.

England scored a fine victory over Spain when Randolph Lycett, F.

Gordon Lowe and Max E. Woosnam defeated Manuel Alonzo and Count de Gomar in a close meeting. Notwithstanding his defeat by Lycett, Manuel Alonzo proved himself one of the great players of the world and one of the most attractive personalities in tennis.

India sprang a sensation by defeating France in their match in Paris. Sleen, Jacob and Deane showed great promise for the future. France was crippled owing to the loss of A. H. Gobert and William Laurentz, the former through a seriously sprained ankle sustained in the World's Champions.h.i.+p at Wimbledon, and the latter through illness. Samazieuhl, the new French champion, and Brugnon could not cope with the steadiness of the Indian stars and the team from the Orient won 3 matches to 2. Meanwhile the Australian team of J. O. Anderson, J. B. Hawkes, C. V. Todd and Norman Peach had arrived in America and journeyed to Canada, where they swamped their Colonial cousins easily. Norman E.

Brookes, Gerald L. Patterson and Pat O'Hara Wood were unable to accompany the team, so the greatest contender for the t.i.tle was weakened appreciably.

The Australians decisively defeated the Danish team of Tegner and Van Ingersley at Cleveland, winning with ease. They proceeded to Pittsburgh to await the arrival of the English players.

England sent her invading team, unfortunately without the services of Col. A. R. F. Kingscote and Randolph Lycett, who were unable to go owing to business affairs. J. C. Parke, her famous international star, was also out of the game, having retired from active compet.i.tion last year. The English team was made up of Gordon Lowe, Max Woosnam, J. C. Gilbert and O. E. H. Turnbull.

They were accompanied by that delightful author and critic A.

Wallis Meyers.

The English met the Australians at Pittsburgh in July. The latter won three matches to two with J. O. Anderson, the outstanding figure of a well played meeting. The tall Australian defeated both Lowe and Woosnam in the singles and aided in the doubles victory, thus scoring all the points for his team.

Meanwhile the Indian team had arrived in America and proceeded to Chicago, where they met the j.a.panese team of k.u.magae and s.h.i.+midzu. The battle of the Orient resulted in a victory for the Nipponese.

The final round found Australia playing j.a.pan in the famous old tennis center of Newport, R. I., where the National Singles so long held sway. It was a bitter struggle, with the Australians within two little points of victory in two matches they afterwards lost. s.h.i.+midzu and k.u.magae took all the singles, but k.u.magae was two sets down to Hawkes and one to two down to Anderson. Thus j.a.pan in its first year in Davis Cup compet.i.tion earned the right to challenge America for the treasured trophy.

It was a marvellous meeting of these two teams. Over 40,000 people watched the players in three days. Although America won all five matches, s.h.i.+midzu came within two points of defeating me in straight sets and carried Johnston to a bitter four set struggle.

The Cup is safe for another year but the new blood infused into the compet.i.tion by such men as s.h.i.+midzu, Alonzo, Woosnam, Anderson and Hawkes shows clearly that America must keep working or we will fall from our present position. It is a healthy thing for the game that this is so. I hope we will see many more new players of equal promise next year.

The United States Lawn Tennis a.s.sociation, following its policy of co-operation with the Internation Federation, decided to send a team to France and England for the champions.h.i.+ps. The personnel of the team was Mrs. Franklin 1. Mallory, Miss Edith Sigourney, Arnold W. Jones (boy champion of America, 1919), and myself. J.

D. E. Jones, father of Arnold, himself a tennis player of renown, accompanied the team, as did Mr. Mallory.

The invading tennis players sailed May 12th on the Mauretania to Cherbourg and from there journeyed to Paris, where they engaged in the Hard Court Champions.h.i.+p of the world.

The first week of the stay was devoted to practice on the courts at the Stad Francais, St. Cloud, where the champions.h.i.+p was held.

The team were the guests of the Racing Club at a most delightful luncheon and shortly afterward dined as the guests of the Tennis Club of Paris.

The finals of the champions.h.i.+p of France were held during our stay and, greatly to our surprise, A. H. Gobert, the defending t.i.tle holder, fell a victim to his old enemy, heat, and went down to defeat before Samazieuhl. The Hard Court champions.h.i.+ps of the world produced a series of the most sensational upsets in the history of the game, a series, I might add, that did much to allow me to win the event. Gobert lost to Nicholas Mishu in the first round. Alonzo, after defeating Samazieuhl, went down to defeat at hands of Laurentz, who in turn collapsed to Tegner.

Fate pursued the winners, for Tegner was eliminated by Washer, who came through to the final against me. Either Alonzo or Laurentz should have been finalists if the unexpected had not occurred, and either would have been a hard proposition for me particularly in my condition. I had been taken ill on my arrival in Paris and was still far from well. However, Fortune smiled on me and I succeeded in defeating Washer 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

Meanwhile the long awaited meeting between Mlle. Lenglen and Mrs.

Mallory was at hand. Mrs. Mallory had come through one side of the tournament after a bitter battle with Mme. Billoutt (Mlle.

Brocadies) in the semi final.

Mlle. Lenglen had proceeded in her usual leisurely fas.h.i.+on to the finals with the loss of but two games.

What a meeting these two great players, Mrs. Mallory and Mlle.

Lenglen, had! Every seat in the stands sold and every inch of standing room crowded! It was a marvellous match, both women playing great tennis. Mlle. Lenglen had consistently better depth and more patience. She out- manoeuvred the American champion and won 6-2, 6-3. The match was far closer than this one-sided score sounds. Every rally was long drawn out and bitterly contested, but the French girl had a slight superiority that brought her a well deserved victory.

A. H. Gobert and W. Laurentz retained their doubles t.i.tle after one of the most terrific struggles of their careers in the semi-final round against Arnold Jones and me. The boy and I had previously put out Samazieuhl and his partner in three sets and just nosed out the Spanish Davis Cup team, Manuel Alonzo and Count de Gomar.

The semi final between Gobert and Laurentz and the Americans brought out a capacity audience that literally jumped to its feet and cheered during the sparkling rallies of the five bitterly contesting sets. Just as Gobert drove his terrific service ace past me for the match, Laurentz suddenly collapsed and fainted dead away on the court. It was a dramatic end to a sensational match.

The scene then s.h.i.+fted to England, where the American team journeyed across the Channel to prepare for the Gra.s.s Court champions.h.i.+p of the world at Wimbledon. My preparation consisted of a hasty journey to a hospital, where a minor operation put me to bed until the day Wimbledon started.

The remainder of the team journeyed first to Beckenham and then to Roehampton for their first gra.s.s court play of the season.

Mrs. Mallory met defeat at the hands of Mrs. Beamish at Beckenham while the other members fell by the wayside at sundry points.

Mrs. Mallory won Roehampton, decisively defeating Miss Phillis Howkins in the final. Francis T. Hunter, another American who joined the team in England, although he was abroad on business, scored a victory in the men's event at Roehampton.

The world's champions.h.i.+p at Wimbledon was another series of sensational matches and startling upsets. The draw as usual was topheavy, all the strength in the upper half with Frank Hunter and B. I. C. Norton in the lower. Every day saw its feature matches produce the unexpected. s.h.i.+midzu and Lycett battled for nearly four hours in a struggle that combined all the virtues and vices of tennis and pugilism. Col. A. R. F. Kingscote, after three sensational victories over Fisher, Dixon and Lowe, collapsed against Alonzo and was decisively defeated. s.h.i.+midzu looked a certain winner against Alonzo when he led at 2 sets to 1 and 4-1, but the Spaniard rose to great heights and by sensational play pulled out the match in five sets.

Norton and Hunter, after several close calls, met in the semi final. Norton took two sets and led 5-3 in the third only to have Hunter follow in Alonzo's footsteps and pull out the set and win the next. Here Norton again took command and ran out the match.

The Norton-Alonzo match in the final round was a sensational reversal. The Spaniard seemed a.s.sured of victory when he took two sets and led at 5-3 and 30-all, but the last-minute jinx that pursued the tournament fell upon him, for Norton came to life and, playing sensational tennis, pulled out the match and earned the right to me in the challenge round.

Then the jinx arose again and this time Babe Norton was the victim. Such a match as that challenge round produced! I went on the court feeling far from well and very much run down. Babe was on the crest but very nervous. He ran away with the first two sets with great ease. The third set I improved. Babe, after dropping three games, decided to let it go. The fourth set found the crowd excited and rather noisy. Norton became annoyed because he felt I was bothered, and he blew up. He simply threw away the fourth set from sheer nerves.

The fifth set was terrible. Norton had come to earth and was playing well while I for the first time in the match had some control of the ball. Norton finally led at 4-5 and 30-40 on my service, with the champions.h.i.+p one point away.

We had a long rally. Desperately I hit down the line. I was so certain my shot was going out I started for the net to shake hands. The ball fell on the line and Babe in the excitement of the moment put his return out by inches. It was a life and fortunately for me I seized my chance and succeeded in pulling out the match and retaining the champions.h.i.+p. Norton deserved to win, for nothing but luck saved me as I walked to the net, thinking my shot was out. Norton is the youngest man to have won the All Comers Singles. He is just 21.

The champions.h.i.+ps had two sad moments. One was the absence of J.

C. Parke, due to retirement from singles. The other was the retirement of A. W. Gore, the famous veteran, after 30 years a partic.i.p.ant in the champions.h.i.+ps.

The women's events found an even more unfortunate draw than the men. All the strength was in one eight. Miss Ryan defeated Miss K. McKane in the first round and Mrs. Beamish her old rival in the second. She met Mrs. Mallory in the third.

For one set Mrs. Mallory played the finest tennis of her career to that time and in fact equal even to her play against Suzanne Lenglen in America. She ran off six games in ten minutes. Miss Ryan, cleverly changing her game, finally broke up the perfection of Mrs. Mallory's stroking and just nosed her out in the next two sets. It was a well deserved victory.

Miss Ryan easily won the tournament and challenged Mlle. Lenglen, but her old jinx in the form of Suzanne again proved too much and she played far below her best. The French girl easily retained her t.i.tle, winning 6-2, 6-0.

The journey of the wandering tennis troupe abroad was far from the most important development of the year. The American season was producing remarkable results. Every year produces its outstanding figure and the early months of 1921 saw Vincent Richards looming large on the tennis horizon.

The first sensation of the year was the decisive defeat inflicted on k.u.magae by young Richards at Amaka.s.sin Club, New York. This was immediately followed by k.u.magae's victory over d.i.c.k Williams, avenging Williams' win at Palm Beach some months before. k.u.magae scored in the intercity match for the George Myers Church Trophy played in 1921 in Philadelphia. The following day Wallace F.

Johnson defeated k.u.magae in one of the most terrific battle of the year.

Vincent Richards went through the season to the middle of July without sustaining a defeat. He won five tournaments.

I arrived home from France and England July 12th and journeyed at once to Providence where I took charge of the Rhode Island State Champions.h.i.+p at the Agawam Hunt Club. Zenzo s.h.i.+midzu had accompanied me to America on the Olympic and made his first tournament appearance two days after landing at Greenwich, Conn., before coming to Providence. He went down to unexpected defeat at the hands of S. H. Vosh.e.l.l.

The Providence tournament held the greatest entry list of any event except the National Singles itself. The singles had s.h.i.+midzu, Williams, Richards, C. S. Garland, Watson Washburn, S.

H. Vosh.e.l.l, Samuel Hardy, N. W. Niles, many young Western collegiate stars and myself. Ichiya k.u.magae arrived to play doubles with s.h.i.+midzu in preparation for the Davis Cup.

Then the fun began. s.h.i.+midzu again fell before the net attack of Vosh.e.l.l, who was himself defeated by the calm quiet steadiness of Washburn. Garland went out at my hands. Williams faced certain defeat when Niles led him 4-0 in the final set, but in one of his super-tennis streaks tore through to victory, only to collapse against Vincent Richards and suffer a crus.h.i.+ng defeat 6-2, 6-2 in the semi-final. Meanwhile Washburn had dropped by the wayside to me 6-2, 6-2 and young Richards and I took up our annual battle.

Youth is cruel. The world is cruel. Life is hard. I know it, for Vinnie, with care and discretion, quietly led me along the Road of the Has-Beens, where he deposited me to the tune of 6-1, 6-2, 1-6, 6-0.

Richards, with the scalps of k.u.magae, Williams, Vosh.e.l.l and myself dangling at his belt, seemed destined for the champions.h.i.+p itself. Alas, pride goeth before a fall. The fall came to Vinnie suddenly.