The Art of Lawn Tennis Part 12

The following week was the Longwood Singles. "Little Bill"

Johnston arrived East, together with the rest of his California team, the day the event started. Johnston was the holder of the trophy and was called on to meet the winner of the tournament in the challenge round.

The tournament was mainly d.i.c.k Williams. He defeated s.h.i.+midzu in the final. k.u.magae was his victim in an earlier round.

Willis E. Davis, second string of the California team, was unexpectedly defeated by N. W. Niles, who himself went the long road via s.h.i.+midzu. The little j.a.panese star scored another important victory when he defeated W. F. Johnson.

Williams met Johnston in the challenge round with chances bright.

Somehow Little Bill has d.i.c.k's number these days and again decisively defeated him. Vincent Richards wisely rested the week of Longwood, preparing for the later events. I was off in the woods at Camp Winnipesaukee recuperating from the effects of illness in England.

Newport followed on the heels of Longwood. Newport should be called Washburn Week. Here the judicial Watty methodically placed Johnston and Williams in the discard on successive days. It was a notable performance.

Williams took an awful revenge on Vinnie Richards when the two met in the third round. It was Williams' day and he blew the little Yonkers boy off the court in one of the finest displays of the whole year. s.h.i.+midzu, who had again scored a victory over Wallace Johnson, was taken suddenly ill with ptomaine poisoning, the night before he was to meet Williams in the semi final, and compelled to default. It robbed him of a chance to gain revenge for his defeat at Longwood. Washburn played the best tennis of his life, in defeating Johnston and Williams, which, coupled with Richards' crus.h.i.+ng defeat, placed Washburn on the Davis Cup team.

A sensational upset occurred in the first round when L. B. Rice defeated W. E. Davis. Rice has made a great improvement this year and bids fair to go far.

Seabright, the next week, found Little Bill Johnston playing the stellar role. Washburn took a week off but Williams and Richards were in the compet.i.tion.

Johnston crushed Richards when the two met, in a display of aggressive tennis so remarkable that the boy was helpless before it. Richards was stale and below form, but even if he had been at his best, he could not have withstood Johnston's attack. Little Bill followed this up by sweeping Williams off the court by another marvellous streak of well nigh perfect tennis.

Southampton and the Women's National Champions.h.i.+p conflicted the next week. The story of Mrs. Mallory's sensational triumph and successful defense of her t.i.tle is told elsewhere in this book.

Southampton, as always, proved the goat, for almost all the leading players took a week's rest before the National Doubles Champions.h.i.+p.

The English Davis Cup team, Willis E. Davis, Vincent Richards and the Kinsey brothers, Bob and Howard, were the leading stars. The event narrowed to Davis and Richards in the finals with no upsets of a startling nature. Davis had had a very poor record all year, while Richards boasted of the finest list of victories of the season. On the other hand the boy was over-tennised and stale and it proved his undoing, for after one set, which he won easily, the sting went out of his game and Davis took the match in four sets.

The champions.h.i.+ps were just ahead. The Doubles held at Longwood Club, Boston, found several teams closely matched. Williams and Washburn, with the Rhode Island State and Newport to their credit, were the favorites for the t.i.tle. "Little Bill" Johnston and W. E. Davis and Bob and Howard Kinsey of California had both pressed them closely. Vincent Richards and I teamed together for the first time since N. E. Brookes and G. L. Patterson had won the t.i.tle from us in 1919. Samuel Hardy and S. H. Vosh.e.l.l were a pair of veterans who needed watching.

Williams and Washburn had a close call in the third round when Hardy and Vosh.e.l.l led 3-1 in the fifth set, but an unfortunate miss of an easy volley by Hardy and a footfault on game point at 3-4 and 30-40 by Vosh.e.l.l turned the tide and the favorites were safe. Johnston and Davis had several chances in the semi-final but Davis was too uncertain and Bill too anxious and they tossed away the opportunities.

Vinnie and I met the Kinseys in the semi-final and after chasing their lobs all over the court for hours and smas.h.i.+ng until our backs ached, we finally pulled out three sequence sets. I have seldom seen a team work together more smoothly than the Kinseys.

The final match between Williams and Washburn, Richards and I for two sets was as sensational and closely contested doubles as ever featured a national champions.h.i.+p. Our slight superiority in returning service gave us just enough margin to pull out the first two sets 14-12, 12-10. Then Richards went mad. There is no other way to describe it. Every time he got his racquet on a ball it went for a clean placement. I stood around and watched him.

Almost single-handed this remarkable boy won the last set 6-2.

The Davis Cup challenge round stretched itself between the Doubles and Singles Champions.h.i.+p. There was no work except for us poor hard-working players who were on the team. The rest was a blessing to Richards, who needed it badly, as he was tired and drawn.

Following the American victory in the Davis Cup, the scene s.h.i.+fted to Philadelphia and the eyes of the tennis world were centered on the Germantown Cricket Club, where the greatest tournament of all time was to be held. Players of seven nations were to compete. The Davis Cup stars of England, Australia and j.a.pan added their brilliance to that of all the leading American players. Six American champions, W. A. Larned, W. J. Clothier, R.

N. Williams, R. L. Murray, W. M. Johnston, and myself were entered.

Fate took a hand in the draw and for once I think did so badly that it settled the "blind draw" forever. In one sixteen Johnston, Richards, s.h.i.+midzu, Murray and I were bunched. The howl of protest from tennis players and public alike was so loud that the blind draw surely will go by the board at the coming annual meeting. Since the foregoing was written, the prophecy has proved true. The annual meeting, Feb. 4th, 1922, adopted the "Seeded Draw" unanimously.

Every day produced its thrills, but play ran singularly true to form in most cases. Illness took a hand in the game, compelling the defaults of R. L. Murray, Ichiya k.u.magae and W. A. Larned.

The early rounds saw but one upset. Norman Peach, Captain of the Australasian Davis Cup team, was eliminated by William W.

Ingraham, of Providence, one of the best junior players in America. It was a splendid victory and shows the fruit our junior development system is already bearing. Peach had not been well but for all that he played a splendid game and all credit is due Ingraham for his victory.

The second day's play saw a remarkable match when W. E. Davis defeated C. V. Todd of Australia after the latter led him by two sets. Davis steadily improved and by rus.h.i.+ng the net succeeded in breaking up Todd's driving game. Todd unfortunately pulled a muscle in his side that seriously hampered him in the fifth set.

Wallace F. Johnson, playing magnificent tennis, eliminated Watson Washburn in one of the brainiest, hardest fought matches of the whole tournament.

Johnson was very steady and outlasted Washburn in the first set, which he won. Washburn then took to storming the net and carried off two sets decisively. The strain took its toll and he was perceptibly slower when the fourth set opened. Johnson ran him from corner to corner, or tossed high lobs when Washburn took the net. It proved too much for even Washburn to stand, and the Philadelphian won the next two sets and with it the match. Many people considered it a great upset. Personally I expected it, as I know how dangerous Johnson may be.

The Johnston-Richards match and my meeting with s.h.i.+midzu came on the third day. Fully 15,000 people jammed themselves around the court and yelled, clapped and howled their excitement through the afternoon. It was a splendidly behaved gallery but a very enthusiastic one.

Richards, eager to avenge his crus.h.i.+ng defeat by Johnston at Seabright, started with a rush. "Little Bill" was uncertain and rather nervous. Richards ran away with the first two sets almost before Johnston realized what was happening. The tennis Richards played in these sets was almost unbeatable. Johnston nerved himself to his task and held even to 3-all in the third. Here he broke through and Richards, I think foolishly, made little attempt to pull out the set. The boy staked all on the fourth set. Johnston led at 5-3 but Richards, playing desperately, pulled up to 6-5 and was within two points of the match at 30-all on Johnston's service. It was his last effort. Johnston took the game and Richards faded away. His strength failed him and the match was Johnston's.

I hit a good streak against s.h.i.+midzu and ran away with three straight sets more or less easily.

Meantime one of the most sensational upsets of the whole tournament was taking place on an outside court where Stanley W.

Pearson of Philadelphia was running the legs off N. W. Niles of Boston and beating him in five sets.

"Little Bill" Johnston and I met the next day in what was the deciding match of the tournament, even though it was only the fourth round. Every available inch of s.p.a.ce was jammed by an overflow gallery when we took the count. It was a bitter match from the first point. We were both playing well. In the early stages Little Bill had a slight edge, but after one set the balance s.h.i.+fted and I held the whip hand to the end.

The same day d.i.c.k Williams went down to sudden and unexpected defeat at the hands of J. O. Anderson of Australia in five well played sets. It was a typical Williams effort, glorious tennis one minute followed by inexcusable lapses. The Australian was steady and clever throughout.

The keen speculation as to the outcome of the tournament fell off after the meeting of Johnston and I, and with it a decrease in attendance. This ran very high, however, again reaching capacity on the day of the finals.

The round before the semi finals saw a terrific struggle between two Californians, Bob Kinsey and Willis E. Davis. Kinsey had defeated Davis in the Metropolitan Champions.h.i.+p the week before and was expected to repeat, but Davis managed to outlast his team and nosed out the match. Kinsey collapsed on the court from exhaustion as the last point was played.

Gordon Lowe went down to me in a fine match while J. O. Anderson and Wallace Johnson completed the Quartet of semi finalists,

I finally got my revenge on Davis for the many defeats he had inflicted on me in years gone by. Wallace Johnson scored a magnificent victory over J. O. Anderson in four sets after the Australian led at a set all, 5-2, and 40-15. Johnson ran the visiting Davis Cup star all over the court and finally pulled out the match in one of the finest displays of court generals.h.i.+p I have ever seen.

The finals was more or less of a family party. It was an all-Philadelphian affair, two Philadelphians competing with 14,000 more cheering them on.

Johnson was unfortunate. Sat.u.r.day the match was started under a dark sky on a soft court that just suited him. I have seldom seen Johnson play so well; as always, his judgment was faultless. We divided games with service with monotonous regularity. The score was 5-all when it began to drizzle. The court, soft at best that day, grew more treacherous and slippery by the minute. Johnson's shots hardly left the ground. He broke my service at 7-all when the rain materially increased. He reached 40-15 but, with the crowd moving to shelter and the rain falling harder every minute, he made the fatal error of hurrying and netted two easy shots for deuce, A moment more and the game was mine and the match called at 8-all.

Play was resumed on Monday before a capacity gallery. By mutual agreement the match was played over from the beginning. I had learned my lesson the previous day and opened with a rush. The hot sun and strong wind had hardened the court and Johnson's shots rose quite high. It was my day and fortunately for me I made the most of it.

I consider that match the best tennis of my life. I beat Johnson 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in 45 minutes. Thus fell the curtain on the official tennis season.

The East-West matches in Chicago proved more or less of an anti-climax. Johnston was ill and unable to compete, while Wallace Johnson, Williams, Washburn and s.h.i.+midzu could not play.

Several remarkable matches featured the three days' play in the Windy City. The most remarkable was the splendid victory of J. O.

Anderson over me in five sets, the final one of which hung up a world's record for tournament play by going to 19-17. Frank T.

Anderson defeated Robert Kinsey in five sets, a splendid performance, while S. H. Vosh.e.l.l scored over W. E. Davis.

The Ranking Committee faces a hard task on the season's play. Let us look at the records of some of the American players, and a few of our visitors.

1. W. M. Johnston Beat V. Richards 2, Williams (2), k.u.magae, s.h.i.+midzu, Roland Roberts, Davis and others. Lost to Washburn, Tilden, Roberts.

2. R. N. Williams 2d. Beat Richards, s.h.i.+midzu, k.u.magae (2), Vosh.e.l.l and others. Lost to Johnston (2), Richards, J. O.

Anderson, k.u.magae.

3. Vincent Richards Beat Tilden, Richards, k.u.magae (2), s.h.i.+midzu (2), (in exhibition at Toronto), Vosh.e.l.l, Hawkes, Lost to Johnston (2), Williams, Davis.

4. Is.h.i.+ya k.u.magae Beat Williams, Vosh.e.l.l, Anderson, Hawkes. Lost to Johnston, Tilden, Williams, Richards.