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Show Lawn Tennis Impressing Charms on World I Women Figure Prominently in Great Awakening to the Game's Many Attractions Sport , yfv Once Lightly Regarded Has 500,000 Devotees in This Country Alone and Is Still Leap- KHHpPHHH ing in Popularity Strongest Appeal Lies in Adaptability to Players of All Ages zjr HHShI K ifli III I I I t -r THAT is the appeal of lawn tennis? A "hat are the attractions of tlio -S Y sport that In leai than genera - M tlon have won for It at least 500.000 players fl In this country 'alone, transforming It from a Pttao once associated only with the wealthy laat as i sort namby-panr.by K time killer .'nio n popular, virile, athletic fl r activity which Is (rawing bv leaps and 1 H bounds In all stations of society 1HI The qucstior. cunnot ho unu -red .id. - 5M quately In a sentence or two There really i'3BB have been many element! that have entered iMjflflR li'to the astonishing development of lawn iHd tennis, but if there is arv one reason that jfiflEjp stands out above the rest it Is the game adaptability t all ages and to all surround- Tennis owi ;tr strength primarily to this fact a youngster may learn the gimc attS when he is 10 and carry it all the ay ;Kf1 through 55, and at every stage find the sort ta of opposition which win prove neither t' 'JbJH diflicult nor too easy to be compatible with ?fS Interesting sport. Rj9 A young man will -ako up tennis In CO - 7E9 lege and will acquire a body and r lnd . ' ) builder which he still will Unrl at ins ser- 'JttjSji vivo when the autumn of life sets hi Ten- tJrBISI "is for the average player requites no iar- jyttj tlcular physical prowess, no great speed or H alertness, no great power. It is not lllf JB baseball or football or rowing, which wlU H serve only for the few years during whi h fi" the flesh Is able to keep pace with the spirit. mKKT I. Is not a game of body contact, nor yet a HF game of intricacies uid rules which am I mastered only after profound study And It Is not a game which has suffered from the Influence ot the professional. Tenni It Not a Contly Game Tennis, too. Is the sort of game which re-qulreH re-qulreH no particular -xpensc In .o fr .is ground lor playing or equipment are concerned. con-cerned. The court may bo pitched anywhere. any-where. The equipment consists of one serviceable ser-viceable racquet, a few balls and a pair of Breakers Of courKc there are various re-Mr.mcntH re-Mr.mcntH of costume but these make for neither better nor more attractive tennis. Wgjm except when accompanied by certain fem- Inine charms But the essentials are few yPy Anybody can play tennis well enoug.i to get sufficient enjoyment out of it at a com-fjt com-fjt paratively email cost and on a compara- UV( ly small plot of ground A court . ft f Jl b"3 ,nl1 OJt on tn-' 'ot adjoining the home. jMIJI In the back yard or on any other Biirface p fjK that Is approximately 50 by 100 feet In Flze iR After running the mower over the garden $U& lawn, marking out the lines with ;wiint or h:J chalk and spreading the net the family is fttepj ready for the Klght-year-old .T..hnnv Ei ' fatnr can get out on the court and have r plenty of fun. even if the ball does bound -? H badly at time because of the lrregilar J H playing surface. jW Of course If the family c in afToru It the ground can be levelled off properly, but it 3 II Isr't absolutely, essential at first When ifil I Uad or Johnny or Sis feel they have learned V how to ct tho ball back over tho let and Pa ' tri Impart a little sting to their service, and E 'i ir' )U5t aching to play some ono of greater ; 4 experience and on a bett r playing sc--.ice. i 1 they can challenge their friend to a match or the public park tennis grounds or on to the courts of the Y M. C. A . or Join tho neighborhood te-inis club and learn eomo of ii tho "deep stuff" about the game Cousin Bill has ust beer, informed that the A. Ii. C. Manufacturing Company, where he is cm- S ployed, has started an Industrial tennis league for Its employees ir all Its nearby p branches, ard he is coming to tho family court to get a little quiet practice and fool O some of his associates down at the office. - Mabel Is to leave ,soon for the girls' sum- mcr camp and 1j saving he. weekly allow-Vh allow-Vh ancc to rurcbas a couple of strong rnc- i" r ijji-i.-. ii.r sin- has every l ieiifcicm of participating par-ticipating in tho weekly tournamcn's at the camp Since there are competitions for four elHsses of players, from the exper' to the tyro she feels that sho ought to i N consolation prlr.o at least. And so It goes. Public tennis courts, private pri-vate tennis courts, family tennis courts, school) Y. M C A college, industrial and Club tennis courts; interpark and Intercluh loprnaraents Interacholastlc, Intercollegiate injd Industrial league tournaments summer i amp iennll, open and closed tournamen's. Slate, city and sectional championships for men. for women, tor Ijos. for girls: national na-tional championships on clay, on turf; Indoor In-door championships, outdoor championships and others loo numerous to mention. How rapidly ii. has spread' The Game Is Younp in America 1 1 Is only a little more than forty years rlncc tennis was introduced into this rmin-Iry rmin-Iry an! It is ' sx than twenty ears slnre some enterprising public park commissioners con-'jefl con-'jefl the idea of popularising 8 g ime that had been confined to comparatively a handful hand-ful by building a number of courts for public pub-lic use. Om- after another the municipal authorities of our larger cities followed their example -ind Immediately the sport enjod a tremendous boom. It was not long before the need of organization ares" an.i resulted In the formation of the United Slate Lawn Tennis Association. In ever one of the laige cities known as tennis ceptres Los Angeles st Louis. Cleveland. Chicago, Washington, Detroi'. Philadelphia and New York from 10.000 to L'O 000 park Lerinia permits are issued annually. annu-ally. This KrOWlhg army ot tennis players is augmented by the membership of the . I" Ou GH LI J - IPb lit - M 1vJm t-Hoen vsoop c- cMcecooD J h numerous clubs of every description everywhere every-where The newest field, ono that offers unlimited unlim-ited possibilities for the development of players, is that of the Industrial leagues Many industrial plants, recognising the beneficial effects of tennis on the mental and physical hcTith of tlu-lr employees, hnv-built hnv-built first class courts In connection with lin n athletic fields and are affording opportunities oppor-tunities foi play in leisure houi-s Word has come recently qf an Intermlll tennis league amonif the cotton mills of the South, of sixty-four tennis courts built to; the Industrial In-dustrial A A of Rochester and of the nu- m i' WM T T1LDEN, 2? (5 ttss nx mum merous Interclub matches In the Commercial Tennis Leapuo of Chicago. Tennis is played practically in every civilized civ-ilized country in the tiniver.se, with the Lnlted States. Oreat Britain Australia and Franco showing the way both In the activity and quality of players developed Ever lines the Davis Cup was offered for competition com-petition In 100 tennis has been tho most active of international sports Teams have travelled half way around tho world and more to compete in International tournaments, tourna-ments, and the deeds of the globe trotting players have done as much to arouse Interest Inter-est in the sport as anything else Ten years ago the challenge round of a World's; Championship tennis tournament, such as was completed recently at Wimbledon, England, would have been dismissed dis-missed in half a dozen lines in our daily newspapers Now tho press prints ono or two columns every day of the tournament H and every detail of play is read eagerly by H the largo tennis public. An active tennis player needs no letter n of Introduction to make friends in a foreign country lie can amble up to ono of th H tennis clubs in the town he Is visiting, con- H vey the Information either by signs or by H speech (if he knows the native tongue) H hi is a tennis player from a foreign H country and nine chances to one he will be H asked to make himself at home, get into H his tennis clothes and play a few sets. H Every tennis player Is a member of a world- H w'de fraternity and the sign of the racquet H Is the op-n scsamc'to all of its chapters. H Some United States Championi. In the long list of champions this coun- H try has produced there have been figures H whose magnetic peionality and magnetic H play have done wonders toward populating H the sport. The sensational tennis, for In-live In-live of Maurice H. McLoughlin, the "Call- forma Comet." as he was called, appealed H with particular force to ambitious youths H who became (Hied with a desire to emulate H his career on the courts. Everybody, H whether or not he ever saw a tennis match or swung a racquet himself, knew all about H "R l Mac." the conqueror of Normal L. Brookes and the late Anthony P. Wilding In H the famous Davis Cup matches before the H war. Everybody had read of his rcmarkablo H popularity, of the dazzling speed that had H revolutionized tennis play, of his tremendous H service and his lightning attack. And be- H for, Mac passed out as a title contender H Robert Lindley Murray, another Caiifornian jJ was on the srene with the same dashing H hard hitting spectacular type of game that Ll drew record crowds to see him in action. In McLoughlin. Murray and William M. lH Johnston, the present national champion. fl California has furnished three of the most H popular figures of modern tennis. The Mist jH has had its BUI Lamed, Its Deals Wright H and its Dick Williams and others, but none J of them made the same sensational entry into tennis as the trio from the Pacific coast. Now William T Tilden 2d of Philadelphia, sen- jf nation of the recent world's championship at Wimbledon, has taken the tennis world ly storm With bis triumph over the world's jH best players and bids fair to be as great an idol of the courts as McLoughlin. Murray and Johnston have been In the past. Women Who Are Famous in the Game. Of the women players w ho have Influenced H tho development of the sport In America, H Miss RHsabeth Mbore, Mrs. May Sutton Bftfidy, Mrs. Hazel Hotchklsg Wight man, Miss Mary Browne and Mrs. Franklin T. H Mallory (Miss Molla Bjurstedt) wero the most notable. Mis- Mi Hire was the first to H win a national championship four times, and H Miss May Sutton still has the distinction of H being the only American to win the British H lawn tennis championship. She took the h I title at Wimbledon In 1 9 1 5 and repeated In j jV ioi7 Mis Wlghtman. as Miss Hssel notch- kiss, was champion of America from 100!) H to 1011 inclusive and earned tho title for H the fourth time in 1910. after a lapse of eight years. Miss Mary Browne was the H leading player In the country from 1912 to 1914 and was succeeded by Miss Mol'a Bjurstedt. the Norse girl, who helJ complete SWay for a period of four years. The effort to check the victorious career of Miss Bjurstedt brought many newcomers J to the courts, and each succeeding year she found the task of maintaining her position a more diflicult one Among those w-fio J made several strong bids for Miss Bjur Itedt'S title were Miss ICI-.inor Ooss of this city and Miss Marlon Zlndersteln Of Boston, who, with less than three seasons of tour-naraent tour-naraent experience moved up to the rank of contenders for the national championship. A series of matches that attracted coun-trywldo coun-trywldo attention was tho exhibition tour during the war of Miss Mary Browne and Ms$i Molla Rjufstedt who played for the inefit of the Bed Cross. Record crowds attended the matches and thousands who had nursed a false opinion about tennis be- 1 gan to sit up and take notice. |
