OCR Text |
Show I ' I PHIL NEER RATED BEST CQLLEGE TENNIS PLAYER . 1 LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR PICKED BY AUTHORITIES j i vt BK6 f - BY BILLY EVANS. Phil Nccr of Portland, Ore., a junior at Leland Stanford, has been rated as I the best college tennis player In the United States. For the first lime in its history, the I United SUltes Lawn Tennis association associa-tion has. ranked i he college tennis players To Xeer goes the distinction of being (jfe first intercollegiate ten nis champion. Nee-r played his lirst same of tennis ten-nis eleven years ago. He won that game liom another tennis enthusiast of the same grammar school in Portland. Port-land. Ore. At 2'i. Thil Neer has met on the courts of the east and the west t he-best he-best racket wielders of the younger set and beat then Prom r rank outsider out-sider In college tennis in two years I he has worked his way to the championship. cham-pionship. The success that has come to Neer in his third year in college was not by any easy formula. Nor by any run pf phenomenal luck. SUFFERED DEFEATS. Rather, it commenced when he won his first game, and continued throughout through-out his scholastic and college careers. ; !! suffered many a rioleat before h finally developed a drive and return service thai carried him to the college I championship. i His first success was whining the junior boys championship of the north west. That was while attending Washing Wash-ing high school at Portland. Ore., lu ' 1917 He continued to win honors In .many of the tournaments held in the. north west. I J However, it was in 1921 that he put over the big event of his career. In th intercollegiate play held at the Merion Uricket club courts, Philadelphia, Philadel-phia, Neer proved the surprise of the tournament. Rated well down in the list of play ers, Neer won all his matches and lu the finals defeated J. B. Fenno of Har vard. Neer, in explaining his success on the court?, briefly says: "The best players are pluggers. They work constantly to develop their strokes. Mn?l ol thorn have attained success by mastering . Individual styles." He didn't say ho had got there by such methods. Rather he modestly Wt that for you to understand TEN COMMANDMENTS He must have 1. Athletic temperament, 2. Even disposition 3., Will for consistent work 4. Endurance. 5. Ability to anticipate shots 6. Ability m judt-e lllpht ot ball. 7. Co-ordination of body and arms. 8. Uonceptral ion on ihe play. 9 Willingness to "waste no time" on the courL in. Confidence, but not overconfi-dencc. |