wy WOT A ae oO Eee Ae
CBNNIS OF THE SUMMER,
The Game’s Revival—The Principal
Matches—Yale’s Players.
By ArtTHuR E. Foote.
The tennis season of ’99. just brought
to a close by the National Champion-
ships at Newport, has been a most stc-
cessful one despite the fact that the
stimulus given to the game by inter-
national matches such as were seen dur-
ing the seasons of ’95-’97, has been lack-
ine. The American game this year has
depended solely upon American players
and it is encouraging to those interested
in the game to see that a keener inter-
est has been taken in tournament play
than in several years past. Golf enthu-
siasts try to imagine that golf has robbed
tennis of its popularity, but proofs of
this are not at hand, for tournaments
have never been so ntumerous and en-
thusiastically attended, and never have
the important tournaments developed
such a high class of play as this year.
Whether or not Whitman, this year’s
champion, could in his present form
have defeated Sears, Slocum, Campbell
or Wrenn, when at their top form, is a
much mooted question, but certain it is
that the game has steadily advanced and
that to-day there are a score of men
whose play as a whole would be far
in advance of the best twenty men of
five or ten years ago. It is thus seen
that the growth in tennis skill‘has been
healthy.
It is to be regr.tted that Wrenn, the
champion of ’94, ’96, ’97, did not enter
tournament play this year. Last sea-
son he and Larned were with the Rough
Riders in Cuba, and so Whitman did not
meet the two best men in the country.
Fever contracted at Santiago has greatly
impaired the health of both Wrenn and
Larned so that the former has played
no tennis at all this year, and the latter
has appeared in but a few tournaments
where he has shown some very erratic
tennis far below his former brilliant
form.. With Wrenn and Larned absent,
M. D. Whitman ends the season the
acknowledged peer of American tennis.
His record this season has been a clean
one, for he remains unbeaten. His title
to the American championship is not
disputed.
Whitman by his attitude toward tour-
nament play has given to tennis a health-
ful spirit of sportsmanship which is most
creditable to him. Until the present
year it has been the unwritten law for
the champion to carefully select a few
tournaments which shall be so arranged
that he shall through them reach his
ton form at Newport. His appearance,
heretofore, in public has been infrequent.
This year however, Whitman has
played in every available tournament,
meeting all comers and ending the sea-
son with the remarkable record of not
having suffered a single defeat. Last
year Whitman won only the National
and Middle States championships, but
this season he has not only successfully
defended his title to these two events,
but in addition has won the Massachu-
setts and New York State, Canadian,
Longwood (Boston), and Southampton
championship, a record never before
made in American tennis.
THE SEASON’S SURPRISE.
The surprise of the season was the
meteoric play of J. P. Paret at Newport,
where he in turn cleverly defeated M.
G.* Chace). "06 Se Po Avery, Re oP.
Huntington, ’91; L. E. Ware, and D.
F. Davis. For several years Paret has
been active in tournament play, but has
never been considered more than a good
second-class player.
played in every important tournament,
before Newport he had won no matches
of note. Having been defeated by J. C.
Davidson in the Southern, G. P. Dodge,
99, in the New England, J. A. Allen,
1901, in the Lenox (N. Y.), E. P. Fis-
cher in the Metropolitan, R. Stevens in
the Middle States, M. D. Whitman in
the Canadian, C. R. Budlong in the
Newcastle, H. H. Hackett, 1900, in the
Sorrento, and by D. F. Davis in the
Longwood championships, he was not
thought of as a possible candidate for
honors at Newport. His physical con-
dition had much to do with his success,
as was especially shown in his matches
against Chace, Huntington and Ware,
who were clearly not in training.
Paret’s match with D. F. Davis in the
Newport finals was a fine exhibition of
steady, careful, heady and at the same
Although he had
time aggressive play against the speed,
brilliancy and dash which when under.
control is invincible, but which when not
so, falls an easy prey to the steadiness
of an inferior player. Davis had been
looked upon as the probable winner of
the tournament and his matches against
Bond and Collins had shown him in ex-
cellent form, but he was unable to main-
tain the high standard he had set for
himself on the. season’s play; however,
Davis is entitled to a ranking second
only to Whitman.
INTERSCHOLASTIC TENNIS.
In America the best exponents of ten-
nis are either college men or those still
in school, and it is but seldom that
a player of any ranking is found over
25 years of age. This:is-a pity, for in
England, a player does not expect to
reach his top form till he is near 30
years old. As tennis is so much of a
college man’s game, it is but natural that
the various colleges should foster the
game among the preparatory schools.
This has been done with excellent re-
sults, for Wrenn; Chace, ’96S.; Bud-
long; Ware; Fincke and Wright have
in turn been interscholastic champions.
The winners of the various inter-
scholastic tournaments this year were:
Harvard—B. C. Wright of Hopkinson
(Boston). ;
Yale—Miller of Hotchkiss (Lake-
ville).
Princeton—M. Thompson of Law-
renceville. :
Missouri—Adams of Smith Academy.
Maine—Bradford of Thornton.
Columbia—W. C. Grant of New York.
It has been the custom for the winners
of these tournaments to meet at New-
port and there play for the Interscholas-
tic Championship of the United States.
Harvard and Columbia were alone
represented this year and the title was
won by B. C. Wright, Harvard’s repre-
sentative, who is acknowledged to be
the most promising of our younger
players. It, is to be regretted that
neither Yale’s (Miller) nor Princeton’s
(Thompson) representatives put in an
appearance. :
STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS.
It was originally planned by the United
States Tennis Association that only act-
ual residents of the states in which the
tournaments are given shall be eligible
for entrance, but this excellent rule has
lapsed and now we find it possible for
one man to hold several state tourna-
ments. These matches serve an excel-
lent purpose in stimulating local tennis
and large entry lists usually result, as
for example the Massachusetts State
Championship, in which 32 men played,
among whom were eight ranked men,
Whitman, Ware, Davis, Ward, Wright,
Codman and Marvin, a coterie of bril-
liant Harvard players. The winners of
the more important State championships
were:
Massachusetts—Singles, M. D. Whit-
man; Doubles, None.
New Jersey—Singles, R. Stevens;
, Doubles, W. A. and E. P. Larned.
Pennsylvania—Singles, Dr. N. T. Wil-
son; Doubles, Wilson and Carpenter.
New York—M. D. Whitman; Dou-
bles, None.
Maine—Singles, H. H. Hackett, 1900;
Doubles, Bond and Fischer.
SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS.
Next in importance to the National
comes the sectional tournaments which
are held all over the country. The play
in these is often quite as good as that
seen at Newport, for the first few
ranked men usually make the round of
the. tournaments during the Summer.
The Longwood tournament is always
very attractive to all players and this
year its entry list was swollen to 48
singles and 19 pairs of doubles. Messrs.
Campbell and Huntington, the United
States double champions of ’91 and ’g2,
here re-appeared after an absence of
several years. They both showed ex-
cellent form considering their lack of
practice. While well in the midst of
an important match, Campbell sprained
his ankle and the match went by de-
fault. .
The Middle States tournament held
at Orange brought together Larned,
Davis, Stevens and Whitman in an entry
list of 44. Larned showed a bit of his
old brilliant form, but lost to Whitman
in the challenge round. The results of
the more important Sectional Champion-
ships are as follows:
SINGLES, DOUBLES,
Southern...._.._J. C. Davidson__ : : 2, ee sie
New England._..A. E. Foote... | H, H. Hackett.
J. A. Allen,
Pacific Coast....G. F. Whitney.
Middle States ...M. D. Whitman. | H- Ward.
. FE, Davis.
Western ______.. Cy Neel se 2y- 3 ; ed dain
Longwood...... M. D. Whitman. / eae ene
CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLES.
The plan adopted by the National
Committee of having the Western
championship decided at Chicago and
the Eastern at Longwood is a good one,
and although the doubles have usually
been held by Eastern men, the Neel Bros.
of Chicago have shown us that good
doubles are also played in the West.
Hackett, 1900, and Allen, 1901, have
played together in a number of the tour-
naments, in some of which they have
shown excellent form and it was no sur-
prise to have them win the Western dou-
bles. The Eastern championship was
hotly contested at Longwood, where
Ward and Davis won over Budlong and
Wright. The match at Newport be-
tween the East and -West to decide
which pair should have the honor of
challenging Ware and Sheldon, ex-’g9
for the United States Championship, re-
sulted in a victory for Davis and Ward;
considering the fact that Allen was play-
ing with an injured ankle it must be
said that the Yale pair put up a very
plucky game. Ware and Sheldon, the
holders of the championshp, were in very
poor condition to defend their title, as
they had had no previous practice to-
gether, and Sheldon especially, was in
poor form. The Vouble Championship
of the United States therefore fell to
Ward and Davis, after a comparatively
easy three set match.
OPEN TOURNAMENTS
In addition to the State and Sectional
Tournament, which as a matter of fact
are “open,”’ there have been the usual
number of “open” tournaments in which
local payers have more _ particularly
played. Perhaps the most important
has been that held at Hotel Wentworth,
New Hampshire, where Wright the In-
terscholastic champion carried off first
honors. The doubles were won by
Bond and Fischer. During the latter
part of June the Lenox Club of New
York held an interesting tournament,
where some good play was seen _be-
tween Allen, 1901; Hackett, 1900; Paret;
Davidson; Grant and Wright. Allen by
a strong aggressive game won the tour-
nament, defeating Paret in the finals.
The doubles were won by Hackett and
Allen.
INVITATION TOURNAMENT.
In former years these have been by
far the best class of tournament, both
from the players and spectators stand-
points, for each match was sure to be
well contested and free from the “weed-
ing out process.” Had a team of Eng-
lishment been with us this year, invita-
tion tournaments would have been held
at West Newton, Hoboken, Chicago and
Manchester (Mass.), but as no English
team appeared plans for most of these
were given up. Sia
Bond demonstrated his superiority
over seven other first-class Western
players by winning the Chicago Invita-
tion with seven victories and no defeats.
Through the efforts of Judge H. E.
Howland, ’54, an excellent tournament
was given at Southampton. A surprise
almost as great as Paret’s victory at
Newport occurred there when J. D. Pell,
the Champion of Columbia College, de-
feated W. A. Larned in three straight
sets. Larned was clearly out of con-
dition and after this match decided to
give up the game for the remainder of
the season. The tournament. went to
Whitman, who defeated Ware in the
finals. 3
LADIES CHAMPIONSHIPS.
It must be frankly admitted that the
popularity of golf and its adaptability
to ladies’ exercise has accounted for the
few ladies who now play tennis. The
only tournament of importance which
has been held was that at Wissahickon
Club, Philadelphia, where Miss Marion
Jones defeated Miss Banks and won the
title owing to the non-appearance of
Miss Atkinson, who has been the
acknowledged
pgs years,
e doubles were won by Miss Cr
and Miss McAteer and the mixed do
bles by Miss Rastall and Mr. Haskins.
woman champion for
INTERCOLLEGIATE TENNIS.
This tournament will be held in New
Haven soon after the opening of college
and should arouse much interest, as this
will be the first year of play for a new:
cup, Harvard having won the necessary
points by her victory last year. to give
her final possession of the old trophy.
Yale’s strongest men will be H. H.
Hackett, I9g00, and J. A. Allen, 1901,
who should give a good account of
themselves both in singles and doubles.
It. is hoped that they will meet Ward
and Davis and reverse the result of
Newport.
Harvard is very strong in singles and
with Whitman, Ward and Davis should
obtain first place. Princeton will send
Little (Champion of College) and
Thompson, two fairly strong men.
YALE TENNIS,
The college class tournament all
aroused much interest this Spring and
the revival seems to be of a healthy
nature.
The results were as follows:
99 Championship won by Noyes.
1900 Championship won by Walworth.
1901 Championship won by Allen.
1902 Championship won by Childs.
In the final series. Allen defeated
Childs and won the College Champion-
ship from H. H. Hackett.
Below will be found individual records
of Yale men in tournaments this year
as well as the winners of the most im-
portant tournaments throughout the
country.
R. P. Huntington, ’91, defeated D. R.
Hooker; Galpin; Prof. Chase: R.
Stevens; McKittrick and R. D. Little.
R. P. Huntington, ’91, was defeated by
C. P. Dodge, ’99; D. F. Davis; M. Whit-
Mant and...) ...P.; Pavet. :
H. H. Hackett, 1900, defeated G. H.
Nettleton, ’96, and E. W. Lewis.
H. H. Hackett was defeated by A. E.
Foote, 96; J. W. Allen, 1901, and W. C.
Grant.
M. G. Chace was defeated by J.. P.
Paret at Newport. This was his only
match of the season.
A. E. Foote defeated Henderson, ’99;
Trowbridge, ‘99; Noyes, ’99; Hackett,
1900; Hooker, ’99. and Dodge, ’99._ His
only tournament was the New England.
J. A. Allen, 1901, defeated N. A.
Simyeh,..073 «J.B. Wines: Ko De Little;
HH -Pallant: J.~ G. Davidson: VWwooe, -
Tomlinson; Cutter; Carlton, Richard;
H. H. Hackett, 1900; Wadsworth; O.
M... Bostwick: « 1h. B -Parets. 2)
Forbes; H. Avery; S. Millett and J. D.
Pell. |
J. A. Allen was defeated by J. P.
Paret (twice); W.. A. Larned and M.
D. Whitman.
H. H. Hackett and J. A. Allen de-
feated E. E. Hall and H. S. Galpin; L.
Sanford and Dr. Chase; R. Hooker and
A. E. Foote; N. Noyes and G.. P.
Dodge; Brooks Bros and W. A. and E.
P. Larned.
H. H. Hackett and J. A. Allen were
defeated by Ward and Davis.
R. P. and F. Huntington defeated D.
R. Hooker and E. W. Watrous.
R. P. and F. Huntington were de-
feated by Noyes and Dodge and Whit-
man and Ware.
EASTERN AND WESTERN TENNIS.
Since the end of the Newport.tourna-
ment the most important event in the
tennis world has been the contests be-
tween representatives of the East (Whit-
man, Davis, Ward and Wright) and of
the West (the Whitney Bros. and Hardy
Bros.) on the Del Monte courts,
Monterey, Cal. For a number of years
futile attempts have been made to bring
together representatives of the best ten-
nis of the East and West. The con-
tests this year have been hard fought,
but have proven without the question of
a doubt that the standard of Eastern
tennis is far above that of the West, for
out of the 16 matches played, the East-
ern players won 14 matches and the
Western 2; these last being both won
by Sumner Hardy over Wright and
Ward.
In doubles Wright and Ward easily
defeated the Whitney Bros. in straight
sets. The results of the third and fourth
rounds were as follows:
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