Tennis tournament

“ If there were a competitors' tea-tent, a player could obtain her tea in comfort when she wanted it.
Always bear in mind that a referee at a tournament has a most "worrying time of it." Players can and should help to make his task lighter. There are many ways in which they can assist to make the tournament as successful as possible. One is by being punctual and ready dressed to play when wanted, and another is by umpiring when they are disengaged and have not an important match just coming on. ”

“ She uses it, too. It is working all the time, which is a most necessary quality in a tennis player. I know of no sport that requires more of this quality.”
“Then you think the girls have a chance to win out in the tournament! I can’t tell you how glad I am to have you say that. It repays me for a lot of stewing, old man.”
“Not so fast, old chappie. I haven’t said that at all. On the contrary, I do not consider that they have the slightest chance of winning in the doubles at your tournament if, as you say, there are several clever teams entered. ”

“ Another correspondent asks for information as to the best way to get up a tennis tournament, and now that we are on the subject of tennis, his query might just as well be disposed of. A tournament, like anything else, demands time and care in preparation if it is to be a success. Don't put off everything until the last moment, or the day will surely be a failure ”

“ The guardian nodded.
“I can’t see how you can hope even to get a place in the tournament. Tennis is a game of skill requiring years to make one proficient, and how you can expect to get into shape to play in a tournament five weeks hence is beyond me.” ”

“ Although lawn tennis has sprung rapidly into favor, it is still but a new game in this country. It takes several seasons' play for a person to become a first-rate player. By the time most of my readers are old enough to take part in a public tournament, some of them will probably play better than the best players of to-day. As time goes on, the standard of the game grows higher. The best players to-day are men, and they did not have the great advantage of beginning to learn tennis when they were boys. ”

“ If the tournament is to be conducted by a club, there will probably be some money in the treasury that can be used. It is not usually advisable, and seldom practicable at an impromptu summer tennis tournament, to demand admission fees of the spectators. ”

“ The tennis ball, too, seemed endowed with reasoning powers, it seemed to change its course after leaving the racquet of the server when an opponent got in the way. This they could not understand, neither could [127] the other spectators, for they had never seen anything like it in all their experience.
“Game!” announced the Englishman. “Keep right on playing. We will go through the set. See to it that you don’t loaf. Play tennis; don’t stand there and watch me serve. Show the young ladies that you at least know how to play the game.” ”

“ The best players there are in New England come down to Newtown to match their skill against their fellows. People journey many miles to attend this tournament, which usually lasts several days, sometimes a week. Most of the contests are bitterly fought. More national tennis players have graduated from that tournament than from any other in the United States. I know, because Jack Herrington, the manager of the tournament, told me so. ”

“ The Interscholastic Tennis Tournament will no doubt be held this year during the first week of the single championships at Newport. This begins Tuesday, August 20th, and so the school-players will no doubt get on to the courts about Friday or Saturday following. From present indications the Interscholastics this year will be one of the important features of tournament week, and better players will represent the schools than ever before. More men have already entered than for any previous Newport interscholastic tournament, and several cracks have not yet been heard from. ”

“ Other [118] things being equal, you ought to win. But you must remember that tennis is not a game to be learned in a day. Years ordinarily are required to make the expert player. I am not going to say that I think you have no chance. I can not say until I have seen you play. To-morrow we shall see what you can do. For my part, I shall do my best for you. It follows that I am able to coach to the best advantage, but first of all you must be tennis players by instinct. Even were you fair players, you would have a task before you to prepare yourself for a tournament within the short time left. ”

“ He could show us how to win a match. By the way, Captain Baker, how many will there be in our class at the tournament?”
“They are all in your class—that is, eligible for the same events. Of course, you girls will play in doubles. For instance, you and Jane will play together on a side with two other girls opposed to you, while Hazel and Grace are playing together on another court against another pair of girls. If either of you win a certain number of sets, whatever may be agreed upon by the committee, then the winners play each other. Doesn’t sound so very formidable, does it?” ”

“ The hammer rests with Seargent of Hopkinson, Coan, E.H.-S., or Barney, R.L.S. With so many men competing from such a large number of different schools, it is not probable that the winning score will be much greater than 25, and the winner of second place ought to come close to the same figure.
The New York Interscholastic Tennis Tournament, under the auspices of Columbia College, had a large entry list that required three days to be played off. ”

“ There are girl teams entered from all along the coast and they are cracker-jacks, too, but they aren’t in the same class with you girls, either in tennis or anything else. Now, isn’t that great?” Captain George’s face was flushed and his eyes were sparkling.
“Great?” answered Harriet slowly. “I told you none of us ever had played a game of [040] tennis in her life, and I meant it. Some of us have knocked the ball about a little with the racquets, but not one of us ever has played a game. Why, we know absolutely nothing about tennis.” ”

“ The team is going to win. That is what I mean when I say I am going to do it. Of course, I do not expect to do it alone. I know we are going to win a place. I feel it. I can’t tell you just why, but I do, so you had better prepare to protect yourself from sunstroke. If there are any trees where the tournament is to be held, by all means engage a place under one.”
“They don’t have trees near tennis courts. Trees throw shadows that sometimes make the players nervous or cause them to misjudge their distances. No, I’ll have to take my medicine and I will.”
“Hark!” Jane held up a hand for silence. ”

“ Already interscholastic tennis, in its first champion, has given us a national representative who last year saved our trophy from foreign hands.
The history or the movement may be summed up in few words. It was initiated by the Harvard University Lawn-Tennis Club at the suggestion of its secretary, William D. Orcutt, in 1891, when the first tournament was held upon the college grounds, Saturday, May 2d, ten schools having replied to the circulars and letters by sending representatives—twenty-five in all. ”

“ A tournament committee should never keep a player waiting for an important match to commence while they scour through the crowd for linesmen. These necessary, and I trust useful, accessories to every match of importance should be picked and on hand when the players appear. A good linesman is a great aid to match tennis. A poor one may ruin a great battle. Not only will bad decisions turn the tide by putting a point in the wrong columns, but slow decisions will often upset players, so they dare not play to the line kept by slumberous linesmen. ”

“ Instead of their play improving, it may deteriorate. They run the fearful risk of staleness—one of the greatest dangers to a lawn tennis player—and they become physically worn out. As soon as you find you are losing interest in the game, when it becomes an effort to go into court, give the game a rest. It is clear you have overdone it and need a period of recuperation. One or two tournaments at a time, and then a rest to practise the new strokes and tactical moves you have learnt and seen, would, I feel sure, be much more helpful to your game than tournament touring, week-in and week-out. ”

“ Is there a star player among you girls? Why not enter the tournament and compete for the championship? We are to have a special match game, this year, played by the young people. Let us keep these tennis courts busy for a while. You’ll come over, too, Miss Stuart, won’t you, and play bridge while we work. Or you’ll work at bridge, while we play tennis. Perhaps you think that is the way I should have put it.”
CHAPTER XII—A WEEK LATER
“Barbara, I wouldn’t play tennis with Gladys and Harry Townsend, if I were you,” said Mollie to her sister, one morning a week later. ”

“ All their practising had been done on the private court belonging to one of the girls, so that no one outside of the few on the inside really knew what they were doing. Then there were other clubs from various parts of the State. One team from Portsmouth, the Scott Sisters, were known to be among the most expert tennis players in the ranks of the younger players, and among those who claimed to know, it was believed that the Scott Sisters were sure winners, provided the Fifth Avenues and the Riversides did not carry off the cup. ”

“ To build a tennis court properly means a lot of work and it should only be attempted under the direction of some one who understands it. The things most important are good drainage, good light, and sufficient room. A double court is 36 feet wide by 72 feet long, but in tournament games or on courts where experts play it is customary to have an open space about 60 feet wide by 110 to 120 feet long, to give the players plenty of room to run back and otherwise to play a fast game. A court should always be laid out north and south or as near these points of the compass as possible. ”

“ It was in the July of 1877 that the first lawn-tennis championship meeting was held at Wimbledon, a silver challenge cup being offered for competition by the proprietors of The Field. There were twenty-two entries, Mr. Spencer-Gore carrying off the championship and the all-comers prizes. The principal results of the first tournament was to show up a serious defect, viz.: the great preponderance of games won by the server against those gained by the striker-out ”

“ Every August Bank Holiday we have a short Mixed Open Tournament at our lawn-tennis club. It's quite a small, homely affair, but as our President, Sir Benjamin Boogles, always offers two valuable prizes (hall-marked) , every member who can possibly enter does so. Each year hitherto the Tournament has been finished in the one day; but this year it is not finished yet—in fact, in one instance the first game of the first set is still undecided, and the winners in the other sets are anxiously awaiting the result in order that the second round may proceed before the end of the season. ”

“ My boy, it isn’t Earlington Disbrow who has done it; it is the young women themselves. You can’t make tennis players out of unavailable material. About all I have done, besides giving them some technical points, has been to [147] keep them at work. ”

“ I do not think it is the star who keeps the game alive. It is that great class of players who play at clubs the world over, who can never rise above the dead level of mediocrity, the mass of tennis enthusiasts who play with dead racquets and old balls, and who attend all big events to witness the giants of the court, in short, "The Dubs" (with a capital D) , who make tennis what it is, and to whom tennis owes its life, since they are its support and out from them have come our champions.
Champions are not born. They are made. ”

“ Editors of newspapers are in no danger of being besieged with letters from "Constant Reader" and "Pro Bono Publico" demanding why the police don't interfere in championship tennis matches and bind the participants over to keep the peace.
No, tennis is not usually a violent or brutal sport. In fact, it is frequently associated in the popular mind with weak tea and girls and beg-pardons and curates and other evidences of the amenities of life. Rough persons who play lacrosse or football are apt to class tennis with tiddlywinks or casino. ”

“ It is the spirit of youth, of progress, of business-like mechanical perfection of management, and the enormous crowds and attendant enthusiasm that is the chief attraction at Forest Hills. Fully 15,000 were present on the closing day of the event in 1919. Orderly, courteous, enthusiastic, but partisan, the American tennis public comes out to cheer on its favourite. No people in the world appreciate visiting players more whole-heartedly and none do more for their comfort than the American people. ”

“ Any player who really enjoys a match for the game's sake will always be a fine sportsman, for there is no amusement to a match that does not give your opponent his every right. A player who plays for the joy of the game wins the crowd the first time he steps on the court. All the world loves an optimist.
The more tennis I play, the more I appreciate my sense of humour. I seldom play a match when I do not get a smile out of some remark from the gallery, while I know that the gallery always enjoys at least one hearty laugh at my expense. ”