New-York tribune., 1896-10-18
TENNIS PLAYERS RANK.
AN ESTIMATE By CLARENCE HOBART OF
TIL, SEASONS WORK.
HE PUTS r. D. wRENN FIRST. WITH LARNED

HE PUTS r. D. wRENN FIRST. WITH LARNED
AND NEEL IN THE SAME CLASS.
The official ranking IT the leading tennis players
Of the season Is made each year by a committee APP
ponted BY the president of the National ASSOCIATION
This committee makes its report at the annual meets
Ing of the association. which Is held IN this Guy :"
February aad lis decisions are accepted MS MAJ Wy
the entire tennis community. Until next February
therefore, the tournament players VIII not EMO"
their official standing for 1885, but the season ha'iis
ended individual expressions OF opinion are IN or
der as to the proper assignment OF places. Inc i"'
lowing ranking is made by Clarence Hobart:
Owing to the total or partial Withdrawn from
tournament play OF such men as Chace' ho"a"o'
e. T.. Hall Foote and Parker, who have IN recent
years held prominent positions among the iea"eiS'
Tie first ten this year will doubtless contain the
! names of four newcomers namely: u. j.. "rcnh'
Fischer whitman and Ward None OF these pay
! ers have as yet reached the high standard set ny
Chace Hall or Rowland and the veterans couid uh-
douLtediy have held ther places near the TOP IL
! they had remained IN the game.
r. D. Wrenn is indisputably entitled to first place,
! not alone from his having won the championship
but because his record during the season Is better
than that Of any Of his rivals. He was defeateh ny
! Hobart at Orange, and twice by Larned at Nor
wood, while he was successful over Stevens three
times over Necl IIovey. Fischer, Wrenn ana whit-
! man twice each, and Larned once
! Lslned and Neel have claims to second place. but
the decision should he given to Larncd Oh his better
! showing al Norwood Park. The Newport record OK
| the two was equal, each,osng 10 Wrenn in i've
! set match At Norwood Larned lost his individual
! match with Neel but In round-robin contests IKE
| that at Norwood the final result must govern In
awarding the honors, and Larned finished hrs',
! while Neel tied for third with two others. After
Newport, when Larned had broken training. ne was
beaten in the invitation tournament at Chicago by
Neel but this does not compare in importance with
! the Norwood meeting
Hobart Is placed fourth his victories over both
r. d. and c. L. Wrenn In the Middle States chom-
pionships. In the final match against X. ID. Wrenn
he showed form equal to any in his career. He was
defeated by Fischer In ntcrclub match before
the regular season opened.
Hovey receives fifth place. mainly his good play
against Wrenn at Longwood and Newport. losing
each time only after a close ive-set match In these
contests he played I'm form which clearly demon
stratcs his right to outrani those named hereafter
| He Is placed behind Hobart his poorer record
against Wrenn His only victories of moment were
over Ware and Budong at Longwood.
Stevens has fairly earned the right to follow
IIovey. lie has been beaten by r. D. Wrenn.
Larned and Neel but by no one else. c. L. Wrenn
and Fischer the only players who could pos
s.by dispute Stevenss title 10 the place. and while
no meeting has occurred between him and Wrenn,
he defeated Fischer decslvely in their only encoun-
ter In all PROBABILITY he would nave been 100 Eluc!l
for the younger Wrenn during the greater part OF
the season.
The records OF Fischer and c. L. Wrenn are equal.
Last year both officially ranked In the sixth
class. fifteen behind The leaders. and each has
shown remarkable Improvement. Each has beaten
the other once. and each has defeated Neel, Whit
man and Ware. Wrenn displayed much the bet.
ter form at Newport where he almost outplayed
his brother. y. d. Wrenn. while Fischer made
very poor showing against Larned. AT Norwood
Park Wrenns defeat of Neel WAS really more cred
table than Fscher's The two matches were played
on the day. and Neel met Fischer in the after
noon n no condition 10 30 himself justice after an
cXhaustins struggle Of five sets with Wrenn In the
mornlns Dn the other hand. Fischer came cut
ahead o{ Wrcln in tho Chicago invitation tOnrna-
mont. and he not defeated by inferior player
during the season. while Wrenn lost to +. *. Ward
/ ana n number OF Western players. most OF whom.
however. he previously subsequently defel ted.
Taking all these facts into consideration II seems
just to rank Fischer seventh and Wrenn eighth.
! Whitman and Ward appear to be the logical
/ ddates for ninth and tenth places. Whitman has
featt n Ware TWO matches 10 one, Sheldon and Dris
/ coll Ward defeated O. l.. Wrenn. Sheldon and Ware
/ In the one tournament in which he played These
records ontitc them 10 90 ahead of either Sheldon,
| Driscoll, Ware I,udlong
/ Tie tables below show the Official classified lion OF
! the nrst ten players for the six Vious
] The. lust cOrcuiCd