The herald., 1898-08-22


others volIeying back gently. and even -
champion fell down on 1t almost ~ often -
he succeeded with It.
Perhaps the prettiest and most e6sctua3
Of the strokes played was Bell's ''lad1ssS
along the net. When close to net. Il the
ball came to him It was pretty sure to b
gently sided on into the alley on one side
or the other, within few feet Of the net
The stroke is not so difficult II the ball u
moving slowly. but to make 1t, as he did
. couple Of times. on two Of Freeman'D
screaming Lanfords just over the net was
evidence of as much skill as anything seen
on the courts.
The iobbing Of Bell and Braly was very
fne. To lob we'll. especially In such wind.
II matter Of the finest calculation. The
difference Of the two courts, with and
against the breeze, meant at least three
feet on the length Of a high lob; and all
that has to be taken into consideration. a.
well as the side swerve.
Mr.. Bumiller has a back-hand stroke
that Is uncommon. When a fast volley
seems about past him he turns clear
around and, with a quick wrist motion,
his back to the net, vollies with the back Of
his racquet. He made the half volley 1t
this stroke, also placing 1t cleanly.
The play of chasing down a lob and re-
firing 1t over your head was so frequently
played that 1t ceased to call out any APP
plause at all. In the championship doubles
you could count on that play as confident-
ly as on any of the simpler ones. 1t was
really great tennis, for in an ordinary
game that is considered the ne plus ultra
Of skill, with some luck added, perhaps.
"How much do you suppose the tourna-
ment cost the association for balls? ?" was
asked young lady. Five dollars" she
ventured, recklessly.
At retail price about a hundred dollars
worth Of those tough little combinations
Of felt and rubber was fed out to those
voracious racquets during the six days Of
the meet.
"Chimmie" and his friend were present
In very truth, and "swiped'' about SIX
dozen while the enthusiastic were express-
ing their admiration of the plays and the
players.
OF all the players nobody had SO hard .
week as Bell. He was entered in every
event except the ladies' singles and the
consultations, to neither of which he was
exactly eligible. But in all the rest he
fought his way to the finals. playing no less
than 313 games in the tournament. Allow
ing that each game averaged points. and
that he ran 200 feet and jumped two and .
half feet high for every point, his pedes-
trianism amounted to nearly half a million
feet, and he jumped more than a mile
straight up in the air, which, like the
Irishman's leap across the canyon, would
have been a pretty good one, If he had not
taken 1t in two jumps.
Hnrpn moro ~ fhoxa e{11v char0eQ q h0yyt
the association look pretty slim in the face
OF the score. Bell and Picher, who
fought out the finals, didn't come up an
easy ladder by any means. On the other
hand, 1t looks as II they had been given an
especially hard row to hoe, II there was
any fixing of the drawings either way.
Bell took on Chapman in the first round,
a first-class man, and in the second came
close to losing to r. A. Rowan. He then
had Hendricks, the runner-up in the con.
solutions, with Brady and Pitcher in the last
courses. Did ever a man have rocker
path to eminence?
Pichers climb was no less arduous, de-
feating Sinsabaugh, Welcome, Way and
Bumiller before he took on Bell in the finals.
That Brady and Daggett should meet in
the first round is proof enough that the
goddess of fortune was in reality blind
folded when she put her hand into the urn.
The. double all-comers left something to
be desired in the teams. AS matter OF
fact, they are not teams. but fortuitous
pairs of players. II the boys who propose
to try for that event were to make up q
team early in the year and practice to-
gether regularly they would find that their
knowledge Of their partner and his Plays
would be no small advantage in the tour
nament.
Tennis on a boom in Southern CaI1for.
nit, and a greatly added interest will be
felt this week. Many a new racket will be
tried. and many new ball be lost in con-
venient back yards before the enthusiasm
caused by tennis week is dulled. A hope
full sign for the future of the game is the
infusion of new blood. There was quite a
number of new racquets at this tourna-
ment just passed, and the boys gave great
promise.
This meet was by far the most successful
one of the fourteen. Next year should
see even larger field of entries and better
tennis, and some OF the names that were
lost early in the shuttle will be more promi.
nent at the next drawing.
HARRY B. LUMMIS.
: - a.