New-York tribune., 1901-08-12
LAWN TENNIS.
THE OUTLOOK FOR THE CHAMPION
SHIP TOURNAMENT AT NEWPORT

SIAf 4OChNAAEN1 Al NEWPORT
The annual lawn tennis tournament ro- a.
championship Of the United States will begin -
morrow morning the courts of the Casino :.
Newport. r. l. Newport is the Mecca Of all eooS
lawn tennis Moslems. and they make their annra1
pilgrimage to it's Casino every August as =
hgtously as they celebrate Christmas or the For-t.
of July. For the players themselves. its tourna-
ment is the crowning event of the year. and fo-
the colony of summer cottagers tennis week ia
the most popular in the round of summer gayetv
Nothing can dim the Iustre Of the Newport meet,
ing Not even the failure Of the cherished inter.
national matches and the expected presence a,
the British experts in the championship tourna
ment, even the announced retirement Of MAJ
colin d. Whitman. the invincible champion who
has held the premier laureIs for the last thres
years through almost unbroken period Of con-
quest In fact. the poor result OF last years Eng
lish players at Newport and the excellent Gonna
ra.ive form showed abroad this year by Davis and
Ward have taken the edge off the disappointment
that the failure of the English team to appear
naturally aroused; and even Whitman's retirement
has its compensation in the fact that far keener
interest is felt in the matches of the tournament
proper this year than before, for it's winner viii
be the next champion of America
DIFFERENT FROM LAST YEAR
1t is an entirely different situation from last year
that greets the lawn tennis experts this year A
year ago all felt that Whitman was practically
invincibIe. and the interest in the Tournaments
centred chiefly in the question OF who would win
the all comers' tournament The champion has
always a natural advantage in defending his title
for he meets a tired challenger while he is him
self fresh for the cup match Add to this ad-
vantage the superior play Of the man who was to
defend the title. and the outlook last season for
a new champion was poor at best There have
been just six players TO hold that title since the
establishment of the championship tournaments
over twenty years ago, and the certainty Of
name to be added this short roll of fame has
set all of the leaders TO figuring out their chances
Among the fifty-six players who have entered for
the singles there are just six whose chances the
experts think amount much. although the field
this year is a distinctly strong one. These six
are W. A. Larned b c. Wright, d. F. Davis, L E.
Ware. Clarence Hobart and HOicOmbe Ward OF
these players. Larned and Wright are believed to
be the strongest candidates. and it is figured out
that they are pretty certain to meet in the final
round. Lawn tennis drawings, il should be ex-
planned. work out a regular system, so that
who is familiar with such matters can tell before
hand Just which winners will come together
throughout the meeting ana a fresh draw is not
made after each round, is often believed to be
the case. The winners come together in the order
in which they originally drawn right down
the list round after round. until only two ara
left for the finals
LUCK UNEvENLY DISTRIBUTED.
Working out the draw on this principle It is dis
covered
tributed again this year and IL Will be surprising
II there are not many more converts made by this
draw the principle OF seeding the draw
variation often urged that insures even distri-
button Of the work for the best players entered In
this case Ware will not have any player Of ths
slightest pretensions to championship class to
meet before the semi-fnaI round while the strong
est opponents that Larned can encounter before
younger BROTHER. E. P Larned These two iucKS aaS
men are then expected 70 come together in ths
rla in he ma rch hat
decide the championship for 1901
In the lower half on the other hand. the draw
fairly bristles with strong players. In the third
quarter, which must furnish another player for
easy marks and then CIothier. Fischer. Paret
their work is cut out for them from me verv starr
The last quarter IS the hardest OF the four, and
f6r as[e Ts a bo3or The % bHd draw | brought paV
and Ward in the next brackets to each other 50
,os5 boI5 ne nataTai rbaTro0Sbi5 and
curtousiy enough they are scheduled 10 play each
other the same day they are 10 defend their cham
will default the other instead of playing out the
match.
Wright and Hobart are also in this last section.
and Hobart secured the easiest draw of the four
experts. for he will only have TO meet the survivor
anal bracket Even II Ward should default 10 Davis
likely 10 beat him the next cay and then 70 put
the veteran Hobart out or the struggle IN the next
round
LARNED SHOULD DEFEAT WARE.
based on tournament form. that Is often incon-
sistent. do not go wrong. Larned should meet Ware
in seni-1nal and win. while Wright should
meet the survivor OF the Clothier-Fische cher-Litte;
Paret-C Collins quarter I'm the other semj-dnal and
win his way into the last round With Larned
against Wright the chances seem 70 ,3yoT stss the
matches they have played already this season That
after ten years OF persistent effort win the title
and has never been at his best at Newport since
1892 he has played in seven championship tourna-
that he succeeded in winning the all comers tour
nament- Though often the favorite before, ne mas
the semi-hnals. Just now when the elusive tits
seems almost within his grasp. he may fail 70 rum
expectations once more.
The last two matches for the championship in
fion for the first two days. Tomorrow morning
Little and Alexander, Western champions mess
annual intersectional match for the rtght TO cha1
VS. ITtdSS 4O SeS,. ', ~ 80 II j rl1-asar+sd me
Western section of the country although both are
ksS ta % and 6 %6nsr R46 Sqy 6 heat the
West match, but they also played Davis and NarGi
especially close match in the challenge rou1u
their favor again this year although Ware has held
the national championships in doubles twice with
G. P. Sheldon. tr.. and Wright is rated as one OF
the best doubles players in the country -.s,,
ment at Wimbledon. showing splendld - IorIn @ he
beating everything in sight over there except W.
Since they returned. however they have not played
together until week ago saturday When npt5-s t5ss
by the Wrenn brothers. Last week IN prac5
tfce the same pair beat the champions again ana
the general impression Of those who watched theIA
play that Davis was sadly in need Of pracqcT,
They will surely have to show better form ~
against the Wrenn brothers on Wednesday IN orusT
TO retain their championship title. but the gehTr ira
impression among experts is that they VIII III
prove. when neCeSSttv demands it, enough 70 oea'
their Chalengers again this season
a new feature OF the championship tournament
this week will be the presence Of John Jacob Asol
and several other Newport society men IN we
matches. Hitherto they have confined themselves
the local tournament after the cham-
pionships are over and 70 watching the experts A.
nIav A wonderful revival in the general interest,"
IN tennis has been noticed at Newport this SUM-
mer and the men there are so enthusiastic Jnss