Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-03-17
THIS WEEKS COURT TENNIS
Annual Championship Tournament Begins
Tomorrow IN Boston,
FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF CRACKS
jay Gould VIII Play Preliminary to
second Trip to England
Joshua Crane Also
I'm the Fray.

Court tennis players will begin their
fourteenth annual amateur championship
tomorrow at the Boston Tennis and
Racquet club in which the phenomenal
youth, Jay Gould, will defend the title.
Played in alterate years at New York
and Boston, the latter city is credited with
nine victories and the New York Racquet
and Tennis club representatives with three
wins jay Gould's success was as free
lance, for he plays at Georgian court his
home at Lakewood, and entered from the
Tuxedo club The odd winner TO COM
plete the tally was Eustace II. Miles Of
London, who won our championships at
court tennis and racquets in 1900. The
record stands:
1893 Fiske Warren; 1s94-s5. B. 8, de
Garmendia; 1ss-99, I. NJ. Stockholm 1900,
Eustace II. Miles; 1901 -04, Joshua Crane,
jr. 1905, c. F. Sands; 1906. Jay Gould.
Court tennis is the oldest Of wall games
except handball. and in the years Of its
history Jay Gould is the youngest player
to reveal a masters stroke. He is in his
seventeenth year and in the fall will begin
as a freshman at Columbia. The design Of
tennis court, with the terms to describe
, the architectural features, such as the
dedans, grille, penthouse buttress and
tambour, is a survival OF medieval days,
and the rules of the game have been
changed but little IN 800 years. II has been
| a favorite recreation with royalty, and
there are many illusions to the game in
J French and English literature such as
well banded both. a set OF wit well
| played" in Loves Labor's Lost" Tho
continuance in popularity of the game
| however, is not due to It's aristocratic
/ patrons or the literary associations. 1t is
/ played better now by commoners than by
/ those Of title, although from the cost Of a
| court and the expense Of the game II Is a
recreation OF the rich.
There is no better sport than court tennis
and none to exercise better the body eyes
and brain. Tactics are always Of as much
consequence as the muscular expertness,
! for the quick mind will often win from the
stronger hand. 1t is a game prolific In
! quick changes and surprises, in which the
| interest changes as fast as the prisms In
a kaleidoscope. Lawn tennis is the best
| OF the games to descend from court tennis,
| the greater variety of the older game being
due to the wall plays and line plays on the
floor. passed ball is not miss as at
lawn tennis, but opens intead the way to
the finest rallies There has been no
change in the old order needed TO brighten
the game in the long period that Il has
| been played, but there have been improve
ments in the paraphernalia. The racquets
are Of a more graceful and powerful shape,
the stringing IL different increasing the
force and twist put into a stroke; the balls
are harder and faster, while cement walls
and floor make the rebound more exact
than when stone slabs or bricks were used
for these purposes.
The tennis stroke is always one in which
the intention must dominate the more de-
sire to hit the ball. Aside from the service
on which clever placing may always win q
count, there is the premium on placing In
rallies, as in lawn tennis, the idea being to
return the ball so that the opponent will
have trouble to get It. Besides playing fol
the corners, so as to keep the opponent or
the jump, at court tennis the player has the
four walls and their angles to assist his
places There are also chases to be marked
by line play on the floor and which always
counts a point the ball may be returned
into a winning opening, OF which there are
three, the dedans, grille and winning
| gallery.
Jay Goulds prominence is due to his flnt
stroke and fine judgment in places. Twist
which is termed cut, is what makes thu
tennis stroke. At racquets cut Is put int
the service. but otherwise the rallies ar,
slambang plays for kills on the front wal
, or for places around the court Gould get
the racquet shaft well into the fingers an,
/ holds the forearm and wrist stiff The GU
8 is put on by bringing the racquet arount
! the ball, to draw the strings across II ant
! impart a rotary motion. SO struck, tn
I ball drops straight down when It hits
wall instead OF simply bouncing out. Tn
: stroke gives to the player a dozen chance
: for a count to the one in the command 0
the player who simply hits the ball
Squash, which is simply racquets in
smaller court and with a soft ball. ha
, produced a national racquet champion thi
: year in r. r. Fincke. Both games ar
Q good training for court tennis, but TO gal
( emInence IN the latter game the strok
must be entirely changed