The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-07-14
MYERS TALKS TO
BRITISH PLAYERS
Englishmen Believe They Are
the Greatest Tennis Players
in the World.
ALL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
TAKING UP THE GAME
Uncle Sam Produces the Best
Tennis Players in the
World.
Tribune Special Sporting Service.

IroGne cpeCld! sporting service.
LONDON. July IA Wallis Myers,
high authority on lawn tennis, gives
word of advice TO British players. He
says: Even the most optimistic be-
lever in England S greatness as an
athletic nation cannot pretend that our
supremacy AT lawn tennis is not seri-
ously threatened from outside. Grant
ed that in mass our players are still
superior to players hailing from Amer
lea, Australia, or any of our nelghboT-
ing continental countries, the fact re-
mains that in the select circles Of pres
ent-day champions the :forclgner' is
probably destined TO assert his superior
ity If this event should come to pass
at Wimbledon, We may console our
selves with the reflection that the sue
cessful invader is of Anglo-Saxon birth
and speaks our English tongue-a son
or a cousin, as the case may be-but
we shall still have to lament the rela~
tive weakness of home-bred exponents.
Why is it possible for an American
or a colonial TO come over TO England
this year with the prospect of bearing
off the blue riband Of the court1 Sure
]y, the casual observer will declare,
lawn tennis is more popular today than
it has ever been, the tournament lists
are more crowded, and the opportuni-
liSS lOl dd duCluS lU phl1i "C'c hSNct
greater. This is true enough, But the
point is overlooked that lawn tennis
champions are not bred in a few
months or even IN few seasons, that
consummate skill must be blended with
the utmost physical efficiency and a
temperament proof against mental irri-
tations; that the test is one of endur-
ance as much as of manual dexterity;
that the race goes to the man of many
qualities, of which sheer brute strength
is perhaps the least important
The making of a champion involves
not only the expenditure of time, but
Of money, too. 1t requires private
means. Time and money must be found
to join the best clubs. TO get the best
nent to another testing this man S
skill and getting familiar with that
man s manner of attack, TO be free
from business ties and worries Near
~ all the best players in England have
had the leisure and the means for ex-
plotting the game. When that leisure
has been trespassed upon by the claims
of business or by the intrusion Of an
other interest, their form has automati-
cally suffered, and by and by, when
the outside call has been too insistent,
they have been compelled to leave the
lists altogether.
American Career
In America the career of the lawn
tennis player is confined within fixed
limits. IT begins much earlisr-at
school, as matter of course; it closes
much earlier-soon after leaving the
university, also as a matter Of course
People over here have expressed sur
prise that the members of American
international teams visiting this coun-
~ have been comparat lively young, and
they assume from that fact that play
ers develop In the States more rapidly
than they do in England But the
American boy first handles a racquet
st school: II is at school that he con-
celves and develops the style which is
TO win him fame; at school that he
contests hard five-set matches with
opponents of his own rank. Ths step
from the school to the university is
only one of degree--the play continues
under the same conditions and with the
same performers on the stage. After
college there may, with parental sane
ilon, come year or two 5f Compare.
tive leisure, during which the ambition
10 win the lawn tennis blue riband NAV
be gratifed, always provided the ap-
premiership has been faithfully served.
Tennis in Other Countries.
Very much the same process is car
ried out abroad, except that on the
continent the inexorablc "dollar huntO
may be either unnecessary or deferred.
In Sweden, during q recent visit. I
found all the principal public schools
pursuing lawn tennis with a zest which
had It's natural outlet in tournaments
and championships. In Austria, victory
on the courts goos to the young player
0nR