Omaha daily bee., 1908-06-07
SERVICE At COURT TENNIS
Miles Says Railroad Style Mars True
Stroke.
MAY BE SOMETHING IN THINKING
American Comment on jay GOuld's
Victory Brings Out Odd situation
John Davis I'm n Predica-
ment and Worries.

NEW YORK, June 6-In the
comments on Jay Gould's second
success in the British court tennis cham
pionship as conducted on this side Of the
Atlantic, Eustace IL. Miles received a de-
cided rebuke in the letter Of a correspon-
dent to The Bee published on May p. The
writer twitted Miles on the many excuses
he has offered and asked, why does he
not admit like a man that Gould defeated
him in three meetings because Mr.. Gould
played a better gamer" He added some
tart comments on the "~bellyachings" of
Englishmen in defeat. The signature in
type was John Davis.
There follows a climax undreamed of by
Mr.. Davis, II this was a pseudonym. One
Of the clerks at the New York Racquet and
Tennis club, who has been there since a
boy. is a brisk young man who is entitled
to claim John Davis as his name by every
legal right. 1t happens that all the tennis
and racquet players and markers OF the
club are Englishmen. To a man they are
supporters of Gould against the world at
court tennis, but the comments in the let
ter on the 'bellyachings' Of the British
in sport offend them. So on many occa-
sions, and yet again they accost Johnny
Davis. in groups and individually, and
deny his imputations in The Bee. An UNI
dermarker in a moment Of anger vowed
to punch his head should they meet outside.
Vigorous denials have not changed the
opinions OF many of the employees. George
Standing, the American racquet champion,
and the two Whites, as famous in profess
sional court tennis, while they believe
Davis. are charged with fomenting the ire
of the minor employees for a joke.
Racquet and Tennis club members are
as keen on fun as on sport TIL humor in
the situation has appealed to them and
Johnny is being chaffed on many lines.
One takes the stand that the letter makes
him a traitor to his fellow employees. An
other continues to ask when the TENDERS
may expect another trenchant letter from
their sporting Junius; still another is glow
ing on Johnny's literary style. One has
told some enemy hath done this thing.
The whole matter is getting on Johnny's
nerves.
"T know that John Davis is a name nearly
as common as John Smith," said the real
John Davis, that is, II they are not two Of
them. Yet 1t may be more than a coinci-
dence that my name was signed to the let
ter. I don't mind the members chatting me,
yet suppose some of them may get the idea
that I am getting a big head and yearn to
be seen in type7 1t would be the cold fare
well to my job. 1 don't understand, too,
why the boys will not accept at once my
denial. 1 am becoming SO suspicious that
some alleged friend used my name to the
letter in order to get me into trouble" i
That Eustace II. Miles doth protest too
much in defeat is the view OF more thar
one player of court tennis, abroad and
here. Yet in mitigation OF his views 1t
must be remembered that for more than a
decade Miles was the champion of the
game and also that he is not only a
|prejudiced thinker on many matters. but
also a somewhat bomhastic talker on his
views Of dieting and similar essential
things. In this country after Gould beat
him in the American championship he did
not lay too much fault on the conditions
and admitted the strength of the victor's
game. He asserted. however. that the light
was too glaring on the grille corner. which
is Conen's favorite return. and that 1t baf-
fled him in trying for many takes. On
lockers did not notice the glare, and 1t
may be that at IS Miles eyes are not as
keen as when he visited us in 1900 and
swept all before him in court tennis and
racquets Certainly the conditions all
around must have must have suited him
in London court.
NJ Gould undoubtedly gave me a game"
said Miles Immediately after his defeat in
the New York court. II deny that he is a
natural player, for I think there is no such
thing. l know very well Peter Latham's
stroke. is not a natural one, but acquired
by several years of practice after he had
been racquet champion and began to have
a preference for tennis. No stroke of mine
is a natural one. AS a fact, Mr.. Gouldthas
been we'll taught in court tennis froms his
earliest days. He mastered his ordinary
Strickland a beautiful one 1t is-before
he took up the overhead twist railroad
service.
9TH only drawback to the successful
future of court TERMS In America is this
railroad service. The evil is a deep-seated
one, The bane of 1t is that the service en-
courages a bad style Of stroke on the part
of the player who serves 1t and the player
who takes It. Whoever begins by serving
in this way before acquiring a proper
stroke on the floor never develops the
latter stroke OF all. He may hit hard. he
may find the winning openings, but he will
never gain the good ordinary stroke.
why, then" added Miles. will not be-
ginners follow Mr.. Gould's example and
learn the stroke first and the railroad serv-
ice afterward? Because they want to win,
and the railroad service helps them to
win. To become a student, an apprentice
below ones class, requires zeal and great
strength Of mind. Few make the effort,
but develop instead a hard-hitting. smash
ing game that keeps them to the front OF
their club tournaments. but makes impos-
sIhle the creation of d worlds or even of
an American champion"
A proof of the assertion may be hat Jay
Gould is all alone in his class among
American players OF court tennis. Yet in
the worlds history OF court tennis there
has always been one pre-eminent amateur
TO reign supreme for his decade. No one
denies the utility of the railroad service.
The inimitable railroad service" is what
t. suffern Taller said In a recent letter
to The Bee. Gould says he will never
change from the railroad service, as he
believes it to be the very best. But neither
Of these distinguished critics assert that a
sound floor stroke. the teu classique, is not
also essential.
Miles thinks that there should be a social