The San Francisco call., 1908-11-15
OfficialRankingR gRonseS
Tennis Players
Complimentary Standing of Nc
LOughIin and Melville in the
East Starts Discussion
By Grant Smith


There is considerable talk among the
ing of the coast players for 1908.
Just who VIII undertake this thank
less and arduous task has not been
stated, but it probably will be up to
to a committee of three, as it would
no doubt prove too much of a burden
for any one man to bear.
1t is several years since a rankin g
of the coast payers was attempted,
and it stirred up so mucn trouble ana
caused such dissatisfaction that moth
ing OF the kind has been attempted In
recent years The new generation OF
players, however, purposes taking the
pull by the horns, and possibly they
can arrange the matter 10 the salts
faction OF all concerned.
The so called complimentary rank
ing of Maurice McLoughlin and Mel
vile in the east this year certainly
started something, and incidentally
proved the value of a ranking on in
sufficient data. The local champions
were ranked g and 40 in the east
this year, and still they disposed OF
Wright, Niles and Johnson easily.
The three players mentioned all ranked
we'll within the first 20.
A ranking of players on this coast is
out of the question for the reason
that the experts here do not meet in
enough tournaments during the year
to permit of ranking them intelligent
ly. OF course, Mclaughlin and Long
can be ranked without any trouble.
Although Mclaughlin beat Long in
three out of four championship
matches this year, the No. l position
goes to Long by virtue of his having
won the coast championship. That
Mclaughlin would rank No. 3 there
can be no doubt.
But who will go further than this
Any effort to do so would be merely
guess work and would result in moth
iY,cr hf,4 ri ,o
cracks. Some would be inclined to
rank George James No. 3 on the
strength of his having won the Santa
Barbara tournament from both Long
tingent would no doubt give that pos
sible to Tom Bundy of Los Angeles.
His showing at Santa Barbara and Del
Monte was poor, but he won all the
tournaments in the south. Although
he has won no tournaments this year,
Carl Gardner has figured prominently
in all of the important ones and prob
ably has an idea that he has as good
a right to third place as anybody.
A ranking of the coast players would
be merely the personal opinion of each
individual, as there is no way of aver
aging the showing of the various ex-
perts. While ranking based upon a
vote of three or five experts who have
not played in tournaments during the
year, but have kept closely In touch
with the game, would prove very inter-
esting, the verdict would be based on
what each individual of the commit
tee thought of the relative ability of
the various experts rather than on their
performances during the year
The handicap singles tournament
commenced on the Golden Gate park
courts last Sunday will be completed
today. While the absence of Nc
Loughlin, Long and James robbed the
event of considerable interest, the
entry list was a record breaker and
the Handicapped was liberal enough to
give the poorer players more than an
even break The elimination of Carl
Gardner and Charles Foley, the two
most heavily handicapped players
leaves only Fred Adams of the first
class to uphold the honor of that Ci-
vision. The lower classmen have been
given large handicaps, and it would
not be at all surprising if one Of them
carried off the honOrS. The so called
dub" has had little chance during the
long championship season just closed
and it is no more than right that he
should come into his own in the pres
ent tournament.