The San Francisco call., 1909-10-31

Tennis Class
Needs Recruits
Best Of the Juniors,
Is Missing Chance to
Reach Top
By GRANT SMITH

!. While it rs. doubtful if tennis was
ever more popular here than IT is at
present. the fact remains that there
are fewer high class players than there
ever were before. The championship
class has been almost; depleted and is
sadly. in need of. recruits Since the
departure of Carl Gardner for the east,
there are only three players. who really
belong in the Championship division.
They are Melville Long, Maurice Nc
Loughlin and George James.
There is much promising material
in the city, but il is confined mostly
to Marvin.s junior division. These
boys are all between the ges Of 10 and
Is, and it will be several years before
any of them are ready for the cham
ptonship class. Mclaughlin is a grad.
uate of the junior organization. His
rise was rapid. but ii took him three
or four years to break into the cham
.I0uship circle.
year ago Robert Strachan. another
Junior, gave promise of duplicating Nc
-eoHghltp's nleteoric rise, but he has
practically given up the game. A lit
tie over year ago Strachan was the
most talked of player on the coast At
that time he jumped into prominence
by beating nearly all of the leading
players on the coast in the Santa Bar
bara tournament: He. won the tourna-
ment from such players as Long, Nc
l-uugblin, Gardner and Bundy and was
beaten in the challenge match by
George James after desperate strug-
gle. But for his hard matches Stfachan
would surely have disposed of James.
Strachan's showing was not a fash
in the pan and he could easily take his
place among the best players on the
coast il he only had the inclination and
ambition to go after the titles. He is
no means lost any. of his skill. All
that keeps him out of the first flight
is a lack of application.
1t is expected Marvin will develop.
a couple of new; champions I'M the next
two or three years He has some good
material, but outside of Willie John
ston, the most promising players are
the youngest in the club. The boys
most of them have adopted McLough-
Tins style some of them ought TO de-
velop into high class players.
The bay counties championship
tournament, which started at the park
last Sunday with its entry fist of 40
in the singles and 20 teams in the
doubles, shows that the game is as
list will also show that the players
are almost entirely confined to the
lower classes. Coast Champion James
event without a first class contestant
with the possible exception of Charles
Foley. Three years ago the latter was
the best player in the city and one Of
the hest on the coast. He has lost
his form almost entirely and at pres
ent does not class with players like
Long and Mclaughlin. He is still
a very yqung man and at times has
played tennis that warranted the be-
lief that he would return to his best
form. Such. however, has not been
the case, but it is possible his indif-
ferent form has in a measure, at least,
been due to a lack of practice.
Foley reached the semifinals in the
upper half last Sunday and will meet
the winner of the match between
George Cutter and Paul Hardeman.
The last mentioned player looks to be
championship possibility. but has
not shown the development in the last
year that he should. He has a perfect
build for the game and an excellent
style. He has great speed. but has no
control over il. He played good tennis
last Sunday and should make 1t i'm
teresting for Foley, if he gets by Cut
ter.
The lower half of the singles will
be started today. The contestants who
look to have the best chance for semi