Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-16

Compare Well with Those Of Last
Year.
ENTHUSIASTS ON FORM SHEETS
Experts Busy Lining Up Players on
Relative ATerits-COmmittee would
Use Base Ball Methods 20
Rank Players.

the championship and other tournaments
upon the lawn tennis courts, there 10
nothing 70 which the player looks for
ward to with more intense interest and
with eager speculation than the table Of
the years rankings Last season the names
Of the players and their relative positions
Of merit under the direction Of Mr.. Philip
b. Hawk. proved remarkably satisfactory
and in every way superior to any other
list that had been issued There seems
good reason TO believe that the ranking
of the present year will in no way suffer
by comparison As with Edwin Torroy Of
Clinton. N. Y. Miles S. Charlock OF the
Crescent Athletic club, and Harry Terrence
Of the Englewood Field club the committee
in charge Of this difficult. and. at best,
somewhat ungrateful task, promises to
bring to II the necessarily trained and
alalytlcal mind familiar with the vagaries
of lawn tennis FORM Such a committee
should certainly give to lawn tennis not
only an adequate ranking list, but also,
from plans which have been indicated, they
promise in addition to establish a sys-
tematic basis by which In seasons to come
the relative positions Of the leading play
ers may be determined upon. As a follower
of the sport remarked:
1T should be possible to apply to lawn
tennis in a large degree similar system
as that by which the base ball averages
are arrived at especially the tables for
| batting averages and base-running fig
ures." Something Of the same sort seems
to be in the minds OF the present COM
mittee. sull, the foremost players Of the
| country have recently been at work with
their form sheets and upon this popular
| polling OF opinion a score Of names have
been brought forward for the honor Of
positions Of the ranking list, especially
those coveted places among the first ten
that custom has inscribed regularly in the
records that are handed down season to
season.
Coast Men TO Fore.
The thing that strikes most forciby the
reviewer of the seasons performance of
the men is the pushing forward of the
Californians on the one hand and Of
| the newer aspirants for championship
honors on the other OF the latter class
for instance, there Is Dean Mathey Of
Princeton, Reuben A Holden Of Yale and
E. H. Whitney of Harvard, who came so
close to defeating Beals c. Wright in the
all-comers at Newport, and that young
and brilliant player of the south, Conrad
B. Doyle. The retrospect of the season,
as these names loom up large among the
leaders, gives inspiration, and, in a meas
ure solace for the regret which followers
of the sport feel, because the year marks
the retirement Of so many veterans who
have long held the premier positions
OF course, as the number one Of the list,
William Augustus Larned stands supreme.
He stands out clearly In the field OF Ameri-
can lawn tennis players, as has no other
IL. liz -, .
Larned is not possibly the greatest player
that the courts Of this country has ever
produced, but yet there was no champion
of other years who sustained his laurels
so ably. nor one who made his position so
impregnable and brought a game OF per-
! sistency and strength to the place where
It WILL indeed, need a lawn tennis genius
J to overcome him. But following Larned
most closely and by all, admittedly, the
number two Of the ranking list, comes the
name Of Thomas G. Dundy, hailing from
! California, whose record for the season
gives point to the belief that at no distant
date will the American honors be shifted
from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. Not
only in his playing through a number OF
tournaments did Dundy show that he was
able TO sustain his game longer and with
telling effect than many of the eastern men
| DuL Lne IaCE LuAL ne consistently OuLE6u
eraled them and won splendidly in th'
wsst, as/well as in the east. surely places
him next to the veteran, Larned.
Three Eligible for Third.
There is a question in many minds as t.
the player entitled to the place Of numbe
, three, Maurice r. Mclaughlin, Beals c
Wright and Melville X. Long are respec
lively named for this place, but except To-
some brilliant playing in the west and oil
D hard-surfaced courts. pre-emlnently hi
winning of the first clay court champion
ship Of the United States and his victor!
Of the Pacific coast title Long must neces
sarily be eliminated although It would ap
. pear that had he competed in the last thi
J year. his ranking might easily have beef
of the first five. Narrowing the selection
: to McLoughlin and Wright there would
seem adequate reasons because OF his NOR
) extended performance upon the courts o
A this country, of placing the young Call
, fornian third with Beals Wright fourth oil
h the list. In a way, even the placing o
= Wright fourth, Is considered q compliment
l. AIRY rating by some, for on the records
Wright's greatest performance was abroad
. where he reached the final OF the All
e England at Himbledon to be defeated b,
n Anthony F. Widing in five sets. Asid
e from that, Wright came down to the final
It in the great Longwood tournament and 4
d the All-Comers at Newport. At Longwood
Mclaughlin defeated him, and while a
> Newport. Wright turned the tables upo
It Mclaughlin. 1t is the opinion OF those VIII
10 watched Wright closely, that he was ex
n tremely fortunate 70 go as far as he al
+ at Newport. and that only miraculous re
trievals saved him in other matches befor
he lowered his colOrs 20 Bundy.
Il For the fifth place, Nathaniel W. Miles
Gusuve F. Touchard, Frederick G. Co
l. ston. Theodore Roosevelt Pen and Reube
A. Holden tr., are named. There seem
"a good reason for passing the Yale plays
N from any lengthy consideration in thl
A., group Good as is the Yale captain, h
N failed 20 compete in a great number {
"a tournaments and this fact also lowers III
~ comparative percentage OF Touohard an
"a Pen The former suffered because OF Il
p ness. and while he is generally considers
70 one Of the most brilliant Of the youngS
N group handling the racquet, sull the Ia,
! that Niles defeated him. as a matter
AZ record, would enttle Niles TO the lift
70 place on the list. making that small b.
select group read; Larned, Bundy. M,