The San Francisco call., 1910-01-24
TENNIS EXPERTS
EXPLAIN DEFEAT
Solved Service of
Local Pair and Met Ball
Leaving Ground
By GRANT SMITH

After an absence of about three
months, more than half of which was
spent on the water, Maurice McLough-
lin and Melville Long, the two young
tennis players who represented this
llcountry in the international matches,
returned last Tuesday and were given
a hearty welcome. Judging by the re-
ception given them one would almost
have thought they were bringing the
Davis cup with them instead of return
ing with a goose egg. The fact that
they failed to win even one of the five
matches. played made no difference.
They made an excellent showing and
did about all that could have been eX-
pected of them. They redeemed them
selves in the doubles. which was the
last match played, and even the Aus
traIian papers admitted that the two
youngsters would have won this match
with their share of the luck.
The Australians, one and all, de-
clared the doubles match to be the best
ever played in their country and the
match went in straight sets at that.
Each set, however, was close and hard
fought every inch of the way.
SPECTATORS WITH THEM
Long and Mclaughlin state that the
sympathies Of the spectators were with
them from start to finish despite the
fact that the Davis cup and the worlds
championship were at stake and the
Australians have no desire to lose them.
The extreme youth of the two chal-
lengers and their fighting spirit no
doubt won them the favor of the crowd
and their game fight against over
whelming odds and their gentlemanly
demeanor on the courts held it.
Both Long and Mclaughlin were loud
in their praise of the Australians both
as sportSmen and hosts. The boys were
treated royalty and viii always have
soft spot in their hearts for the land
of the kangaroo.
In speaking of the relative ability of
the Australian and American cham
pions the boys declared that Champion
Larned could take the measure of both
Brooks and Wilding. AS Beals Wright
beat them both little more than
year ago it is quite likely Larned could
do so rather handily
Long and Mclaughlin offer no eX-
cuses for their overwhelming defeat
other than that they were outclassed.
They figure they did their best but II
was not nearly good enough to win
from the Australians. The latter put
I <
they solved the challengers' fast, long
bounding service. The Australians. iu-
stead of standing well back of the base
line, stood wei within 1t to, receive
service They met he bail just after 1t
left the ground instead of taking 1t as
ii came down. This enabled them to
play in close and by dropping the balls
at the feet of Long and Mclaughlin
as they came in the Australians drovei
them from the net. ust how the cham
pions could have handled the fast serv
ice of Long and Mclaughlin in the
manner described by the latter would
be a difficult matter to understand
without seeing it DONE The writer
used and handled a similar service for
years and is at a loss 10 understand
how any one could stroke it with any
degree of accuracy is the ball is COM
ing up just after it leaves the ground.
DEPEND on SERVICE
With their service solved, the Cali
fornians would stand little chance
against such players as Brooks and
Wilding The former depend greatly
on their service and with it robbed OF
its effectiveness it IS wonder they
made as good a showing as they did.
While neither Long nor Mclaughlin
had much to say about the national
ranking it could easily be seen that
both were very much disappointed.
They were given to understand by all
the PLAYERS whose opinion was worth
ANYTHING that Mclaughlin would surely
be ranked as No. 3. They were
both greatly surprised that Johnston
and Niles were placed in the first five.
We are still waiting TO hear from the
east on what ground Johnston, who
lost to a PLAYER in the national singles
who was later badly beaten by Nc
Loughlin, is entitled to higher rank
ing than the latter. Some day the east
may give up it's secret.
BROOKS TO VISIT AMERICA
Mclaughlin stated upon his return
that Champion Brooks will visit this
country during the year and partici-
pate in both the tennis and golf cham
pionships. He is said to be as clever
with the golf sticks ~ he is with the
tennis racket A meeting between him
and Larned on the courts would GER
tainly be a treat
Long and Mclaughlin will play
exhibition match in the near future.
but as vet no date has been arranged.
The fans have not seen any. high class
tennis since these two players went
east last fall and certainly would turn
out strong.
There will be tournament play at
both the California club and the park
today. On the public courts handi-
can singles tournament begun several
weeks ago will be completed. The
fourth class players will also meet in
a class event. At the California club
the three class winners of the event
finished last Sunday will meet in
playoff under handicap conditions.