Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-12-05

! championship Is bestowed upon the
winner by the English but By no
other nation.
Australasia, America. France, Ger.
many, Sweden and Russia are al able
to rect the old country on even
terms at the present day, and IN all
these countries hard courts are given
preference and the play on turf courts
/ is comparatively light. In America the
national championships are still held
on grass courts. although more than
three-quarters Of the players develop
their games on clay, cement or a.
phalt
It hardly seems that sucl 4 6ohdi.
ton OF affairs can last, and Ii 1910
a national tournament Tor the clay
court Championship OF the United
States was inaugurated. Melville Vi.
Long OF San Francisco won the first
clay court championship AFTER aeon
petition in which few OF the ranking
experts of America took part.
Science on Hard Court.
There Is no reason why 1t should
be given secondary place. The best
grass courts that have ever been built
cut up under hard game. and In
the course of tournament play. the
best men are given the choicest
courts, while the rank and file are
; obliged to play on surfaces OF very
different character.
To the ordinary English player
lawn tennis Is game played on a
lawn, and nowhere else. but during
the present season so much interfer-
ence in tournament play has been
! caused by rain that. all over Great
Britain hard courts are now being In
stalled. and the supremacy or the
grass-court game is bound to be ser.
iously threatened In a short time.
The change Is due in part 10 the
progress made in late years by the
lF'reneh and German players who par
ticipate in the English Journeys and
Invariably capture the spectators with
their free and vigorous >hafd-hIttins
game, learned upon hard courts in
heir own countries.
Keeps Eye on Ball.
One thing the English player excels
in, and that is in ability to keep his
eye upon the ball until he has struck
1t. and this peculiar excellence Is
caused by the very fact that his court
will not play true and he must be on
the alert until the last moment.
When developed to the highest
pitch of excellence grass court can
be made almost equal to the best
clay or asphalt courts, and the gai
lery courts at Wimbledon and New
rort prove this. They are practically
hard courts amid turf surroundings,
but the cost OF maintaining them In
prime condition is very high.
The leading players of the Pacific
Coast who have tried their luck on
the Eastern grass courts are Nc
LoughlIn, Long, Bundy and Gardner,
and all these men are loud In praise
of grass courts; but 1t must be re-
membered that these experts are
among the leaders in the game, and
get the best of it.
A number of hard courts can be
put down so as to give true, reii-
able surface The cost of mainte-
nance is practically nothing for years
They are not susceptible TO damage
by the players and in case Of wet
weather can be placed back In con-
diJion almost as soon as the rain has
ceased, without any injustice to any
one player. In all these particulars
they offer a complete contrast TO the
grass courts.
In New York city at the present
time ninety-two asphalt courts are
being placed in Central Park. These
courts are to replace the present grass
courts, which have proven very un-
satisfactory because they have been
found incapable of standing the con-
slant usage imposed upon them.
This change is the forerunner In q
movement to alter more than 500
courts in the New York and brooklyn
public parks.