The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-10
WASHBURN, TENNIS .STAROF BROOKLAWN ALWAYS VERY COOL

Watson M. Washburn, the Black Rock summer resident, who has won
 many tennis trophies at Brooklawn, is
 given the following praise in the New York Tribune:
 They tell this tale: While the East
 ern tennis team was playing the Western at San Francisco last sum
 mer a great shout went up from the spectators.
 What was that?" inquired a man outside the incIosure of 2, spectator on
 the top row.
 '+Oh,'' replied the man, ''Washburn
 smiled.''
 Watson M washburn, No. in the
 ranking for last season, has three dis
 tinguishing characteristics on the court. These are his icy, impassiVe
 manner, his peculiar slap drive" and
 the way he conserves his energy. Any one of the three would attract to him
 the attention of any tennis gallery liv-
 ing, even if he were not one of the best players in the country. Few in the gallery, perhaps, realize
 just how good a player the icicle is.
 Few see the strength of his slap drive,
 and fewer see it at it best. Waddie hits them best on a rather heavy grass court, and when conditions are just right for his game he may be counted upon to hold up his end with any man in the country. To come back to one of Waddie's outstanding characteristics, he is as
 impassive as an oyster, cool as a cu-
 cunber, and cold as a custard. He out-Hacketts Harold Hackett, the in- iternationa1ist, who, formerly led the Arctic league, closely pressed by a c upIe of polar bears.
 i That frigorific manner, however, is his only on the court. Released from the cares of his slap drive, Washburn is melting, pleasant and popular. He is the youngest member of the execu- tive committee of the United States National Lawn Tennis association. He
 is now in his second year at the Co.,
 Iu1nbta Law school, after a brilliant
 scholarship and tennis career at liar yard.
 As for the second of the character istics of our hero, he carries the@doc- Urine of conservation of energy to such an extreme that he could hold i down any physics chair in the land. Many think that Washburn carries it too far. He makes not the slightest
 motion toward a shot he thinks can not reach
 Washburn was ranked 61 in 1910, Class B in 1911, in the third ten in 1912. the second ten the following year,
 ninth on the list for 1914 and eighth . last season. When he is a. lawyer he will be able to look back upon
 many years of court practice. He ought to be by far the coolest lawyer alive.
 From the first Washburn has played
 his own type of game. In a tennis age
 speeded up by the dashing network of the Ca4ifornians, the New Yorker has resolute1y stuck to what is essentially a base-line game. He brings up anew the old problem, Which would win-a
 perfect net attack or a perfect base line game?
 Harvard waddie is not however. helpless at the net. The excellence of some of his doubles performances dis proves that. He favors the backlfne however, and his comparative slow
 ness of foot and the fact that his ser
 vice, though good, has not the terrific speed of McLoughIfn's WiIIiams's
 Murray's, or others confine him to
 more baseline work than most of the
 other cracks. He runs rather stiff and loses many points at the net