Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-02-08
FOOT FAULT RULE SHOULD BE
MODIFIED, DECLARES TILDEN
Expert Urges DISTINCTION Between Voluntary
and Involuntary Fouls While Serving in
Tournament Play
BY WILLIAM T. TILDEN, I'D

, II took a flying start of step. he borr. I,
and crossed the line, making three dis,iseii =
foot faults every time he served NorrauNt
Swayne has peculiar little hon vhI's
may or may not he foot fault. tr tt s
it is very slight and technical. t,nas.
Mr.. Merrihew's Interpretation he foo,.
faults every time he serves-under n a.
Interpretation he would get called sevs,s, 5as,
times each match.
Serve Behind Line
II is possible to eliminate crossin, :,
line of swinging the foot over bv sarru sue
from about eight inches behind tho ta
line. The loss of time in getting to ,se
net will more than he made up in ny ae
mental relief of not having foot fa,i., ae
yelled at you about every second Az
you serve. There is nothing which rait,ss
a player so quickly as foot fault"
The question of the technicalitv n, a.
wriggle, etc, which Mr. Merrihew entor,
so much, is harder to solve. II is eos
plan to set both feet firmly and tbos ~
not move your left foot until after ,so
ball has been hit. This will do awav u1s rs
the question of the step and hop. ''
It is only right that all imnor,,,
matches should have foot fault inSn. .'
just as much as lincsmen and scorers t.,
let the gentleman calling them remcTbss
that the poor creatures shaving out ibss'
are not his worst cnemies let him have y
little of "the milk of human kndnessr tA
his makeup and give them the benee, =.
the doubt on the questionable decisionn'
II this attitude had been held by n certaJ,
gentleman who made the momentoua dn'
cision against Touchard when he bad
Williams match point at Newport VIII
knows but what our whole tennis rankin.
for that year would have been changod5
He may have been right and unuuestlon.
ably he thought he was, but he was a NJ
tie overzealous. Let the foot fault iudsa
be little lax rather than too strict an
the technicalities, as Mr.. Merrihew ia
There is ono point about the manner a,
putting judges on matches in Tournament
these days which ! would like explained
Why, If they are going to have foot FAM,
called, don't they call them from the ars.
round of tournament instead of begin
ning In the scmitinals? It merely resut,
in breaking up the game of the PLAYERS
and sometimes even throws the match ona
way, where If they began with the Judges
they would be used to ii by the time tbs
important matches came. Also why sin
gle out certain ones to put Judges on in
the early rounds and let the Others ra
free? 1t is unfair and thing which
should be abolished this coming season
Let us have foot faults called in All
matches or none.
All young players should try to develou
n service which is not open even 10 ths
technical ruling of the foot fault. Striya
for the serve with little foot movement
and. above all things, do not acquire ths
habit of walking into your SERVICE Stop
and set your feet before each ball served
1t would be "A very good thing IL al
schools enforced rigidly the foot fault
rule as regards walking service and cross
ing the line. 1t would save many BOYS
lots of trouble and many cuss words in
later years.