Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-13

INV tennis, as played yester-
i day in the annual Pennsylvania state
lawn Tennis championship tourney OF the
courts of the Merton Cricket Club at
Haverford, proved to be a bowling sue
cess. as the members of the Walla Walla
club. of TioGa, would say. It was
popular, not only with the players, but
with the hsrd-working officials and spec
taturs as well.
This twilight tennis is far from being
in any way similar to the twilight base
ball which Connie Mack and his group
of ambitious athletes put on at Shibe
Park during the months OF April and
May. In the first place, the p%artici-
pants don't depend on their ability as a
player to pay their income tax and pur-
chase Liberty Bonds and thrift stamps.
mother thing. They don't rely on
tho spectators to pass in enough at the
box offices to permit the
paying them a salary. They are anna
tours, but even il they did work on a
y rCentage basis they would owe the
management none at the end OF the
week. The majority OF the contestants
for the state title are business men.
who compete on tho courts more for the
exercise they receive than anything
else.
Natives Excited Over Tourney
While on the subject of spectators.
let 1t he known that the citizens Of
this city and the voters and Would-be
voters of the Main Line are without .
doubt greatly excited over the tourna-
ment at the Merton Cricket club. They
showed this by their splendid attendance
Tuesday and yesterday. They just
stayed away by the hundreds. When
the first match started yesterday there
were thirty-three on the clubhouse We
randa and on the benches in front of
the clubhouse. But it was different
when the final match was being decided.
The crowd got all worked up so much
over the match between Rowlands and
Rogers that the two couldn't sit still.
However. We'll return to our initial
thought, twilight tennis. The play was
scheduled to start as Rear 3:45 as pos
sible, but due to the rainfall it was
lacking but a few minutes of 3 o'clock
when the first semifinal round of the
doubles between Bill Tilden and Cart
Fisher and Wallace Rhoades and Hoth-
ersall was started. From then until s
o'clock there was something doing on
the courts.
Late Start Helps Players
Last year those who paid over their
good specie for the privilege of taking
part in the opening round and if sue
cessful in the second and third rounds
had to come on the courts at the noou
hour to play. Just when the boiling
sun was directly overhead and getting
In its fiercest work. After running hither
and thither for twenty minutes they
looked as though they had just come out
of a shower bath.
But like everything else, the contest
ants can blame or, to be exact. thank
this years conditions in the war. Instead
of receiving an entry list of more than
100 Chairman Hoskins and his commit
tee received less than thirty-fve. The
small numbe of contestants, combined
with the fact that the majority were
doing their bit in the business world to
down the Hun, made the committee de-
eide to postpone starting each days
matches until 3:s5.
This was welcomed by most of the
pla yers. for they could attend to their
work in the morning and early after
noon and play in the afternoon when
the sun wasn't so warm and the cool
night air vas beginning to make its
presence known Several of the players