Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-25
Officials Rule Courts Too
Vet for Matches and
: Opening Postponed I'm
: til Tomorrow
FINALS ON MON DA Y
BY SPICK HALL


West Side Tennis Club. Forest HIS,
l.. T.. Aug. 25.-All matches scheduled
for today in the national tennis cham-
pionships were called off.
According to many well informed on
the game the courts were not too wet
for play and it looked like incthcient
work on the part Of the officials 1t
was not raining ana there seemed no
npparent reason for calling of the
matches.
With nerfect weather conditions for
the remainder of the week the finals
will not be reached until next Monday
The West Side grounds committee has
done a remarkable work in getting so
many courts in such absolute perfcc-
ton. All of the courts on which the
feature matches were 10 be played were
covered with tarpauin last night
against possible rninstorm. rms
morning n big gang of expert lawn
I workers began to regroom the courts
and when they had finished they were
perfection itself.
s'Mac' Starts Tourney
Maurice r.. McLoughlin. upon whom
ali eyes are fastened to watch his at
tempted comeback, was accorded thc'
honor of opening the tournament. lie
was scheduled to meet Arthur Cragin
,,n court No. 3 at / o'clock. While this
match in itself was not expected to pro-
ducc anything sensational. it was cX-
pectcd that the larger part OF the GAL
= lery would be there just to see how near
or how far the Mac" of 1919 is from
the dashing conqueror Of Brookes in
1914.
The feature of the match OF the aft
.rnoon was on the books for ! o clock
on Court No. /. Conrad Il. Doyle, OF
Washington. y. c.. and =. Howard
yoshcll, of Brooklyn. sarc the men 10
furnish the feature. Noshcll has oeeh
in wonderful form recently. but ne
drew a tough opponent in Doyle, VINO IS
one of the best in the land on cia!
court. He has had little experience on
turf and consequently is handicapped IN
this way to some extent.
Times Have Changed
It is rather remarkable that FRED :
srick B. Alexander should have oeen
drawn right off the reel with Gerald
l.. Patterson. the young Austrailah' L.
who with Norman f. Brookcs won the
American doubles title from Bill Iilden
and Vincent Richards. The Alexander
Patterson match was expected TO draW
n big gallery on Court No. at 4:3o
o'clock. When Beals c. Wright and
Alexander were in Australia nine years
a0o ia play the Davis Cup matches,
thev practiced on a court belonging to
Patterson's father. At that time the
.ho, NJ hOy
Of fourteen. He was very much inter :
estcd in Alexander's style of play and
was fond Of having the famous Amer :
lean .'put him next to some OF his
"'ipside stuff" Patterson also acted
as ball.boy in Alexander's matches at
Christ Church. New Zealand, where
the matches >were playeH that year
And today the little ball boy of yester
day meets his former idol.
PhiIIy's Big -Four
Philadelphia's big four, Bill Tildcn
Wallace johnson, Craig Biddle and Il
Norris Williams, I'd, are scheduled
TO pIay in the first round today. John
,op plays II. Benedict, Biddle meets
Falls. Williams is pitted against Bags
and Tildcn clashes with Nehring.
With the hats of these four players
IN the tennis ring, Philadelphia has ar
excellent opportunity of once more be
ing the home of national champion
Bill Tildens play this year has beer
so consistently brilliant that it would
not be in the least surprising to see
the Germantown Cricket Clubs crack
bring the trophy back. But the field
that prp
dieting is utterly foolish. There are
so many stars here that the winner is
going to be the one who happens thi;
week to be at the top of game. Per
haps Tilden will be at his best ant
perhaps he won't Many of the play
ers who begin today have played in So
many tournaments recently that 1t il
certain that number of them are stale
However. most Of these have a chance
10 come back to form because the ma
iority of the better players have cas-!
matches for the first two or three days
This will give them much needed
rest and it is not unlikely that tn,
whole array of talent will be close t.
the top Of their games when the tcs
matches are pulled off later in th'
week.
Although the advance sale of sea
son tickets has closed. there are plent!
Of good seats available. There will b,
1000 of these single day seats sole
~ each day at the grounds. 1t is cas-,
Of first come. first served; but Harr.
Parker, treasurer of the champion
ship committee, says that every eifor
will be made to accommodate the crowd