New-York tribune., 1919-11-01
Local Tennis
Players Seek
Indoor Court
Great Need for Specially
Constructed Building to
Hold Championship Meets
By Fred Hawthorne

isn't II ABOUT time tnat inc lawn ten
mis- players of this city had some suit
able place in which to hold their in
door tournaments during the late fall,
winter and spring? Here we are, with
the greatest number of individual play
crs and clubs of any district of similar
extent in the world. and yet we have
no building, no covered courts, worthy
of the name in the entire Borough Of
Manhattan.
1t is true that tho 7th Regiment Ten
mis- Club has it's armory courts at Six
ty-siXth Street and Park Avenue. and
it is there that the national indoor
champ pionship tournaments for men.
women and juniors have been held in
years past. But these courts are not
what they should be; the lighting ar
rangcmcnts arc eXecrable. particularly
on dark winter days; the big armory
is inadcQua sely heated. and there are
frequent Interruptions in play because
Of military regulations and require
mcnts.
AS a matter of fact, the players are
fortunate in having the 7th Regiment
Armory at their disposal. Were it not
for the generosity of the regimental
officers there would be no place in
which the large fields that always
gather at the championship Journeys
could conduct these events. While the
Goth and 22d Regiment armories are a
little better Off, so far as light condi
tions are concerned, the accommodate
tions otherwise are more limited, so it
is "any port in storm" to para
hrase.
When I was in Boston last August,
attending the national doubles cham
pionship tourney at the Longwood
Cricket Club, could not help remark
ing the wide difference between the
splendidly constructed and managed
Longwood Covered Court Club there
at Longwood is especially constructed
for indoor tennis, and it is almost as
light inside as out Of doors. The courts
themselves are canvas covered and the
seating arrangements arc splendid, the
whole thing being conducive to good
tennis on the part Of the players and
thorough enjoyment by the gallery
The Heights Casino, in Montague
Street, Brooklyn, is the nearest thing
in or around New York that we can
boast Of, when it comes to comparing
our covered courts to those at Long
wood. But there arc only two courts
in the Casino Building. and these
Woud be inadequate when IT came to
holding a tournament as large as the
national indoor affair.
The West Side Tennis Club of For
est Hills numbers several hundred
members on It's rolls, many of them
men of wealth. Why would it not be
possible and feasible for this club to
form a stock company or holding cor
poration and dispose of stock at, say,
500 a share? II the sum thus raised
were not sufficient, the members Of
the various other clubs in the metro
poltan district could be enlisted in
The drive, and with the money thus
gathered covered court building suf
hcient for the needs OF the players in
this city could be erected. if necessary,
on the grounds of one of the existing
clubs so as to save the purchase price
of the land needed.
There is no doubt that such an
enterprise in this city would give a
tremendous impetus to the indoor game.
Surely, New York is a big enough city
and q great enough tennis center to
demand and expect the best.
Philadelphia and New York are
straining at the leash to-day, in an
tcipaton of the inter-city team cham
pionship matches on the turf courts of
the Germantown Cricket Club of
York Tennis Club team, champions of
thc metropolitan Association in this
city, meet the players of the Philade.-
phia title.
There will be Sly singles matches
and three doubles events, with Vincent
Richards. national indoor and junior
champion. heading the New York team,
and the great Tildon in the van of the
Germantown Cricket Club forces. The
meeting between these two brilliant
players should result in one of the
classic battles of the courts.