The sun., 1919-08-26
Play in Championship at
Forest Hills Courts Will
Begin To-day.
ny EUGENE II. o,CoNNnLL.

Play In the annual tennis tournamsn
fcI the championship Of the United
States. which was scheduled to begin
yesterday afternoon on the courts Of the
West Side Club In Forest Hills at 1
o'clock. had to be postponed on account
Of the heavy early morning rain, and
the start will be made to-day at tn,
same hour. The fact that the sun came
out around noontime did not help mat
ters much. for there were only three Of
the courts In any kind Of condition for
playing even late in the afternoon
These were the three in the grand stand
enclosure and were all fairly dry be-
cause they had been covered with huge
tarpaulins.
In spite Of the fact that the club ana
tournament officials made every effort to
acquaint followers of tennis with the
postponement, quite a few enthusiasts
began to land at Forest Hills with the
iirst bit OF sunshine. However, most
devotees OF the sport very wisely phoned
hrst, and as a result the wires at the
clubhouse and those In the offices of the
National Tennis Association were kept
busy throughout the day.
Some few Of the players went down
to look the courts over but none made
any use Of the turf during the day.
Norman r. Brookes. the great Aus
tralian. who has played on turf In every
corner of the globe, looked the place
over and was strong in his praise Of
the lawns
Everything IL Ready.
had been overlooked by the committees
to have the tournament running smoothly
on scheduled time, the officials were not
disappointed any at getting an extra day
to prepare. Everything is now In per-
feet condition and the Committeeman are
praying that the weather man will be-
have himself for the rest of the week.
II the weather only keeps good the
tournament Is bound to be a big success.
Never in the history Of the game has
there been SO much discussion over the
relative merits Of the players There
has been all the more interest in this
tournament because of the fact that the
championship may be won by any one
Of dozen players, whereas in other
years the outcome was never very much
in doubt
Picking the winner before the first
three rounds have been played would
be rather foolish because OF the many
things that may turn up to change the
whole flavor of the tournament There
| have been more upsets during this sea
! son than ever before. In early stages
of the years play William T. Tilden
I'd of Philadelphia looked to have the
bulge on the field. Then along came
William NJ. Johnston. the young Cali
fronian, with onesided victory over
Tilden. Johnston appeared to have the
championship stun. but he showed none
Of 1t in the final round at Newpor,
against Tilden.
| American followers of tennis have
come more and more to the belief tina,
! Patterson, the British champion, had
been overrated a great deal Certainly
| Patterson's victory in the challenge
round at Wimbledon over Brookes wac
not a startling performance. Brookes
still has the eye and the craft, but very
| little of the old speed and stamina.
Australians Not Feared.
Brookes has a great deal of difficulty
in handling a hard hit ball, thins
which was very noticeable in his match
against Willis E. Davis of San Fran