New-York tribune., 1919-02-25
Richards Arrives Too Late
for Doubles Match ; Til
den Plays Fourteen Sets
By Fred Hawthorne

.snss the engineer of steam loco
motive had blundered in allowing one
- tho forward driving wheels to de-
vclop hotbox this afternoon on the
.r;n from New York to this city the
Middle States covered court lawn ten
n;x tournament on the roof Of the
wapamaker Building was thrown away
A schedule, the patience of some 700
men and women spectators sorely tried
and Vincent Richards, national doubles
champion, arrived too late to play his
..u;.6nal round match against Wallace
F. Johnson.
Also "because some one had blum
Jared" William T. Tilden, I'd, who, with
Richards, holds the doubles champion
shin. felt called upon to provide some
entertainment for the crowd that had
come to the courts in the expectation
Of seeing the boy champion perform.
Tjlden thereupon went out on the court
and proceeded to take OH all corners,
nlaving a total of fourteen sets during
Inc morning and afternoon.
Later, much later, Richards showed
up and, with Tilden, defeated Paul W.
Gibbons, the "Ty Cobb of lawn tennis"
in Philadelphia, and Charles N. Beard
ny score of Cd, 3-6, 6-1 in the
second round OF the mems doubles.
rair to come through successfully in
.he doubles. defeating H. W. Hanna
and C. NJ. Harlan, a local pair, by a
score of 6--3, 6-1. Several matches
in the junior singles were also decided.
Tilden to Face Alexander
Tomorrow afternoon at las o'clock
TAden will face Frederick B. Alex
ander, internationalist, in the lower
half semi-hnal bracket, while Richards
and Johnson will be the contenders in
the upper brackets. The winners are
scheduled TO meet in the final round on
Saturday afternoon.
The sensational defeat of Ichiiya
Kumagae, of Japan, on Thursday by
the youthful Richards was the magnet
that drew a big gallery to the roof
i. courts to-day, and many there expected
that the boy wonder would conquer the
crafty chop stroke master, Johnson,
and stand as the finalist against either
Tilden or Johnson on Saturday. But as
;
there was no sign of Richards the
crowd became anxious. Some left the
roof and went to eat or drink their
lunch, as the case might be. Others
stuck it out grimly, even though a
biting cold wind made teeth rattle and
toes tingle.
"They say this kid Richards is so
great Let's stick around and see him.
They'll have to show us. He'll have to
travel a bit faster against Wally John
son than he did against Kumagae If he
expects to VIM" was the generally ex-
pressed sentiment of these loyal Phila-
delphians with dash of Missouri
blood in their veins.
But young Richards did not show up,
and so Tilden, the other and much
taller half of the national doubles
championship combination, began to
play exhibition singles matches against
sl who volunteered and we're desirous
Of trying out their pet shots against
the national clay court champion.
We do not remember the full list of
those who took the court against Tilden
during the hours between IL a. m. and
4:30 p. M, but the most prominent vic
tim was none other than Johnson him
self, who, finding Richards missing, al
lowed he would like nothing better than
tllt with Illden.
Wins Three Sets
Three sets were played, and in all of
them Johnson was just nosed out. The
first was I'd for Tilden, the second
SO, and the third Cd. johnson
brought into play every variety of
chop stroke in his repertoire, but Til
den himself can Chop" on occasion,
and it was a beautiful duel of place
nent between the two. Johnson fre-
quently tricked his man out of posi-
tion by chopping the return short, the
ball falling just over the net, while
Tilden was stranded in back court.
But the latter little more than
eyened the score by his wonderfully
sharp cross court volleys, that John
son could not get his racquet on, no
matter how hard he tried. Tilden's
service was also more deadly, and his
close volleying very good, but even so,
there was not much to choose between
the two at the finish.
Just about this time. Richards
showed up, told how his train had been
delayed three hours, made his excuses
and was duly forgiven, and then he and
iilden went on against Gibbons and
Beard. The latter team was out to
make & showing against the national
champions and played hard for every
point, with the result that the second
set went TO them, largely through the
clever yolleying of Gibbons, AMI the
heavy smashing Of Beard
Tildcn then started letting out few
extra speed links, with Richards flash
Ing at the net position, and the third
and last set was quickly settled, the
sets going at "a, 3--6, Ct in favor
Of the champions.
The summary follows:
,Men's Middle ststes singles Fourth round).--
William 7 T1ldcn. ID. won from Harold l. Taylor
b. default
Mas doubles tfrss round) --Fenner and Brown
80 from Osborne and Martin by default: Craig
fn1da and Wallace Il. Johnson defeated II ",
1ssns and c. 81 Harlan. e-3. 6--i William T.
5ndsn ID. and Vincent X. Richards won from
g. = pornheim and J. Fischer by default: PAM
~. ~. Spo5sis and Charles y. Beard from L.
20 . 81 vsrnernap by default.
cts.sssooa fUiod Tlldeu and Richards defeated
VV.Soens AID Beard. 81 3-5 6-i: Dona aid
Tr.ss.o.D and g. B. rfnsst won from kumagae and
81 sepsc& exbiblton sinxies--wiliism T Tilden.
- cSseaSa Wallace +. Johnson, 6-4, SIS. e..
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