New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1920-10-29

w den II, worlds singles champion;
william Nj. Johnston, X. N. WIZ
liams II, and Samuel Hardy, captain. Hardy was
chosen because of his proved generalship anu
knowledge of the game.
while Hardy is being sent as a playing cap
tain, it is hardly likely he will participate" MI
Adee said. "With the singles champion, the dou-
bles champions, and Hardy we believe the Davis
cup will be brought back to this country"
"Well, what of ity" may ask the baseball fan
or the deyotee of boxing or the enthusiast who
thrills over the thoroughbred a good deal.
In a decade the popular interest in tennis has
increased amazingly. Take a look at any one
of the courts to be seen all over the country.
The largest clubs are taxed to the limit OF their
facilities to handle the crowds anxious to get a
glimpse Of leading players In action. The maj
of the American national championship, despite
Intermittent rain, was played before n gallery OF
II 900 that overfiowed the stands. Verify, the
sport is growing by leaps and bounds, and the
idea that the national championship final may
have to be held at the Polo grounds or some other
large arena before long, is not at all a joke.
To this increasing army Of tennis enthusiasts
William T. Tilden ii is quite ms great as is Babe
Ruth to the fans, and Jack Dempsey TO the low
es of boxing and Man O. War to the devotees of
racing, and there is no question that he is great
on the tennis court. At the recent Tilden banquet
William NJ. Johnston took occasion to declare
IIUtn u III SItuttSl ithilS liutcI III tbt
world. Samuel Hardy went further in his esti-
mate, for he declared Tilden to be the greatest
player the world ever has known, and he pre-
dicted that in another season or two the cham
pion would be even greater than he is today.
Billy Johnston ought to know, for it's likely the
dethroned national title holder is next best. john
ston stamps him, in the opinion of the experts. as
not only the greatest of all living tennis players,
but perhaps the greatest of all time.
Tho 6vp SptS were scored nt C1. LIZ IN NJ Ga
This Tilden-J Johnston struggle will go down on
the records as the most astounding exhibition of
tennis. the most nerye-racklng battle that the
courts have ever seen. Up TO this time, the fa-
nous final of 1915, In which Richard Norris Will
liams III. defeated Johnston for the championship,
had been considered the apex Of tennis history.
But that great match faded into comparative in
significance.
Williams and Johnston played five sets of me-
chnnically perfect tennis. Tilden and Johnston
layed five sets of incredible melodrama, with
a thrill in every scene, with horrible errors lead
ing suddenly TO glorious achievements, with skill
and courage and good and evil fortune mex
tricably mingled. and with a constant stimulus to
cheers, groans and actual hysteria, so far as the
spectators were concerned.
To describe that amazing final as the most sig
nifcant of all American tennis tournaments. a
tournament that unquestionably carried with 1t
the worlds championship, would require the s-
~perlative of all the adjectives that the journalism
of the game has either used up or discarded In
the past. 1t is enough to say that all future dis
cussions Of the Olympian heights of tennis will
probably begin with the question, Were you
there when-T' and the answer will be either You
bet I was" or Curses. no." For the proud pos
SCISSORS of the firmative no application is neces-
sary. For the sad negatives nothing can be done,
for IT will never happen again, at least not just
that way.
Praise for the two contenders for the American
championship of 1920 may be equally divided.
There is plenty for both. Tilden's victory was a
triumph of supertennis. a vindicatlon of the game
which the best judges have for some time consid-
cred invincible. But. if Tilden is the greatest ten
mis- player that ever lived, Johnston is the gamest
man hat ever trod q court.