Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-07
Champion in Tennis at Best
Under Strain of Big Match
Stars May Play Almost Second.Crade Tennis in
Unimportant Tilt, But Will Produce Title
Caliber Stuff in a Pinch
BY WILLIAM r. TILDEN. I'd
Tennis Champion Of the World. l0?O-10?I
WHAT Is a champion?

MTIIAT is a champion?
" This sounds like an easy question
to answer. A champion Is the best in
any given sport. 1t Is not this defni-
tion of champion that is interesting.
The qualities that go to produce the
champion should be given in any deiin'
tion of the word.
What qualities in common have Cecil
Leitch and Ty Cobb or joey Ray ana
Jack Dempsey. Eabe Ruth and Billy
Johnston. Chick Evans and Molia
Bjurstcdt Mallory? Athletics, whether
baseball, football, golf. tennis, or box
ing, demand certain fundamentals OF
character from their leaders that must
| be present if the man or woman is to
hold the top rung Of the ladder.
Must Produce
The first quality In the makeup oil
any champion is the ability to produce
his or her best ''in the pinch. In
baseball. Ruth and Cobb hit when hit
is needed to win because they have that
supreme confidence in their ability to
do so. Cecil l.eitch and Chick Evans
hold out a twenty foot putt that wins
II match, yet each may miss an easy
six foot one when it is not crucial
point. Joey Ray and Jack Dempsey
in their particular fields. hold reserve
until the crisis and then smother their
opponents on track or in ring by pro-
ducing their uncqunlcd best in the
pinch Molla Mallory and Billy john
stOn may play almost second class ten =
&c In, tDbn ,,i rnInnurnfiyp =
portance. but both produce their great
est under the heaviest strain.
This gudliiy is really u refusal to
admit defeat Or 6rcn TO consider
its possibility. There Is no c0mceit
0bOut it,; il Is not rrcn Orcr.c con-
fdencc. II is superb, Orerrhelm-
ing courage.
yTJIIE man or woman who is forced tC
l. meet and play against this atmos
phera Of complete reserve is at once
placed at a distinct disadvantage. They
feel there is always something as yet
unknown waiting for them around the
corner, ready to spring out at them
at the call Of the champion. Many a
title holder has been saved from defeat
by the psychological effect of this re-
serve power on his opponent. who blew
up under the strain Of waiting for the
unexpected that never happened.
Champions in all sports do not miss
the easy shots in critical periods, al
though the great dub of whom the
athletic world is mad" up, and from
whom comes the champion. speciallzes
in this form of match losing.
Never Admit Defeat
1t is the refusal 10 admit defeat. this
certainty of play in the crisis that al
lowed Molla Mallory to so decislvcA
defeat Suzanne I.cnglcn in the Women
Tennis Championship Of America. j
was nerve against nerves, and nerve. a.
always. won. \ champion must have
courage, but he or she must also hav'
daring. and the powers of quick thinking
and resource.
Many match Or game has been woI
BY the unexpected play. Great mo
mcnts in the sporting world are ns,iall
record of some player who tried tn
impossible and got away with it,.
Charles Brickley wrote football his
tory with daring play in the pinch
< Cobb picks out the moment when no on
should steal home to romp away wit
ius, that. So It goes. The Oustandin
figure is always the person of individu
. ality, of imagination, or, IN the las
analysis, personality.
, The great champions, In their
rarious branches of sport, are all
technically fine. In these days.
4 faulty fundamentals of any sport
. kiH ones chance to attain dishnc'
= tton.
i
THERE are too many good youn
$ l. stars coming to the front. 1t Is NJ
o the strokes or the speed that produce
: the super athlete, but the cOmbinatio
of brain and body, so that the dirertin
power utilizes to the fullest the re
3 sources at its command.
o I have great admiration for U
= Cobb, for in him ] see a man produc
ing, year after year, first class result
I by the means of clever brain WORK
, Cobb is not remarkably fast on his feet
e I mean that there are other men as fas
lie has merely reduced wasted effort |
starting and stopping to a minimum S
that the total time taken from the mo
;. ment he meets the ball with the ba
= until he Is safely on first base is short
i ened to the greatest possible degree.
z required study to do 1t so Cobb studied
n Personality