The New York herald., 1922-10-22
Coast Girl Follows Champion
Miss Browne Third and
Miss Bancroft Fourth.
ny SAMUEL ). nRooxMAN.

Naming the first ten women players
OF the country will prove far. more
difficult task for the national ranking
committee than the selection of the
top fight In the mems division. bar
ring Mrs. Molla Mallory, the champion,
the women contenders failed to play
consistently during the season and
there is plenty of room for argument
as to the relative strength of the lead
ers. In some instances girls of
proven ability competed In 30 few
tournaments that they may be left
out of the ranking entirely.
Miss Eleanor Goss, for instance, who
has BEEN in the first five for three or
four years. made only one competitive
appearance during the season and that
was In the closing tournament Of the
season, the Ardsley Club invitation
event. five weeks after the national
championship. II the ranking commit
tee follows precedent 1t will consider
that Miss Goss's single appearances offers
no basis for rating and will include her
only among those omitted because of
insufficient data" Undoubtedly Miss
or sixth place in national rank, but the
current seasons performance counts, not
the preceding one.
For the same reason the name of Miss
Mary X. Browne of Los Angeles may
be found among the missing. The only
tournaments in which the California girl
played in this section of the country
We're the East-West series, in which she
opposed Mrs. Mallory, and the Ardsley
Club invitation, in which she reached the
finai She did. however. participate in
early season events on the coast and
she did succeed In extending Mrs. NAL
lUry to the limit in the two matches she
engaged with her, SO that her record is
far more substantial than that of Miss
Goss., For that reason we have included
her In THE HERALD's annual ranking list.
OF course, Mrs. Mallory heads the list
Unbeaten on an American court in three
years and apparently as effective right
now as ever before In her sensational
career, Molla for the time being stands
alone in this. country. Whether her
reign will continue undisturbed another
season, however, Is another question. for
not only did Miss Browne come pretty
close to beating her. hut a new sensation
OF the courts, sixteen-year- Miss
Helen Wills of California, is threatening
rated a champion In the making. Indeed.
not few critics expect Miss Wills to
ieleve Mrs. Mallory of the tennis crown
next summer
On three occasions the Pacific coast
schoolgirl forced Mrs. Mallory to the
limit of her speed, skill and endurance
to prevent defeat In extra sets. Miss
Wills seemed to improve with every
tournament and toward the end she was
flashing so versatile. so powerful and SO
skillrul an attack that a victory over
Mrs Mallory would no longer have sur
prised. Runner-up In the national
championship and with three sets won
from Mrs. Mallory to her credit, Miss
Wills seems the logical choice for Sec
ond place IN national rank. Not a rew
will dispute the selection and Will point
to the fact that Miss Leslie Bancroft de-
feated Miss Wills three times IN Inn
portant tournaments. True enough, but
when Miss Bancroft's consistently weak
performances against Mrs. Mallory are
compared with the sensational play OF
the schoolgirl against the national cham
pion the advantage certainly rests with
Miss Wills.
There was only one other player who
accomplished the defeat or the Cali
fornia schoolgirl. She was Mrs. Marion
Zinderstein Jessup or Wilmington. But
that defeat came I'M the last tournament
OF the season after Miss Wills had
scored twice over Mrs. Jessup I'm events
OF far greater importance. We have
named Miss Browne third and Mrs. May
Sutton Bundy fifth, so that California
has three In the first five Mrs. Jessup
is another who with little greater ac-
tivity might have improved her ranking.
Miss Martha Bayard, who made great
strides during the season. Is seventh.
and Miss Florence Ballin.whom she de-
1eated In one OF the hardest fought
matches OF the national championship,
is ninth. Between them stands Miss
Helen Gillaeudeau. Connecticut State
champion. Miss Ballin not only won
the Eastern Pennsylvania championship
but advanced to the semi-finais OF three
or four other tournaments and gave
Mrs Mallory some stern competition In
one contest Miss Clare Cassei, named
tenth. has little to spare over Miss
Edith Sigourney. Miss Helen Hooker.
Miss Margaret Grove and Miss Marie
Wagner.
While the women's advisory committee
may be consulted in the matter or the
official national ranking. the work will
devolve on the committee composed OF
Russell Dana of Providence, chairman;
Or. Philip b. Hawk Of Philadelphia. Is.
r. Thorward OF Cleveland. William M.
Fischer of New York and Percival v.
Hota