The New York herald., 1922-04-08
mo QUARREL WITH
TILDEN,' SAYS CLUB
Seventh Regiment Tennis
Club Only Protesting Rich
ards's Tourney Default.
by SAMUEL J. BRooKMAN.

In the hands OF the executive COM
Tennis Association rests the protest of
the Seventh Regiment Tennis Club
against the date conflict which per-
mitted Philadelphia to stage q Middle
States indoor championship while the
national event was going on in the
armory here last week and against
the action of Vincent Richards in de-
faulting In the national tournament to
play in Philadelphia. Undoubtedly the
committee Will make reply in due time,
but the officials are in no hurry to
comment on the case, preferring to re-
view all the evidence carefully before
doing so.
In the meantime William T. Tilden
has taken up the defense of Vincent
Richards and has explained that Rich
ardss reason for defaulting was that
he had previously promised to play in
the Philadelphia tournament and that
he. Tilden. had insisted upon Richards
living up to his first promise. Further
more the world champion has resented
any alleged criticism of him by the
Seventh Regiment Tennis Club and has
defied anybody to dictate to a player
where he shall or shall not play
w. Dickson Cunningham. president
of the Seventh Regiment Tennis Club.
who wrote the letter of protest on
Wednesday declared yesterday that he
had nothing to add, preferring to let
the matter rest with the executive COM
mittee of the national association. He
wished to correct. however Tilden's i'm
preston that the club had criticized
him in any way.
Only Richards Criticized.
we have no quarrel with Tilden."
he said, and the club has not dictated
to nor criticized him in any way. + did
not even mention his name In the letter
of protest. Our protest was directed
against Richards who, after offering as
an excuse for default that he was not
IN condition to play, appeared in the
Middle States event .hree days later,
nlayed in singles and doubles and de-
feated r. Lindlsy Murray and WilDar,
T. Tilden in a singe day. Az fer thc
conflict of dates we certainly did not
infer In any way that that was Tj.den's
fault.
There has been criticism of my act in
accepting Richards's entry by telephone
when the rules state clearly that no
entry can be accepted unless in writing.
accompanied by entrance fee. In reply
! wish to say that my critics are abso-
lutely correct on this point. The tele-
phone entry should not have been ac-
cepted, interpreting the rules strictly,
and frankly it is a point I overlooked.
THE fact is, however, that Richards
had returned just the day before the
closing of entries from Bermuda. and ii
occurred to me that he might have lost
sight of the fact that his entry would
have to be received at once to be in
In nA .Ira yflI-x
leg on the championship trophy. and I
felt in justice to him he ought to be
notified of the proximity of the closing
hour. That and the fact that we wanted
him in the tournament were the reasons
for my telephoning him.
Have Perpetunted the Event.
"A good deal mas been said about the
poor lighting conditions in the Seventh
Regiment Armory, and / am ready to
admit that they are not ideal. although
far from being as poor as painted. On
days, in fact. when the sun is not hid
den behind clouds conditions in my
opinion. are quite satisfactory. But
whether such is the case or not, the
fact remains that the Seventh Regiment
Tennis Club year in and year out has
done its best to perpetuate a tourna- :
ment that many stars of the court have
failed to support, and we deserve some
credit for trying our utmost to make
the event as attractive as possible, de-
spite the absence of out of town entries.
I'VE have been criticised time and
again because the entry in tournament
that carried national title with it was
more or less local in character. yet we
do not see that that is any fault OF
ours, nor has any other club. so far as
we know. put in an official bid for the
event"