New-York tribune., 1922-04-07

.erning the action Of Vincent Rlcha
fsultine in both singles and doubles
tourney, last week was made pubic,
cunningham accused Richards OF
a.d faith in defaulting in the national
80 tournament, and then, two or
,sree days later, competing IN the
w,ad,e States tourney in Philadelphia.
.r@ording TO Cunningham, Richards Of
fored the plea Of sickness as his excuse
- -, connecting in this city.
~ ~ NV word has yet been heard from
p.Nk.rds 10 or the national association
-; !s''r,'r,a rngard So the matter, but yesterday
" w;iI;srn T. Tilden Cd. national ana
."n,lJ's singles champion, isSueq
s4e4nrnert go. in Philadelphia deiying ootn
,,nrnircban and "an executive eomif'''-
~, nr snv other body to dictate 20 u
olayer where he shall play :-,..f.
T;I6cn's statement is stralght Or
ward defense of young Richaros' ana II
j. evident that there Is goHE TO DC
-. of dnst stirred up before the matter
:, opicialIv closed. Cunningham him'
~ Il apnoars. is treading on thin ice
.Sorauee cf his action in accepting
e;rbards's entry to the national tour
.an,ent bv telephone instead OF IN
,.r;tinc and accompanied by the entry
soo as the rules Of the 18th Regiment
Tennis Club expressly required.
Tbe worlds champion refers sarcas-
,;caIIv to the national indoor cham
,;onebin 2t the eth Regiment Armory
- "tbe so-called' national indoor sim
~las With few outside entries.' and
JecIares that he and little Alexander
Wiener. his fourteen-ycar-o partner
.;nithe national indoor doubles. played
,nder lighting and surface conditions
yb;cb made il impossible for Wiener
- do Justice 10 himself or to me, be-
sarso I desired 10 assist the national
tourney as far as possible"
Light Poor at 9TH Regiment
The lighting conditions at the 9TH
REGIMENT Armory are notoriously bad
for tennis, and the surface conditions
lcave much to be desired, as any player
who speaks frankly will tell YOU, and
I saw this even though to speak this
truth always arouses anlmosity on the
mart of the local club officials.
Tildens statement says: 81 feel
that any criticism on the part of Mn
cent Richards or myself is entirely un-
called for"
Answering the demand of Cunning
lam that the association explain why
he national association sanctioned the
Philadelphia tourney in conflict with
he national event, and that Richards
be asked to explain his conduct, Tilden
says:
'Such demand is entirely unjusti
aed. In the first place, the local tour
nament was sanctioned. 1t was neces-
sary to postpone it a week, that was
all Having been sanctioned, any player
who desired to enter was eligible to
do so.
n was instrumental in getting Rich
ards here Vinny had been i'll and was
rot in the best condition. went TO him
and told him he could not afford, in his
q physical condition, TO risk full weeks
play and that our tournament was only
three days long and would be little
strain upon him. He agreed with me
and promised to come.
Never Consented to Play
Meanwhile he had entered the na-
tional affair in doubles, paired with
Frank Anderson. We objected to this,
after his promise to me, and he decided
TO default. But Cunningham had also
entered him in the national indoor
singles without his consent. which is
N direct violation of the rules Of the
Metropolitan Association. I heard Rich
ards myself object to this and declare
ne would not play there, twenty-four
hours before the tournament began.
ITO help out the New York tourna-
ment went over myself with Sandy
Wiener and played in doubles under
conditions that were great strain on
Sandy. We were defeated by Hart
mann and Ewing, pair we should
have beaten easily, as is shown by the
TACT that we took a set from Richards
and Wallace Johnson here
The so-called national indor cham
pionsh'ps are not national in scope.
In the last five years they haven't
had five players outside of the
New York district competing. 1t is
simply a local government, but by
courtesy takes the name Of national
championship Tournaments held in
other districts do not conflict with Il at
all.
Richards was perfectly free to come
nefe' In my opinion he did the right
th'ng IN not playing in a national event
N MS present condition. The criti-
eism directed against him is crtirclv
without Justification"
lnden statement throws 2 little
more lght on the inner workings of
NAe situation and If will bo ;,,toroe+;r, -,