The New York herald., 1922-02-26
Average Ability of Tourna-
ment Players Showing De-
cided Advance.
NEWCOMERS OF PROMISE
Despite Difficulties of Devel-
oping Girls Events, Youth
full Stars Appear.
by SAMUEL j. BROOK MAN.

Australian and British critics who
have had a chance ia vauate the
strength of women's tennis in this coun-
try have come to the conclusion that
on the average it is considerably below
par. After the first three or four in
rank, is their consensus 1.-The Ameri-
can women players do not approach
The average ability of the tournament
players OF England. France or Aus
tralia." Are they right or are they
wrong and why?
There is a good deal to be said on
the subject, pro and con. One might
begin by admitting that compared to
the excellence attained by the ranking
men players in the country the prog
ress of women's tennis has been slow.
that the top notchers among the men
far outnumber the championship con-
lenders among the women and that
IN a team match between let us say
the twenty leading women players OF
England and the corresponding players
or America the latter would probably
prove second best. Not by as wide
margin. however. as some of the for
eign critics would have us believe.
Nothing very definite is know about
the general ability of women players
IN Australia, or even in France, out
side of few tournament winners, but
American tennis officials appear ready
TO admit that the English average tops
that of America. Yet there is every
reason for optimism over the future
OF women's tennis in this country
every reason for believing that within
comparatively short time the stand
ard will have reached what one for
eign critic has called par average"
and will have supposed It, For be ii
l'nown that while the number of wo-
men tournament players in the aggre-
safe is still comparatively small that
II has been growing rapidly in the last
two or three seasons, that the number
of women's tournaments have reached
q record figure and that players of the
caliber OF our national champion, Mrs.
franklin !. Mallory. or Mrs. Marion H.
Jessup. Miss Mary X. Browne and Miss
Eleanor Goss admittedly encountered
sterner resistance in tournament play
last season than ever before.
Miss Brownies Opinion.
Miss Mary X Browne. returning to
competition in the East after an absence
of four years. was astonished at the "un-
telievably better" tennis shown by the
majority of the tournament players in
the important events. The progress in
aggressive play and all around skill was
marked. she declared. Add to that the
fact that in Mrs. Mallory, Miss Browne,
Mrs Jessup, Mrs. Bundy and Miss Goss
america has a stronger quintet than
any other tennis playing country could
muster. and the conclusion must be
Drawn that American womer's tennis is
not so far below par after all.
Of course, so far as future tennis
strength is concerned a great deal de-
pends on the continual development OF
new tournament players, particularly
among the younger element Admittedly
there has been far less concerted effort
IN America toward the development of
girls tennis than the development OF
hoys' Junior tennis. which Is flourishing.
or one thing, men of experience in ten
MS clubs have been more responsive
toward taking boys in hand and teach
ing them a trick or two about the game
than have leading women players toward
the development of girls tennis.
over In England the scheduling OF
handicap events in connection with AL
most every open tournament has had the
effect of bringing expert and dub to-
eether In match. much to the delight
ana the benefit of the newcomer. who
with a liberal handicap allowance has
peen able 10 win game or two occa-
sionally from player OF note This
has been great impetus TO the youth
lul element. In this country the handi-
cap tournament is practically unknown.
newcomers naturally are timid about
tntering scratch events and being swept
on the courts in two love sets. and so
with only occasional exceptions we find
the tournament entries confined TO play
crs OF proven ability.