Evening star., 1923-06-24

There is no doubt that any player.
man or woman, who plays in a for
etgn country is seriously handicapped.
Suzanne showed this over here when
she went to pieces at Forest Hills in
1921. But there is still another factor
that consider more important than
the dinerence in playing conditions,
and that is that the standard OF play
among American women today is be-
low that of their English cousins.
/ say this not from any spirit of
disparagement of our own women
players. but because I believe that
the realization by them OF this fact
Is the first step toward their future
success, and II Is because of this that
have repeatedly urged our younger
players to go abroad for at least one
season in order that they may see for
themselves the high average of play
among English women.
Why Noiln Loses Abroad.
1t is true that. like their men play
ers, the English women are content
to play the old base-line game and
have never developed the brilliant
aggressive style that characterizes
the best modern tennis of men; but
they are SO steady. their defense so
sound, that when opposed to game
in which lack of steadiness is fac
tor-as II is among our players-they
matches.
We look upon Mrs. Mallory as the
persontfication of steadiness, but her
defeats by such women as Mrs. Beam
ish. Mrs. Satterthwaite and other less
well known players is due solely TO
her inability to match them In de-
fensive tactics / have played with
and against these two English women
many times and have watched them
for years. and know that they will
never be IN Lenglen's class, yet they
have both beaten our best players
many times.
AS Mrs. Mallory said to me two
years ago in England: 1T isn't that
mind being beaten, but I dislike
being beaten by women that no one
in America ever heard Of" Miss Ban
croft. our second ranking player. re-
Gently defeated in France by an un-
known French girl. and in writing to
one of her friends in America she
emphasized the fact that even the
dubs abroad get everything back"
and lamented her own inability to
match them In this particular.
Now. ] do not believe that this de-
fensive base-iine game of the Eng
lish women is the ideal type OF play,
nor do I believe that it will ever pro-
duce truly great players. 1t should
be considered among women, as IL is
among men. merely the first step to-
b
combines a sound base-line game with
aggressive net play.
Our Women Players Wrong.
There are three things wrong with
women's tennis in America:
]. Comparatively few women play
the game here. In England almost
every woman plays 1t, rich and poor
alike. Factory girls, shop girls. even
domestic servants. have their tennis
clubs, and all the women of the
leisure class play tennis as a matter
of course. This increases the compe-
tition and therefore the standard OF
play.
2. The women abroad play far more
often than do our players. In the
summerIt is light enough to play un-
til o'clock. and. as there are in
Vulnerable private courts. the wom-
en- spend at least two hours a
day practicing. Furthermore. there
held during the same week in vari-
Gus parts of the country throughout
the season, and each OF these tourna-
ments has six events open to women,
so that they have far greater oppor-
tunity for match play. The ranking
English players compete the year
round.
During the winter months they
play under cover in London or out
doors on the Riviera I know a num-
ber of them who have not missed a
days play in years. When they are
put out OF a tournament they go to
another club and practice strokes
Is 1t any wonder they are renowned
for their steadiness?
Third. our women players seem to
show no inclination to develop along
the lines that have made the game
of the American men the standard Of
the world. Their style Is practically
what 1t was twenty years ago.
can recall but three women of promi-
nence in America who have played a
game comparable to that of our best
men, a game that included net play
as we'll as ground strokes. I refer
to Hazel Hotchkiss (Mrs. Wightman),
Mary Browne and Marion Zinderstein
(MrA Jessup). Practically all our
other players. including Mrs. Mallory,