Evening star., 1923-09-09


and Snodgrass are the men about
whom there is she most speculation.
Manuel Alfonso has at last become
accustomed to playing upon grass. as
his fine work fIs the doubles cham
/ provide a Waterloo for some of the
! best players. Tiiden thinks that he
should now be ranked third in this
country, II will be interesting to see
how far Alfonso justifies this predic-
May sprins Upsets.
| Hawkes. whose singles game is
constantly improving, may cause an
upset, as might also La Coste, whose
I youthful adaptabiiity will help him
4 to overcome the disadvantages OF q
foreign climate and a new playing
surface. Snodgrass. whose record this
year has been SO remarkable--he has
already beaten Johnston, Griffin,
lis quite likely to show some unex-
peeted victories to his credit and is one
OF the new players who will undoubt-
edly be ranked in this years first ten.
Strange to say, the change from
the asphalt courts of California TO
the turf of the east has given Snod-
grass but little trouble, nor does he
mind the extreme heat of the Atlantic
seaboard as much as he expected
He has an even. serene temperament
that is standing him in good stead
and he has. I think, q good chance
rounds.
Carl Fischer. too, is a new man to
be reckoned with and may easily de-
feat some of the men who have
hitherto been considered inferior only
to the topnotehers. His game, when
Is going well. is fast, dashing and
likely to prove troublesome to such
men as the Japanese, or to Hawkes..
or even Anderson.
Other players more or less new to
our tournaments are Leighton Craw-
events on the Riviera last winter:
Hirsh and Brugnon. both members
OF the French Davis cup team, and
Crocker and Wright OF the Canadian
Davis cup team. Crocker. 1t will be
Remembered. played a four-set match
against Shimizu in the preliminary
Davis cup matches and is likely to
DO well, as he is a sound player and
nard nitter, Wright, another young
He Is one of their indoor doubles
champions and has been improving
markedly this spring.
Wallis Myers, the well known Eng
authorities on the game and one Of
the winners of the recent national
veteran doubles championships, has
greatly improved his singles; game
this past year and will give any but
nL.
Tilden Va. Johnston Again.
All Speculation. however, about
probable winners should be confined
just below. When IL comes to the
final, there might as we'll be only
two entries. Tildeh and Johnston, in
stead of the sixty-four Every one
knows that these two men stand in
that only Illness or accident will pre-
the title
This. years encounter will be of
special interest because Johnston now
holds the two world chaflpionships
formerly held by Tiideh-the afass
and the hard court titles, When Pat
terson gained the Wimbledon cham.
pjionship two years ago. he. stated
\ that he did not consider himself
champion of the world. even though
he had won that title in open com
petition. He felt, and said that in
| order to justify his right to the title
he must also win the American hon.
! ors. This he failed to accomplish.
so, when Tilden finally won IL, after
defeating Johnston in a grueIing hve-
set contest. the title Of world ehafri-
pion virtually passed to him.
great many people feel that john
J ston Is really a finer tennis player
| than Tilden, that only his slight phy-
| sique has prevented him from VIM
ming the championship during the
last three years. His lack Of stamina
undoubtedly caused him to slump dur
! ing the latter part of his match with
i Tilden last year, when he led at two
sets to none. Johnston has been Ill
| again this year and may not be at his
best in Philadelphia.
Tilden has improved his game. This
may not seem possible to those who
witnessed the closing stages of last
years struggle, when he reached
great heights of play and could. ap-
parently. place the ball wherever he
| chose. Yet, Tilden has strengthened
his game in two important depart
ments-volleying and smashing. Til
den always has been ticlined too
! much toward safety in these two es-
sential branches of tennis, but play
ing doubles with his protege, Sandy
/ Wiener, has shown him the impor-