Evening star., 1924-04-20

ana the llneSmen and spectators were
| often in doubt when the ball fell
near the line. Several of the lines
| men were criticized for some of their
| decisions, but if they made mistakes,
as some undoubtedly did, the poor
lighting mus: be held accountable.
| The singles championship was of
! especial interest this year, as il
| brought together, as was hoped and
| expected, the two stars of the tour
Eament, Richards and Hunter. At
| Hunter bested Richards by a narrow
| margin, and some experts believe
| that he should have outranked Rich
ards in the list of first ten players.
| Hunters victory was thought to be
more or less of a fiuke, according to
! Richards 81 porters, one that was
unlikely to he repeated. The recent
meeting was therefore of great in
terest, and Richards victory was a
| source of satisfaction to his adher-
ents, as the younger man never was
| in danger of defeat
Richards in Fine Trim.
In justice to Hunter ii must be
| stated that he is short of practice.
while Richards comes fresh from a
| series of victories in the south. No
| doubt the poor light also favored the
Younger man. 1t will be interesting
| to see if he can repeat his victory
| cut Of doors later in the year. Both
| men expect to compete at the Olympic
I
| that they viii meet in the final there.
| Richards is now playing better ten
MS than ever before. He has put on
| twelve pounds in weight, and is also
| far keener than he used to be. In
| this tournament he won all his
| matches by wide margins, even
| against such sound opponents as
| Rowman and kynaston, while Hunter
! had some hard battles. Gutter. one OF
| the armoTy players, took a set from
him ard carried the final set to deuce.
| He also lost a set to Frank Anderson,
| who played fine tennis before he be-
| came exhausted.
In the other half of the draw
Voshen came within a point three
| times of reaching TIE semi-finals. only
/ TO be finally overcome by kynaston's
! persistence. The latter could win
| only q game or two, a set from
| Richards, but played so well that
| tie winner remarked after the match.
You have to hit everything hard
and put the ball away or it comes
back"
The doubles offered little of inter
| est, Hunter and Richards carrying all
before them. They dropped a few
| games to King and Schaffer, owing
| to the formers fine play, but Were
| not extended until they met Voshell
| and Anderson in the finals. There
| they were hard pressed for a. time,
as both men were fatigued from their
four-set singles final but in the END
IH6y "Oiif stS WIS GApGCleu, DGIIS ITl9
more seasoned lair.
The lessons to be noted from the
tournament are, first. that any ma
tional championship should be played
in fitting surroundings under the ac-
tive jurisdiction of the national asso-
citation: second, that Richards has
justified his position in the first ten
ahead of Hunter, and. third. thai
Richards seems to be Americas hope
abroad this year. The only other
ranking player certain to compete at
both Wimbledon and Paris is Wash
burn. Hunter can play only at the
Olympic games, and Williams has not
vet decided to go abroad. while both
Tilden and Johnston have definitely
determined to remain at home this
summer.
Richards, therefore. seems the like
liest winner Of both tournaments He
has not been defeated this year. and
has already won half a dozen tourna-
ments. Flu -hermore, he is keener
than ever before in his life to make
a fine record this season, and already
is in strict training. If his service
and drive continue to improve, I be-
lieve that he will win abroad, and /
should not be at all surprised if he
resumed his former position of No.
in the ranking list at the close OF
the season