New Britain herald., 1926-07-28
TILDEN TELLS OF HIS STRUGGLE TO
 MASTER TENNIS AND BECOME CHAMP

As he recalled these days of his gangling youth, Tilden glanced re- flectively at one of his proteges - Junior" Coen, who has come east after making his mark in middle western ranks. The champion, a few minutes before, had been mak- ing imanginary slices with a collec- tion of new racquets under Coen's S admiring gaze.
 Was Very Wild
 From the age of 12 to about 19 or 20," he went on, T played pretty badly. I was wild as a hawk. My shots were not particularly sound. l was just 'swatter-type.' At about Is l made up my mind to remodel my game, which at the time was very cratic off the ground and had as its only redeeming feature fast service,
 "I realized it wouldn't get me | anywhere and that I needed a sound ground game. On that theory l analysed my play along common sense, scientific lines and for the next half-dozen years, or until was 25, I worked on an ail-court game.
 Everyone, including my friends, told me was foolish: that I couldn't be both a base-line and net player but fortunately l was pig-headed enough not to believe them and kept at it. As a result in 1918 I got to the finals of the National singles, losing to Lindley Murray, and found place in the first ten for the first time.
 Tn 1919 Bill Johnston and l be- gan our long span of rivalry, meet ing four times together. l defeated him the first time we met, at New port. and also won in the East West matches but he turned the tables in the clay court tournament and again in the title round of the na- tional singles.
 Two factors accounted for John ston's decisive victories-first, great CT experience in match tournament: second, his ability to pound my backhand to pulp"
 F. Tilden then told how he developed an offensive backhand in Providence during the winter of 1919 and 1920.
 Applying the object-iessons of his career, TiIden went on:
 "I am convinced that any player who wants to, can master any stroke in the game. And no player will hold the American championship in the future who has any pronounced weakness. Therefore, any young player who aspires to be a national champion must be willing 10 go through the long, tedious and at times seemingly hopeless grind of learning the fundamentals of an all- court game.
 Must Acquire Style
 Style, too, must be acquired. By that I mean correct form, which is a combination of racquet technique and footwork. The ability 10 keep the eye on the ball at all times and correct court position are absolutely essential to success.
 Every player, to reach the top, must acquire these fundamentals, yet these alone won't make cham pion, It's the willingness and the knowledge of when the sacrifice 10 gain this form that makes a great champion.
 ''Bill Johnston, a model of style, will sacrifice comfort, looks and dignity to win a crucial point if that point happens to mean victory or defeat.
 Tt is this ability. which l term the ability to scramble The de- termination to go after everything, 1 which carries most players out or the mass of the good into the select circle of the great. Lacoste has It. So have Richards and Borotra, but thay are a few among many. DICK Williams, for example, is not Will ing to scramble and, as a result, has failed to touch many Of the heights to which his spectacular game otherwise would have carried him.
 Advises Hard Shots
 "I cannot too strongly urge young players to attempt the impossible III Erecoyeries. At least 75 per cent ot the shots considered impossible are actually recoverable if the eifort IS made for them. Let no player cramp Ihis style by worrying about the gal Ilery thinking he is playing to the grandstand when he is trying TOT sensational recoveries."
 | IL, SbnIi11 he noted. Hives up fully to his own advice 10 "scramble." In his long stride ana with his tremendous reach, the cham has physical advantages that lenable him to make difficult gets with seeming ease but at the same time is always ready to dash far out of court or plunge to the net, rlsK- ing possible injury to recover the ball.
 q am a great believer In imita- ton; not that a player can accurate fly copy another's stroke but in at tempting to do so he Is apt to dis cover a valuable stroke of his own. My forehand drive, which actually bears no resemblance to J. o. An derson's, Is the nearest to 1t which I am able to produce. My back hand slice, which has no family con- inection with that of J. J. Armstrong, former Harvard star and ex-inter- collegiate champion, started as an limitation of his famous slice. My advice to young players is to see as much good tennis as possible iand attempt to copy the outstanding strokes of the famous stars.
 Tn attempting to develop the game of various juniors have found