Evening star., 1926-02-17

section
For me to play well | must have
quiet and be able to concentrate.
But yesterday l was thinking about
my private worries all the time. l
was quite outside of the game. and
also physically upset owing to It rag.
ing headache. But / was not nervous
in the slightest degree.
Had IA Headache.
At one stage my headache was so
bad that my eyes became blurred so
that | could not see.
My morale was good throughout the
match.
But | did not get a single one Of
my best strokes in. Those which suts
ceeded were of poor quality.
No. Never once did | get in the
hit | wanted. Isn't tennis terrible?
think it was chiefly my enthusiasm
which carried me through.
But now that the match is over, lets
talk about things directly connected
with it.
There was a good deal of comment
regarding faulty judging by the lines.
men. As to any balls being called
out" when they We're really in" I
can only say that | am not used to
| cheating. and If l had seen Helen
| losing any points because OF faulty
| work by the lnesmen / would have
| crashed the next ball into the net
| Intentionally.
| When l threw down the balls pre-
maturely before the close of the
match, thinking the end of the sec
ond set had come with the score in
| my favor, the reason was that | mis-
| took the shout of out" coming from
| the crowd, for the call of the lines
man. As soon as the umpire ex-
planned that l still had a point to
get FOR victory l smiled at Helen
and returned TO continue the play,
although naturally the incident tld-
ed to my physically nervous state.
Not Ready for Match.
did not want to play Miss Wills
| until the middle of March, and !
believe Helen would have preferred
not to have met me until that date.
The newspapers which made all this
| fuss about the present tournament.
were therefore wrong IN bringing us
prematurely together.
| But, to demonstrate that ] have
not the slightest intention of dodEinS
the American champion now or here
| after. l here and now state that
propose to play in the singles tour
nament at Nice three weeks hence.
l do not like to speak of q return
match with Helen as revenge. be
cause | think that word Il Inisnomer.
| We are probably at the beginning
of a period of long rivalry.
The crowd yesterday was very an
moving. ! called TO the people many
times to be quiet. SO did Miss Wills.
But the noise went on just the same.
1t is unfair. After al. some of US
happen TO be highly strung, hut Is
that any sin? l think | have done
| enough to please people, on the
courts so that l ought to merit their
| consideration.
Helen played better yesterday than
II have ever seen her play before.
That is not to say tha- L am fright
ened TO meet her again.
The surroundings of the match
| were impossible. How can any one
do themselves justice with hundred
photographers invading the court,
| with policemen climbing up trees$after
| spectators, with an inceSsent SurglnG
of cheers and boos from outside? Even
if these offending people were French
| want to let them know that they
did more to harass me than the one
sided applause inside the court.
After all, the people inside had a
right to applaud and l could not oh
ject even If sometimes they applaudeo
for Miss Wills.
Thank goodness things are better
organized at Wimbledon, where we
shall probably meet in the great Eng
lish championships. My difficulties
in yesterdays game won't recur there
Moreover, l shall play much better
because l am always better on a
grass court.
Praises Her Rival.
But let me talk a bit about Helen's
game, for 1 suppose people in Amer
lea will want to know something about
that, and also about my own efforts
Helen played with much more heac
than 1 expected. She was also con
: siderably quicker than was generally
believed possible over her. Even so
she didn't worry me much. She viii
improve, because she is so young
But she is not in any higher class
as a tennis player than Molla Mallory
was in her heydey, nor Is she essen
tally superior in any way to the
famous English woman champions
Miss MacKane, Mrs. Lambert Cham
: bers or the American Miss Ryan.
played just as badly yesterday as
did against Miss Ryan six years ago.
> Miss Wills has a good backhand ant
she answers well to the force of the
ball. although this, of course, has NJ
particular effect on me, any more thar
her swift service shots. Her drive il
as strong aS n mans but I do no.