Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-28

N which Big Bill Tilden had t.
And Tilden not only gives C
1atter's weakness in the game, but h
and match temperament in 1919, VIII
1t was Johnston's ability to po
an offensive backhand stroke. So d
hand at Providence. Before we wen
tensive practice an offensive as we'll
1t was the difference between
abled me TO win the Wimbledon tour
can championship. In the American
year before, but it wouldn't be pound
"Tt is just this difference in back
hand strokes which 1 believe has pro-
Nided the margin of my victories over
Johnston through the past six years. "
Formula for Success.
For the mass of young tennis play.
erS who aspire to lift themselves out
of the ranks of the ordinary, Tilden
has a formula for success, compound
cd out of the elements of his own ca
reer of unprecedented triumph on the
courts. 1t is the formula that has
given Tilden the magic touch and
made him the champion Of cham
ton. but there is no secret key to it.
no short cut to the final product, for
its chief ingredients are sacrifices,
concentration and an all-around game.
They are the factors that stand for
success in the game Of life as well
as sports. Their product is champion
ship stuff. and if you could hear Til
den himself as he expounded their ap-
plicatfon to his own career, as well
- l.. Il. H.,
tensity with which he has lived them,
made them the cornerstone of his own
existence and sought to spread their
gospel to others.
There was sacrifice Of the most
Spartan sort in Tildens early career.
After being a, bust" for some seven
or eight years he was willing to spend
a half-dozen more overcoming OBJ
stacles and developing the game that
has lifted him to the top. There was
concentration of a single-track va
riety in this, and there way concen-
tration in his lean figure, his almost
gaunt features, as he drove home for
another generation the lessons OF his
rise.
Got an Early Start.
ct started to play as soon as 1 was
nld enough to hold a racquet, at the
age of 81 he began II was pretty
good as a youngster for my age, and
got great deal of incentive from
helping as a ball boy at the German
town Cricket Club, watching Parke
and Dixon, the British stars, play
such Americans as Larned, Clothier,
Beals Wright and Ward.
MY brother Herbert, years my
senior, was one of the best young
players in the Philadelphia district at
the time. The most valuable thing
he did was to give me a general bawl-
ing out after every tournament /
PLAYED in. That made me sore and
tried to do better
As he recalled these days of his
gangling youth Tilden glanced re-
fectively 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 making i'm
aginary slices with a collection Of
new racquets under Coen's admiring
gaze.
From the age of 10 TO about 10 or
90" he went. on, Il played pretty
badly. | was as wild as a hawk. My
shots were not particularly sound. /
was just swatter type. At about 18
made up my mind to remodel my
game. which at the time was very
erratic off the ground, and had as Its
only redeeming feature a. fast serV-
ice | realized IL wouldn't get me
anywhere and that ! needed a sound
ground game. On that theory 1 an
alyzed my place along common-sense.
scientific lines and for the next half
dozen years. or until / was IS,
worked on an all-court game.
Has His Own Ideas.
Every one. including my friends,
told me | was foolish; that | couldn't
he both baseline and net player, but
fortunately / was pigheaded enough
not to believe them and kept at 1t. AS
q result IN 1918 / got to the finals OF
the national singles, losing to Lindley
MURRAY. and found a place in the first
10 for the first time.
"In 1919 Bill Johnston and | began
our long span of rivalry, meeting four
times altogether. l defeated him the
first time we met. at Newport, 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 nationsl singles.
Two factors accounted for john
ston's decisive victoTies--frst, his
greate experience in match tempera-
ment: second his ability to pound my
hackhand to pulp"
Tilden then told how he developed
an offensive heckhand in Providence
during the Winter Of 1919 and 1920.
Il am convinced that any player
who wants to can master any stroke
in the game, y he said. 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 to go
through the long, tedious and at times
seemingly hopeless grind of learning
the fundamentals Of an all-court
game.
Also Must Have Style.
style, too, must be acquired. BY
that I mean correct form, which 10 o
combination of racquet technique and
footwork. The ability to keep the
eve on the ball at all times and cor
rect court position. are absolutely es-
sential to success.
Every player to reach the top,
must acquire these fundamentals, yet
these alone won't make champion
It's the willingness and the knowledge
of when to sacrifice to aid this form
that makes great champion.
"Rill Johnston, a model OF Style, VII.
sacrifice comfort, looks and dignity
to win crucial point II that point
happens to mean victory or defeat.
ct is this ability which term the
ability to scramble. the determination
to 60 after everything, which carries
most players out of the mass of the