Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-29

day. What about the poor man as
amateur: How is he to earn his liv-
ing? Should sports be left 10 the
independently wealthy?
Amateurism requires that the
player have an independent income
or sentence himself to mcdiocrity by
= giving only half of his attention to
his sport-or be a swindler. 1t gives
the rich man an advantage on the
court. That seems little strange in
world which has gone Through &C
principle Of equality.
Ever since | began to pay TENN
my father. Not only did he teach I
game. but he also inculcated in me d.
and the rules and conventions under
Tennis he used to say. lis
1Nean sport, and in order to succeed
YOU must always be a clean player.
AS You grow older and more efficient
at the game YOU may have great
temptations to overcome. There will
he for you. just as for all other clean
amateurs. numerous pitfalls to avoid.
Be careful It nothing happens that
will rob "; of your amateur status.
Changes Her Opinion.
Thus you see that amateuris,n has
always been kind of religion for
me-just as most things are that
little French giGls learn from their
papas. As grew older. though, little
doubts began TO creep into my re-
ligion-nttle incorG ruitieS-the So
called amateur rules awakened trains
Of thought in my mind that We're
strangely agnost!c.
A little lad who was employed to
Club where I used to play began to
show remarkable aptitude with the
racket, and in his spare time used to
earn a few sous by giving our rather
fashionable members workout.
Soon he was better than most of the
members who employed him.
Nevertheless, he was never given
a chance to compete against them,
as the doors to all competitive tour
naments were closed to him-he had
been paid for playing tennis.
] thought ii n little strange at the
time. bat accepted il just as ! did
most precedents. These men We're
all right in their place-which was
TO create amateur champions. and
not play against them. Who ever
heard of an amateur pla wing Il pro
fesSionalo
As grew older and more proficient
at the game my doubts became
stronger and stronger. saw the
stands AT the Riviera Club packed
with fashionable galleries that had
paid prohibiiive prices to watch anna
teur tournaments.
Finally came Wimbledon with it's
huge crowds of tennis enthusiasts
Thousands of people eager to get in
to see the amateurs, and willing to
pay any price for a seat-and many
moro thousands kept out because they
We're unable to pay any price for a
seat.
Where did all this money go to-?
Was it doing the sport a great deal
of good to have it kept high priced
and exclusive? Was it fair to the
players who could not afford to re-
main amateur. and was it fair to
the people to make the price of adj
mission possible only for the socially
prom incnt?
And tinaHy-why couldn't the play
ers get something out of ii? Ii meant
years of practice and Il lifc's work for
most of us.
If We We're amateur players playing
for nothing, why didn't they have an
amateur gallery which could look on
for nothing.
These questions perleXed me and
the patent injustice Of the institution
led me to discuss the matter with my
father. lie agreed with me that there
was something wrong in this state of
affairs. but could see no remedy, nor
could he find the answer TO my many
perlcAlng questions.
Her Only Talent.
The postwar history OF my country
IS known To everybody. For some rea-
f,-l, H.,
nire comprehension of Il mere tennis
champion, our money began to de
crease in value and its buying power
began to grow smaller and smaller.
My father began to find that the very
comfortable income which we had
once enjoyed. although unchanged in
size. had considerably decreased in
value. LuXurieS which we had once
enjoyed gave way to mere comforts.
Other girls in my situation were earn
ing their pin.money in various ways
and through different things, such as
music and }Ninting. which they had
studied in the pre-war days.
I had devoted myself entirely to ten
mis-. 1t was the only thing that I
could do really well, vet l was for
hidden to earn sou at it. The last
time l had played at Wimbledon they
had taken in, at the present rate of
exchange. $4,000. GOO francs. What a
lot Of pretty f.'ccks that would buy.
A little club on the Riviera. owned
by the Burke brothers. was fortunate
enough To stage an encounter between
Helen Wills, the American champion.
and myself They erected stands to
accommodate 1000 people more Than
their club would ordinarily seat. They
doubled the already amazingly high
prices of admission. The day the
ticket sale began they were sold out.
Spectators were getting fabulous
prices for seats. Houses overlooking
the club were renting windows at
prices that would have paid for the
house in pre-War days. One enter
prising house owner removed the tiles
from his roof and charged spectators
for the privilege of sticking their
heads through the holes to get a view
Of the game.