Evening star., 1935-05-16

CAN FRANCISCO, May 10
Helen Wills Moody will come
back this Summer to annihi-
late the women's tennis field
That is the opinion of a practice
partner who knows this former cham
pion's game perhaps better than any
one in the world, Mrs. Moody her
self not excepted. And who, after
facing her fire across the net for an
hour and a half Tuesday, said simply:
"Helen never can be stopped"
Mrs Moody has said hardly word
about her return. Few have seen
her play since she took up her racket
again. She was supposed merely to
be bouncing tennis balls around for
fun, playing just an easy little prac-
tice set each day. That was the
story.
But this reporter casually dropped
in at the California Tennis Club. And
there, on the No. l court, was the
cripple of 1888 in a bang-up base
line rally that would nave pulled any
tournament crowd out of its seats.
DHILIP NEER-he's one of Helen's
favorite practice opponents of
years standing-may not be
among the tennis greats, but ne holds
q lot of Coast titles and he hits a
ball as hard as Tilden or Perry. He
wasn't pulling his shots, either. He
was smacking 'em. And Mrs. Moody
loved it. She raced through one fast
As set in which most of the games
were deuced, and called for another
Her forehand drive doomed from
base line to base line with the speed
of almost any man. Her backhand
never missed. Everything that came
to her she played as sharply as ever,
If not more so. She did take it easy
on her serve. She hasn't worked on
1t yet, but that will come soon.
The day was cold, the kind of day
on which runners pull tendons and
pitchers get muscle trouble. On shots
that might have required her to strain
too much in recovery and return to
position, Mrs. Moody let the ball pass.
But those she could reach with
medium ease, and that included almost
everything in the book. she handled
like the great star she was before
she retired.
She would take all of Neer's speed
and add to it on the return. Speed
means nothing to her. Or she would
take Neer's speed and return the shot
with nothing on it. leaving him a
soft ball to hit. Both are old Gus
toms of Mrs. Moody's.
90 SHE'S coming back, because she
= enjoys the game so much. She's
too smart to cut loose with every
thing right away. even though she
finds she's hitting like a champion.
She'll move slowly and surely.
She's still young. She's An "old
champion" only because she began
winning when she was so young She's
27. An athletes prime. Her lay
of has made her keener strategist.
And she always was keen.
Mrs. Moody has announced nothing
But here's the tip. Talking after
the match, she said a factory had
promised to make her a set of rae
quets with the old 5-inch handles.
The present weapons have As inch
handles. Mrs. Moody wouldn't de-
mand that she get. back that "a
Of an inch on her racquets if she
were not sure she was going back
to tournament tennis. And she
wouldn't go back at all if she were not
certain she would be at her best
again.
After seeing again the amazing
power of her backhands and fore
hand drives, no one could disagree
with Neer, who says: She's better
than ever. She'll be a sensation.
Shell NOW 'em down. She can't
miss
(Copyright 1895 by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc)