Evening star., 1939-05-19
Tennis Faster
Due to New
Fashions
Freedom of Motion
Permits the Speed
Essential Today

lelllllS mas grown lntO snort
pants and become a toughey. Con-
trary to life's normal progress as
this might seem at first glance, it
nevertheless is true that the ma
jority of tennis players today wear
no more clothes on the court than
they did as tots and yet play a
harder, faster and more pace-kill-
Ing game than did their predeces-
sorS.
No issue is taken with those old
timers who point to such illustri-
Gus figures of the past as Maury
Mclaughlin, Norris Williams, Bill
Tilden Bill Johnston and others
and then say. with some scorn:
"Show me a player like that to-
day.
The point is more players-men,
women, boys and glrls-are playing
the game than ever before and
playing it better than the average
racketer cid 20 years ago. Tennis,
ss a pink tea party sort of game,
played for the amusement of a
select few and for a bit O. ex-
erclse," is out. International ten
MS, which IS Davis Cup play. is
one Of the major sports events
each year National tennis. con-
Quoted through season-long
tournaments from coast to coast,
provides neWspa pers with as much
copy as any other sport and its
players with as much competition
as they want. And if, perchance,
the player with promise but with
Out means to travel, is looking for
competition, he usually can find it
al his own club or. for that matter,
on the public courts of his home
town.
Tennis, in fact, now can be found
anywhere-on the public courts, in
the schools, in colleges, in play
grounds, in gymnasiums, in back
yards, anywhere where it is pos
sible to mark off a plot of ground
Is by 36 feet. After that, all you
need is a net, which may be pur-
chased for nominal sum; two
rackets and three balls and you're
ready to play.
That more players are in the
game now than ever before can
be realized from the sight of
crowded public courts with their
long waiting lines and the neces-
sity of making reservations far in
advance if you would want to play
on holiday. Private clubs also
report their tennis memberships
the largest in recent years and the
revival of the interclub league in
Washington this season is evidence
of that renewed interest.
Junior Davis Cup movements in
large cities all over the country not
only are helping to prepare candi-
dates for United States teams in
the future but are doing their share
of creating and maintaining in
tereSt of youngsters in tennis Be-
cause OF this, it is nothing unusual
to see boys as young as 10 or II
already playing a bang-up game
which would have been the envy
OF lad the same age Is years ago.
Naturally, senior men players still
provide the fastest and hardest
game of any racketers, but their
hard-driving tactics have had their
influence on women as we'll as jun
iors and speed in tennis today is
synonymous with the game. Maybe
it was new scheme of fashion
designers, but from this corner it
seems that the new attire now
sported by male players and their
fair colleagues is almost a requisite
for the modern game. Perhaps
some fans with good imagination
can conjure picture of a woman
attempting to run after a hard-hit
ball encumbered by heavy, copious
skirt or man trying to get around
in long, tightftting ducks. Per-
haps it could still be done.
But few sports sights are more
refreshing than that Of man or
woman. boy or girl speeding around
in shorts and Short-sleeved shirts
and blouses. free to manipulate
their bodies as they wish and look
ing as if they're really enjoying
1t. To paraphrase an old saying:
"Off with the old clothes, on with
the new"