Assistance is necessary to success in any venture.My book has been made possible only by the aid afforded me by several of my companions on the Davis Cup team trip.The task of arranging the material in coherent order and proper style is one of the most important points.I owe a debt of gratitude to Mrs.Samuel Hardy, wife of our captain, for her never-failing interest and keen judgment in the matter of style.
Mr.Hardy, with his great knowledge of the game of tennis, as player, official, and organizer, freely gave of his store of experience, and to him I owe much that is interesting in the tactics of the game.
R.N.Williams, my team-mate, was always a willing critic and generous listener, and his playing abilities and decided ideas on the game gave much material that found its way into these pages.I wish to express my gratitude for his able assistance.
Charles S.Garland, my doubles partner and close friend, gave never- wavering faith and a willing ear to my ravings over strokes, tactics, and theories, while his orthodox views on tennis acted as a stop on my rather Bolshevik ideas.
To all these people I express my thanks for their part in any success I may attain with this book.I have a firm belief in the future of tennis.I recommend it to all.It gives firm friends, a healthy body, a keen mind, and a clean sport.It calls forth the best that is in you, and repays you in its own coin.
THE 1921 SEASON
The season of 1921 was the most remarkable year in tennis historythroughout the whole world.More tennis was played and more people viewed it than ever before.
The climax of famous Davis Cup competition was reached when England, France, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, Denmark, Belgium, Argentine, Spain, India, Canada and Czecho-Slovakia challenged for the right to play America, the holding nation.This wonderful representation naturally produced not only many new stars, but also thousands of new enthusiasts in the various countries where the matches were played.
The early rounds saw several brilliant matches and naturally some defaults.Argentine and the Philippines could not put a team in the field at the last moment.Belgium, after defeating Czecho-Slovakia, was unable to finance her team to America to meet the winner of England and Australasia.
England scored a fine victory over Spain when Randolph Lycett, F.Gordon Lowe and Max E.Woosnam defeated Manuel Alonzo and Count de Gomar in a close meeting.Notwithstanding his defeat by Lycett, Manuel Alonzo proved himself one of the great players of the world and one of the most attractive personalities in tennis.
India sprang a sensation by defeating France in their match in Paris.Sleen, Jacob and Deane showed great promise for the future.France was crippled owing to the loss of A.H.Gobert and William Laurentz, the former through a seriously sprained ankle sustained in the World's Championship at Wimbledon, and the latter through illness.Samazieuhl, the new French champion, and Brugnon could not cope with the steadiness of the Indian stars and the team from the Orient won 3 matches to 2.Meanwhile the Australian team of J.O.Anderson, J.B.Hawkes, C.V.Todd and Norman Peach had arrived in America and journeyed to Canada, where they swamped their Colonial cousins easily.Norman E.Brookes, Gerald L.Patterson and Pat O'Hara Wood were unable to accompany the team, so the greatest contender for the title was weakened appreciably.
The Australians decisively defeated the Danish team of Tegner and Van Ingersley at Cleveland, winning with ease.They proceeded to Pittsburgh to await the arrival of the English players.England sent her invading team, unfortunately without the services of Col.A.R.F.
Kingscote and Randolph Lycett, who were unable to go owing to business affairs.J.C.Parke, her famous international star, was also out of the game, having retired from active competition last year.The English team was made up of Gordon Lowe, Max Woosnam, J.C.Gilbert and O.E.H.Turnbull.They were accompanied by that delightful author and critic A.Wallis Meyers.
The English met the Australians at Pittsburgh in July.The latter won three matches to two with J.O.Anderson, the outstanding figure of a well played meeting.The tall Australian defeated both Lowe and Woosnam in the singles and aided in the doubles victory, thus scoring all the points for his team.
Meanwhile the Indian team had arrived in America and proceeded to Chicago, where they met the Japanese team of Kumagae and Shimidzu.The battle of the Orient resulted in a victory for the Nipponese.
The final round found Australia playing Japan in the famous old tennis center of Newport, R.I., where the National Singles so long held sway.It was a bitter struggle, with the Australians within two little points of victory in two matches they afterwards lost.Shimidzu and Kumagae took all the singles, but Kumagae was two sets down to Hawkes and one to two down to Anderson.Thus Japan in its first year in Davis Cup competition earned the right to challenge America for the treasured trophy.
It was a marvellous meeting of these two teams.Over 40,000 people watched the players in three days.Although America won all five matches, Shimidzu came within two points of defeating me in straight sets and carried Johnston to a bitter four set struggle.
The Cup is safe for another year but the new blood infused into the competition by such men as Shimidzu, Alonzo, Woosnam, Anderson and Hawkes shows clearly that America must keep working or we will fall from our present position.It is a healthy thing for the game that this is so.I hope we will see many more new players of equal promise next year.
