Williams was defeated in sequence sets by me. The
final round found Johnston in miraculous form and complete master
of the match from start to finish, and he defeated me in three
sequence sets.
Immediately following the championship, the Australian-American
team match took place. In this Brookes went down to defeat before
Johnston in four close sets, while I succeeded in scoring another
point by nosing out Patterson by the same score. Thus 1919 gave
Johnston a clear claim to the title of the World's Premier Tennis
Player. The whole season saw marked increase in tennis interest
throughout the entire world.
I have gone into more detail concerning the season of 1919 than I
otherwise would, to attempt to show the revival of the tennis
game in the public interest, and why it is so.
The evolution of the tennis game is a natural logical one. There
is a definite cycle of events that can be traced. The picture is
clearest in America as the steps of advancements are more
definitely defined. It is from America that I am going to analyse
the growth of modern tennis.
The old saying, "Three generations from shirt sleeves to shirt
sleeves," may well be parodied to "Three decades from ground
strokes to ground strokes." The game of tennis is one great
circle that never quite closes. Progress will not allow a
complete return to the old style. Yet the style, without the
method of thirty years ago, is coming back in vogue.
Pages:
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105