It is a
polished, decorated version of the old type game. It is expanded
and developed. History tells us that the civilization of the old
Greeks and Romans held many so-called modern luxuries, but not
the methods of acquiring them we have to-day. Just so with
tennis; for the ground. stroke game was the style of the past,
just as it will be the style of the future; but the modern method
of making ground strokes is a very different thing from the one
used by the old-time stars.
We are on the brink of the upheaval. The next few years will show
results in the tennis game that were not thought of before the
War. Tennis is becoming an organized sport, with skilled
management. Modern methods, where efficiency is the watchword, is
the new idea in tennis development.
Tennis is on the verge of the greatest increase in its history.
Never before has tennis of all types been so universally played,
nor by such great multitudes. Its drawing power is phenomenal,
hundreds of thousands of people witnessing matches the world
over, and played during the season of 1920.
There are more players of fame now before the public than at any
previous time since tennis became established. The standard of
play of the masses and quality of game of the stars have risen
tremendously in the last decade. No less an authority than Norman
E. Brookes, whose active playing days cover a period of twenty
years, told me during the American Championships, last year at
Forest Hills, that in his opinion the game in America had
advanced fully "15" in ten years.
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