He stated that he believed the
leading players of to-day were the superior of the Larneds,
Dohertys, and Pims of the past.
The most remarkable advance has been along the lines of junior
play: the development of a large group of boys ranging in age
from thirteen to eighteen, who will in time replace the
Johnstons, Williams, and M'Loughlins of to-day.
American tennis has passed through a series, of revolutionary
stages that have changed the complex of the game. English tennis
has merely followed its natural development, unaffected by
external influences or internal upheaval, so that the game today
is a refined product of the game of twenty years ago. Refined but
not vitalized. The World War alone placed its blight on the
English game, and changed the even tenor of its way. Naturally
the War had only a devastating effect. No good sprang from it. It
is to the everlasting credit of the French and English that
during those horrible four years of privation, suffering, and
death the sports of the nations lived.
The true type of English tennis, from which American tennis has
sprung, was the baseline driving game. It is still the same.
Well-executed drives, hit leisurely and gracefully from the base-
line, appealed to the temperament of the English people. They
developed this style to a perfection well-nigh invincible to cope
with from the same position. The English gave the tennis world
its traditions, its Dohertys, and its Smiths.
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