Once tennis is placed
on the basis of importance it deserves, the boys will take it up.
At present there is a tendency to discount tennis and golf in
school. This is a big mistake, as these two games are the only
ones that a man can play regularly after he leaves college and
enters, into business. The school can keep a sport alive. It is
schools that kept cricket alive in England, and lack of
scholastic support that killed it in America. The future of
tennis in England, France, Australia, Japan, etc., rests in the
hands of the boys. If the game is to grow, tennis must be
encouraged among the youngsters and played in the schools.
England is faced with a serious problem. Eton and Harrow, the two
big schools, are firm set against tennis. The other institutions
naturally follow in the lead of these famous schools. The younger
generation is growing up with little or no knowledge of tennis.
One thing that forcibly bore in on my mind, during my trip in
1920, was the complete absence of boys of all ages at the various
tournaments. In America youngsters from ten years of age up swarm
all over the grounds at big tennis events. I saw very few of
either at Queen's Club, Wimbledon, Eastbourne, or Edgbaston where
I played. The boys do not understand tennis in England, and
naturally do not care to play it.
The English Lawn Tennis Association is very desirous of building
up tennis in the schools; but so far has not yet succeeded in
breaking down the old prejudice.
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