The two covered courts at Longwood Club,
Boston, are very fine, well lighted, with plenty of space. There
is a magnificent court at Providence, and another at Buffalo.
Utica boasts of another, while there are several fine courts,
privately owned, on Long Island. New York City uses the big
armouries for indoor play; but the surface and light in these are
not fit for real tennis. The Brooklyn Heights Casino has the only
adequate court in the Metropolitan district.
Philadelphia and Chicago, cities of enormous populations and
great tennis interest, have no courts or facilities for indoor
play. This condition must be rectified in America if we wish to
keep our supremacy in the tennis world. The French players are
remarkable on wood. Gobert is said to be the superior of any
player in the world, when playing under good conditions indoors.
The game of tennis is worthy of having all types of play within
reach of its devotees. Why should a player drop his sport in
October because the weather is cold? Indoor play during the
winter means an improvement from season to season. Lack of it is
practically stagnation or retrogression.
The future will see a growth of hard-court play the world over.
Grass must fight to hold its position. Indoor play will come more
and more into vogue.
CHAPTER XI. THE PROBABLE FUTURE OF THE GAME
What will be the outcome of the world-wide boom in tennis? Will
the game change materially in the coming years? Time, alone, can
answer; but with that rashness that seizes one when the
opportunity to prophesy arrives and no one is at hand to cry
"Hold, hold," I dare to submit my views on the coming years in
international tennis.
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