Norton deserved to
win, for nothing but luck saved me as I walked to the net,
thinking my shot was out. Norton is the youngest man to have won
the All Comers Singles. He is just 21.
The championships had two sad moments. One was the absence of J.
C. Parke, due to retirement from singles. The other was the
retirement of A. W. Gore, the famous veteran, after 30 years a
participant in the championships.
The women's events found an even more unfortunate draw than the
men. All the strength was in one eight. Miss Ryan defeated Miss
K. McKane in the first round and Mrs. Beamish her old rival in
the second. She met Mrs. Mallory in the third.
For one set Mrs. Mallory played the finest tennis of her career
to that time and in fact equal even to her play against Suzanne
Lenglen in America. She ran off six games in ten minutes. Miss
Ryan, cleverly changing her game, finally broke up the perfection
of Mrs. Mallory's stroking and just nosed her out in the next two
sets. It was a well deserved victory.
Miss Ryan easily won the tournament and challenged Mlle. Lenglen,
but her old jinx in the form of Suzanne again proved too much and
she played far below her best. The French girl easily retained
her title, winning 6-2, 6-0.
The journey of the wandering tennis troupe abroad was far from
the most important development of the year. The American season
was producing remarkable results. Every year produces its
outstanding figure and the early months of 1921 saw Vincent
Richards looming large on the tennis horizon.
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