Many
people considered it a great upset. Personally I expected it, as
I know how dangerous Johnson may be.
The Johnston-Richards match and my meeting with Shimidzu came on
the third day. Fully 15,000 people jammed themselves around the
court and yelled, clapped and howled their excitement through the
afternoon. It was a splendidly behaved gallery but a very
enthusiastic one.
Richards, eager to avenge his crushing defeat by Johnston at
Seabright, started with a rush. "Little Bill" was uncertain and
rather nervous. Richards ran away with the first two sets almost
before Johnston realized what was happening. The tennis Richards
played in these sets was almost unbeatable. Johnston nerved
himself to his task and held even to 3-all in the third. Here he
broke through and Richards, I think foolishly, made little
attempt to pull out the set. The boy staked all on the fourth
set. Johnston led at 5-3 but Richards, playing desperately,
pulled up to 6-5 and was within two points of the match at 30-all
on Johnston's service. It was his last effort. Johnston took the
game and Richards faded away. His strength failed him and the
match was Johnston's.
I hit a good streak against Shimidzu and ran away with three
straight sets more or less easily.
Meantime one of the most sensational upsets of the whole
tournament was taking place on an outside court where Stanley W.
Pearson of Philadelphia was running the legs off N.
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