Official Organ of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association 



A VALEDICTORY. 



All Hail Beals C. Wright, the new Ameri- 

 can champion. If ever a player deserved suc- 

 cess it was Beals Wright. Playing through a 

 preliminary season when the propriety of tak- 

 ing him abroad even as a member of the 

 doubles team was seriously questioned and 

 showing then the best tennis of any of the 

 men who were talked of to go ; continuing 

 through a preparatory engagement in which 

 he outclassed all the others ; going to Eng- 

 land and playing tennis far superior to any 

 one of the other three men and yet given no 

 opportunity to play in the singles the real 

 stellar places on the team ; and coming home 

 and again beating all comers, including the 

 national champion on the courts at Newport, 

 he has won his spurs in a manner that must 

 awaken the admiration of every lover of the 

 game throughout the country. 



And the calibre of tennis that he played ! 

 His steadiness was equal to that of the great 

 Doherty, and his brilliancy when called into 

 play, as great as Larned's. He played sterling 

 tennis of the highest class throughout. Meet- 

 ing Clothier, Larned, Hobart and Ward in 

 succession and defeating them all in clean 

 cut, convincing style, could more be asked to 

 prove the mettle of any man. He lost one 

 set in the tournament — to Larned — and this 

 the first of the series he followed by three 

 easy wins. Clothier, in the first set, gave him 

 a hard battle for another, and Ward in the 

 final set, made a fearful fight for a win. In 

 this Wright played magnificently and even 

 Ward's fine sensational rally only served to 

 delay the moment when Wright's greater 

 steadiness would win. 



Coupled with this he played with Ward in 

 the challenge round of the doubles and they 

 toyed with Hackett and Alexander, who had 

 previously won the right to compete for the 

 championship in a match with Collins and 

 Waidner, the Western champions. In these 

 games Wright played by far the best tennis 

 of the four men on the field. The champion 

 pair were not forced to exert themselves, but 

 they had some opportunity for brilliancy, and 

 it was almost invariably Wright who shone. 



It is useless to speculate on what might 

 have been had Wright represented America 

 in the singles against England in the Davis 

 International match. Ward gave Doherty 



a hard fight and Wright on form would have 

 done even more. Whether or not he would 

 have won none can say, but all may fairly 

 regret that he had not the chance. Next 

 year another international match is contem- 

 plated and the Americans will again go to 

 England. Then Wright will have his chance 

 if he continues the calibre of game he is 

 playing now. With W^ard back at the top of 

 his game America ought not to fear the out- 

 come- of these men playing singles against 

 any other two, while in the doubles they have 

 a fair opportunity to at last defeat the 

 Dohertys. 



The Newport tournament brought out a 

 record entry, 105 starters. The first round 

 occupied a solid day. The doubles were 

 played off at once, while the singles continued 

 through three rounds with small interest at- 

 taching to them. 



The first three rounds gradually eliminated 

 the weaker players, the first contest of im- 

 portance coming in the fourth. Here Ray 

 Little, Harry Allen and Louis Waidner went 

 down to defeat. R. N. Dana also made his 

 exit, after putting up a surprisingly good 

 game against Clarence Hobart, and having a 

 chance to retire him. Two sets had been won 

 by Hobart, when he slumped, and Dana, by 

 the cleverest kind of a rally took the third 

 and then the fourth sets. In the fourth Ho- 

 bart began to find himself again, and he had 

 entirely recovered form and won easily in 

 the final set. 



Outside of this the Clothier- Waidner game 

 was the most interesting. It looked at one 

 time as though the international player would 

 go out. Waidner won the first two sets play- 

 ing superbly, but tired in the third and al- 

 though he made a game fight, lost the last 

 three. The scores were 7-9, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. 6-4. 



In defeating Ray Little, Larned had some 

 trouble that at one time looked dangerous to 

 him. Little lost the first two sets, scarcely 

 costing the champion an effort, but in the 

 third the men showed a complete reversal of 

 form, and Little won almost as handily. The 

 fourth and deciding set was terrifically hard 

 fought, and several times Little looked to be 

 the winner, but Larned finally got his meas- 

 ure and he went down, 7~5- 



Wright had no trouble at all with Allen, 

 who, in winning four games in the final set, 



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