Vincent Richards has the greatest natural aptitude and equipment of any tennis player I have ever seen.Against it he has a temperament that is inclined to carelessness and laziness.He tends to sulkiness, which he is rapidly outgrowing.He is a delightful personality on the court, with his slight figure, tremendous speed, and merry smile.He is a second "Gus" Touchard in looks and style.I hope to see him develop to be the greatest player the world has ever seen.He gives that promise.The matter rests in Richards' hands, as his worst enemy is his temperament.
At his best he is to-day the equal of the top flight in the world.At his worst he is a child.His average is fine but not great.Travel, work, sincere effort, and a few years, should turn this astonishing boy into a marvellous player.
R.L.MURRAY
The new "California Comet," successor to M.E.M'Loughlin, is the usual sobriquet for R.L.Murray, now of Buffalo.Murray won the National Crown in 1917-1918.
His service is of the same cyclonic character as M'Loughlin.Murray is left-handed.He hits a fast cannon-ball delivery of great speed and an American twist of extreme twist.His ground strokes are not good, and he rushes the net at every opportunity.His forehand drive is very fast, excessively topped, and exceedingly erratic.His backhand is a "poke." His footwork is very poor on both shots.He volleys very well, shooting deep to the baseline and very accurately.His shoulder-high volleys are marvellous.His overhead is remarkable for its severity and accuracy.He seldom misses an overhead ball.
Murray is a terrifically hard worker, and tires himself out very rapidly by prodigious effort.He is a hard fighter and a hard man to beat.He works at an enormous pace throughout the match.
He is large, spare, rangy, with dynamic energy, and a wonderful personality that holds the gallery.His smile is famous, while his sense ofhumour never deserts him.A sportsman to his finger-tips, there is no more popular figure in American tennis than Murray.His is not a great game.It is a case of a great athlete making a second-class game first class, by sheer power of personality and fighting ability.He is really a second M'Loughlin in his game, his speed, and his personal charm.
WATSON WASHBURN
In contrast to Murray, Watson Washburn plays a cool, never-hurried, never-flurried game that is unique in American tennis.
There is little that is noteworthy of Washburn's game.His service is a well-placed slice.His ground strokes are a peculiar "wrist-slap," almost a slice.His volleying fair, his overhead steady but not remarkable.Just a good game, well rounded but not unique.Why is.Washburn great? Because, behind the big round glasses that are the main feature of Washburn on the tennis court, is a brain of the first water, directing and developing that all-round game.There is no more brilliant student of men in games than Washburn, and his persistence of attack is second only to Brookes'.
Washburn, too, is a popular player, but not in the same sense as Murray.Murray appeals to the imagination of the crowd, Washburn to its academic instincts.Washburn is a strategist, working out his match with mathematical exactness, and always checking up his men as he goes along.
There is no tennis player whose psychology I admire more than Washburn's.He is never beaten until the last point is played, and he is always dangerous, no matter how great a lead you hold over him.
Another case of the second-class game being made first class, but this time it is done by mental brilliancy.
WALLACE F.JOHNSON
Here is another case of a second-class game being used in a first-class manner, getting first-class results through the direction of a first-class tennis brain.Johnson is not the brilliant, analytical mind of Washburn, but for pure tennis genius Johnson ranks nearly the equal of Brookes.
Johnson is a one-stroke player.He uses a peculiar slice shot hit from the wrist.He uses it in service, ground strokes, volleying, and lobbing.It isa true one-stroke game, yet by sheer audacity of enterprise and wonderful speed of foot Wallace Johnson has for years been one of the leading players of America.
SAMUEL HARDY
The overwhelming success of the American Davis Cup team in 1920, when we brought back the cup from Australia was due in no small measure to the wonderful generalship displayed by one man, our Captain Samuel Hardy.
