His drives are cramped in swing and hit with excessive top spin.His footwork is a defiance of all rules.His volleying game looks like an accident, yet Mishu produces results.In 1921 he beat A.H.Gobert in the World's Hard Court Championship at St.Cloud.Mishu is a winner.I don't know how he does it but he does.He is above all a unique personality.Cheery, individual, at times eccentric, Mishu is a popular figure in tournaments abroad.He plays with a verve and abandon that appeals to the European galleries while his droll humour and good nature make him a delightful opponent.
J.WASHER
Belgium is represented by J.Washer, my opponent in the final round of the Hard Court Championship of the World in 1921.Washer is a fine orthodox tennis player.His service is a well placed twist delivery of medium pace.He has a terrific forehand drive that gains in effectiveness owing to the fact he is a left-hander.Like so many players with a pronounced strength, he covers up an equally pronounced weakness byusing the strength.Washer has a very feeble backhand for so fine a player.He pokes his backhand when he is unable to run around it.
His overhead is strong, speedy and reliable.His volleying lacks punch and steadiness.He has had little tournament experience and shows promise of great improvement if given the opportunity.
E.TEGNER
Denmark is represented by a player of promise and skill in the person of E.Tegner.This young star defeated W.H.Laurentz at St.Cloud in the Hard Court Championship of the World in 1921 when the latter was holder of the title.
Tegner is a baseline player of fine style.His strokes are long free drives of fine pace and depth.His service is hardly adequate for first flight tennis, yet while his ground game cannot make up for the lack of aggression in his net attack.Tegner is not of championship quality at the moment but his youth allows him plenty of time to acquire that tournament experience needed to fill in the gaps in his game.He is a cool, clever court general and should develop rapidly within the next few years.
H.L.DE MORPURGO
The Italian champion, H.L.de Morpurgo, is a product of his own country and England where he attended college.He is a big, rangy man of great strength.He uses a terrific service of great speed but little control on his first ball and an exaggerated American twist on the second of such extreme contortion that even his great frame wears down under it.
His ground game is of flat drives that lack sufficient pace and accuracy to allow him to reap the full benefit of his really excellent net attack.His volleying is very good owing to his great reach.His overhead, like his service, is hard but erratic.Unfortunately he is slow on his feet and thus loses much of the advantage of his large reach.He seems to lack confidence in his game but that should come with more experience.
A.ZERLENDI
Tennis in Greece.No! not in ancient times but in modern, for that little country has a remarkable little baseline star, by name A.Zerlendi.This man is a baseliner of the most pronounced type.He gets everything he can put his racquet to.He reminds me irresistibly of Mavrogordato, seeminglyreaching nothing yet they all come back.I cannot adequately analyse his game because his first principle is to put back the ball no matter how, and this he carries into excellent effect.Zerlendi is a match winner first and a stylist second.
