TENNIS STARS WELCOMED.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 72, 26 March 1921, Page 11

TENNIS STARS WELCOMED.

GREAT AMERICAN OVATION. < ____ — j (Special to -Star. ■) ' SAN FRANCISCO, March 4. [ I A thunderous roar of greeting charac- i terised the arrival of the world's tennis , ! champions when William M. Johnston, i I William T. Tilden 11., and the Davis Cup ' safely anchored in San Francisco aboard i j the steamship'Ventura, direct from Aus- | trali, where the American athletes had overwhelmed the Antipodeans, Brookes : I and Patterson. The-disembarkation of . I the tennis champions was one of the < most enthusiastic in the annals of the ' i historic port of San Francisco, for it was ; J six years since America had proved victorious. Everybody who was anybody ] ! was on hand to welcome the athletes, , and hundred" of tennis players and i I enthusiasts gathered at Pier 37 and . ; cheered lustily as the victorious tennis i racquet wielders stepped ashore from ; ' the good ship Ventura. i , 111 the immense aggregation that had j , assembled to greet the Davis Cup and . its victors were James Rolph, Mayor of : . San Francisco; the Coast Artillery, led : by Colonel Pierce, of Fort Scott; CO members from the New York Life liieur- , ance Company; delegations representing ' ! the San Francisco Olympic Club, Chamber : of commerce, the San Francisco Board ] i of Supervisors, headed by Fred Suhr; < j the Golden (.'ate Tennis Club; and the i California Lawn Tennis Association. < Naturally, there was plenty of excitement. First, of course, there was the ( usual display of handshaking, confrratu- | lations, cheers and "elbowing indivi- ' i ! duals" bent upon getting "just a squint" at the two champions. Then Mayor ; .lame* Rolph. with hi* old-time smile, | raised his hands for the purpose of ; quietening the frenzied mob, and promptly delivered one of his rousing i welcoming speeches. to which Tilden ' remarked in accents quaint: "Splendid — quoit befitting!" and the crowd laughed and cheered again. CENTRE OF ATTRACTION. Tilden was quite the centre of attracI tion; garbed in a blue serge suit, navy , sweater, khaki cloth cap, heavy camels , hair polo coat buttoned tightly about his neck, and clinging preciously to a , trio of unstrung tennis racquets bearing ' his name. Mrs. Johnston clung equally! hard to her "own Hil]i«." who modestly cantered in the background waiting for a hasty breakaway: but this event occurred only after Stan. Greenwald and the rest of the battery of movie fiends ; . had had their share of the welcome. ' ! I>r. Sumner Hardy, President of the ' California Lawn Tennis Association, ' : then escorted Tilden to the palatial vSt. : Francis Hotel in Union Square uptown, i where he was given an informal luncheon, i Among the guests of honour were many I noted American tennis exponents, in- l< eluding Robert G. Kinsey, Carlton R.\ Gardner. D. E. Reimers, Wallace J. | ' Rates, Dr. Sumner Hardy and William Tilden 11. Mrs. Johnston, on the other hand, saw a greater need in "her Billy" | ( having some home-cooked food, and local , Bill was accordingly driven to the John- ' : pon residence, where he did not have to I "pick the right fork!" I Despite the fact that Tilden kept the table guests intensely interested with; a perpetual (low of extracts from Aus- : tralia and New Zealand, intimating that ! his meal was frequently interrupted. Bill ! was forced to concede his belt a couple | | of inches' "leeway" upon the completion j of his "small black," and even went so far as to suggest "Plaiying a bit to wear j ofT these beastly sea legs." Johnston, ; who carved his way through a tenderloin steak between "French fries," received the finest kind of informal welcome in the form of "home talent." Home life seems to agree with Johnston, and he remained indoors during the I major part of the afternoon. Tildwn, . however, accompanied by Robert Kinsey, Howard Kinsey, U. E. Reimers, Carl ! Gardner and Wallace Bates, drove out ' to the California Lawn Tennis Club's J courts for a brisk work-out. TILDEN IN FORM. The tennis played that afternoon at the California Lawn Tennis Club showed j Tilden m splendid form, despite the fact I that he had not played for four we-ks. j Bob Kinsey, who undoubtedly would be j included in the "First ten" were he ranked this year % played Tilden one set. and the champion won it by o—4. Then Bob and Howard Kinsey took three sets' from Tilden and Carl Gardner in an I lAhibition that showed the champion I starring in every department of the i game. Both Kinseys were in eplendid I -<hapc, and toward the close of the mat<-li j i Tilden's famous backhand was pounding! ■ the lines regularly and Gardner was driving steadily. Some. 4.">00 of San Francisco's sporting gentry packed the spacious Coliseum Rink in the evening, and gave animated vent to their vocal chords as William M. Johnston, of San Francisco, and Wil- ' Ham T. Tilden 11., of Providence, Rhode Island, billed as "the world's tennis champions, , ' appeared in what the local critjef described as "the tennis miracle [ of the season." Johnston and Tilden ; terminated their nine-month playing season with two sets of singles and two sets of doubles, and the crowd cheered through ever3 r point of it. The mob cheered violently as Johnston and Tilden walked across the canvas, and i when Freddie Pritohard surrendered the chair to President Dr. Sumner Hardy they cheered again. Tilden wore a heavy navy blue jersey and .Johnston exhibited his familiar white-knittted sleeveless ! sweater. They rallied for a while, and Johnston, for the first time using a 14oz racquet (he usually handles a lajoz racquet), appeared to be having! difficulty hitting the ball centre, but this little incident proved to be directly the opposite ac the match progressed. Tilden, throwing off his sweater, revealed the national championship belt I won at Forest Hills last year. He broke j through Johnston's serve in the first I game and won his own. Johnston eomi mencpd find ins? himself, and won a service game, but Tilden followed suit, and the score stood 3—l in Tilden's favour. BURST OF SPEED. I Then Johnston showed an invincible j burst of speed and steadiness which ' netted him three games in a row and I the lead, 4—3. Johnston was measuring ' I off Tilden's serve and pouring volley ' after volley of cross-court drives that left Tilden stranded on the court. Tilden braced himself, pulled off some miraculous hits and evened the count. From i then on the match was a "beauty," i nerve-wrecking, heartrending, and all of that. At 6 all, on Johnston's serve, Johnston pulled a series of net-cord shots, ■which later turned into a "perpetual habit," and caused Tilden to approach one scribe and pensively exclaim: "I wish you'd write in your notes that I am going to begin an investigation in the East, as soon as I get home, for the purpose of seeing these beastly net j shots are eliminated from the game." Johnston certainly had his share of net balls, and aa one bystander "JohnsJjon »et.ted hifl-.tr»jr t»

victory." In all. Bill made nine balls | that night in San Francisco in two seta.' which is Baying a good deal when one . considers the "when and how of it." His i net shots came only after long rallies and at crucial points, and, without : doubt, would have caused the most; deliberate of men to fall off in exaspera- j tion, but Xilden responded with a grin.; Johnston, great little sport that he is. smiled, as if to say, '"I'm sorry," and ; Tilden grinned and good naturedly i answered, "I'm Horry, too, Bill." i Johnston hurricaned through at 4—l lead in the second set, but Tilden fought like a tiger and evened the score. Johnston won liis services after a long exciting game, and ended the match by breaking through Tilden's serve, after having Tilden point-match three timus. Both Robert and Howard Kinsey played beautiful ball against Tilden ami Johnston in the doubles, and lacked only a puin-h to place them in the lead. Johnston and Tilden took the opening canto rather handily: the Kinseys had not warmed up as Vet, and Howard was slightly nervous, But as the match processed the Kinficy brothers got their well known machine working in true fashion, tnui trie exhibition re.solved itself into a wonderful tennis match. The second set went to Tilden and Johnston after ;i furious struggle, 6—4. The *t eam work of the Kiuseys was noticeable at all times, and many volensued between the four players, causing the spectators to raise themselves tiptoe and burst into breathless cheering. Later that evening Tilden hurried to Oakland, where he entered the overland train bound for the East, having canfelled 'his previous arrangements to visit Los Angeles. Southern California, and apnenr in an exhibition series. • i