A GREAT LAWN TENNIS PLAYER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1049, 11 February 1911, Page 10

A GREAT LAWN TENNIS PLAYER.

DEATn bP.MRI U; P..DOUERTY.

two famous brothers who for so long carried all beforo them in tho,lawn tennis world, died 'on Deccmber"29 at.Kensington, at tho-early;oge of-SB; -Ho had-been suffer; in£''from , 'ill-nbalfif for so'irie'' ti'iuo post, nml only;Teturiu;d from Switzerland the previous- any. ,-' ••'.- ; Four limes in.succession.singles chamfiiotfof/Englond, on eight;occasions,with lis "brother' "H." L. .'Doherty'.'as partner, dotibles champion .of Englaud, a member of.'th.o'British team which toured,Amer-ica-iil. 1902-3 nud 1305-6,. and brought tho Davis, .Cup back to' Britain, aud win : nej with " liis brother of, tho .American doubles 'championship. That is Mr. .15. F. Doherty's record, not. to mention '.such trifles ns'-Contipcntnl'' chamjijorghips and provincial tournament's. : '-' - '■' '" Standing over Gft. in height, of lissom and graceful build, Mr. It. F. Doherty was 1 ono of tho most skilful. lawn tennis players that ever. lived.. Ho. was certainly tho most delightful player to watch,. for his style, ; without being , a model of orthodoxy, was always correct, lie had the art of making difficult strokes appear easy ;by, tho apparently leisurely manner in which ho Bet about making them. Even when hard pressed ho never appeared to get flurried, and frequently misled his opponent as to his intentions until the very last, minute. His driving, perhaps,-was.not.so. hard.asjthat-of William Kciishaw,.apd .in certain strokes ho was tho inferior of ono or two other players, but as on all-round lawn tennis exponent his superior has never been seen; Liko most men who havo attained the highest honours in any branch of sport, ho begun to play his particular gamo nt a very early age. Ho was only fourteen when ho won tho boys' singlos at tho Cragsido (Llandudno) tournament. Ho was educated nt. Westminster School, where ho' gavo rather more attention to football than to lawn tennis, but on'going up to. Cambridge, whero ho wns always known as "Big Bo," to distinguish him from his brother, "ILL.," whoso nicknamo was "Little Do," ho soon showed that ho had tho makings of a champion at his own particular pastime. Ho w.i 9 tho main factor in tho victories which the Light Blues gained over Oxford in both 1895 and 181)0. Taking tho Scottish and Esses championships as a kind of appetiser, ho gained his first successes in tho All England Championship in 1897, defeating that'genial.'lrishman, tho lato Mr.. H. S. Miihony, in tho challenge round. It was in tho snuio year that ho won tho doubles for tho first tnne. After being, defeated by Mr. A. W. Gore in tho singles championship of 1901, ho never tried for tho highest honours again, but. ho- continued his successes ,in tho doubles until J905,." his. sequenco of 6ucce93-"l)eing .only; broken in 1902, when tlio'famous'" brothers were beaten after a ..tremendous tusslo by Messrs. S. 11. Smith and F. L. Itisolcy. . As well as being a champion lawn tennis player, Mr. 11.. F. Doherty was a keen motorist.' In privato lifo ho was deservedly popular.