OPEN TOURNAMENTS IN LAWN TENNIS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22669, 21 June 1948, Page 4

OPEN TOURNAMENTS IN LAWN TENNIS

J)ONALD Budge, formerly a leading amateur lawn tennis player, a winner at Wimbledon and now a prominent professional in his native America, has predicted that open lawn tennis tournaments in which both professionals and amateurs participate will be organised within three or maybe five years. Whether or not Budge s forecast is proved accurate, there seems no logical reason why open tournaments, as in golf, should not be staged. In tennis the segregation of amateurs and professionals is much too sharp for Ihe good of the game. Once a skilled amateur joins the ranks of the professionals his influence, for most practical.purposes, is lost to the rank-and-file players, who should be deriving benefit from the experience of men whose prowess has carried them to the top flight. The best lawn tennis professionals seem to foregather in the United States and indulge in little more than a long scries of revenue-producing exhibition matches among themselves. The coaching of amateurs is only a fraction of what could be accomplished if regular open tournaments were staged in which the two sets of players intermingled. In golf the open contests held in addition to the amateur and professional events offer obvious advantages to all contestants as well as to spectators. The sooner the prejudice against them in tennis circles is overcome the better it will be for the standard of the sport. “I think that professionals will first obtain an open tournament in England because tennis over there has reached such a state that they must do something progressive,” said Budge. Perhaps he is right. Since America is attracting all. the best professionals for the sake of the big money to be earned, it follows that other countries will remain permanently in the doldrums unless they can provide for the presence at certain times of the year of the men who can furnish the young idea with first-hand examples of the very best in the game.