Tennis Men Hit Harder Than Women

Southland Times, Issue 23948, 14 October 1939, Page 16

Tennis Men Hit Harder Than Women

Alice Marble being uncommonly notorious these days for her domination of women’s tennis, the magazines are full of Marble pictures and Marble stories, and many of the stories and captions tell you that Alice “hits harder than a man.”

This is a downright foolish asseveration. If the handsome lady in question could hit the ball as hard as a man, she would be winning matches from men, whereas the truth is that any man of tournament class is likely to beat her on any given day, comments the noted American, writer, John Lardner.

The Marble will beat, the average duffer among men, certainly. That’s because she knows tennis and has

mastered co-ordination —and lack of co-ordination is what makes the average man or woman a duffer. But even the lowliest Sunday player among males, once he learns to hold his racquet correctly, will outslug this paladin of women sluggers. Helen Wills Moody was a hitter in her day, perhaps a harder hitter than Alice Marble. About the time she. reached the crest, they began to tell young Helen that she would whip many a good man on the courts, and she had the folly to believe them. Thus, it was a painful shock to the lady when the first good male player to open up against her beat her with great ease, by the simple process of hitting the ball too hard.