Mrs. Moody v. Tilden

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1075, 12 September 1930, Page 7

Mrs. Moody v. Tilden

A TENNIS COMPARISON Views of Woman Ex-Champion THE relative degree of superiority of a champion man tenuis player over a champion woman plaver is discussed bv the famous ex-champion, Mary K. Browne, iu an article in ‘•Tennis.’’ the official organ ‘of the United States Lawn Tennis Association.

"Helen Wills Moody is better,'’ MissBrown declares, "than the vast major- | icy of men, but I do not think she j would fare as well in our Men’s Nation- , ai tennis championships as Miss I VTethered would in a men’s golf chain- j pionship. In golf. Miss Wethered I could reach the greens in the same • number of strokes as the men. though : would be obliged to use longer I clubs because of her inferior strength, i and there would be no rule to oblige her to use the same clubs as the men. Helen, however, would be forced to play the men at their own game, receiving terrific service aces from the racket of a Johnny Doeg with nothing like as good a reply and scorching drives with all the big fame of a Tilden behind them, again bowing to superior speed. “It is conceivable that in golf a superwoman might acquire the same accuracy with a. longer club than the inen attain with a shorter shot. Francis Ouimet claims that Joyce Wethered is as good a shot maker as any man when she is within 100 yards of the sreen. but tennis is entirely different, and 1 cannot conceive of any woman being able to develop a game to equal Tilden’s, for instance. “When Suzanne Lenglen was in her prime and, as it so often happens. there was no woman who could give her a game. Tilden defeated her 6—o in a friendly encounter. The set was arranged to still the voices of these uninitiated who get excited about women’s prowess and think That they are going to submerge the iron. This one-sided victory of Tilden's over Suzanne when compared to the one-up victory of Hobby Jones over Miss Wethered gives a. fair idea ♦♦f the difference between tennis and §olf as regards the superiority of the men over the women. When May Sutton Bundy was ten: is champion of the world and as supreme as Suzanne and Helen Wills Moody is. May Bundy was matched against Beals Wright, ono of the foremost men players at that time. It was agreed that he would remain in tlie back court. He barely won the set. S—6. It was certain that had hr been allowed to follow his service and drives to the net he could have defeated her far more easily. In the ser-

i L ,c i\ at tlK ' " L ' L :uul hi court eoverln. ■ is where men generally have it ovc ! thc ' women in tennis. I “1 believe stronger, however in «-lvl | <lcvelopiinc their same alonsr the fine ; ot the men and even though thev van J not acquire the same power, they ca I copy the style to great advantage. I d | not think there should be a man’ i swing and a lady's swing in golf or ; man's stroke and a lady’s stroke i j tennis; they can follow in the sam | groove. There is only one departmer m both games were strength is so es sentia! that women could copy, but nc hope to be very effective and that is i imparting a great amount of spin t the ball. However, the tendency i both games is away from excessiv back spin and cuts. “I remember on our professional ten nis tour that after seeing. Suzanne pla in San Francisco, Gouvcnor Morris, tl novelist and tennis enthusiast, wrot ‘Suzanne’s only weakness is that sli is not a man.’ Of Helen Wills Mood it has been said, ‘she strokes like man. but runs with the mincing stei of a woman.’ ”

NOBODY’S DARLING A committee of masters may have settled the Head of the River squabble to its own satisfaction, but it has not satisfied Sydney High School (says the Sydney ••Sun*')- High, as the winners of the title in 1929,.are entitled to hold the Major* Rennie trophy until some school wrests it from them, and as the 1930 regatta was “no race,” High keeps the trophy. However, it occupies no honoured position on the walls of the school hall, bu't stands in a corner of the headmaster’s (Mr. G. Sa.xby) study. “It is obnoxious to us.” fays Mr. Saxby. “We do not want »t. and I am writing to the committee asking them to take it off our hands.’’ The “Sun” predicted that no one would want the trophy after the unpleasant war that has been waged about it. It will go into the safe deposit of a city bank until next regatta.