“LAWN TENNIS IN THE WEST.
The Western Championship tournament in singles and doubles began on the grounds of the Kenwood Country Club, Chicago, July 11 and ended July 21. It was the most successful tournament ever held in the West, the entries of Leo Ware and Scudder from the East adding much interest. Ware was defeated by Myers quite easily in two straight sets, and Kreigh Collins, a coming young player, defeated Scudder. George Wrenn won this tournament, in which there were forty-six entries, without losing a set, but was defeated by Ne’! for the championship in three straight sets. There we 2 sixteen teams entered in the double tournament, including the Neel brothers, the Wrenn brothers, Ware and Scudder, Sam Chase and McClellan, and Ryerson and Myers. The appearance of the two ex-champions, Chase and McClellan, added much to the event, but they were not up to their best form and were easily defeated by the Wrenns, as were also Ware and Scudder. The Neels showed their superiority over any other team in the West by their decisive victory over the Wrenns in the finals.
THE NIAGARA INTERNATIONAL.
The August-end outing at Niagara-on-the-Lake, inspired by the Twelfth Annual International Tournament, passed off in its wonted felicitous manner in the year of grace 1896. To the company of the younger blades oft incandescent on the green sward was there not added the genial presence and tropical atmosphere of Louis J. Grant, and in all the routs and dances of the week and in the merrymakings was not the said Louis J. Grant in the midst thereof? The gathering also included some newcomers to Niagara, such as G. P. Sheldon, Leo Ware, J. P. Neely and a player who had traveled three thousand miles over land, J. G. Foulkes, champion of British Columbia, who had been sent by the Victoria Lawn Tennis Club to Niagara to try his mettle against the Eastern cracks. Accompanying him was P. S. Lampman, Secretary of the Victoria L. T. C. The old guard of Niagara habitues was well represented, and though R. D. Wrenn’s sore feet kept him away, his brother George, Carr Neel, the holder of the Cup, the lissome, light-haired Whitman, the peripatetic Avery, the doughty Ward, the literary Paret, the handsome Hawes, the summer-girl crusher Dwight Davis—these and many others had met together for a week’s diversion and incidentally to play tennis.
It was a week of surprises. Ward, the Rochester representative, who started his first round by playing weak Tennis against Foulkes, gave “the talent a throwdown” when he beat George Wrenn in the second round after losing the first set to him, 6-0. The Newport men rubbed their eyes and thought it a fluke, but in the semi-final Ward met Sheldon in a hard game, winning the first and losing the second set, 6-2. In the third set Ward was 4-0, but the Yalensian’s pluck and strength pulled the final set from 4-0 to 5-all, and then the score see-sawed from deuce to vantage, while the spectators roared themselves hoarse and thirsty until Ward’s fine lobbing, landing on the base line from most difficult positions, outlasted Sheldon’s smart and accurate smashes, and victory rested with Ward, 9-7. In the meantime Ware had beaten Whitman after a stiff struggle, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, and then Ware and Ward met in the final, but the Rochesterian had struck his gait and won, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. His game was such, however, as suited the patience and accuracy of Carr Neel, the holder of the Niagara trophy, whom Ward met in the championship round. Neel’s unvarying game, his careful, slow service, his quick runs to the net, where he volleyed everything, told strongly against Ward, off whose play a hard week’s work had taken the fine edge, and Neel became the owner of the international trophy by three straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
In the doubles Ware and Whitman had a battle royal with Neel and Wrenn in the final, capturing the blue ribbon after a five-set struggle, 6-1, 1-6, 9-7, 3-6, 7-5.
The handicap was won by Foulkes, who developed excellent form as the play progressed, and he became more acclimatized. In the earlier games he had been handicapped by using an old racket, and it was not until his friends insisted on his getting a new “Pirn” that he made any headway. Owing 15, Foulkes beat Dwight Davis at the same mark, 8-6, 5-3. George Wrenn owed Leo Ware half 15, and beat him 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. In the semi-final Foulkes defeated Whitman,
who owed him half a point, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. In the final he met Wrenn, who owed him half 18, and after a hard fought struggle the B. C. man won, 7-5, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. The result proved that with regular practice against good men British Columbia is in it with the Easterners, and the victory was a reward for the Victoria Club’s energy in sending a representative so long a distance. The ladies’ final, in which the handsome Moore Challenge Cup presented by Mr. George Moore, father of the lady champion of the United States, was the trophy, fell to Miss Juliette Atkinson, whose strongest opponent was her sister, Miss Kathleen Atkinson. The Novice final was won by B. Whitbeck, of Rochester, who beat J. T. Weyler, a young player from Cincinnati, after a plucky match, 5-7, 6-0, 6-1, 6-1.
The festivities included a calico german, led by Mr. Scott Griffin, in which beautiful favors were presented by a hospitable summer resident ; an excellent concert, in which Miss Beverley Robinson, a charming Canadian prima donna ; Mrs. W. F. Boughton, of Buffalo, Mr. Harry Avery, the eminent flutist, and Mr. Raymond Rifster, of Buffalo, took part. The prizes were presented by Mrs. J. Kerr Osborne, of Toronto, on Saturday evening at the Tournament Ball, which closed another jolly week at old Niagara.
THE NATIONAL HANDICAP.
The National Handicap, held in connection with the Longwood tournament, was the most successful one yet given under the auspices of the National Association, and great credit is due the handicappers, as their work gave general satisfaction and resulted in many spirited matches.
Leo Ware, interscholastic champion and scratch man, won the tournament.”
Reference Data:
Wright & Ditson Officially Adopted Lawn Tennis Guide, 1897, pages 143-4, 159-60 and 196
