Although it may have been a surprise to many to see Whitman play his way through to the finals at the Longwood Tournament last week, his success was hardly unexpected by those who have been watching his work since his defeat by Ware on Jarvis Field in May. Ware earned the championship of the Boston schools on that occasion, and he had to play hard to do it, defeating Whitman 6-4, 6-3, 7-5, but since that time his game seems to have fallen off slightly, whereas Whitman's has vastly improved. He let the champion take the first set of their match, 6-3, but in the three that followed, Ware only pulled out five games.
L. E. Ware, umpiring. Hovey. Whitman.
FINAL MATCH OF THE LONGWOOD TENNIS TOURNAMENT.
It cannot be said, however, that Ware played poor tennis, for that was by no means the case. He played well—he certainly had to play well to reach the semi-finals—but Whitman played better. Again and again, especially during the first part of the match, Ware passed his opponent at the net, which is Whitman's strong position. That kind of play won him the first set; but Whitman braced after that, and closed up, and although Ware got the balls over the net, he could not pass him. Ware lacked head-work in placing. He seemed to lose much of his coolness as soon as Whitman came up to him, and instead of lobbing, as he ought to have done, or of going up to the net himself, he placed the balls frequently to his opponent's advantage and to his own discomfiture. I had expected to see Ware put up a strong offensive game, but his play was mostly defensive. He had evidently not expected to encounter such a change in his rival's methods. Whitman certainly showed greater confidence in himself than he did on Jarvis Field, and was much more at home at the net.
It may be that some of Ware's weakness was due to his lack of practice, as he injured his wrist in June and did not touch a racquet for four weeks; but I doubt if he could have defeated Whitman at Longwood, even if he had been in the form that made him champion at the Interscholastics. He will have to do some hard work between now and the date of the Newport Tournament if he wishes to hold his own there. He must pull himself together and keep from falling into that listless style of play which proved so disastrous to him in the last two sets against Whitman. The latter now stands a good chance of carrying off the honors of the year, if present form may be depended upon to be prophetic. He has beaten at Longwood men who were considered his superiors, and he only met defeat at the hands of a man who is rated as the fourth player in the United States.
The Hovey-Whitman match was one of the most interesting of the week, in spite of the fact that it was evident from the start that the school player was outclassed. This fact might not have been so patent if Whitman had kept his nerve better, but he seemed to be afraid of his antagonist from the very outset, and did not put up anywhere near so good a game as he did against Ware. Hovey apparently realized this weakness, and kept close up to the net. Whitman made his greatest mistake in falling back, for Hovey's net game is hard to beat. This also gave the champion an opportunity to do some sharp volleying with a stiff wrist and forearm—strokes that the younger player was unable to return. Occasionally Whitman made some brilliant plays, but he was overshadowed by the veteran.
Hovey took the first four games largely on his opponent's nervousness, but in the fifth he drove out of court twice, and Whitman got in a first-rate side-line place. Thus with the score 40-15 in his favor he ought to have taken the game, but he let Hovey pull it up to deuce, and then he drove out, giving Hovey vantage, which was followed by a hot rally, ending in a sharp stroke that Whitman was unable to reach. In this set Whitman made but ten points to Hovey's twenty-six, and not until the third game of the second set did the Interscholastic player secure a game. Even this was somewhat of a gift, for Hovey started in with a double fault and then drove into the net. The fifth game showed some pretty rocky playing on both sides, but Whitman finally secured his vantage on a clever side-line place, and made game on Hovey's wild drive out of court. The sixth game of this set was also deuce—for Whitman was doing his best work at this juncture—but it went to Hovey, who, having coaxed his opponent into back court, dropped a teaser just over the net. The set score was 38-28, the closest of the match.