Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 312, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1917 — BEST AGE FOR TENNIS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BEST AGE FOR TENNIS

Man Plays at Topnotch When Thirty-Five Years Old. Champion Williams Says McLoughlin Not Through Because He Is Twen-ty-Six Years of Age—Will . Keep on Playing. “How long can a man play topnotch tennis?” Norris Williams, IL gave vent to a modest chuckle before answering this query put to him shortly after he had. defeated William Johnston, California, in the national lawn tennis championship finals at Forest Hills, N. Y. *Why, I should say until he is thirtyfour or thirty-five, Do yojj think ‘Morrie’ McLoughlin is entirely broken simply because he is twenty-six?” the champion asked in reply. “Not a bit of it. It is entirely probable, and I shouldn’t in the least be surprised to see him come back to the best he ever played within the next six years and regain the title. “I have no expectations, but only hopes, as to the length of time I can remain champion dr a championship contender. I am twenty-four now.

And a man ought to play the very best tennis of his career around twenty-nine or thirty, for the reason that at that age he is likely to have retained his stamina and to have played long enough to have acquired the expedience which is so valuable in big matches. Look at Karl Behr. He is far from broken. “There may be this, however, to be said about McLoughlin. If is highly possible that his smashing style takes the physical strength out of a man in his younger years, where the game which either William Johnston or I play would conserve it. It is not impossible - that - a vital difference lies there. “I expect to keep up with my tennis while in business, as much as I did while at Harvard, where I was graduated last June;” X

R. Norris Williams, II.