 
|
Legendary Players: 1940's Women Players 2 Previous Page
Navigation
 She is very quiet, colourless, and unemotional on the court, almost drab in personality, but shining through is that courageous spirit that somehow is sensed by the galleries, with whom Doris is always a great favourite. Her progress was slow and steady, nothing meteoric or sensational, but she has forged steadily to the front, until she is the most serious threat to the supremacy of Margaret Osborne du Pont and Louise Brough. I feel that she has reached her peak. I am afraid she will never quite attain her cherished goal of the championship. It is asking too much for her to go on year after year, so close to her ambition, and failing by so narrow a margin, and not have it affect even her courage. Once her will to win slackens even a little, she will fade fast, but I feel that Doris Hart deserves the respect and admiration of the entire tennis world.
Gertrude Moran, or "Gorgeous Gussie," as the press calls her, is the one really brilliant star in the drab and dull sky of women's tennis. She has everything to make the biggest box-office attraction in the sport, and every factor but one to make the greatest woman tennis player since Alice Marble. That one missing element is brains on the court. What an amazing hitter of a tennis ball Gussie is! She serves with great power and good control, one of the finest services I have ever seen a girl hit. She has flat, hard hit drives off both forehand and backhand that carry almost as much pace as a man's. She has a fine chop off both wings, but forgets it completely in match play.
She volleys brilliantly and smashes magnificently. She runs easily, and is very fast on her feet. From a purely technical standpoint, she is far superior to Mrs. du Pont, Miss Brough, and Miss Hart. She equals Alice Marble and Helen Wills in her stroking. She should be outstandingly the best woman player in the world, but she can't win a great tournament because she will not learn to keep her mind on the game in tournament play. She goes out and hits and hits and hits, but just hitting a ball beautifully is not enough. She won the 1949 Indoor United States title from an inferior field, because on wood, speed pays off. If somebody could just find some way to make Gussie think, take her time, use her tremendous variety of shots, and defend at the right time, she would outclass the woman's field by a full class. I doubt if it can be done.
Still, even if Gertrude never wins the Championship, she will always be number one glamour girl with the galleries. She is blessed with a face that, while not beautiful according to classic standards, has tremendous allure and individuality. Her figure makes Venus de Milo wave her missing arms in envy. Her flair for wearing unusual and, at times, bizarre clothes that just suit her thrills the spectators and drives the other girls to the depths of despair. She is the only girl in the game today who has the electric quality that brings an audience to the edge of its seats when she walks on the court. There can be no doubt about the fact that Gussie Moran is the answer to the tennis prayer for something to bring back glamour to the game. She does! Gertrude Moran, in her mid-twenties, is almost a tennis veteran. She has played for years as junior and woman, always potentially great, always on the edge of greatness, yet never quite reaching it. It is not yet too late.
During 1948 and 1949, Gertrude showed a marked improvement in her game, owing largely to a slight tempering of her hitting. She will, at times, hit a shot at moderate pace now. if she follows along the same line, and will make the effort to remember she can hit a slice as well as drive, and mix it into her game in tournament play as she does in practice, she may hit her stride and win the championship in 1950. Her background is interesting. She has all the glamour and atmosphere of a stage or screen star, which is understandable when you know she has always been with or around theatrical people. For a time she was Jinx Falkenberg's understudy, and she has made a few pictures on her own. She is definitely an actress, even if her stage is the tennis court, yet it is an unconscious performance, for no one is more natural and simple than Gussie. She needs experience in international competition.
One year of tennis in Europe, where she would be compelled to play against nothing but the steady pat-ball tactics of the Europeans, would do much to cut down her overattack and minimize the unnecessary errors that today stand between her and greatness. Nothing will take the place of headwork, but experience under all conditions makes it instinctive to react correctly to various styles, and that comes as close to taking the place of tennis brains as anything can. I hope to see Gertrude Moran National Champion, but above all, I hope to see Gertrude Moran.
Mrs. Patrida Canning Todd is the present thorn in the side of the U.S.L.T.A. She seems to have inherited many of my views concerning the official Fathers, and she expresses herself so much more clearly, and with so much better a command of invective, that I listen in envy. Mrs. Todd is not only a good orator but she is also a good tennis player. Her game is a sound all-court affair of solidity, little variation, but plenty of power, so that when she is on, she is a difficult player to beat. She is not quite as good as she is apt to believe. She had her first run-in with the U.S.L.T.A. when she was taken to Europe as a member of the Wightman Cup Team but was not used in the matches. According to Pat Todd, it was due to favouritism on the part of the Captain, Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman.
Knowing Mrs. Wightman, I can't take Mrs. Todd's squawk too seriously. Her next run-in involved the French Tennis Association, when, during the French Championships, Mrs. Todd refused to start her scheduled centre-court match on Court 2 when the previous match on the centre court ran so long that it was obvious, if they held Mrs. Todd to the end of it, her match could not be completed before darkness. When she refused to move, she was defaulted, and as she was defending champion, a terrific argument pro and con broke out on both sides of the Atlantic. Mrs. Todd did not get much support from the U.S.L.T.A., and once more she spoke her mind about the organization.
In 1948 she was ranked sixth, below Gertrude Moran and Beverly Baker, both of whom she had beaten in small tournaments, and once more Mrs. Todd told the world what she thought of the Ranking Committee of the U.S.L.T.A. She intimated that she could beat both Miss Moran and Miss Baker any time, any place, and on any court. She received a tremendous blast of silence from the Association, but it came to pass that when the tournament at Mrs. Todd's home club, the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, came along, both Miss Moran and Miss Baker entered. By some strange quirk of fate, and the tournament Committee, Mrs. Todd met Miss Baker in the semifinal, with the winner to meet Miss Moran in the final. There was tension at the club from the moment the draw was announced, but when the smoke of battle cleared, the smile was on the face of Mrs. Todd.
She had beaten Miss Baker, after Beverly held a match point, and then waltzed on to beat Miss Moran in straight sets in the final. To the everlasting credit of Mrs. Todd, no matter what she may have thought or even said privately, she allowed the results to speak for themselves in print. Once more she was answered by the Association with lots of silence. In 1949 she maintained her superiority over both other girls, and finished the season in fourth place in the National ranking.
Mrs. Todd is a striking-Iooking, tall girl with rather antagonistic manner on the court. She adds a note of spice to the otherwise too harmonious picture of women's tennis.
In Beverly Baker we find one of the most unusual and interesting and charming youngsters in tennis today, and a player who certainly shows a real talent for the game.
Barely out of the junior class, "Bev" is pushing the top flight hard to hold her off. Her greatest claim to the attention of the public is the fact that she is ambidextrous. Actually, she is stronger on her right hand than on her left, but the difference is slight off the ground. She is essentially right-handed at the net, although she will volley left-handed if pressed. Overhead, she always uses her right hand, and she serves right-handed too. The amazing thing about Bev is the pace she generates off the ground for so small a girl. She is short and slight, but she has a tremendous free swing, hitting at full arm's length on her drives, and her shot carries real pace. She is a remarkable runner, and quick as a cat on her feet. She is clever in her use of an occasional soft shot to vary her speed. She has magnificent concentration and will to win.
Many people think she will be a future National Champion, but I cannot agree. I doubt if either her ambidextrous style or her physical frailness will allow her to stand up to the terrific gruelling that the champion must take.
Bev, who as a junior received more publicity than any other kid in the game-particularly after she won the Pacific Southwest Women's Singles, beating Patricia Canning Todd in a brilliant final match-is one of the most levelheaded, intelligent, and nicest kids I have ever met. She takes her publicity in her stride, and pays no attention to it. She is most attractive without being at all beautiful. She has a pixie quality that is fascinating, and galleries love her. if she had a little more magnetism, which may come with a few more years' experience, she could carry that electric quality with her on the court. I think that little Miss Baker will be one of our First Ten for many years if she continues to play, but I cannot see her quite reaching the championship crown itself. I hope she fools me, as she has so often fooled her opponents, for Beverly Baker would be a great credit to the game as champion. Beverly recently married Scotty Becket, the young movie star, but I have continued to refer to her by her maiden name, since that is the one which she has made well known to tennis fans.
 Next Page: The Careers of Women Tennis Players |
RSS Feed XML Sitemap HTML Sitemap Privacy Policy