The Invincible Mrs. Mallory (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1922)The Vanity Fair sports writer Fred Hawthorne was filled with high praise for tennis star "Molla" Bjurstedt Mallory (1884 – 1959):
"To-day Mrs. Mallory's backhand shots are on par with her famous forehand drive, and her all-around play has improved tremendously. She is a splendid volleryer, too, though not in our typical American style. Mrs. Mallory has won the national singles title five times and last August defeated Mlli. Suzanne Lenglen, of France, probably the most finished woman tennis player in the world."
The Steel Tennis Racket Makes It's Appearance (Vanity Fair, 1922)Although the steel tennis racquet would not know true glory until Jimmy Connors used his Wilson T2000 in the 1970s, a big splash was made by William A. Larned (1872 - 1926; seven times champion of the U.S. Open) when he designed the Dayton Steel Racket in 1922.
"It is the same size and weight as an ordinary wooden racquet but offers one-third less air resistance and is for that reason easier to play with - especially in serving, and in back hand strokes."
It was by no means the first steel tennis racquet but it was a clear improvement on it's predecessors. The Dayton Steel Racquet proved to be quite popular with schools and tennis clubs for it's obvious durability. Having suffered too long with spinal meningitis, William Larned did away with his life four years after this article appeared.
Doubting Bill Tilden (Vanity Fair, 1922)The legendary sports writer, Grantland Rice
(1880 – 1954), had his doubts as to whether tennis champ Bill Tilden
(1893 – 1953) could keep his title for a third year in a row (he did; all told, "Big Bill" Tilden won the U.S. Tennis Championship 6 times in succession and 7 times altogether).
Tennis, 1919 (Leslie's Weekly, 1919)The net-heads of 1919 were delighted to be able to read tennis articles once more following that long dry spell that began in the summer of 1914 and left them all with such a distaste that had only recently ended.
The editors of Leslie's Weekly jumped into the first post-war tennis season with this article, titled "Tennis Again To The Fore" where they began to enthusiasticly write of the great players of the sport; names like, Suzanne Lenglen (1899-1938)of France and Australia's Norman Brooks (1877-1968) and Gerald L. Patterson (dates?)-who would all go on to dazzle and amaze the tennis world of the 1920s.
British Tennis Stars Rally for 1922 (Vanity Fair,1922)"Having seen the international pantry shelf sadly depleted in the way of cups during the stirring campaign of 1921, extended preparations now underway beneath the Union Jack, indicate a counter attack of no slight proportions this coming summer."
In Praise of Tennis Flannels (Vanity Fair, 1918)"For tennis, of course, the conventional flannel trousers will continue their popularity this season. But many men will also wear white duck or twill trousers, which has the advantage of great coolness and comparatively easy to launder..." -but wait! the excitement does not stop with such trilling prose! The reader will also find a lovely fashion drawing of some awfully mannly tennis players as well as photographs of the fashions being praised.
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