Davestuff

IVOR LARSSEN: TENNIS PRO             Smash!  Grunt!  “30-Love!” calls the umpire.  Ivor takes a couple new balls from the ball girl, Linda, he thinks her name is.  He tries to learn all their names, but with over 30 tournaments in a normal season, and half-a-dozen or more matches in a good tournament, it’s hard.  Bounce, bounce, toss…Whack!  Damn.  Let.  The crowd whistles with the Cyclops and the umpire calls for silence.  OK, still first serve.  Bounce, bounce, bounce, toss…Whack!  That one feels good from the moment he reaches up, a high kicker at the corner.  But Joseba “Joe” Zulaika, the Basque great currently ranked in the top 30 in the world, has read Ivor’s motion and is ready with a backhand down the line.  Ivor comes up to the net following his serve and cuts it off, slicing it hard to the other side.  “40-Love!” call the umpire.   S...

Towering Lyle E. Mahan and his partner George C. Schafer, the Columbia University veterans, won the lawn tennis doubles championship yesterday, June 4, 1910, on the indoor courts of the Sixty-ninth Regiment Armory. In the final, which brought the tournament to an end, they defeated Gustave F. Touchard, the National indoor champion, who paired with Dr. William Rosenbaum, by the score of 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. The match was played under ideal conditions. The light was perfectm and throughout both pairs were keyed up to the fastest pitch of play. All of the rallies were prolonged. In many, the ball often crossing the net 20 times or more. Some will recall Mr. Schafer as a former Navy Paymaster formerly assigned to the Panama Canal Commission. Mr. Mahan also holds various titles in squash, polo and golf. In 1908, Dr. Rosembaum became the first Jewish player officially ranked in the United States.