Excerpt from United States, Lawn Tennis Association and the World War

This idea first took form in the mind of Edwin F. Torrey, whose years of experience as Secretary of the National Association gave him a particularly comprehensive understanding of the general situation. When it was presented to the annual meeting of 1919, his suggestion that a permanent record be made of the service rendered by tennis dur ing the war, won immediate approval. Accordingly, the Association's office undertook to compile the data which would preserve for the future the salient facts in connection with the sport, under war-time conditions that had no precedent.

In presenting this record, therefore, the Association has been moved by a sense of duty, an obligation which it felt was owed to the game. There is no intention to magnify the part that tennis took in the war, for the tennis public would be the 'first to resent any insinuation that they had done more than their share. The record, however, is honorable, and is one which in years to come may remind those who enjoy the Sport, that it had the vitality and inherent worth to meet the demands of a great emergency.

It shows that during times of stress and uncertainty the tennis clubs and players of the United States had only the desire to serve their country. That this was the feeling of all citizens, goes without saying. Obviously, however, what the members of the Association did during the war is of particular interest to followers of the game and this book has been written to give them a detailed story of the events with which their friends were directly concerned. It does not pretend to be a history of the war, nor does it tell all that the tennis players accomplished. 'it is as complete and accurate as the Association could make it, and is presented in the belief that it will be an inspiration to all those of coming generations who may be identified with lawn tennis.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.