Kozeluh v. Richards

Two years ago Karel Kozeluh, Czechoslovakian professional, and blond, laconic Vincent Richards played in the finals of the national professional tennis singles championship and Richards won. Last year they played again and Kozeluh won. The finals for the championship is the most important of their yearly matches, but they play often. On dirt courts in vacant lots in Manhattan and its suburbs, in the presence of the kind of people who do not usually attend tennis matches, Kozeluh and Richards play again and again for $1 and $2 admissions. Sometimes one wins, sometimes the other, but it is always a great match.

Most notable thing about the U. S. professional tournament at Forest Hills last week was the ease with which Kozeluh and Richards came through their matches to the final round. They put out well-known professionals from all parts of the U. S. as easily as these same players could defeat the women and children pupils by whom they earn their living. Even in the semifinal round neither had any trouble. Kozeluh eliminated famed chop-stroking Howard Kinsey of San Francisco, 6-0, 6-2, 6-3. Richards took Harvey Snodgrass 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. Critics, believing Richards looked fat and pallid, favored Kozeluh in the final, and the Czechoslovakian started just as they expected him to. He won the first set 6-2. In the next set Richards started a terrific rally. He matched his volley with Kozeluh's accurate backhand drives and at last broke through service to win 10-8. Then, amazingly, it was the nutbrown, buoyant Kozeluh who tired. The pasty-faced, fiercely concentrated Richards at the net was a far deadlier player than Richards, the slim prodigy who used to beat Tilden sometimes before he turned professional. No one could have touched the angled volleys he made from Kozeluh's drives, and late in the match few lobs were pitched well enough to give him anything but a smash. Richards won the last two sets, 6-3, 6-4, and the title that went with them. Later, paired with Howard Kinsey, Richards defeated Kozeluh and Roman Najuch of Germany for the doubles title, 6-2, 15-13, 7-5.

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