Worst v. Best

Four major heroes of U. S. sport's greatest decade were Baseballer Babe Ruth, Golfer Bobby Jones. Prizefighter Jack Dempsey, Tennist Bill Tilden. Oldest (44) of the four, Tilden's years of supremacy began when he first won the U. S. championship in 1920.* Last week with the others all long since retired, Oldster Tilden stepped out before the winter's most socialite tennis crowd to play the season's climactic match. His opponent, in New York's Madison Square Garden, was England's Fred Perry whom Tilden has frequently called the "world's worst good player."

When Tilden and Perry left the court an hour later, Perry would have been justified in calling Tilden the "world's best bad player." Tilden had received more applause (before the match started), attracted more attention (by telling a radio announcer to keep quiet), hit the hardest drive (when he needed a point badly in the third set). But of the four sets played he had taken only the third, which the crowd suspected Perry of dropping on purpose. Score: 6-1, 6-3, 4-6. 6-0.

Since 1931 when he turned professional, Tilden has made about $500,000. played an average of 200 matches a year. Last week, if Perry's victory made it clear that his opponent was no longer technically on even terms with the game's best players, it by no means ended Tilden's incredible career. Four nights later, Perry--whose U. S. tour this year has so far netted him $80,000--beat him again in Chicago, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 11-9.

*Ruth's first great year was 1920 when he made 54 homeruns. He is now 43. Dempsey, now 41, won the world's heavyweight title in 1919. Jones first won the U. S. Open in 1923. He is now 35.

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