Netsters

William Tatem Tilden II can beat Fritz Mercur, onetime Longwood Bowl champion. So, too, can Helen Wills, as she did in an exhibition match last week. Yet Mercur rose to no great heights last week in the Eastern Turf championship at the Westchester-Biltmore Country Club to trounce Tilden in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Less alarming, but important, significant, was the straight-set victory (6-4, 7-5) of Berkeley Bell, of the University of Texas, over Francis T. Hunter, perennial doubles partner and intimate of Tilden.

Tilden was not invited to participate in the East-West matches. Fretted, Friend Hunter refused to play, said a Tildenless tournament was "not representative." Said P. Schuyler Van Bloem, vice president of the Eastern Lawn Tennis Association: "It would be unsportsmanlike to use a player against whom charges are pending." Thus the player-writer rule rapped the fingers of Tilden. Ready commentators said Tilden will play no more tennis, will go into vaudeville. The first prediction was wrong; Tilden accepted the bid to play in the Newport Casino tournament, on whose cup he has two legs. The other prediction may be correct. It was neither confirmed nor denied by Tilden, whose trial for alleged player-writer rule violations was set for August 24.

Tilden-less, Hunter-less, the East lost to the West, six matches to three. Tildenizens gloated.