19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

GOOD INTENTIONS
Sirs:
How prejudiced can you get? You petulantly and caustically state that "the players want open tennis; the public wants open tennis; everyone wants open tennis but the USLTA. Get out of the way, gentlemen" (SCORECARD, Feb. 13).

You completely ignored the fact that at its annual meeting in New Orleans this month the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association unanimously passed a resolution similar to the one it supported in 1960, requesting the International Federation to grant permission to any member nation to hold open tournaments in 1962. This matter will be voted on at the ILTF annual meeting in Stockholm on July 12, and the USLTA will do everything in its power to see that it passes.

Wake up, gentlemen, and stop this foolish belittling of the game of tennis.
WILLIAM S. KELLOGG
ILTF Committee of Management
La Jolla, Calif.

Sirs:
Get out of the way, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED.
EDWARD C. POTTER
Delray Beach, Fla.

?The road to better tennis is not necessarily paved with good intentions. It is still difficult to reconcile the USLTA's well-intended resolutions of this year and last with the statement of its president that "the number one need facing tennis in the world today is the restoration and preservation of amateurism in spirit and in fact."—ED.

Sirs:
I, for one, don't want open tennis. It would involve a mixture of too dissimilar classes.
ROLLIN W. WORKMAN
Cincinnati

OPEN SPORT
Sirs:
I believe that most people in this country would be delighted if we just had sports—with no distinction between amateur and professional whatever. The line drawn by the USLTA and the NCAA, Avery Brundage of the Olympics, Dan Ferris of the AAU, the heads of various college conferences and others is so indistinct and devious that many interpretations can be put upon the rules.

Some colleges give scholarships, bonuses, etc. to good football or basketball players, others do not. Some colleges and universities put on expensive drives to secure good athletes and others do not. The NCAA, the AAU, the various conferences and the colleges themselves cannot agree on their own rules. Is it any wonder that the average individual questions what it is all about but could not care less? The millions of people who attend the games and fill the coffers of the high schools and colleges pay to see two theoretically evenly matched teams play and to root for their favorite. They are not interested in the manner in which the players were recruited or whether or not some of them are good enough to draw bonuses for their brilliant play.

The average person who likes sport, such as basketball, football, baseball, tennis or track, likes it wherever and whenever it is within his reach, pays good money to see it and does not care a tinker's dam whether some people call it amateur or some call it professional.
W. D. KNAPP
Indianapolis

SHINE ON INGO
Sirs:
I see that your Martin Kane still has a shine on Ingemar Johansson as a boxer (New Ingo with a New Left, Feb. 13).