Now Tennis Goes Mod

"All those anthems?"

"No, just the players are introduced that way. Just the one national anthem."

The color man took a razor and cut Taylor's shorts, then began to pin them. "You all are just too athletic," he said.

"I guess this is what it was like when they first switched to the shorts from the long pants," Roche said. "It must have been something like this."

Roche, it was finally decided, was going to wear blue. He had won $15,730 in the TV series wearing it, and he would not change. Taylor was pegged for red, having already been nicknamed "the Red Baron." The others wore various combinations for the first night, but they looked so fey the outfits were junked. The uniform now includes a bright colored sweater and shirt, white shorts and socks ringed with a broad band of the same color as the shirt. The result is both handsome and tasteful.

The tournament play itself was not bad, considering the adverse conditions, but it was competitively bland and without climax. Instead of the regular elimination play that is scheduled for the balance of the tour (it may last through October, with a break for Wimbledon), the format in Kansas City, titled the World Cup, was styled after the Davis Cup. The Americans were paired against the "Europeans" (Pilic and Barthes), while the Aussies played the "British Empire" ( Drysdale and Taylor). The two favored teams won all their matches except one and will meet in the final of the World Cup at the next stop, St. Louis. Prize money was determined by points scored as well as won-loss, and while Buchholz had a perfect 31.0 VASSS average, Roche edged him out in total earnings with $1,612.40, by virtue of winning a greater percentage of his points, even though he did lose an exciting 31-30 set to Drysdale.

Despite the adverse conditions for the opening in Kansas City—the stockyard odors, dim lighting, ice-rink surface and nontournament format—the potential for the new tour's success was obvious. If this first performance did nothing else, it added bright color to a game that can use it. Certainly, Butch Buchholz will never have to endure another station wagon Death March.