Not For the Common Man

The rarest of rare U.S. games is court tennis, ancient sport of kings and played today by a few hundred expensively sweating sportsmen (on complicated courts costing some $100,000 to build).

Few Americans understand the game. The New York Times's Allison Danzig claims to be one of them. Of a swanky Long Island doubles tourney he wrote last week: "In the opening game [John Hay Whitney] . . . standing near the penthouse on the service side . . . drove the ball into the winning gallery on the hazard side for the deciding point. ... In the final game ... he boasted the ball to the main wall to find the dedans on his return of service. Then, changing sides to play off chases, he found the nick no less than three times with his service. The crowd shook its head in amazement. . . . [Whitney] was having the time of his life."

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