McLaughlin, Maurice

Career start

Maurice Evans McLaughlin was born in 1890 in Nevada in the family of a mint worker, in which he became the fourth of five children. In 1898, the family moved to Philadelphia, and from there in 1903 to San Francisco, where he began to play tennis at Lowell Maurice High School. Soon Maurice attracted the attention of Sydney Marvin, the founder of the Youth Tennis Club in Golden Gate Park ^[7] . It was in Marvin's club that McLaughlin's future manner of playing crystallized; in 1915, he dedicated to Marvin his book Tennis As I Play ( Eng. Tennis As I Play It ) ^[8] . On California's fast-paced concrete and asphalt courts, McLaughlin grew up into a fast-paced aggressive player with cannon service and a love of netting ^[9] - in the future, this style of play will be called “serve-and-volley” ^[10] .

Already in September 1907, still formally considered a junior, McLaughlin won the prestigious Pacific Coast Championship in singles, in the finals in five sets, defeating the current champion - another young San Francisco tennis player Mel Long . In the same year, he also became the champion of San Francisco, subsequently successfully defending this title for five consecutive years. In 1908, McLaughlin also won the California state championship, also beating Long in the finals.

Towards the U.S. Title

The rivalry of Long and McLaughlin on the West Coast continued for several more years. However, in 1909, they, along with three other male tennis players (including McLaughlin's doubles partner Tom Bundy ) and Hazel Hotchkiss, first went to the US national championship , which was held in Newport casino in those years. Of the entire California delegation, McLaughlin turned out to be the most fortunate, reaching the finals of the Candidates Tournament, the winner of which was to meet the current champion in the title match. The quick, powerful manner of playing the guests impressed the Newport audience, accustomed to the leisurely "gentlemanly" style of play. In the fourth round, when the draw brought McLaughlin and Long, the central court was assigned as a sign of hospitality for their match. McLaughlin recalled that he was met by the constant buzz of the stands, where the light of local society gathered, considering the US championship rather as a place for communication and paying little attention to the game itself. However, during the match, this buzz began to subside, and by the end of it “one could hear the fly fly by” ^[9] .

In the tournament finals, McLaughlin lost in four sets to the pensioner William Clotier , who then in turn lost the title match to William Larned . Later that year, McLaughlin, who added the more honorable California Comet to his nickname Red (Red) , went to Sydney for the final match of the International Challenge Cup (hereinafter referred to as the Davis Cup ). There, however, the young American team was unable to compete on equal terms with the Australasia team , which was played by Tony Wilding and Norman Brooks ^[7] .

In 1910, McLaughlin lost to the US Championship in the quarter-finals to Bils Wright , but a year later he took revenge in the final of the applicants' tournament to meet with William Larned in the challenge round. Larned at the age of 38 at that time was a six-time US champion, including winning the challenge round four times in a row since 1907. He managed to maintain the title this time, defeating the young Californian in three sets and showing that his arsenal, which consisted mainly of strong serve and further play at the net, was still not enough for the champion title. Recalling this match, McLaughlin called it “a lesson in how well you can play this game” ^[9] . At the end of the season, he took third place in the domestic American rating ^[7] .

Peak career

McLaughlin finally succeeded in 1912. After his third victory in the Pacific Coast Championship, he then won the Longwood Bowl in Boston (becoming his first Californian winner) and the tournament in Chicago. The rules changed in Newport at the US Championship this year: the challenge round was canceled, and the aging champion Larned decided not to go through the entire tournament bracket in order to maintain the title. In the absence of Larned, McLaughlin became the US champion, having experienced difficulties only twice during the whole distance - in the quarter-finals against R. Norris Williams and in the final against Wallace Johnston , having played in the latter after the score 2: 0 in sets in favor of the opponent (which also happened in the championship final USA for the first time). In addition, McLaughlin paired with Bundy won the championship in men's doubles ^[7] .

In 1913, McLaughlin as part of the US team defeated the weakened Australasian team in his native land and went with the team to London for the final matches of the International Challenge Cup. On their eve, for the only time in his career he took part in the Wimbledon tournament , winning seven matches of the Candidates Tournament and meeting in the title game with the current three-time champion Tony Wilding. In this fight, Wilding managed to get the upper hand in three sets, although there was a stubborn struggle in each of them - the match ended with the score 8-6, 6-3, 10-8, and in the first installment McLaughlin failed to realize the set-ball ^[11] . After that, the American team beat the rivals from Germany and Canada in the International Cup and met in the final with the current owners of the cup - the British Isles team . McLaughlin lost his first game with the Irishman James Park in five sets, but Norris Williams won the point by defeating Charles Dixon . On the second day of the match, McLaughlin and Harold Hackett lost to their British counterparts 2: 1 in sets and 5: 4 in the fourth set. On the serve of McLaughlin, with a score of 30-40 (a British match-ball), his racket broke and the ball went off the court. Having replaced the racket, however, he managed to pass the second ball right through. In the future, the Americans played another match-ball and turned the tide of the match, winning both this set and the next. Williams, who was sitting at the podium next to former US champion Bob Renn , recalled that during the last set he “chewed up a whole straw hat to shreds” ^[12] . On the third day, McLaughlin put the winning point in the match by beating Dixon and bringing the first Challenge Cup to the Americans since 1902. After that, he won the US Championship for the second time in a row both in singles, giving his rivals only one set in seven matches, and paired with Bundy. At the end of the year, McLaughlin was named the number one tennis player in the United States ^[7] .

The peak of McLaughlin’s career, tennis historians Bad Collins and Roger Onsorg call his participation in the final of the Challenge Cup next year. Although the Americans lost this match to the Australasian team that arrived at it in their strongest squad (whose players Wilding and Brooks had just played the final of the Wimbledon tournament among themselves), McLaughlin himself managed to win both of his single games in the presence of 14 thousand spectators at the Forest Hills stadium in New York. First, he beat Norman Brooks in three sets, the first of which lasted until the score was 17-15, and then in the final game of the match he defeated Wilding in four. This game, however, already did not solve anything, because by this moment the Australian team had won the match, having won, including in the game, the pairs against McLaughlin and Bundy. After that, McLaughlin was no longer able to win the US championship for the third time in a single division, losing to Norris Williams in the final, although he and Bundy won their third title in pairs (neither Wilding nor Brooks participated in the tournament, since they hastened with the start of the war went home ^[7] ). At the end of the season, McLaughlin was recognized as the best tennis player not only in the United States, but also in the world, taking first place in the ranking compiled by tennis observer of the Daily Telegraph newspaper Arthur Wallis Myers ^{[13] [14]} .

End of Speech

Since the United States entered the World War only in 1917, Maurice McLaughlin continued to play in the domestic arena for another two years. In 1915, for the fifth time in a row, he reached the final of the U.S. Championship, by which time he had been transferred from Newport to New York, but on the way he gave several sets to rather weak opponents, and commentators noted the lack of fire in his game. In the final, McLaughlin lost to 20-year-old Bill Johnston , also a native of California, including giving one set dry - 1-6, 6-0, 7-5, 10-8. Johnston and Clarence Griffin defeated McLaughlin and Bundy also in the doubles final, and at the end of the year the California Comet dropped to third place in the national ranking, losing not only to Johnston, but also to Norris Williams ^[7] . This year, McLaughlin’s autobiography Tennis That I Play played was released. According to the “Historical Tennis Dictionary” by John Grasso, there is a suspicion that this book, although published under the name of McLaughlin, was in fact written by the future Nobel laureate Sinclair Lewis ^[10] .

The next year, the decline in McLaughlin’s form became catastrophic. He refused to participate in the West Coast Championship in singles, playing only in pairs, and at the US Championship he dropped out of the fight in the fourth round. In pairs (where Ward Dawson performed this time), McLaughlin reached the finals for the fifth time in a row, but lost again. On this, his participation in tennis tournaments almost ended, and he switched to golf ^[7] . It is believed that the active manner of playing and the highest tension in the games of the Challenge Cup turned out to be an unbearable burden for McLaughlin's health, and the “comet” simply burned out after 1914 ^{[7] [8]} .

US Championship Finals and Wimbledon Tournament

In 1917, with the entry of the United States into World War II, McLaughlin was mobilized into the fleet , but, apparently, did not take a significant part in hostilities. In May 1918, he married Helen Mirs from a wealthy Chicago family and settled with her in Pasadena ^[7] . The following year, he last took part in the US Championship, unconditionally losing to the quarterfinals to Norris Williams. After that, McLaughlin focused on real estate trading and other entrepreneurial activities. Helen gave birth to a son and two daughters. ^[8]

In 1929, as a result of the stock market crash, the McLaughlin lost all their savings. They had to move from Pasadena to Hermosa Beach , where they lived in a cottage owned by the Helen family. Maurice was forced to abandon the secular lifestyle and got a job at North American Aviation , and later at Northrop Aircraft . In December 1941, after the United States entered World War II, McLaughlin, who was already 51 years old, again volunteered for the armed forces, but, apparently, again remained aloof from active hostilities ^[7] .

In 1957, the name of Maurice McLaughlin was included in the lists of the National (later International) Tennis Hall of Fame . He died in Hermosa Beach a few months later at the age of 67 years ^[7] .

• Allison Danzig. Maurice McLoughlin // Bud Collins' Tennis Encyclopedia / Bud Collins, Zander Hollander (Eds.). - Detroit, MI: Visible Ink Press, 1997 .-- P. 102-103. - ISBN 1-57859-000-0 .
• McLoughlin, Maurice Evans "Mac", "Moury", "Red" // Historical Dictionary of Tennis / John Grasso (Ed.). - Plymouth: Scarecrow Press, 2011 .-- P. 192. - ISBN 978-0-8108-7490-9 .
• Robert Lindley Murray: The Reluctant US Tennis Champion / Roger W. Ohnsorg. - Trafford Publishing, 2011 .-- P. 36-38, 304-307. - ISBN 978-1-4269-4513-7 .

• Maurice McLaughlin at the International Tennis Hall of Fame website
• Profile on the Davis Cup website