1941 H2H tour - Marble, Hardwick, Budge, Tilden

K

krosero

Legend
The following are my results for this 1941 tour featuring Alice Marble, Mary Hardwick, Don Budge and Bill Tilden.


STOP #1
January 6 in New York
MSG
Marble d. Hardwick 8-6, 8-6
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 6-4


STOP #2
January 8 in Chicago
Chicago Stadium
Marble d. Hardwick 4-6, 7-5, 9-7
Budge d. Tilden 6-2, 3-6, 6-0


STOP #3
January 10 in Minneapolis
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 11-9, 6-2


STOP #4
January 12 in Cincinnati
Xavier University Fieldhouse
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-8, 6-4, 9-7
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 8-6, 6-4


STOP #5
January 14 in Detroit
Olympia Arena
Marble d. Hardwick 7-5, 7-5
Tilden d. Budge 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-4, 6-3

Tilden had 11 aces against Budge.


STOP #6
January 15 in Milwaukee
Marble d. Hardwick 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-2, 6-0
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-2, 8-6

Tilden then sustained an injury in a car accident. John Nogrady took his place in several subsequent stops.


STOP #7
January 17 in St. Louis
Washington University Fieldhouse
Marble d. Hardwick 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
Budge d. Nogrady 6-3, 7-5
Marble/Nogrady beat Budge/Hardwick 6-4, 7-5


STOP #8
January 18 in Kansas City
Marble d. Hardwick 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
Budge d. Nogrady 6-1, 6-4
Marble/Nogrady beat Budge/Hardwick 2-6, 6-1, 6-4


STOP #9
January 21 in Cleveland
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-3
Budge d. Nogrady 8-6, 4-6, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Nogrady 6-3, 6-2


STOP #10
January 23 in Boston
Boston Garden
Hardwick d. Marble 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
Budge d. Nogrady 6-3, 3-6, 6-2


STOP #11
January 25 in Buffalo
Memorial Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-3
Budge d. Nogrady 6-2, 6-2


STOP #12
January 28 in Pittsburgh
The Garden
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 4-6, 6-1
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4, 6-4


STOP #13
January 29 in Philadelphia
In Philadelphia Arena before 4,526 who paid $6,355
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 7-5, 10-8
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4, 6-3

Tilden “acing Budge 12 times” in the second set


STOP #14
January 31 in College Park, MD
Marble d. Hardwick 7-5, 8-6
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-4


STOP #15
February 1 in Hershey, PA
Hershey Sports Arena
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-3, 3-6, 6-3


STOP #16
February 2 in Baltimore
Baltimore Coliseum
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-2, 7-5
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 8-6, 2-6, 6-2


STOP #17
February 5 in Chapel Hill, NC
Woollen Gymnasium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-4
Budge 9-11, 6-4 Tilden (TIE)
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-1, 6-3

The men’s singles was stopped to allow time for the doubles.


STOP #18
February 6 in Charlotte, NC
Charlotte Armory
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-0
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-4, 0-6, 6-3


STOP #19
February 11 in Havana
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-3, 4-6, 7-5


STOP #20
February 13 in Nassau, Bahamas
British Colonial Hotel on clay
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-2
Budge d. Nogrady 6-4, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Nogrady 6-1, 6-2


STOP #21
February 16 in Miami Beach
Outdoors at Flamingo Park courts, on clay
Marble d. Hardwick 8-6, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 8-6, 7-5


STOP #22
February 18 in New Orleans
Tulane University gymnasium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 4-6, 6-3, 8-6


STOP #23
February 20 in Houston
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 10-8, 6-4
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-3, 1-6, 6-3


STOP #24
February 21 in San Antonio
Municipal Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-0
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 6-2
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 4-6, 6-3, 6-4


STOP #25
February 23 in Fort Worth
Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum, on clay
Marble d. Hardwick 2-6, 6-2, 6-0
Tilden d. Budge 6-8, 6-1, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-2, 7-5

The local press reported that the stars "played on a clay court with artificial grass filling the remaining part of the coliseum."


STOP #26
February 24 in Austin
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 7-5, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 4-6, 6-0, 6-0


STOP #27
March 2 in Los Angeles
On the wooden court in outdoor ice rink at Tropical Ice Gardens
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 9-7, 6-1
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 9-7, 2-6, 6-3


STOP #28
March 5 in San Francisco
Civic Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
Marble/Budge beat Tilden/Hardwick


STOP #29
March 8 in Portland
Coliseum
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-3


STOP #30
March 10 in Seattle
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 7-5
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4, 6-4


STOP #31
March 11 in Vancouver
Exhibition Garden
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 10-8
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 6-3
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-2, 3-6, 6-3

Marble/Tilden reportedly now leading 13-12

A stop scheduled in Oakland Auditorium for May 13 was cancelled in mid-January, reportedly because “promoters have always lost money every time Budge and Co. played in J. Donald’s home town!” (Oakland Tribune)


STOP #32
March 14 in Fresno
Memorial Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 7-5
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-1, 6-3


STOP #33
March 16 in Phoenix
Phoenix Country Club, hard court
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 6-3
Hardwick d. Marble 6-8, 6-2, 8-6

This was reported as the fourth stop to have been played outdoors.


STOP #34
March 18 in Tucson, AZ
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 7-5


STOP #35
March 21 in Dallas
On clay at Fair Park Livestock Arena, 8:30 pm.
Marble d. Hardwick 7-5, 9-7
Tilden d. Budge 6-2, 6-2
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-2, 4-6, 6-2


STOP #36
March 22 in Little Rock
Robinson Memorial Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 6-4
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 14-12, 6-4


STOP #37
March 23 in Memphis
Ellis Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick, unknown score
Tilden d. Budge 3-6, 6-4, 6-4


STOP #38
March 26 in Louisville, KY
City armory
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-8, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 7-5


STOP #39
March 29 in Maywood-Chicago
Proviso High School Fieldhouse
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 7-5
Tilden d. Budge 6-4, 6-3
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 12-10


STOP #40
April 1 in Rockford, IL
Rockford armory
Marble d. Hardwick 4-6, 8-6, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 6-1 (a reader's letter in ALT gives the score as 6-4, 8-6)
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4


STOP #41
April 3 in Moline, IL
Moline Fieldhouse
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-1
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-2, 8-6


STOP #42
April 4 in Des Moines
Drake Fieldhouse
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-4
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4, 7-9, 7-5


STOP #43
April 6 in Omaha
Omaha Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-4


STOP #44
April 9 in Champaign, IL
George Huff Gym of the University of Illinois
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-2
Tilden d. Budge 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-3, 4-6, 6-2


STOP #45
April 14 in Indianapolis
Butler University field house
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 7-5, 7-5
Marble/Budge beat Tilden/Hardwick 10-8, 6-3


STOP #46
April 15 in Toledo
University Field House
Marble d. Hardwick 11-9, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 7-5
Marble/Tilden 6-2, 7-7 Budge/Hardwick


STOP #47
April 16 in Columbus, OH
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 6-2
Hardwick d. Marble 4-6, 6-4, 8-6
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-1, 6-3


STOP #48
April 18 in Youngstown, OH
South Field House
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-2, 6-4
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 1-6, 6-1, 6-3


STOP #49
April 20 in Syracuse
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 7-5
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-4, 4-6, 6-2


STOP #50
April 23 in Montreal
Montreal Forum
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 11-9
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-3, 6-3


STOP #51
April 25 in Toronto
Maple Leaf Gardens
Marble d. Hardwick 6-0, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 6-4


STOP #52
April 26 in Rochester
Edgerton Park Sports Arena
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-3
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 7-5, 6-4


STOP #53
April 28 in Providence, RI
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 2-6, 6-3, 6-0


STOP #54
April 29 in Northampton, MA
Marble d. Hardwick, unknown score
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 6-2


STOP #55
May 1 in Atlantic City
Marble d. Hardwick, unknown score but a one-set match
Nogrady d. Budge in a one-set match
Marble/Nogrady beat Budge/Hardwick in a one-set match


STOP #56
May 2 in White Plains
Westchester County Center
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-0
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 8-6
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 4-6, 7-5, 6-2


STOP #57
May 4 in Hartford
Outdoors at Hartford Golf Club
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 7-5
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 4-6, 6-3, 6-2


STOP #58
May 5 in Trenton
Marble d. Hardwick 5-7, 6-1, 7-5
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 9-7
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4


STOP #59
May 8 in Clinton, SC
Presbyterian College, outdoors on clay
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 7-5
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 8-6, 6-4


STOP #60
May 9 in Atlanta
On clay at Northside Tennis Club
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-3, 2-6, 6-4


STOP #61
May 10 in Birmingham
City Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 7-5
 
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[Edit--all Budge/Tilden results have now been found; the final tally is Budge 47, Tilden 6, and 1 tie]

I researched the Marble/Hardwick matches myself; a handful of scores are still missing but the results are all confirmed. Alice won the series 58-3.

I found almost all of the above-listed Budge/Tilden matches myself, but @NoMercy found me the result and score in Charlotte and the scores in Little Rock and Omaha. So all Budge/Tilden results and scores for this tour are now documented, except in Birmingham which we are still missing.

Ray Bowers estimated a final tally in Budge's favor of 46-7 (and one tie). All documented results now bring the tally to 46-6 (with one tie), so I am guessing that Tilden won in Birmingham, though it's possible that the tied match may have been counted by mistake as a win -- a mistake made not by Bowers but in the original reports from '41.

This is what Bowers wrote, in his 1941 chapter from several years ago, at http://www.tennisserver.com/lines/lines_06_10_01.html

​
According to Al Ennis, the tour's advance and publicity man, the final engagement in Birmingham on May 10 brought the tour's performances to 61, a number closely consistent with all other solid information. Hardwick won three times (Boston, Phoenix, and Columbus, Ohio), so that the final count of victories was 58-3 in Marble's favor. My tally of documented outcomes shows Budge ahead of Tilden, 43-5 in matches won plus one tie. (Tilden won in Detroit, Fort Worth, Dallas, Memphis, and Maywood-Chicago.) There were also 7 cases where Nogrady played instead of Bill and another 5 cases where scores are unknown. If we accept the general understanding that Tilden won a total of seven times, then the final tally would have to be 46-7-1, Budge over Tilden. As to the mixed doubles, by my count Marble-Tilden won 25 and lost 21 against Hardwick-Budge, while Hardwick-Tilden won 2 of 3 against Marble-Budge. (Again, there were 7 Nogrady substitutions and 5 unknowns.) Tilden later wrote that playing mixed with Alice was like playing men's doubles.​


So when Bowers wrote this, 5 Tilden wins were documented. I found a sixth at Champaign, Ill., and as I said there may be a seventh in Birmingham.
 
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Jack Harris, the tour manager, wrote a letter to American Lawn Tennis, dated April 14:

Our appearances continue to be enthusiastically received everywhere. The girls have had some great matches, which have been enjoyed thoroughly in all of the cities in which we have appeared. Tilden is playing better tennis at the present time than he has at any time on the tour; in fact, in one stretch starting with March 21, at Dallas, he beat Budge three of the following five matches—Dallas, Memphis and Maywood, Illinois, within a period of ten days.

The mixed doubles matches are always very interesting to the galleries as all four players are relaxed and inject a great deal of humor into the play. It is amazing to note how well the girls are able to handle the fast shots of both men, bringing ejaculations from spectators as a result of their great hits off of the shots of both Budge and Tilden.​

Harris wrote another letter to ALT just after the tour’s end:

In the 18 weeks of play our activities took us throughout the United States. We played a match in Havana, one in Nassau and three in Canada—Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. Altogether 61 matches were played…

Despite the fact that Miss Hardwick won but three matches from Miss Marble, on several occasions in other matches Mary had excellent opportunities to achieve victory, notably in Chicago, where on seven different occasions the English girl was at match point for a straight set victory. Tilden, too, in his matches with Budge, played magnificently throughout the entire tour, and though he won but seven times from Budge, demonstrated that he is still one of the world’s greatest players and the most amazing athlete of this generation….

Attendance figures indicated that tennis interest is growing by leaps and bounds. In the neighborhood of 190,000 turned out to see our matches in the 4 1/2 months we were on tour. Matches played at colleges and universities broke all previous records for attendance and financial returns. Without doubt, all in all, this was one of the most successful tours in history.​
 
Interesting, but in 41 Tilden was 47-48, so should have been little trouble for Budge though he Bill did give Don some tough matches.
 
Budge in his memoir, and Frank Deford in his biography of Tilden, both tell of a speech that Tilden gave, mid-match, to a unruly crowd during this tour. Budge wrote that the incident was in Toronto; Deford says it was in Montreal; but the speech is nearly identical in both tellings. And this speech actually appears almost word-for-word in the press back then, in the May 2, 1941 edition of the The Waterloo Daily Courier:

Budge motored to Atlantic City yesterday with Miss Marble, Bill Tilden, Mary Hardwick and Eleanor Tennant and gave perhaps the biggest tennis clinic of all time. All the strokes and science of the game were explained to the annual convention of physical education teachers.

Spreads Tennis Gospel

The Budge-Tilden-Marble-Hardwick-Tennant group isn't one to beat a dollar away with a stick, but nonetheless during this tour it did more to spread the gospel of the game than any crop of amateurs ever did. It conducted free clinics everywhere the tour took them, and it missed few cities.

Budge Is Best

Budge is so far the best tennis player in the world that watching him play has long since become an exhibition of skill rather than a contest. At present he has played Tilden 55 matches and beaten that remarkable old gaffer 50 times. Marble has lost only three times to Hardwick in about as many matches.

"When he decides to get off the dime,” Budge told us, speaking of Tilden, "he can still play some pretty amazing tennis. Bill's forty-eight years old, you know, but those times he beat me he really beat me. There wasn't any laying down on my part, either. He just began to move around as he must have done in the early nineteen twenties, when nobody could touch him. Took the play away from me, hit harder and truer than I can, and made me look like a sap. He beat me six-one, six-one in Dallas, what’a you think of that?”

Tilden Great Showman

“But win or lose, Bill's been a great show. Let me tell you what happened in Toronto. You never see a guy beef very much in tennis if a lineman is making mistakes in the other guy's shots, do you? But Bill did. I had hit three or four good ones in that Toronto match. They were pretty plainly in the court, but each time the lineman said [out]. Well. I didn't care. But Tilden was indignant, even though he was the fellow the lineman was helping.

Finally he stopped the play and said to the umpire, ‘I want that lineman removed.' Well, you know about the good neighbor policy, and all that, but darn near everybody there in the stands stood up and began booing Bill. But it didn't stump him a bit. He walked over to the umpire's chair, took the loudspeaker and made a speech.

He said: ‘The usual British custom is not to condemn a man until he has been proven wrong. For your information I'm not defending myself. I'm here defending Don Budge against this atrocious officiating. This linesman has been wrong so often that he should be removed, not only for the good of Budge but for the good of the match. I don't know just what you want to see, but I have an idea that it is a fair match, where each man has the benefit of accurate officiating. As it is now, I'm getting all the breaks, and it's just not fair.'

In the end there wasn't a peep out of the gallery. He's quite a guy, that Tilden. No thought of quitting the game, at 48, and still able to beat anybody, if he decides to get off the dime."
​
Incidentally Deford writes that the troupe stopped in Elizabeth, New Jersey, though he implies that the engagement there was canceled. But in researching the 1942 season I saw one stop referred to both as Elizabeth and Trenton (which are nearby cities); the latter city is already accounted for in the '41 tour, on May 5.
 
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thrust said:
Interesting, but in 41 Tilden was 47-48, so should have been little trouble for Budge though he Bill did give Don some tough matches.
Click to expand...
Later in '41 Tilden toured against Perry (who ended up as year-end #1). After about a month Perry was reported ahead by 20-3, a similar score to the earlier Budge/Tilden tour.

Tilden did get some very good wins over Budge. He beat Budge twice in '39 on their European tour, and once in 1940.

I don't recall right now if they ever met after the war.
 
A short press report on Marble's loss in Boston:

It was Miss Marble’s first loss in more than 200 amateur and professional matches. She has been undefeated since she was set down by Helen Jacobs in the semi-finals of the 1938 Wimbledon tournament.

The Berkeley, Calif., girl last night lacked the aggressiveness that carried her to four national championships. Her famed cannonball service was missing. She barely managed to hold service after five deuce games in the opening set and was broken seven times in the fourteen games she served during the match.
​
 
krosero said:
A short press report on Marble's loss in Boston:

It was Miss Marble’s first loss in more than 200 amateur and professional matches. She has been undefeated since she was set down by Helen Jacobs in the semi-finals of the 1938 Wimbledon tournament.
​
Click to expand...


This must be counting both singles and doubles?​
 
krosero said:
The following are my results for this 1941 tour featuring Alice Marble, Mary Hardwick, Don Budge and Bill Tilden.


STOP #1
January 6 in New York
MSG
Marble d. Hardwick 8-6, 8-6
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 6-4


STOP #2
January 8 in Chicago
Chicago Stadium
Marble d. Hardwick 4-6, 7-5, 9-7
Budge d. Tilden 6-2, 3-6, 6-0


STOP #3
January 10 in Minneapolis
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 11-9, 6-2


STOP #4
January 12 in Cincinnati
Xavier University Fieldhouse
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-8, 6-4, 9-7
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 8-6, 6-4


STOP #5
January 14 in Detroit
Olympia Arena
Marble d. Hardwick 7-5, 7-5
Tilden d. Budge 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-4, 6-3

Tilden had 11 aces against Budge.


STOP #6
January 15 in Milwaukee
Marble d. Hardwick 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-2, 6-0
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-2, 8-6

Tilden then sustained an injury in a car accident. John Nogrady took his place in several subsequent stops.


STOP #7
January 17 in St. Louis
Washington University Fieldhouse
Marble d. Hardwick 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
Budge d. Nogrady 6-3, 7-5
Marble/Nogrady beat Budge/Hardwick 6-4, 7-5


STOP #8
January 18 in Kansas City
Marble d. Hardwick 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
Budge d. Nogrady 6-1, 6-4
Marble/Nogrady beat Budge/Hardwick 2-6, 6-1, 6-4


STOP #9
January 21 in Cleveland
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-3
Budge d. Nogrady 8-6, 4-6, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Nogrady 6-3, 6-2


STOP #10
January 23 in Boston
Boston Garden
Hardwick d. Marble 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
Budge d. Nogrady 6-3, 3-6, 6-2


STOP #11
January 25 in Buffalo
Memorial Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-3
Budge d. Nogrady 6-2, 6-2


STOP #12
January 28 in Pittsburgh
The Garden
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 4-6, 6-1
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4, 6-4


STOP #13
January 29 in Philadelphia
In Philadelphia Arena before 4,526 who paid $6,355
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 7-5, 10-8
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4, 6-3

Tilden “acing Budge 12 times” in the second set


STOP #14
January 31 in College Park, MD
Marble d. Hardwick 7-5, 8-6
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-4


STOP #15
February 1 in Hershey, PA
Hershey Sports Arena
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-3, 3-6, 6-3


STOP #16
February 2 in Baltimore
Baltimore Coliseum
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-2, 7-5
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 8-6, 2-6, 6-2


STOP #17
February 5 in Chapel Hill, NC
Woollen Gymnasium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-4
Budge 9-11, 6-4 Tilden (TIE)
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-1, 6-3

The men’s singles was stopped to allow time for the doubles.


STOP #18
February 6 in Charlotte, NC
Charlotte Armory
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-0
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-4, 0-6, 6-3


STOP #19
February 11 in Havana
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-3, 4-6, 7-5


STOP #20
February 13 in Nassau, Bahamas
British Colonial Hotel on clay
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-2
Budge d. Nogrady 6-4, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Nogrady 6-1, 6-2


STOP #21
February 16 in Miami Beach
Outdoors at Flamingo Park courts, on clay
Marble d. Hardwick 8-6, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 8-6, 7-5


STOP #22
February 18 in New Orleans
Tulane University gymnasium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 4-6, 6-3, 8-6


STOP #23
February 20 in Houston
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 10-8, 6-4
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-3, 1-6, 6-3


STOP #24
February 21 in San Antonio
Municipal Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-0
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 6-2
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 4-6, 6-3, 6-4


STOP #25
February 23 in Fort Worth
Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum, on clay
Marble d. Hardwick 2-6, 6-2, 6-0
Tilden d. Budge 6-8, 6-1, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-2, 7-5

The local press reported that the stars "played on a clay court with artificial grass filling the remaining part of the coliseum."


STOP #26
February 24 in Austin
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 7-5, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 4-6, 6-0, 6-0


STOP #27
March 2 in Los Angeles
On the wooden court in outdoor ice rink at Tropical Ice Gardens
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 9-7, 6-1
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 9-7, 2-6, 6-3


STOP #28
March 5 in San Francisco
Civic Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
Marble/Budge beat Tilden/Hardwick


STOP #29
March 8 in Portland
Coliseum
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-3


STOP #30
March 10 in Seattle
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 7-5
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4, 6-4


STOP #31
March 11 in Vancouver
Exhibition Garden
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 10-8
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 6-3
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-2, 3-6, 6-3

Marble/Tilden reportedly now leading 13-12

A stop scheduled in Oakland Auditorium for May 13 was cancelled in mid-January, reportedly because “promoters have always lost money every time Budge and Co. played in J. Donald’s home town!” (Oakland Tribune)


STOP #32
March 14 in Fresno
Memorial Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 7-5
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-1, 6-3


STOP #33
March 16 in Phoenix
Phoenix Country Club, hard court
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 6-3
Hardwick d. Marble 6-8, 6-2, 8-6

This was reported as the fourth stop to have been played outdoors.


STOP #34
March 18 in Tucson, AZ
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 7-5


STOP #35
March 21 in Dallas
On clay at Fair Park Livestock Arena, 8:30 pm.
Marble d. Hardwick 7-5, 9-7
Tilden d. Budge 6-2, 6-2
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-2, 4-6, 6-2


STOP #36
March 22 in Little Rock
Robinson Memorial Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 6-4
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 14-12, 6-4


STOP #37
March 23 in Memphis
Ellis Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick, unknown score
Tilden d. Budge 3-6, 6-4, 6-4


STOP #38
March 26 in Louisville, KY
City armory
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-8, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 7-5


STOP #39
March 29 in Maywood-Chicago
Proviso High School Fieldhouse
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 7-5
Tilden d. Budge 6-4, 6-3
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 12-10


STOP #40
April 1 in Rockford, IL
Rockford armory
Marble d. Hardwick 4-6, 8-6, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 6-1 (a reader's letter in ALT gives the score as 6-4, 8-6)
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4


STOP #41
April 3 in Moline, IL
Moline Fieldhouse
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-1
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-2, 8-6


STOP #42
April 4 in Des Moines
Drake Fieldhouse
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-4
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4, 7-9, 7-5


STOP #43
April 6 in Omaha
Omaha Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-4


STOP #44
April 9 in Champaign, IL
George Huff Gym of the University of Illinois
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-2
Tilden d. Budge 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-3, 4-6, 6-2


STOP #45
April 14 in Indianapolis
Butler University field house
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 7-5, 7-5
Marble/Budge beat Tilden/Hardwick 10-8, 6-3


STOP #46
April 15 in Toledo
University Field House
Marble d. Hardwick 11-9, 6-1
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 7-5
Marble/Tilden 6-2, 7-7 Budge/Hardwick


STOP #47
April 16 in Columbus, OH
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 6-2
Hardwick d. Marble 4-6, 6-4, 8-6
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-1, 6-3


STOP #48
April 18 in Youngstown, OH
South Field House
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-2, 6-4
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 1-6, 6-1, 6-3


STOP #49
April 20 in Syracuse
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 7-5
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 6-4, 4-6, 6-2


STOP #50
April 23 in Montreal
Montreal Forum
Marble d. Hardwick 6-3, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 11-9
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-3, 6-3


STOP #51
April 25 in Toronto
Maple Leaf Gardens
Marble d. Hardwick 6-0, 6-4
Budge d. Tilden 6-3, 6-4


STOP #52
April 26 in Rochester
Edgerton Park Sports Arena
Marble d. Hardwick 6-2, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 6-3
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 7-5, 6-4


STOP #53
April 28 in Providence, RI
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 2-6, 6-3, 6-0


STOP #54
April 29 in Northampton, MA
Marble d. Hardwick, unknown score
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 6-2


STOP #55
May 1 in Atlantic City
Marble d. Hardwick, unknown score but a one-set match
VanRynn d. Budge in a one-set match
Marble/Nogrady beat Budge/Hardwick in a one-set match

Johnny VanRynn substituted for Bill Tilden who was injured.


STOP #56
May 2 in White Plains
Westchester County Center
Marble d. Hardwick 6-4, 6-0
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 8-6
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 4-6, 7-5, 6-2


STOP #57
May 4 in Hartford
Outdoors at Hartford Golf Club
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 7-5
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 4-6, 6-3, 6-2


STOP #58
May 5 in Trenton
Marble d. Hardwick 5-7, 6-1, 7-5
Budge d. Tilden 6-1, 9-7
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-4


STOP #59
May 8 in Clinton, SC
Presbyterian College, outdoors on clay
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-2
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 7-5
Marble/Tilden beat Budge/Hardwick 8-6, 6-4


STOP #60
May 9 in Atlanta
On clay at Northside Tennis Club
Marble d. Hardwick 6-1, 6-3
Budge d. Tilden 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Budge/Hardwick beat Marble/Tilden 6-3, 2-6, 6-4


STOP #61
May 10 in Birmingham
City Auditorium
Marble d. Hardwick, unknown score
Tilden vs. Budge, unknown result
Click to expand...

krosero, Many thanks for your fantastic findings. I will study those results.
 
krosero said:
You could be right, though honestly I have no way of checking it. Remarkable number no matter what.
Click to expand...

These are from an older thread:

pc1 said:
BTURNER,

Bear in mind I do not consider Alice Marble the GOAT. However I think her accomplishments in her peak years merits consideration for GOAT of peak period no matter how small or large. Here's some information I have on her however that hopefully can give you a better picture of the player.

1939-Marble played nine tournaments and won them all for a 45-0 record. Won the Wimbledon title and the US Nationals.

1940-Again she played nine tournaments, won them all for a 45-0 singles record. She also was 27-0 in Women's doubles and 11-0 in mixed doubles for a totally unbeaten year of 83-0. She won the US Nationals.

Marble is fourth on the all time consecutive wins list with 111 wins in a row. She mentions in her autobiography that she won her last 28 tournaments at one point. The Collins Encyclopedia mentions she won 22 tournaments in a row and 111 matches so the consecutive streak could have been longer or Marble could have been incorrect in her book. This streak is fourth all time behind only two of Suzanne Lenglen's of 182 and 116 and one by Helen Wills of 116.

Marble's consecutive years of 45-0 in 1939 and 1940 is the most wins by a player in an unbeaten season. Wills and Lenglen were unbeaten in a number of years but played fewer matches.

Marble won four US Nationals in 1936,1938, 1939 and 1940. She won Wimbledon in 1939.

In 1940 she turned pro and played a head to head tour against Mary Hardwick, a top ten player, winning 72 and losing 3 matches.

In 1939 the Women's Top Ten according to Collins was 1. Marble 2. Kay Stammers 3. Helen Jacobs, 4. Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling 5. Simone Passermard Mathieu 6. Sarah Palfrey Fabyan 7. Jadwiga Jedrzejowska
8. Mary Hardwick 9. Valerie Scott 10. Virginia Wolfenden.

In 1940 there was no official Women's top ten due to WW II and no major European tournaments.

In her last three years of amateur play she won 23 of 24 tournaments (according to Collins) and 120 of 122 matches.

Marble also won the US Clay Courts in 1940.
Click to expand...

krosero said:
I would think that the Collins number is correct, but I have seen 225 straight victories in a news report of the time period. I wonder if the 225 includes amateur exos.

I wasn't directly researching this so I don't have much context for it, just a few reports I ran across while researching the '41 tour featuring Marble, Budge, Tilden and Mary Hardwick.

In that tour Hardwick got her first win over Marble in Boston on Jan. 23, and a local paper had this:

It was Miss Marble’s first loss in more than 200 amateur and professional matches. She has been undefeated since she was set down by Helen Jacobs in the semi-finals of the 1938 Wimbledon tournament.​
A couple of months later there was this in the Franklin Evening Star:

2,500 FANS ACCLAIM BUDGE, MISS MARBLE
Indianapolis, April 15 (INS)—Twenty-five hundred Indianapolis fans acclaimed Don Budge and Alice Marble as supreme on the courts today following their convincing demonstration in a professional program at Butler fieldhouse.

Miss Marble, who won 225 contests before turning pro three months ago, downed Mary Hardwick of England, 6-3, 6-3, while Budge defeated “Big Bill” Tilden, 7-5, 7-5. In doubles competition, the Budge-Marble combination conquered the same opponents, 10-8, 6-3.​
Again, this number is so far off the charts, I wonder if it includes amateur exos -- though I have no idea how many exos the top amateur stars would have played in those days.

The Marble/Tilden tour played at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC, and a local newspaper mentioned Marble having played exos at the College already in 1940 -- one in May (Hardwick also participated), another in the autumn. She didn't turn pro until later.
Click to expand...

Funnily enough, pc1 then asks:

pc1 said:
Could the number of over 200 include doubles matches?
Click to expand...

:D

We spend too much time on here...
 
BobbyOne said:
krosero, Please write "Van Ryn".
Click to expand...
Thanks, and you know what, I just noticed that Jack Harris in his letter says it was Nogrady who beat Budge in that Atlantic City stop. Not Johnny Van Ryn. In my notes I have Van Ryn, but I can't find my original source for that (it was a newspaper). I'll change it to Nogrady; I doubt that Harris would have gotten that wrong, because he discusses the stop in Atlantic City at some length.
 
Budge recalled the '41 tour in a piece he wrote for World Tennis, May '56. And he tells yet another story of Big Bill taking the umpire's mike (maybe Tilden did this a lot).

When Tilden, Alice Marble, Mary Hardwick and I were touring together, we played in Elizabeth, N.J. one night under very adverse conditions. The runback was only five feet long and there were basketball standards on the center of the court where the players served. Tilden looked around at the full house, then walked up to the microphone and addressed the crowd:

"Because of the poor conditions of the court," he said, "the players will not be able to exhibit their usual high calibre of tennis. Therefore, if anyone wishes to leave, their money will be gladly refunded. However, if you decide to stay, we will do our utmost to play despite the surroundings."

Jack Harris, the promoter, was sitting next to me in the stands. He was busy with his own thoughts and did not hear what Tilden was saying.

"Ah, that Tilden!" said Jack, beaming at Bill who was standing on the floor clutching the mike. "The greatest thing I ever did was to sign him for this tour. What's he saying?"

"He's telling the people that they can have their money back."

Harris stood up with a jerk, rushed to the floor, seized the mike from Tilden and announced: "The matches will now begin."

Another incident happened that night, this one concerning Mary Hardwick. Mary always threw the ball on the serve a little higher than the average player. There was a balcony just above the court, and as Mary tossed the ball in preparation for her delivery, a kid leaned over and caught the ball. Mary stopped her swing, looked up and said in her beautiful English accent:

"I say, you know, we both can't play."​

So again there's this business about playing in Elizabeth, NJ. But it really must be the stop in Trenton on May 5.

And in fact an AP report from back then reported the Trenton match as being played "under adverse conditions" -- the very same phrase in Budge's 1956 article.

Unfortunately the AP report from '41 doesn't elaborate on what was "adverse."
 
krosero said:
Thanks, and you know what, I just noticed that Jack Harris in his letter says it was Nogrady who beat Budge in that Atlantic City stop. Not Johnny Van Ryn. In my notes I have Van Ryn, but I can't find my original source for that (it was a newspaper). I'll change it to Nogrady; I doubt that Harris would have gotten that wrong, because he discusses the stop in Atlantic City at some length.
Click to expand...
Atlantic City is already in the oven, almost ready to be baked ;)
 
pc1 said:
Click to expand...
Cool to see this.

Marble was really the headliner of the '41 tour. She and Tilden sometimes got top billing but often Marble was singled out as the top star.

And that's saying something: to out-shine Tilden.

She must have been a magnetic personality, but without being the prima donna that Tilden was. She wrote a column for American Lawn Tennis after the war; I've read a few of her articles, and her writing is direct and lively (without being saccharine), and very intelligent. She was critical of the racial segregation in tennis and an early supporter of Althea Gibson: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beverly-wettenstein/let-us-remember-alice-mar_b_62571.html

So I'm not surprised she worked as a spy during the war, which obviously was a courageous assignment.

I hope the upcoming movie about her is a good one.
 
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krosero said:
Cool to see this.

Marble was really the headliner of the '41 tour. She and Tilden sometimes got top billing but often Marble was singled out as the top star.

And that's saying something: to out-shine Tilden.

She must have been a magnetic personality, but without being the prima donna that Tilden was. She wrote a column for American Lawn Tennis after the war; I've read a few of her articles, and her writing is direct and lively (without being saccharine), and very intelligent. She was critical of the racial segregation in tennis and an early supporter of Althea Gibson: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beverly-wettenstein/let-us-remember-alice-mar_b_62571.html

So I'm not surprised she worked as a spy during the war, which obviously was a courageous assignment.

I hope the upcoming movie about her is a good one.
Click to expand...
Not sure if you guys have already checked the videos on here.
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/videos/ellsworth-vines?filmsegments=raw,pro&phrase=ellsworth vines&sort=best#license

These videos belonged to itnsource.
They had a huge amount of cool videos.
Now it looks it is included in gettyimages and it's not the same anymore, I can't find the same videos.
A lot less (for example the final of Wien 1961 is missing).
Maybe they are just somewhere else.
 
For this series, in matches for which scores are known, we have Budge leading Tilden 46-6, and Budge winning 60.30% of all games (694 of 1151).

That does not include their tied match in Chapel Hill on Feb. 5.
 
STOP #55
May 1 in Atlantic City
Marble d. Hardwick, unknown score but a one-set match
Nogrady d. Budge in a one-set match
Marble/Nogrady beat Budge/Hardwick in a one-set match

==

Article in the Atlantic City Press dated May 2, 1941:

Marble d Hardwick 6-2
Nogrady d Budge 6-4
Marble/Nogrady d Budge/Hardwick 6-1

Nogrady was noted as subbing for Tilden, who was confined to the sidelines by an injured ankle.
 
Scott_tennis said:
STOP #55
May 1 in Atlantic City
Marble d. Hardwick, unknown score but a one-set match
Nogrady d. Budge in a one-set match
Marble/Nogrady beat Budge/Hardwick in a one-set match

==

Article in the Atlantic City Press dated May 2, 1941:

Marble d Hardwick 6-2
Nogrady d Budge 6-4
Marble/Nogrady d Budge/Hardwick 6-1

Nogrady was noted as subbing for Tilden, who was confined to the sidelines by an injured ankle.
Click to expand...
Tilden was well past prime by this stage of his career, but he was still a major professional draw who could sell tickets. This box office magic of Tilden accounts for his continued appearance as a prime name on the various pro events.
 
Dan Lobb said:
Tilden was well past prime by this stage of his career, but he was still a major professional draw who could sell tickets. This box office magic of Tilden accounts for his continued appearance as a prime name on the various pro events.
Click to expand...
TRUE, but really, why would anyone today care about these exhibition matches? Marble vs Hardwick was a total waste of time as Hardwick was never any real competition for Marble, and as you say, Tilden was way past his prime at 47 or 48.
 
thrust said:
TRUE, but really, why would anyone today care about these exhibition matches? Marble vs Hardwick was a total waste of time as Hardwick was never any real competition for Marble, and as you say, Tilden was way past his prime at 47 or 48.
Click to expand...
Yes, I think that in some years the top pros got by on their reputations rather than their current level of play.
 
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