In the Men’s Harrison and Pardoe won their first of their two titles.
Sally Childress Auxford teamed up with Barbara Koegel and got the best of her sister, Madge Beck, and her partner, Blanchard’s daughter, Ruth Walker.
The Mixed was a repeat of the 1955 final but this time Hebard and Madge Beck won.
Source: Fessenden S. Blanchard, Platform Paddle Tennis, 1959
There had been several suggestions that the length of the court (not the platform) should be increased in order to make it possible to lob more effectively over the heads of opponents and introduce a greater variety of offensive play. By lengthening the court, possibly two feet at each end, the idea was to make it easier to break up long rallies, where poor overheads and short lobs off the backstop were used. The APTA asked Fox Meadow Tennis Club and Orange Lawn Tennis Club to conduct some experiments.
Temporary lines were drawn on one court at each club, making the length of he court 48 feet instead of 44 feet, leaving 6 feet at each end past the backline. With reliable backstops, returning deep drives would not be extremely difficult.
A number of matches used the longer courts. The majority of the players preferred to leave the measurements as they were. Players felt that the longer courts placed too much of a burden on the server and made the game more tiring for older players. In addition, the extra two feet on each side did not make enough difference in lobbing to justify throwing “out of whack” the balance achieved with the existing measurements.
They believed, in general, that things were fine as they were and “why change such a good game?” In other words, most of them just did not like it, so the matter was dropped.
Source: Adapted from Fessenden S. Blanchard, Platform Paddle Tennis, 1959
“Although I believe that, if we had started with the longer measurements, they would have been accepted without complaint and the game might have been slightly better, I was pleased in another way that most of the players liked platform tennis as it was.”
Source: Fessenden S. Blanchard, Platform Paddle Tennis, 1959
There was no standard or official uniform for paddle players, except maybe in overcoats. Coonskin coats seemed to be the mark of the well-dressed player, except when he was actually playing.
A few of the younger players began turning up with coonskin coats, for which they paid $25 to downtown furriers. When Blanchard went to one of the furriers to get a coat for himself, he was greeted with these remarks: “I have been storing these coonskin coats for years but never had a nibble. But now I am almost sold out. Some people out in Westchester have a game that they play outdoors all winter. They’ve been coming in here and have gobbled up almost all I have”
Source: Fessenden S. Blanchard, Platform Paddle Tennis, 1959
APTA started prescribing rules for use and specification of balls.
Ball Specification: The APTA furnished sponge rubber balls, approximately 2.5″ in diameter.
The Ball Use Rule: In tournaments, only one ball could be used continuously during each set. The server could not substitute another ball during an unfinished set without the permission of the tournament officials, nor could the server hold another ball when serving.
For a number of years, the APTA had closed their eyes to the common issue of repeated foot faults, figuring that it might lessen the fun if they kept calling them. However, the Association began cracking down on them in championship tournaments, appointing foot-fault judges for final and semifinal matches.
Formal rules were introduced for the Men’s Championships in 1958.
Source: Adapted from Fessenden S. Blanchard, Platform Paddle Tennis, 1959
The article included some excellent pictures of players and galleries taken during the national doubles championships at Fox Meadow in Scarsdale.
Source: World Tennis, April 1956
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