While I am on this subject of “waiting about,” let me say that I think ladies do not take nearly enough care of themselves after playing.  They ought to wrap up well if they have not time to change before their next match.  Men are much more careful.  They put on their coats immediately they leave the court, and change their clothes as soon as they can.  But you will see girls chatting after a match, and even having tea, without deigning to put on an extra wrap.  It is courting disaster.  The colds and more dangerous ailments that arise from this little want of care naturally afford people a line of attack when they object to girls engaging in violent exercise.

You cannot be too careful after strenuous play.  I am well aware that ladies are catered for very badly at most of the tournaments in regard to changing-room accommodation.  Some places we have had to put up with are disgraceful.  I think most lady players will agree with me when I say that Wimbledon and Queen’s Club are about the only two grounds where you can change with any degree of comfort.  This is not right, and I am sure if men had to experience the changing-room accommodation afforded for our use there would not be many of them competing at tournaments.  I think the two clubs I have mentioned are the only two where we even get a bathroom!  Some tournaments provide a draughty tent for our use.  Moreover, there is generally only one dressing-room, and feminine spectators often crowd round the one looking-glass, staring at the players as if they were animals on show!  It is sometimes even impossible to sit down to rest after a hard and tiring contest.

I appeal to secretaries of tournaments for some reform.  A number of lady players have asked me to use this opportunity to point out some of our most pressing grievances.  I hope these remarks, which are none too strong, may bear fruit.  Visitors who come over from other countries are always loud in their complaints, and I am not surprised.  I believe the Beckenham authorities are doing all they can to impart a little more comfort to the ladies’ changing and resting-room, and they have greatly improved their accommodation.  It is time other meetings followed their example.  At the seaside meetings it does not so much matter.  Most of the players stay near the ground and can go to their own rooms and be back in time to play again, if necessary; but in London tournaments, where there is often a long drive or train journey before one reaches home, it is most important that there should be a good changing-room.

[ILLUSTRATION:  A TOURNAMENT HOUSE-PARTY AT NEWCASTLE Front row (left to right):  THE LATE MISS C. MEYRE, MR. G.W.  HILLYARD, MRS. HILLYARD, MRS. LAMBERT CHAMBERS, MR. N.E.  BROOKES, MR. A.J.  ROBERTS]

There is another improvement which I feel sure would be greatly welcomed by competitors, and that is a separate tea-tent for their use.  Often a player has only a few minutes to get her tea, and, with the general public engaged in the same amiable pursuit, she is not able to be served and has to go away tealess.  If there were a competitors’ tea-tent, a player could obtain her tea in comfort when she wanted it.