ABSTRACT
Riggs's loss to Quist was an especially bitter pill because he had defeated him the year before in the challenge round matches at the Ger-mantown Cricket Club. In 1937, Riggs had a much-improved season on the Eastern Circuit, losing to Baron von Cramm in a five-set semifinal at Forest Hills and ending the season with a number two US ranking, just behind Budge. Riggs always carried the most racquets of any player—seven or eight at a time, each slightly heavier in the head where he had added adhesive tape. As he was being beaten night after night by Kramer, Riggs also saw that tour results were no real measure of ability. Born the same year as Jack Kramer in Guayaquil, Ecuador, he was one of nine children in a poverty-stricken family. A great exception was Richard Alonzo Gonzales, who grew up in one of the poor Mexican American barrios of Los Angeles.
