HISTORY OF THE CUP.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 178, 28 July 1913, Page 5

HISTORY OF THE CUP.

THE CONTESTS OP TWELVE YEARS. When the happy inspiration of presenting a trophy for international lawn tennis competition occurred to Mr. Dwight F. Davis in the year 1900, nobody, himself included, had any idea of the worldwide interest which was to attend the contests for it. Mr. Davis had said that if he had thought it would lead to the meeting of so many and such distant nations as have already fought for its possession, "that bowl would have cost 10,000 dollars instead of 1,000," But the intrinsic value or the trophy is of little importance. What has been the keynote of the success of the competitions for the Davis Cup, as a recent writer remarks, is the fact that any nation which aspires to the title of champion in the sport of lawn tennis must be prepared to journey to the land of the holder of the title. For this reason, British players went to America, and, later, Americans, Anstrians, Belgians, Frenchmen, and Australasians visited England. It was Australasians' good good fortune -to defeat the British at Wimbledon, with the result that two American teams have played in Australia, and one in New Zealand, and there is now in Australia for the first time a team from the Britisn Isles. In view of the success which has attended the competitions for the cup. and the enthusiasm which prevails in so many nations and amongst people who ordinarily take little interest in sport, the somewhat diffident strain which Dr. Dwight, president of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association, adopted when first approaching the secretary of the Lawn Tennis Association of England on the matter of the cup sounds peculiar. Here are some extracts from his letter: —

"I beg to call your attention, as secretary of the L.T.A., to an experiment which we are making that will, I hope, increase the interest in lawn tennis. One of our players here has offered a cup, to be a sort of international challenge cup. I enclose the conditions in a rough form. I trust that we shall 'both take a deep interest in them for many years to come.

. . I hope, as I said before, that the scheme will prove a success. It might do a great deal for the game here, and possibly even with you it might be a help. In any case, 1 trust you will do what you can to give us a lead in the matter."

The conditions referred to have since required amplification, but are in substance similar to those originally proposed.

The English association took up the matter cordially, and dispatched a team, which, though not thoroughly representative, was generally considered sufficiently powerful to win. The strength of the Americans, however, had been underestimated. Rumours of the wonderful American service had reached the Englishmen, but were regarded as travellers' tales. Their astonislunent was, therefore, intense when the first ball of the match, served by Dwight Davis himself, broke more than a yard, and left Black, his opponent standing. Then when Whitman, the other American, went on against Gore, he unfolded another variety of break, the reverse twist. As if these surprises were not sufficient, the home pair in the doubles adopted what is still known as the American formation, the server and his partner both standing on the same side of the half-court line when the service was being delivered. This blocked the customary return, and. coupled with what one of the English team designated ' ; this nightmare of a service," enabled tho American* to add a victory in the douWca-ta-tha- tw»-j^>

ready gained in singles, and thus win the first contest for the cup. The remaining two matches of the singles were not played out owing to rain.

England tried again with a stronger team in 1902, but was repulsed for the second time. In 1903 the brothers Doherty formed England's team, for the nation's third attempt, and they proved successful With the Cup in England, new challengers arose, Belgium, France, and Austria entering for the 1904 contest. Austria withdrew, Belgium defeated France, and was in turn vanquished by England.

The 1905 contest is notable as marking the advent of Australasia into the international arena. A suggestion had been made in Sydney in 1902 that Australasia should challenge, but it fell on unreceptive soil. The New Zealand Association, however, brought the matter up in 1904, a conference was held, attended by representatives of the Dominion, and of each of the Australian States, the Australasian Association was formed, and a challenge issued. It was not regarded very seriously in England, as Australasian tennis was an unknown quantity. The first practices in England of Brookes and Dunlop, who, with Wilding, formed the Australasian team, convinced English critics that an adversary of unexpected power was in the field. Success did not attend our first essay, as America beat us iv the preliminaries after a win over Austria, and England proved too strong for the men from the United States. Similar results happened the following year, America wining against Wilding and Poidevin, and succumbing to the holders. Then came 1907, when Brookes again went to England, and, with Wilding, beat the Americans first and then the Britishers. The history of the Cup since it was won by Australasia, is too well known to need recapitulation.