FEAST of TENNIS in AUSTRALIA

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 5, 7 January 1938, Page 13

FEAST of TENNIS in AUSTRALIA

U.S.A. AND GERMAN VISITORS.

Tourneys in New Zealand—Preliminaries

To the National Championships.

FINE VICTORY.

DEFEAT OF BUDGE.

Spectators Thrilled by Play

Of Great Amateurs.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, December 31

For the past three weeks tennis enthusiasts in Australia have been living in a continuous state of suppressed excitement. We have had four of the greatest players alive here from overseas. At the same time and in three cities they have been thrilling' thousands of spectators with their "brilliancy. It eays a great deal for the high standard of Australian teams to-day that our men have boen able to hold their own against these formidable rivals and that or. the whole Australia has had a little the better of the contests with the American and German challengers.

The American men's team, Budge and Mako, played first in the Victorian championships at Melbourne, and considering that they were short of practice and that the conditions were quite strange to them, they gave a very good account of themselves. Incidentally the American girls, Miss Bundy and Miss "Workman, have at least held their own against all comers here. A Notable Victory. Budge got to the final, to meet Bromwich, who had given a very creditable display in his progress to that point. Bromwich had overwhelmed Mako, giving him only four gomes in three sets,

and though Mako is by no means in the same class as Budge in singles, it was a notable victory. Then Bromwich had beaten Quist, who has hardly recovered his form of a season back, since his illness in America —though he managed to hold Bromwich to five sets. Budge, on the other hand, had be«iten McGrath and Crawford decisively, in three and four sets respectively, and was showing first-rate form. The final between Bromwich and Budge had thus been awaited with much interest, and it proved fully equal to expectations, for though Budge won in three sets straight, two of them ■were B—6, 9—7, and a little luck would have turned the scale in favour of the New South Wales boy. Bromwich Complimented. Budge himself complimented Bromwich highly on the skill and courage that he had displayed, and as the N.S.W pair, Crawford and McGrath, succeeded in beating Budge and Mako, who are now rated first pair among the "jvorld s doubles players, Australia had every reason to be gratified with the outcome of the first contest with the invaders.

The Victorian championship meeting ■was followed closely, by two series of international matches at Brisbane and Sydney. In the northern capital Crawford and McGrath were detailed to meet the famous German pair, von Cramm ond Henkel, who are rated second and third in the world's of singles players, and who are certainly the most formidable doubles pair in Europe. The Germans were, of course, at a disadvantage in playing on grass, for there are 110 grass courts in Germany, and they are accustomed only to hard court suifaces. But both Henkel and von Cramm are fine athletes and widely experienced players, and they could be trusted to put up a goood game anywhere. As it turned out, the Australian team w 'as even more successful at Brisbane than it liad been at Melbourne, for while von Cramm was too good all round —too severe and too accurate—for both Crawford and McGrath, both of them managed to beat Henkel in spite of his heavy service and brilliant smashing, and they also succeeded in carrying the German pair to 2 sets all —a feat of which they may well be proud. The doubles match was abandoned at nightfall, and in the end the only difference between the two teams was one set in favour of the Australians, and the decision should ha\ e been a draw rather than the victory •warded by the referee.

Flattering and Encouraging.

On the whole the outcome of the Brisbane matches was both flattering and encouraging to the Australians, who had • 'own themselves able to hold their own with one team against the Germans, while putting into the field another team able to defeat the Americans who had gone on from Melbourne to Sydney to play another international match against Australia there.

I'he match at Sydney was one of the most interesting and exciting tennis e\ents of recent years, and it ended in a manner extremely satisfying to our local and national pride, for Bromwiin and Quist succeeded in duplicating the feat achieved by Crawford and MeGrath in Melbourne, by defeating Budge and Mako in the doubles, three sets to one.

Ihe Australians thus entered on the third day's play with considerable ground for confidence, but the sequel surpassed even their highest expectations. As was anticipated, Quist beat Mai <o easily, losing only eiffht games in the three sets. But, while it was believed that Bromwicli would put up a good fight against Budge, as he had done in Melbourne, the American was expected to win, and the joy of the Australians was unbounded when the Yew South Wales youngster actually beat the holder of the world's single championship by three sets to one. Test with Germans. Naturally this decisive victory over the Americans intensified the public interest in the advent of the German players. Von Cramin and Henkel came down from Brisbane and this week they have been playing another "international'' match against Australia at Rushcutter's Bay. This Test also has ended satisfactorily for Australia. For Bromwich and Quist have both disposed of Henkel easily enough, and the double. Von C'ramm and Henkel v. Quis<> and Bromwich, has also resulted in a victory for them.