Weak English Davis Cup Team To Meet N.Z. Side To-morrow

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 108, 10 May 1939, Page 18

Weak English Davis Cup Team To Meet N.Z. Side To-morrow

(By HALF-VOLLEY.)

The English Davis Cup team for the contest with Xew Zealand to-morrow, Friday and Saturday must ibe considered the weakest that hae represented that country for some time. From those selected I would anticipate that C. E. Hare and L. Shafti will be the singles players, whilst the doubles team will no doubt be made up of Hare and F. H. D. Wilde. The lineup of the Xew Zealand team will probably be C. E. Malfroy and X. V. Edwards playing singles, and MaKroy and D. C. Coombe in the doubles. The surprise selection in the English team, of course, is Shaffi, who by his victories on the Riviera and in the early tournaments made it difficult for the selectors to leave him out. He scored another victory from the German player Henkel on the Continent, and followed

this by winning the Queen's Club championship when he overcame Deloford 6 —l, 6—3. Olliff 6—3, 6—2, and the Chinese Davis Cup player W. C. Choy in the final 6—2, 6—4. In his spare moments he has been coached by the veteran Tilden. Sliafti is about 28 years old. Hare is the yoliiigest member of the Knirlisli team, being about 23, and as a member of English team who visited Jamaica recently scored a good victory over E. T. Cooke, the Xo. 7 ranking player in the United States. Malfroy is capable of standing up to the English players, but it is .probably too much to expect Edwards to be sufficiently acclimatised to beat his English opponents in so short a time. Hare and Wilde are a tried doubles combination. Malfro.y and Coombe have some good performances to their credit, alt-hough it is hardly likely that they will defeat the Englishmen.