McNEILL, NEW AMERICAN LAWN TENNIS STAR, GETS TO TOP

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 3, 4 January 1941, Page 6 (Supplement)

McNEILL, NEW AMERICAN LAWN TENNIS STAR, GETS TO TOP

Special—By Air Mα!!. LONDON. December 10. There is a rumour that Donald McNeil], the new American lawn tennis champion, is shortly to join the ranks of professionals on the other side or the Atlantic, so following in the footsteps of other past holders such as Tilden, Vines, and Budge, who have made big money in exhibition matches in the States and, in happier times, in TCurope as well.

McNcill's amateur career has been full of up 3 and downs, but in spite

of occasional set-backs he was never discouraged and has obviously improved a good deal since his first and last visit to Europe last year. He •went first to France, and, to the surprise of many of his own countrymen, won the championship title. • Coming on to Wimbledon his failure to beat, or even to get a set off Kukuljevic, the Yugoslavian player, was a great disappointment, and people began to say that his Paris success must have been a flash in the pan But he wrestled the American title from Riggs in the style of a real champion last summer, and there seems little doubt that he will hold his own with the best of America's professionals when the time comes.

When he left college in 1938, Me NeiH planned out his lawn tennis career and has kept to it in the most extraordinary way. He'gave himself two years in which to reach the top. Baying that if he was not successful in that time he woud give up the game altogether. He has done extremely well, for it must be remembered that there were no British or French championships or Davis Cup matches open to him this year—in fact he won the only big event there was to win.