BRITAIN TO MEET FRANCE.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20916, 25 July 1933, Page 15

BRITAIN TO MEET FRANCE.

WELL-EARNED VICTORY. LOST PRESTIGE RECOVERED. For the second time in three years Great Britain has reached the challenge round of the Davis Cup competition—an achievement that she had accomplished only once previously in 15 years. Austin and Perry, by their crushing defeat of the American players, struck another bjow for the rehabilitation of British lawn tennis, which since the war has been at a very low ebb, and they have earned the opportunity of attempting to wrest from France the trophy, representing world supremacy in the sport, which that country has held since 1927. That opportunity is recognised as the most promising that any country has had during the period, for the players who won the cup tor France and who defended it so successfully, have either dropped out of the game or appear to have passed the zenith of their prowess. Like many other sports, lawn tennis is; frertuently productive of surprising results, and there were not many who expected Great Britain to emerge victorious from the inter-zone final. With such an outstanding player as Ellsworth Vines to head the team, and players of the class of Wilmer Allison. George Lott, and John van Ryn to make up the remaining singles and doubles, it was confidently believed in the United States and elsewhere lhat no country would be able to resist the powerful trans-Atlantic challenge. ! failure of Vines. j What the critics overlooked wa.* the .'act that Vines might have lost the form that won for him in 1932 the reputation of being the best singles player in the world. The nervous strain of maintaining such a reputation and of defending a world's championship title, however, has been too much for maturer players than Vines, and it is not surprising that a young man of 21 should have suffered a reaction after the tremendous struggle he bad with Crawford in the final at Wimbledon. It was expected that Vines would have no difl.cully in beating either Austin or Perry, and Ihe former, especially, must have played fine tennis to beat Vines, even allowing that the American was not at his best. The Englishmen's decisive defcals of Alliscai, who has been ranked among the fust half-dozen in the world, arc sufficient proof that their victory was well-earned, for if Vines was suffering from the reaction from his exertions at Wimbledon, his team-mate had no such excuse. Allison had not. only refrained from playing at Win - bled on, but had had several weeks' practice on the French chip courts. Both Austin and I'erry have had a heavy season's tennis, including, for Ihe latter, the French championships <in which Vines did not compete l , Wimbledon, Davis Cup matches, and smaller tournaments. Austin did not play in the French championships. Chance to AVln the Cup. Great Britain's chance of recovering the Davis Ci'p, which she last held in 11H2, must be regarded as very promisin;;. for it seems certain that France will have the weakest team this year that she has had since winning the cup in 102/. Henri Cochct, France's leading player for many years, failed tr 'i 111 ? £ ha Uenge round against the ui j States last year, and recent cable-d reports of matches in which he has been beaten by both Crawford and Vines, speak of him having lost all his former confidence and assurance. Jean Borotra has for the last year or two regarded himself as purely a doubles player, and he has not taken part in any very serious I singles games this season. He will however, probably be second player for France, as Christian Boussus. A. Merlin, and Marcel Bernard, the mod promising players available are scarcely up to world class as vet. | Borotra rose to the occasion magnififoT# i .° ' savc his t -' oL, ntry from delast year, but in the previous season, wncn Great Britain challenged, he lost to both Austin and . Boro } ra '"'"d Jaques Brugnon, Wimbledon doubles champions, wili probajly be the French doubles team, pfp & feVdSSS 3r G ' p ' Hug " cs ' Britain's Contenders. t,™T tin * and ~P erry have Played a great part in the restoration of some in Bruai n's lost tennis prestige in the last two or three years. In 1931 tho y ni Ca n ried Great Britain through to the challenge round of the Davis Cup competition beating the Americans, f- , X „ Shields and S. B. Wood, and losing t° * ranee only after a hard struggle In the following voar Austin reached the final of the Wimbledon singles—(he best performance of an englishman in his national championships since 1922—and Perrv, in the course of an American lour, established his superiority over all the 1 of Vinls Amei " iCanS With ,hc cxce l> tion Austin is 20 years of age, is small! ♦ 4U build, but is very fast about the court, and has a very keen sense of anticipation. His strokes, all ' of the orthodox English type, are produced with a remarkable ease and fluency, and he has no weaknesses in his game. A very shrewd and clever tactician he relies on placement and positional play to win points, although his drives and volleys are frequently very fast and decisive. He has worked ' patiently to perfect his game, and to develop a service that might become as potent a weapon as that of some ot uis American and European rivals and ha is now one of the foremost exponents of perfect stroke production in the game. Perry is of a different tvpe, and is n^L yea £ S ; you u n ger. He has a much more robust physique than his teammd..relLes,.on speed of stroke. .h'Hf ,1 , t i all on the ''ise, almost on the half-volley, particularly cn the forehand, but his backhand is rather less certain. His powerful service frequently opens up the court for ad-I vances to the net, his volleying beinp, i 4 strongest features of his ; game. Temperamentally, too, he dif- ! fers from Austin. The latter is quiet and imperturbable on the court. Perrv volatile and apt to be upset by bad luck or questionable decisions at crucial stages of closely-contested games, j