TENNIS "Cold War” Between Players Ended

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30288, 14 November 1963, Page 20

TENNIS "Cold War” Between Players Ended

(N.Z. Press Association-Copyright) SYDNEY, November 13. A truce has been called in the “cold war” between three of Australia’s leading tennis players —N. A. Fraser, F. S. Stolle and K. Fletcher. Rivals for a Davis Cup singles berth against the United States next month, they held a round-table conference at the White City tennis courts last night.

“We put our cards on the table,” Fraser said today, “and we agreed that there Is nothing to fight about.” Fraser invited Stolle and Fletcher to meet him following a newspaper report that he was getting the “cold shoulder” from young Australian players. The report said the younger players resented the fact that 30-year-old Fraser, who announced his retirement from international tennis last season, had now decided to make a come-back. The young players were said to feel that Fraser might hinder their Davis Cup careers by keeping them out of the Challenge Round against America in Adelaide on December 26, 27 and 28. Last night Fraser told

Stolle and Fletcher his only objections were to criticism by a Queensland tennis official who said at a meeting last week that Fraser should not even be considered for a Davis Cup singles berth. Stolle and Fletcher said they were not annoyed about Fraser’s attempt to win selection in the Australian team, but they would keep on trying to beat him out of the job. The Australian Davis Cup captain. Mr Harry Hopman, is expected to discuss the selection tangle with the players when he arrives in Sydney from Melbourne. He will most likely tell them the final choice of players to represent Australia will depend on results over the next six weeks.