CHAMPIONS AT PLAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1606, 25 November 1912, Page 4

CHAMPIONS AT PLAY.

It has come to be accepted as a fact that various forms of athletic contests between nations serve a useful purpose in bringing the different peoples together in a friendly rivalry which may promote a closer acquaintance and a better understanding of one another. There is no doubt that throughout the British Dominions touring fceamu of athlofcca have done something in this direc-

tion, and Australia and New Zealand in particular have been extremely well advertised by the prowess of their young men in the held of sport. New Zealand football and Australian cricket are at least Empire-famed; while at the present time Australasia can boast the champion sprinter in Donaldson ; it holds the tennis championship of the world in the form of the Davis Cup; Wootten, the champion jockey of England, is an Australian; Gkay. .the record-breaking billiardist, at present in England, is an Australian; Australian swimmers carried all before them at the Olympic sports; until quite recently New Zealand could claim the champion oarsman of the world; we have produced world boxing champions, and so on. For their population, Australia and New Zealand have probably broken all records in the matter of successes in athletics and games. One of the greatest of the athletic triumphs of Australasia was unquestionably the winning of the Davis Cup—the blue ribbon of the tennis world. This was accomplished in 1907 by Mr. N. E. Brookes (Victoria) and Mr. A. F. Wilding (New Zealand), who captured the coveted trophy from Messrs. Roper-Barrett and A. W. Gore, the English holders, at Wimbledon that year. The conditions of the contest for the Cup provide that the games to decide its possession shall bo played in the country where the holders reside, and since 1907 those who have challenged for it have been compelled to come overseas either to Australia or New Zealand. Up to the present these visits, which nave been confined -to American teams, have been fruitless, Brookes and Wilding, and later, Brookes, Dunlop, and Heath defeating the challengers. This year an English team of challengers, Messrs. Dixon, Lowe, Beamish, and Parke ; have journeyed nearly 16,000 miles in an endeavour to regain the trophy; and as the cable messages have informed us, are now in Melbourne getting ready for' the struggle) which is to oommence this week. The team is regarded as a strong one, and it was fully expected when it left England that the holders would be hard pressed to maintain their supremacy. The Australasian team will be the same as that which successfully defended the Cup against the Americans at' Christchurch last year,, namely, Messrs. Brookes, Dunlop, and Heath. While the games' in the Victorian championships last week, for which both the challengers and the' holders entered, cannot be taken as by any means truly disclosing the full strength of their play, it would seem that , the visitors have not all struck form yet. Parke, who won the singles championship (from which both Brookes and Heath withdrew) from his team mate, Lowe, is evidently in excellent form. . So also is Beamish, while Lower also played well during the tournament. Dixon, however, was beaten at an early stage, and apparently has been slower in settling down to his game. On the other hand, both Brookes and Dunlop have been playing brilliantly, and in the finals of the doubles championship defeated tho strongest pair the Englishmen have (Parke and Beamish) in three sets straight. Dunlop failed in the singles, being beaten by Marsh, of New South Wales, but it seems plain that he was saving jhimself, and was playing for the practice rather than to win. ■Heath, up to the present, has been uneven in his play,' and it is just possible that Brookes may prefer to rely on himself and Dunlop for both doubles and singles, as was done when he and Wilding carried off and held the championship. However, be that as it may, a fine struggle may be looked forward, to, and, while the chances appear to be in favour of the holders, it is b.v no means a foregone conclusion that the trophy will not be carried back to England.