LAWN TENNIS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 49, 26 August 1922, Page 15

LAWN TENNIS

(By "Huka.")

WHAT WINNING MEANT.

The' victory of the, Australians . over Spain,in the final of the Davis Cup preliminary matches was a relief both to the Australian players and the management in Sydney. What with the heavy expenses incurred by sending the plaj-ers first to England and then to America, and the poor "gates" at the preliminary matches, the Australian Association would have been up against it, had their representatives failed to qualify^ to meet, the United States'in the challenge round, as it is from that round that' the big money comes. Win or lose, half of the gate will be taken by the Australian Association. The challenge round'is to be played at Forest Hills, New York, on the West Side Tennis Club's grounds, the dates being Ist, 2nd, and 4th Sep,tomber, Friday, Saturday, and Labour Day. Season tickets are 8: dollars 25 cents, boxes with 6 ohairs are 110 dollars, and single-day tickets are 3 dollars 30 cents. Tickets have been on sale since Ist July, and it can almost be taken for granted that all. are sold by now. The attendance in America at a challenge .round oontest is always large, and Australia's troubles in regard 'to the financing ..of the players can be reckoned as over, and it is quits possible that there!' Twill be a nice little balance to carry ou with next, season. NiothAng ventured, nothing won, but Australia-has had some very anxious moments. Of course, the music will have to be faced again next year, if the United States dafeats Jkhe challengers, yet a defeat by France or Spain would have been a disAUSTRALIA v. SPAIN. , The contest was in doubt even after the Australians had .won the doubles, as it was. .quite on tthe cards that Alonzo might at any time play a game so brilliant that Patterson would be beaten, and as .Wood's arm was still troubling him, Count de Gomar: had a chance.. As it happened. Alonzo; failed after making a ; big ibid ". for. .the first set against Patter-.' son, and'the Coritftwent to pieces after taking two setfjfrorrt O'Hara.. Wood. The first series; of singles are; interesting, and. well worthi'/clw/inspection. .. , ; :■;v^Patterson' ;*.:■; de*: gomar:'^ s<j :" Patterson^led 4-lvviifter' losing tlie, firit' game. „ De-. Gomav. took ;t^p[;games in 1 succession, and hit opponent did likewise, and ;won; the first set, 6-3, scoring .30' points to 24. ; In'the1 seoqnd set de Gomar led 5-2, and , hid a chance in the: next, which went to deuoe twice, but Patterson. •vened, 3-aIK That was the first critical game, s» had de Gomsi: won. it, the .set might, have been his at 6-4, for although ho lost the seventh and eighth, he won theVninth and tenth. It wa« 5-all with the tenth game gone, and de Gomar led, 0-5, by taking the; oleYenth^a love game. Patterson, again at the critical , stage, Wvedifthe day, .a» .'he won' the "twelfth. game, which went to deuce three times. Going on, the Australian took the next two games, and".won','■ 8-6, although':de Gomar / fought; it out gamely,, running: the last game to deuce twice. The points were 52 to 48—pretty close scoring. The last set was also a dote dne, closer than the score*. M, actually looks. Patterson led 3-1, then>' his opponent I made' his bid, and took a gams,;l»t although the. ran' the next' two to •' deuce, vhe failed, and Patterson led 5-3. With a shade of luck, de Gomar might kaTe led 4-3, and as he took the eighth game to 30, and the ninth to' love,■ the' set.: might .have been his at 6-3. But the loss of the set came after a double deuce in:the tenth game, and "Patterson . won, 06-4, i after being, strongly pushed. Tbe points were 30 to 29 On the whole match Patterson scored 20 games to 13, and, 112 points to 101. Patterson's score'of 112 was made up as follows: —His opponent hit into. the net 20 time*, out 36.times, and doable faulted 4 times, thus Patterson J. scored 59 unearned points, but he actually beat his .opponent 36 times in rallies by passing drives, or* smash** '-'and also soored 17' points by services; that his; opponent did not touch, and which are' termed "service aces" in America. His,earned points were 53, unearned 59, total 112. De Gomar's score of 101 pans out as follows: —His opponent hit into the net 35 times, out 30 times, and double, faulted 11 times, thus de Gomar scored 76 unearned points,. but he actually beat his opponent 22 times in passing drives or. smashes, and" also scored 3 points by services that bis. opponent could' not reach. ' His - earned, points were 25, :. unearned 76, and . total 101. The worthwhile of the above comparison is that it show* clearly that Patterson /believes in winning, by paoe, forcing his opponent to errors,' possibly a shade less th^n he makes himself, but scoring largely in excess; by winning aces—shots that completely beat his opponent—mostly made up by unplayable 'fast ' services and smashes. ■ ■ ':<■ ''.■ .; ■ -..■'...■ .'./ ■•" . ..'..-.' JLLOmO BEATS WOOD. O'Hara Wpod appeared to have Aknao' at his mercy in the earlier stages of th» contest.. He led two love in the first set. His opponent.evened at two all, but the Australian then took four games in t,udcession',' the sixth and eighth going to a •ingle deuce, and wow 6-2. The points were thirty to twenty-two. He again ran 'away.' in the second set, leading 3-1 and 5-2.' .Alonso took the eighth gam* to fifteen, but Wood won the set, 6-3, after a double deuce game.! Points were thirtythree to twenty-four. . Here it was that the Spaniard strived'. to say the match, and out-played his opponent. He lead 5-1, but. Wood took' the seventh game to thirty, and then Alonso, by game to: fifteen, captured the set, 6-2. Points were twenty-eight to twenty. The fourth set was a most strenuous one from the very start. .Wood took the first game after aavea deuces, scoring eleven -pointi to nine, but Alonso .evened, scoring five points to .three. Then Wood did likewise, and also took the fourth game after deuce bad been called thrpe times,) and led, 3-1. the point* in thei» four games being Wood, twenty-six, Alonso tweoty-two-*!-most equal to most sets.' Wood then won two love games, ~and appeared to have set and match won, as he led,, 5-1. In the seventh game. Wood wae within ,two points of match with set at 6-1, but failed. The eighth game will be remembered by both 'players and others for many a long day—Wood was within a point of match,., with set at 6-2, and actually beat Alonso completely with s, fast service, but was foot-faulted,' then served a fault, and Alonso won- the next point for game. Again, in the ninth game, Wood was within a point of matoh, with set at 6-3, but he hit into the net. In the tenth: game, the Australian was within two points of matoh, with set at 6-4, but his luck was out, and Alonso evened at five all. Those last*four games were hafel on both players, all being deuoe games,' and tb» tenth went to deuoe six times. The points in those. particular games were Alonso twenty-five, Wood seventeen. With the score, five games ally Wood had scored fifty-one points to forty-eeven. The eleventh game came as a win too lat* to: do Wood any good—it gave him a temporary lead of 6-5, and that was all. Alonso evened the score, led 7-6 with a love game, and made it two seta all, with set at'B-6, after a double deuoe game. When Alonso scored led 7-6, the points were even,] fifty-seven all. Alonso scored sixtythree'points to sixty-one. The fifth set was a complete boil over, as Alonso took it with only the loss of the fourth game. None of the games went to deuce, and the last game was a love one. Alonso won 6-1, i and scored twenty-five points to fourteen. The total- points for the match were Alonso 162, to Wood's 158, and the games wore twenty-five to twenty-one. Itwas a severe test for both players, and the breaking strain was-reached in the middle of the fourth set. .. : : ; THE DOUBLES.1 The first sot of the doubles saw the .Australians quicklyl ■ with a lead of 5-1. Their opponents took two games in sucoession, but the set • wbb won at 6-3— points, thirty-eight'to thirty-nine. The Spaniards lost The fourth and fifth games after many deuoes—a win in each ease would have g-iven tEem a lead of 3-3, and, v tilings went, they might have led 5-3

in the eighth game. The Australians led 4-1 and 5-2 in the second sot, and rah out winners at 6-3—pointe, thirty-five, to twenty-eight. It was two all in the third set, then Spain led 3-2,, and 4-3, but a love game made it even, and Australia won 6-4,« after two deuoe games—thirtyeight points to thirty-three. With three matches played Australia led by 2 matches, 8 sets, 59 games, and 381 points, to 1 matoh, 3 sets, 47 g»me6, and 353 points. O'HARA WOOD v. DE GOMAR. Wood had another severe matoh, but, after loping the first and second sets, won the next three. De Gomar fcrjed to do what Wood did against Alonsa—by going for a win in the first, second, and fourth sots, but he also failed. Wood scored 27 games to 19, and, for a man with a bad shoulder, put up a most wonderful performance in both of his singles. PATTERSON v. ALONZO. Alonzo made a big effort for the first sot, /but went down 8-6, and in the remaining sets the ' Australian won easily. He scored 20 games to 10. In the whole, contest the Australians scored 4 matches to 1, 14 sets to 5, and 106 games to 76. ' < "ROBBED." Patterson is reported to have said that Wood was "robbed" of his match, against Manuel Alonzo. Wood had two sets in to one, and led 5-2 in the fourth set, and 40-30 in the eighth game. Therefore he billy wanted one point for match, and, with a "service ace," which means. that hiii opponent was completely passed by' the stroke, seemingly won game at game 30, set at 6-2, and match at 3 sets to 1, but he was foot-faulted. No doubt' the foot-fault" judge was the only person in ;the: correct position to see what happened, and if Wood foot-faulted and had not been called, then Alonzo would have been "robbed'1 of a point.. The star playera do not take any foot-faulting with the best of feelings, but it is all in the game, and the champions should be made to observe the rules most strictly. Champions should be1 able to control1 thenir selves, so that even unfortunate decisions will , hot cause, their following play to deteriorate, According to the Patterson -report, ■ Wood threw the match away afer being \foot-faulted by allowing himself to become distressed over what was a fault of his own. Wood might have been annoyed at himself, but surely, he did not.; expect to win the match: with a stroke that was a fault? Linesmen are expected to do their duty, and if by doing it they are told that they have "robbed" somebody of a match, then it will be hard to get anybody to take.'the position. There is, always some little trouble over footfaults'<in the big matches, and'there are' hardly any of the star players who do not break,the hile now and again, and thAy are, always up in arms j.if foot-faulted. Some even go to the extent to warn,all, arid, sundry that, if they are'foot-faulted it wiir put them off "their frame. Now, what is wrong? Is it the linesmen;- the players, or the rule?) The first are' right possibly.'99 times out of 100, the second are ,wrong-more, times than they are ever called, and the third only- keeps a player in check when the foot-fault judge is known to be most severe, an.d .not afraid to.foot-fault even a Brookes :or a Tilden. The "rule is not yet' perfect, but • that is another , matter, which the writer intends >to bring up in the near future. ; .