LAWN TENNIS IN FRANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 79, 3 April 1926, Page 13

LAWN TENNIS IN FRANCE

MLLE. LENGLEN STILL

UNBEATEN

MISS WJLLS'S FINE GAME

NEEYE-BACKIXG ' INCIDENTS,

(From Our Own Correspondent.) ■ -LONDON,' 18th. February. There was a crowd of iOOO spectators 'at the Carlton Club, Cannes, to witness the eagerly-anticipated women's singles final between Mile. Suzanne Leugleu and Miss Helen Wills, Seldom has any sporting evciit aroused so much interest beforehand, and scl-. dom can such an interest, have had so thrilling a ' climax, jjo'th victor and vanquished have woe fresh laurels in this great match. ; • The. arena itself was thronged. Outside it were.people .looking 00 through the windows and even from the rpofs of the adjoining buildings, and it Nvas <. talkative, not to say: a clamant, crowd. T:»ere were bursts of applause .during the rallies .which the unipirt-in-chief, Commundei o', W Hiliyard, R.'>., was' only partially successful ie suppressing. Close to one end 0/ the court is a narrow street which /was packed with people who, by, f tandihg up In motor cars and using any. iimilai devices for increasing their stature, were able to catch •• glimpses of • the play, and their behaviout was so noisy that Mile Lengleh was compelled more than ■ once, when she was at that end, to turn, round and expostulate with them. Mile. Leng-len won the toss for the service'/ and ■ the match began in the

Lenglen way. She disclosed the fact that she intended to let . Miss Wills make air the.pace »nd herself to winthe match on, accuracy. But insJSe'ad ot winning is .she intended, through mistakes on the , American's part, Mile. Lenglen had to resort to her best play, for, after the initial game Miss Wills, made hardly, a mistake. DETAILS Or THE PLAY. A, former International lawn tennis player thus describes the game for the '•Daily Mail":— Miss Wills lost'the first game to love on account of, over-driving. Mile Lenglen then lost the second and third games of the first set. By this time she was defending miraculously. She ran from side to side with grace and speed, and retrieved those fast drives. But it was defence, and a grea^t one at that. Mile. Lenglen went ahead to 4 games to 2, winning three love games. She .was much more like the real Suzanne during those games and had Miss Wills running also. One of the features of the match was that when either ■woman was forced to play a ball from a corner of the court-she tried to give as much as she received by placing the ball at an extreme Idistanco from her opponent. So besides a beautiful stroke game onlookers saw a game of mobility, as mobile as most'men's.play and much more graceful. Mile Lenglen maintained her hard-earned lead in this set and went out at 6-3. In the second set Miss Wills should have Jed by two games to love, but she madd a volleying mistake. Yet; during the. match Miss VVills 's volleys tvere superior to the champion's and ■ she always volleyed wisely. She went to three games, to ane and things looked ominous for Suzanne. Here tho Frenchwoman 3howcd her greatness. Playing very quietly she picked up the arrears and ran Miss VVills about unmercifully. WONDEErUL PLACING. In one rally she made her chase lobs and side-line shots, dragged her up to the vet ou short lobs, and at length won a game by wonderful placing. Af-

ter this Miss Wills had tc rest on hei racquet, and spectators knew that the end w; ts noar . M jj c Lenglen bd in the eleventh game for the first time in the 1 set because Miss Wills had momentarily j lost her accuracy through the'effect oil that tremendous" rally and hard run- | ning. In the next' game there was a | dramatic incident which might have I .:ost Mile. Ler.glen the match. She required ane point for. victory during'; her own service. She reached" iO-30 1 when, after a hard rally,' Miss Wills drove a, bai: •vhic.b.Suziinfte thought waa out, for she Uirt'sv the balls away and shook bands :vith bor opponent, and j che cinema nien-invaded-the court. | ACCURATE ,-TO THE END. Cut the match was no.t over, for the linesman had not given a decision, and or. dppeal said the belli'was'in. All the people Jvere ordered off the :ourt.' Tho umpire resumed Ins Seat and the.match ■, proceeded. Miss. Wiila won that game, j through .Suzanne, .vyho was. very, .much j shaker, by the' incident, missing, two j side line shots., ... j Would this affect Suzanne! It cer- 1 taiuly appeared so, but the French-wo-man gave the iie to ail--those who-say | she is temperamental. She won the 13th game k iove. and was within a point of the next game when'she served a double fault, but this did not deter hot from running Miss-Wills about and I remainig accurate U. thf snd, and when Anally Miss Wills overdrove a forehand drive, the inatcti '"'as over.. . 'an enhanced reputation, j "To Miss Wills," writes the "Morn- j ing Post" correspondent; "the hubbub, for it nearly, at times amounted to that, was . possibly . less disturbing than tc Mile Lenglen, but I could see that even hei wonted serenity was shaken, and 1 commend her most heartily for the valiant way in which she battled against odds which were admittedly heavy. As a matter of fact, the American player has come out of the match, although a loser, with an eu-

hanced ' reputation. She playecl the finer md the more forcible tennis ox the two. ■.. ■ : "We know, of ;ourse, that the secret 3f MIU Lengleu's successes ia that .she plays, not to beat her opponent.outright so much as to walk ,ap by a series of 3laborate!y-pJanncd. strokes to the position which jompels an adversary to beat herself. She.'did. this, often enough to-day, but not as .often as usual. Frequently the plan was ruin--2d in ihe jourse. of " gvolutu/n, if not in the joneeption, by ,one jf those faulty strokes *'hich »-c do not expect from ' Suzanne.' Some of her placing was admirable, but she was not. as a rule, hitting the ball with that firmness and jonfidence which are really hers. Many .if her shots which would ordinarily have been ;kills' were sasily retrieved, and often *cored off by her stout-hearted opponent.'' . When it was all • >ver Mile Lenglen was in tears. "Never again such a match, I hope,'.'she Baid.: "The srowd were .most upsetting and drove me crazy." ■ ■ . ■ "I did. my ,best," said Miss Wills, "but she was too good:" MIXED DOUBL3B NOT PLAYED OPT. Mile, Lenglen and; Mr. F. M. B. Fisher scratched in the mixed doubles. The news was not to be passed over without comment (pointed out the lawn tennis correspondent of the "Sporting Life"). Three blank days had .caused the meeting to become so congested that any player left in the singles and the two doubles was faced with a series of matches which, meant a.severe physical strain. Suzanne was thus free to concentrate on the singles. ' In the men's singles, third round, F. M. B. Fisher and F. R. Seovul, 6-1), but in tb.6 fourth round he succumbed to F. G. Lowe (6-2, 4-6, 6-2) F. M. B. Fisher and F. RR. Scovel, in round 'two of the men's doubles, disposed of W. N. Sherring and M. D. Hick (S-0, 6-2), but ■ the pair was worsted ie the next round by A. H. M'Cormick and Lord Charles Hope (6-3, 6-3)