FRANCE IN DANGER

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 25, 29 July 1932, Page 7

FRANCE IN DANGER

CHALLENGE OF AMERICA

Histoij.-Ss odd knack oE. repeating itself may easily mark the Davis Cup contest lictween France and the United States -this year. In 1926 there was an all' French, final in the American singles'chamjiionships and in 1927 France took the Davis Cup from the United States for •the first time in history. Last year, after seasons of '.striving, ti\:o young new Vmerican players furnished an all-Ameri-can final at Wimbledon. Will the Americans duplicate France's performance of five years ago?' . . • ' The. French, have held the Davis Cup now for five successive seasons, and_ their band of "Musketeers" who dominated •world tennis as only Brookes and Wilding, Tilden .and Johnston before them, ' are now •wearing ont. Lacoste, the tac- ' tied riant' o£ years ago, lias failed after an effort to come back to the game; a i hopeless effort, for he baa been a victim of one of'the most serious diseases known •to man. Borotra, by his own admission, Sa at the end of his tether as a singles player. Cochet, though still young enough to be capable of great 'form, grows no younger. And of the new players Boussus is slow in arriving. • Merlin, Bernard, and the rest are too'inexperienced, brilliantly promising, but not yet Davis Cup timber, jianceithns faces the present year in a condition that a month ago seemed desperate. For she has to repel a team which, has proved its merit—Ellsworth Vines, ' the tennis sensation of the past five years, the man who has -won'his way to the top mow decisively and in 'shorter time than almost any, player since Wilding made his European debut, Francis Xl. Shields, the test player at Wimbledon last season, and a man combining coolness, terrific power .'and,youth, W. Allison and'J. Van Byn, considered by the Americans to be the best'doubles pair in the world; a combination which in the past three years had ■won two Wimbledon titles in two starts and the American' doubles as well. NEW PROSPECTS. ,', But the past few'weeks have altered all that. In'revealing America's strength ,tbey have also- shown her' weakness. Shields, after defeat at Wimbledon, has tnet defeat after defeat in the Davis Cup and seems over-tennissed.v Vines, the fledgling, on the other hand, has gone from strength to strength. Allison and Van Ky,n have been soundly beaten, and I>y a French pair, at Wimbledon. The prospecta"of the meeting are turned upside ddtfn. When the team left America, critics considered that Shields would do the wori-in the singles and that Vines, •inexperienced outside the United States, might fail because of the amount that .-was, exprated -of him. They thought Allison a'ndj'^Van Ryn unbeatable. Now the Americana' "face an. uneven French team with' a:t€am which is also uneven. The 'advantages of the holders in the Davis Cup must not'be under-rated. They play oni.their own courts, with their own make of^alls, and before their own gal-leryr-noj,-inconsiderable asset when the charac^flf^bf the gallery in France is re- > membered, Mr. Roper Barrett .once called it "the worst in Europe." They know the courts,1 the light, and they have'the support of the emotional crowd. As even seasoned playefsylike Tilden, at<.the!top of their form' have been rattled by the crowd; when, the luck has gone against ■thenvtho French/will have much on their side. But will they have merit, .too? That is another question. . ' DIFFERENT SIDE. The French team;id different from that' expected. Cochet, - despite his age, despite his .Wimbledon defeat, is still Coc.net/tbe man. who for five'years past has been ranked a .first player in the world. He can beat Allison, and he will; at his best he can defeat Vines alao. But ■in indifferent form he may go down to defeat before the sensational ' colt from California, the hardest bitter to come out of'-.the, West 'since Maurice McLoughlin. This meeting between Cochet and Vines, indeed, marks the moment of the turn- • ing tide. It may duplicate the moment when^Lacoste beat Tilden at Philadelphia, and showed that the American hold on the Davis'Cnp had slackened. It is that , dramatic thing, the contest for world supremacy between an ageing champion 'and" a new and youthful one, and no one can say who will win. ■ But with Borotra things are different*. He has been beaten more and more frequently of late. Shields, Perry, 'Austin, <md other lesser lights have all defeated him. A few months ago he was proclaiming that he was not a singles possibility for the Davis Cup. Both Americans can beat him; Vines almost certainly will. The scratching of Shields in .the singles and choice of Allison focus attention on the "record of this player, for it is here that the American weakness lies, and here that they must obtain at leaet one win if they are to regain the Cup. I Wilmer Allison is one of the best doubles players in the game. In singles, too, he has a fine record, though an erratic one. In 1927 he was eleventh on the American ranking list. In 1928 he was fifth. In 1029 he fell to seventh/and in 1830 rose to third. Last year he fell to ninth, but it is unfortunate■ ■' for the French that this season he seems to have struck form again. Before the team sailed for ■ Wimbledon he beat Vines at" Pinehursfc, the score being 3-6, 64, 7-5, 6-7, S-1. At the same meeting he beat Shields 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1-a fresh Shields, not tho tired man after, Wimbledon. At White Sulphur Springs, Vinea turned the tables, winning in straight sets, but Allison had previously beaten Shields again, 6-2 6-2 8-1. At Wimbledon, Allison reached the fifth 'round, and was beaten by Perry 64, fl-J, 4-0, 6-2. What Allison can do he showed at Wimbledon in 1029 when he beat Cochefc without the loss of a set, and in doubles beat buch pairs as Cochet and Brugnon, Tilden and Hunter, and Gregory and Collins.1 He can beat Borotra, and probably will. , ' Thus, unless Cochet can win both singles, France cannot hope for better iban an' even break in the singles matches. Possibly, with the strain of the third day telling on Coohet, they may lose both of the third day's matches, and their one .hope is to establish' a 2-1 lead by winning Cochet's first single and the doubles. And in the doubles they face a: pair which won. two .Wimbledon titles in .two starts, and -the American doubles championship in the following year. Probably the doubles will go to America, for Cochet and Brugnon, the usual ■ French pair, are not a very good combination, ■, and though they have produced results in ' the past two' seasons will probably not be up to former standard. And this year, for some inexplicable leason, it appears •:tuey: Will lack the : analytical bruin of Lsi'oete to aid them.