GIANT TENNIS STAR

Evening Star, Issue 22528, 22 December 1936, Page 5

GIANT TENNIS STAR

NEW CHAMPION RISES KARL SCHRODER, OF SWEDEN Although Jean Borotra, the French lawn tennis star, has lost some of the virility of youth, any man who can beat him on a wooden surface is exceptional. Year after year ho has come to London to compete in the covered court championship, and he has usually gone away with the prize. Indeed, until now he has maintained his supremacy over H. W. Austin in the event, and it was not doubted that he would win again. But we were surprised to see a°new champion arise swiftly and surprisingly in the Swede, Karl Schroder, a giant who combines grace and power to an unusual extent (says an English writer). Schroder had established a reputation on the Continent, but he had not been put to the highest test. In the circumstances, it was a shock when he firstdefeated Austin and then went on to beat Borotra in the final. He accomplished both feats, too, with remark able fluency and ease. How would he fare on grass against the cracks at Wimbledon? This has at once become an important question, for already he has made up his mind to enter and make the English championship his chief objective. It is against him, however, that there are no grass courts in Sweden, and there "is no player in his own country who .can give him a serious game on any type of court. But he tells me that he is to take every opportunity to play on grqss, and I think, we may see a good deal of him next summer. Schrdoer, who is 22 years of age, stands 6ft and weighs List. Lawn tennis has never had a champion of this weight, but there is nothing heavy about his play. He is, in fact, extraordinarily active, as he showed by his sudden storming of the net to volley against Borotra. He is a beautiful vollevor, and it is notable that his first coach was his mother. Hour after hour ho practised hitting the ball against a wall and taking it on the rebound before the pitch, and no .angle is too acute for him to retrieve it. But his tendency to put on weight is a serious trouble. He has been as heavy as lOst. I imagine, however, that he finds it hard to starve, for there are times when he allows rein to his healthy appetite. For instance, before ho played Austin at Queen’s Club, lie ate two large slices of '"'ch plum cake and drank five cups of tea.