WIMBLEDON, 1938.

Evening Star, Issue 23000, 4 July 1938, Page 8

WIMBLEDON, 1938.

Pkobably the annual lawn tennis tournament at Wimbledon so nearly approximates a world championship gathering that nobody will feel inclined to draw a wide line of demarcation. The fortunate Wimbledon Club, whose centre court (a new one has replaced the old) is an area of fame and treasured memories, began to have greatness thrust upon it in the days of the Eenshaws, the Dohertys, New Zealand’s own Anthony Wilding, Norman Brookes, of Australia, and William T. Tilden, the first consistently formidable American, whose countrymen in the latter years have been conspicuous at this Mecca of the world’s finest players. American competitors, indeed, have gone from success to still greater success. At the tournament just concluded they have captured all the championship titles, playing, from all accounts, a characteristically virile game based on speed, punch, and thoroughness of stroke mastery which no doubt spring from the national enthusiasm for all forms of athletic exercise. The ability of the Americans to fill gaps in their ranks caused either through the retirement of older players or through defections to professionalism is amazing. Vines quickly assumed the mantle of Tilden, and now Budge, singles champion and a partner in two other conquests, has outshone Vines. Eng-

land has been unable to find another mercurial Perry, and it is doubtful if tho presence of the Australian Davis Cup team would have stayed the American progress to championship honours. The players of the United States are to be heartily congratulated on their achievements. It is clear that the style of play adopted by them will have to be regarded as the pattern for aspiring players of other countries to adopt. Strangely enough, however, it was a French girl, Mile Suzanne Lenglen, who set the fashion in vigorous tennis for women. When only 18, in the year 1919, she played in her first Wimbledon tournament, defeating Mrs Lambert Chambers in the final of the women’s singles after a match which went to a gruelling third set. The grace and agility which were so much admired on that momentous occasion remained with her for many years, but her record of six Wimbledon singles titles fell just short of the seven annexed by her old opponent, Mrs Chambers. And now Mrs Helen WillsMoody, of the United States, whoso game was modelled on tho Lenglen stylo, has triumphed in her “ comeback ” to the extent of gaining her eighth win—a record which, in these days of sterner competition, is bound to endure for a considerable time. Followers of lawn tennis all over the world will regret that throughout the playing of this Wimbledon tournament Mile Lenglen has been lying critically ill. Unhappily, the latest news of her condition is not reassuring, but hopes of her ultimate recovery will be steadfast and sincere.