Lawn Tennis

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVI, Issue 96, 10 April 1926, Page 10

Lawn Tennis

THE WILLS-LENGLEN MATCH. As was only to be expected, the match between Helen ’Wills and Suzanne Lenglen was tho occasion for a ,';reat gathering of pressmen, and English and American papers described the match with a wealth of detail surely never before accorded a tennis match. One of the best accounts of the match was that supplied to the “Daily Mail” by Mr. Stanley Doust, the erstwhile New South Wales player. Mr. Doust describes it as the greatest women’s lawn tennis match ever played. “It was a very level game,” he says, “and Suzanne is to be congratulated on surviving the most severe challenge she has ever received, and Miss Wills certainly on her wonderful courage and wonderful game. Miss Wills, it may be recalled, is only 20, six years younger than Mdlle. Lenglen. The American girl revealed to us that there is more in her game than mere strokes. Today there was strategy in it. AVhen it was all over Mdlle. Lenglen was in tears. Miss "Wills was the coolest and most collected person on the ground. The match, always tense, was full of dramatic incidents. The noise that came from free spectators who climbed every available roof and fence disturbed the concentration of the players, and Mdlle. Lenglen turned several times and appealed to them for quietness. But the appeal had no effect, and right through there was a continual buzz that drowned the linesmen’s decisions and made it almost impossible to hear the stentorian voice of Commander G. W. Hillvard, the umpire. announcing the scores. Another writer describes the scenes as being more appropriate to a football cup final than to a lawn tennis match. Crowds gathered before the entrance tn the Carlton Chib grounds in the early morning in the hope or gaining standing room, all the sears having been sold davs before. At 9 o'clock it was found necessary to close the gates, and those unable to

gain sought every available point of vantage overlooking the ground. Houses adjacent to the courts were entered and parties climbed out on to the roofs, tiles m some cases being removed to accommodate the spectators. Ladders were at a. premium, as they brought trees and tram-standards within reach of the . more adventurous. Motor-cars parked alongside the ground were boarded, and brokendown lorries were hurried from remote garages and improvised as stands, largo sums being demanded for a place on one. “Playing iif brilliant sunshine,” says another writer, “in an electrified atmosphere, and before a shouting, gesticulating and, at times, hysterical crowd—a number of women fainted from excitement —the match bristled with dramatic incidents. . ”

The crowd during the big match was worked up to a tremendoub pitch, and when six-all was called in the second set an American in tht stand (the Exchange states) yelled: “2000 dollars even money, Wills wins.” An English peer accepted the bet. and the money had hardly been put up when Suzanne won. Just previous to the bet there was a remarkable incident. The game stood at 6—5. and Mdlle. Lenglen was within a point of set and match when Miss Will§ shot a dazzling return down the side-line. One linesman called it out; the other linesman immediately protested, and the first linesman reversed his decision, calling the ball good. A portion of the crowd, thinking their idol was getting a bad deal, commenced to shriek, hiss, and boo. Great noise, too, was made by the sounding of motor car horns. “An epic struggle, packed with drama and thrills,” is how FranK Porons refers to the match. I think “hectic” is the best word to use in describing the whole scene. There were journalists on the top of buildings surrounding the ground, tapping out their stories on typewriters, and a dozen or so film operators around the court. There was a touch of drama about the appearance of the two girls on the court. For years Suzanne Lenglen has been “queeir’ of the Riviera, and she seemed quite conscious of the fact that she was going to fight for her throne. Her face was marble white, its pallor enhanced by the vivid .scarlet of the lips. Her expression was that of complete concentration. By comparison Miss Wills looked very English—just a pretty, unaffected girl such as you might see any summer afternoon on a suburban lawn tennis court. THE PLAY. “Suzanne won the toss for the service, and the match began in the Lenglen way.” 1 again quote Stanley N. Doust. “She disclosed the fact that she intended to let Miss Wills make all the pace and her sell to win the match on accuracy. But instead of winning as she intended, through mistakes on the American’s part, Mdlle. Lenglen had to resort to her best play, for after the initial game Miss Wills made hardly a mistake. Moreover, the American maintained all through speed when speeu was required, and safety when safety tactics were necessary. But all the time she was readv to bring off a down-the-line backhand drive full of power and nearly always a winner, or her deep forehand drive when Mdlle. Lenglen was defending the opposite side of the line, having been forced there bv Miss Wills. It was Miss Wills who kept her opponent penned up for the greater part of the match, and when the wonderful Suzanne did have her chances she lost her accuracy, or her shots were too slow to elude the American champion, who made some wonderful recoveries from what looked like hopeless positions. “Mdlle. Lenglen 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 great one at that.

“Mdlle. Lenglen went ahead to 4 games to 2, winning three love games. She was much more like the real Suzanne during those garnet and had Miss Wills running also. “One of the features of the matcl was that when either woman wa> forced to play a ball from a cornei of the court she tried to give as much as she received by placing the ball at an extreme distance from her opponent. So besides a beautifm stroke game we saw a game of mobility, as mobile as most men’s plaj and much more graceful. Mdlle. Lenglen maintained her hard-earned lead in this set and went out at 6—3. In the second set Miss Wills should have led by two games to love, but she made a volleying mis take. Yet during the match Miss Wills’s volleys were superior to the champion’s and she always volleyed wisely. Miss Wills went to three games to one and things looked ominous for Suzanne. Here the Frenchwoman showed her greatness. Playing ver' quietly she picked up the arrears and ran Miss Wills about unmercifully. In one rally she made her chase lobs and side-line shots, dragging hei up to the net on short shots, and at length w®n a game by wonderful placing. After this Miss Wills had to rest on hex’ racket and we knew the end was near. Mdlle. Lenglen led in the eleventh game for the first time in tho set because Miss Mills had momentarily lost her accuracy through the effect of that tremendous rally and hard running.

In the next game there was a dramatic incident which might have cost Mdlle. Lenglen the match. She required one point for victory during her own service. She reached 40 — 30 when, after a hard rally. Miss Wills drove a ball which Suzanne thought was out, for she threw the \alls away and shook hands with hei opponent, and the kinema men invaded the court. But the match was not over, for the linesmen had not given a decision and on appeal said the ball was in. All the people were ordered off the court. The umpire resumed his seat and the match proceeded. Miss Wills won that game through Suzanne, who was very much shaken by the incident, missing two side line shots. Would this affect Suzanne? It certainly appeared so, but the Frenchwoman gave the lie to all those who say she is temperamental. She won the 13th game to love and wan within a point of the next gam* when she served a double fault, but this did not deter her from running Miss Wills about and remaining accurate to the end, and when finally Miss Wills overdrove a forehand drive, the match was over. In the first set Mdlle. Lenglen scored 30 points to Miss M ills s 15. and in the second set 55 points to 49. In the first set. Mdlle Lenglen won 4 love games, three of them in succesion. and in each of two others Miss Wills scored only one point. The second set was much more evenly contested. Each won but one love game and six games were deuce ones. The points were:— First set— Lenglen: 423444144—6. Wills: 045000411—3. Second set— Lenglen : 06221114314666 —8. Wills: 44441162502844—6.