LAWN TENNIS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16678, 10 October 1914, Page 13

LAWN TENNIS.

THE FIGHT FOR THE DAVIS CUP. AUSTRALASIA’S GREAT TEAM. The Davis Cup, which stands for the lawn tennis championship of tho world, has gone back to Australasia. And the opinion of good judges in this country is that so long as N or man Brookes and A. F. Wilding, perhaps die strongest national pair since the palmy days of the Dohertys, are able and fit to defend it, the prospect of an English acquisition is poor indeed. I have already written about the curious poverty of English lawn ennis at the present moment, how our chief players have grown old at the game, and, though still too good for our own homo youth, are now quite outmatched by the brilliant youth of other dimes. There is no need to emphasise the situation, it is enough to say that we are waiting, with not too much encouragement at present, for some now champions to arrive out of the hordes of players who are now taking up the game all over this country. Lawn tennis was never so popular, and seldom so mediocre. Surely the Old Country must get a look in again some day. The Dohertys cannot have exhausted home-bred genius on tho courts. , But until the player arrives who is worthy to partner J. C. Parke the challenge to Australasia s supremacy must he left to America. This season s competition for the Cup has shattered all tho preconceived ideas about fo m. We in this country have come to believe that Wilding was almost mymciblo. In four successive years ho carried elf our championship with supreme ease. I"® 11 came the formidable Brookes, and by display of extraordinary brilliance combined with uncanny accuracy vanquished his fellow-Australasian in three straight sets. The lawn tennis played by Brookes on that memorable day at Wimbledon was superb. Nothing uko it has ever been seen. I hen the scene shifts to America. And, lo and behold, tho all-conquering Brookes, of Wimblelon is beaten by Maurice M Lougnlin •still yet another surprise 1 Wilding also failed against tho young American, though ho was successful on y o year ago without the loss of one sot. All the preconceived notions of form •rere upset. , , , But the only conclusion that we can come to in this country is that whilst Brookes is the “official,” worlds champion, M’Loughlin is the best player m ■'lie world. Those who saw him at Wimbledon a year ago can well believe it. It was then obv ius that he had powers of an order never before revealed by any player, ,and that he failed to carry off the honours of championship only because of a certain want of steadiness mainly duo to inexnerience. At Wimbledon they called him “ the Hurricane M’Loughlin.” His hitting was simply terrific j his service was the most dead-

ly ever exploited. But he had weak patches. First Wilding and then Parko discovered his uncertainty off tho ground, particularly on the back hand, and this discovery was the secret of their successes against him. It is only fair to assume that Maurice M’Loughlin has in the meantime improved his all-round play, stead ed his ground play, and perfected his other strokes. Hence bis triumphs in the Davis Cup competition last week. Yet all the brilliance of M’Loughlin d d not suffice to win tho Cup for America again. M’Loughlin’s partner in the Doubles, Bundy, did not, according to the renort, give him adequate support. But it is no ord’nary plover who must part"er M’Loughlin. On the other hand. Will’ams was defeated in his two Singles without getting a set from either Brookes or Wilding.