TENNIS PLAYER’S END

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 109, 7 April 1934, Page 7

TENNIS PLAYER’S END

DEATH OF SATOH

LEAP INTO OCEAN

SEQUEL TO ILLNESS

(United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) SINGAPORE, April 6.

Jiro Satoh, the Japanese Davis Cup lawn tennis player, committed suicide by jumping overboard from the steamer Hakone Maru twelve hours after leaving Singapore with the Japanese Davis Cup team for Europe. Satoh had landed at Singapore with the intention of returning to Japan. He was suffering from neurasthenia. After a medical examination, however, he continued the voyage, but was very depressed. The steamer searched for three hours, but failed to find the body. Satoh’s will was found in his cabin. Satoh left a letter of farewell indicating his intention to commit suicide. BLOW TO JAPAN. MIKI AS SUBSTITUTE. TOKIO, April 6. Japan’s Davis Cup hopes have received a shattering blow by the death of Satoh. The Japanese Tennis Association received a telegram announcing his disappearance from the Hakone Maru on Thursday evening. It is presumed he went overboard while in the Straits of Malacca on the way to Penang, where the vessel was due this afternoon. The news has been confirmed by the local agents. When the tennis association received a telegram from Satoh earlier in the week saying he wanted to return owing to illness, the association replied persuading him to continue. Apparently he suffered a nervous breakdown on shipboard, but even while at home he used to act queerly, sometimes walking in the Tokio streets with a compass. Satoh’s friends fear that the responsibility of this year’s critical .prospects against Australia and Britain weighed too heavily on his mind. The tennis association has decided to substitute Rynki Miki, now in London, for Satoh, a.nd not to send anyone from Japan. Miki will be the playing captain, instead of the noil-playing captain, as previously arranged. FIANCEE’ S~REV ELATION S. PERSUADED AGAINST WILL. Received April 7, 9.15 a.m. KOBE, April 6. Satoh’s suicide was confirmed by the captain of the Hakone Maru, who stated that the ship searched fruitlessly. Satoh’s fiancee reveals that Satoh jokingly threatened suicide in the event of being forced to proceed to Europe. He refused selection, but was finally persuaded against his will, knowing he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. LONDON CIRCLES SHOCKED. TRIBUTES FROM PLAYERS. Received April 7, 9.15 a.m. LONDON, April 6. Satoh’s death has greatly shocked tennis circles. Perry, in an interview, said that Japan and the game had lost one of the finest players and greatest sportsmen who ever walked a court. Austin said he was Japan’s finest player. He always gave the impression that he would be the last man on earth to come to such an end . AUSTRALIAN’S SYMPATHY. DAVIS CUP PROSPECTS. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, April 7. “Our chances this year are better than they have been for a long time,” said Mr Gerald Patterson, the former tennis champion, when discussing Australia’s entry for the Davis Cup. He said that if Crawford struck form Australia’s chance of regaining the cup would bo very good. It was not a one-man team, for Quist and McGrath on present form were almost as good as Crawford. Mr Patterson referred with regret to the death of Satoh, whom, he said, was probably the fourth greatest player Japan had produced. Mr Patterson, who is on a business trip, will see the most of the Australians’ matches in England.

Jiro Satoh was in. the final of the Japanese singles in 1930 a.nd in the following year he won the championship. In this year, also, he won the Czechoslovakian singles championship at Prague, several events on _ the Riviera, and nearly a dozen British tournaments. He reached the semifinal of the French singles championship, carrying Borotra to five sets, was in the last eight at Wimbledon, and in the final of the covered court championship at Queen’s. He represented Japan, in several Davis Cup matches. In 1932 he toured India and Australia and visited America, where he beat Vines at Los Angeles. Last year he reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon, beating Austin in the previous round. He was then beaten by Crawford.