TENNIS BLUNDER

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7300, 9 August 1930, Page 13

TENNIS BLUNDER

AUSTIN’S OMISSION FROM - BRITISH TEAM

BORN MATCHPLAYER

may be the finest armour a man may wear,” but we have little to chuckle about over our Davis Cup record this year, writes A.W.M, in the “Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News.” The . end came at Eastbourne where the young Australians beat us by four matches to one. A week later our conquerors were themselves upset by Italy at . Milan. Our team was a brave one, but it did not possess the technical equipment for the task in hand. We did not win one of the four singles matches. Now that fact to all who consider our prestige, our past history on the lawns and the facilities which our young men enjoy for pursuing the game, is disheartening. The news, do not forget, is bruited abroad. In every clubhouse over the world where lawn tennis followers foregather and where national ardour is appraised in the scales of sport, we are rated, by this result, as a country which, on the male side, is not first-class. Ought we, with the resources at our command, to have done better? Moon, the Australian champion, was absent from the visiting side. Crawford and Hopman, although versatile players, . were relatively new to European conditions—they were only here as boys two years ago. Neither had anything like the record or the experience of H. W. Austin, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year and a victor overßorotra on his own Paris court in the interval. Austin was "placed on the sidelines’’ at Eastbourne; he was not invited to play for England against Australia. I regard his omission as a first-class blunder and the excuse for it does not change my opinion.

Austin’s ability to survive a five-set struggle, provided his physical reserves have not been taxed by too much play, has been proved time and again, both at home and on the Continent. He is, in fact, a born match-player, with H. L. Doherty’s preference for grass court play. Moreover, his style and tactics are an educational factor badly needed in this country. His recent visit to Manchester, where he played eight ten sets on the same afternoon in the three finals of the Northern tournament, was worth a great deal to Lancashire enthusiasts. Yet he was not permitted to strike a blow for England in our most important international content of the year.