DAVIS CUP RETAINED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18189, 7 September 1922, Page 6

DAVIS CUP RETAINED.

The representatives of the United States have again vindicated their supremacy in the world of lawn tennis. They have won the right to retain the Davis Cup, the great international trophy, for another year. Their defeat of the challengers has been decisive, though not so overwhelming as that administered to the representatives of Australasia in Auckland in the summer of 1920-21. On that occasion America won 5 matches, 12 sets, 110 games to no matches, 4 sets, 74 games. Their record in the contest just ended is 4 matches, 12 sets, 02 games to 1 match, 5 sets, 65 games. In one of the singles Anderson, fought his way over the full five sets. In Auckland no match went the complete distance. With this, and the winning of the doubles, the Australasians have reduced a little the gap which separates them from the American champions. As, on present appearances, the sole chance of bringing the trophy back under the British flag rests with them, this is a hopeful sign. Apart from the result and its indications, this year's contest has passed off with all the features of good sportsmanship and good fellowship which have characterised the many struggles for the cup. When the Americans were in Auckland the New Zealand spectators cheered the victors though their sympathies were with the vanquished. The American enthusiasts at Forest Hills did not forget, in their hour of triumph, to pay a tribute to the gallant but defeated challengers. So the future, Davis Cup contests promise to perpetuate the spirit of good feeling and national courtesy which the competing countries have always been punctilious in displaying to those who have visited them in quest of the trophy. It thus serves a much higher purpose thari the simple determination of which nation produces the most skilful exponents of the game.