LAWN TENNIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19699, 27 July 1927, Page 16

LAWN TENNIS.

THE VICTORY OF LACOSTE.

A' MEMORABLE CONTEST. PROSPECTS FOR DAVIS CUP. B? SIDE-LINE. Full details of the much-discusscd French championships have now reached New Zealand. They reveal the fact that Tilden had two match points in his great game with Lacoste. He was 9—B in the fifth set, and 40—15. A drive that might have been a winner caught the net and failed to go over. For the next point he served one of his "cannon balls" from the left court, but it missed the line by inches. On such a small thing as a fraction of an inch does the fate of a big match depend. Wallis Myers, the well-known English writer, has nothing but praise for Lacoste's magnificent performance. The match, including an interval of ten minutes, lasted three and a-quarter hours and went to the twentieth game in the fifth set. Compared with previous matches on the same court, says Myers, it was not conducted at such a fast psce, and valleying excursions to the net were comparatively rare. Scientific strategy, the dauntless persistency of both men, and the manner in which Lacoste, separated from defeat by a single point on two occasions when Tilden was serving, saved the situation by an iron resolution —these factors and the popular excitement round the court will make the match memorable in the annals of the game. Both men deserved victory by their firm tenacity and their supreme steadiness. If youth favoured Lacoste, experience favoured Tilden. His decisive defeat of Cochet had made him favourite. He was all out to reverse the Davis Cup result at Philadelphia last year. Lacoste's disciplined courage and fine generalship thwarted him. Tactics of Match Revealed. With Tilden leading 4—2 in the first set, the tactics of the match were revealed. Lacoste resolutely eschewed the full-blooded drive except when he had an obvious opening. His idea, as in Philadelphia, was to lure Tilden forward, the American preferring the long stride from one baseline corner to the other, rather than nimble footwork at closer range which a smaller man might employ. Lacoste was always searching for an opportunity to use the drop-shot, but he masked his design as much as possible and kept Tilden guessing as to its advent. Since Tilden also made use of the same shot, his object was to test Lacoste overhead when he came in, and Tilden did so with profit. It follows that deep drives were comparatively few on either side. In their place were many long exchanges of sliced shots, exchanges relieved of their monotony by the superb defence of both players, and especially of Lacoste, to protect his backhand from assault. Time and again he recovered balls that looked to be winners, and when in addition he was ever on the alert for a move forward to recover a drop-shot the strain on his mobility can be understood. Some of the rallies consisted of fifty returns. France and the Davis Gup. The great topic of conversation in tennis circles at the moment is France's chants in this year's challenge round, for the Davis Cup. After the French victories of 1926, Borotra expressed the following views which are of special interest at the present time: "As for myself, I am not too optimistic. The situation at the bottom does not seem to me to have been greatly changed by the fact that Tilden and Johnston have grown a year older and that Vincent Richards has joined the ranks of the professionals. Certainly Tilden and Johnston are no longer young, but neither is 35 years old yet and I figure that Tilden, in particular, has an excellent chance this year to regain the title of champion of America which he held for six years. Johnston is by no means finished either, and he is entirely capable of playing two marvellous singles in the Davis Cup contest with one day's intermission. He could not, it is true, play three days in succession, and it is therefore in the doubles that our chances will be improved a little, but it must not be forgotten that a Tilden-Wil-liams combination, for instance, will probably be as strong as the Richards-Wil-liams team. "The American balls still continue to be different from the European ones. As a matter of fact, they resist compression much less and are, therefore, much livelier, thus favouring the lifted, cut or topspin game, as against the level game, and the base-line player as against the volleyer (the latter cannot indeed risk in America at any time at the net an attack which is not pushed thoroughly and with extreme vigour from the start, since his very first volley must be almost decisive, and that is impossible over thero unless it is a high volley). All this shows that we must not be either too optimistic or too much inclined to count on a weakening of the American team; it is only our own future progress and a better adaption to the American playing conditions that gives us the background for our hopes. " If W6 play the challenge round in America this year with our very best team, we will win, I hope, but in my opinion the. chances will be barely equal. It will be a question of doing everything so that this may suffice." America Prepares.

That America realises that she must have the best team in the field against France if the Davis Cup is to be successfully defended is revealed by the fact that the Davis Cup committee has already announced this year's selection of candidates for the team of four which will defend the cup. The chosen players are W. T. Tildeu, W. M. Johnston, E. G. Chandler, G. Lott, L. White, A. H. Chapin, Dr. G. King, F. T. Hunter, J. Doeg, Cranston Holmen, R. N. Williams and J. Lang. Tho players were asked to begin training at once and to participate in at least three of the more important turf tournaments which take place during the latter part of July and tho first part of August, in order that the selection committee would have tlio opportunity to look over its material. As usual special Davis Cup try-outs will be staged for several days, commencing on August 15. A Question o! Management.

It is to be hoped that Mr. V. R. Johns' motion for the establishment of a management committee will go through at the Auckland Association meeting next week. The history of enlightened administration has proved the paralysing influence of ■ excessive numbers on a managing body. It is right that all clubs should be represented, but this ca? bt» gained by other and more efficient means than the present method. Proverbially there Is safety in numbers, but the irregular attendances of delegates, as revealed by the last annual report, can only make for barren debate and much wasted time. Care will have to be taken over the composition of the management committee. It would certainly be preferable for all members to be elected except the president of the association* who, of course, should be % xumhst ex-offido.