LAWN TENNIS AT HOMBURG.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10276, 13 October 1909, Page 4

LAWN TENNIS AT HOMBURG.

H. A. PARKER AND OTHERS BEATEN.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) London, September 3. I am indebted to the columns of a well-known sporting daily for the following particulars. The young German champion, Otto Froitzhein, who on his first visit to Wimbledon last year won the Olympic silver medal, has achieved another notable triumph at Homburg, perhaps the most impressive of his relatively short career. For the third successive year this frail-looking barrister of Strasburg has won the Homburg Cup, establishing his" supremacy in a tournament that challenged his physical and mental powers to the uttermost. His victory in the open singles gives him permanent possession of the handsome trophy, valued at £IOO, which Herr F. Gans presented in 1906, and the result must be especially gratifying to German players who have seen-one of their number secure the chief international prize on the Continent.

Froitzhein had by far the hardest row to hoe of any competitor. In succession he was called upon to meet and defeat R. Ya Lannep (of Holland), F. W. Rnlie (of Germany), C. Von Wessely (of Austria), and M. 'J. G. Ritchie (of England), besides H. A. Parker (of New Zealand), and when it is considered that the last four of these players are probably superior on hard courts to any of the three. British players who have gone to America in quest of the Davis Cup, the significance of the feat can be realised. Though Froitzhein waged five sets witli Ralie in the second round, he did not bustle himself unduly until the last two sets, both of which fell to his racket with a comfortable margin, and since he beat his foremost German rival twice at Hamburg the previous week, there can be no question that he commands more tactical ability than this year's semi-finalist at Wimbledon. Froitzhein defeated the volatile Von Wessely, the best product of Austria, iu- straight sets, and he disposed of Parker, who is considered half 15 better on a hard court,"by three sets to one, not being greatly put out by the New Zealander's unorthodox methods. His final engagement witli Ritchie, which aroused extraordinary interest, was an Homeric struggle that kept the result in doubt lip to. the last point. The score was 6 —4, 5 —7, 6—l, 4 —6, 7 —5, in favor of the Fatherland. The German employed the fine driving length, subtle placing, and superb generalship, that had enabled him to defeat A. F. Wilding on the same courts in 1907 and 1908. When Ritchie and Froitzhein met in the final of the Olympic competition at Wimbledon last year the surface was on the soft side, and inimical to the German, but at Homburg the bound of the 'ball, neither too high nor too low, exactly suited his stroke, and he was able, by using that sliding movement characteristic of his mobility, to cover the ground with astonishing rapidity. In his graceful execution and mental equanimity Froitz'hein is the nearest prototype to H. L. Dohertv the lawn tennis world has yet produced, and it may possibly come about that equal fame is in store for him.