LAWN TENNIS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13536, 12 October 1907, Page 7

LAWN TENNIS.

• Under date August 30 our London correspondent writes: — Anthony Wilding, who has "farmed" a good many of the principal lawn tennis championships for the past two or three years, met with a rude shock at Homburg this week. For some time past the younger generation of German players has been a thorn in the side of the English touring tennis player, but until, now no German has been able to really extend the best of our peripatetic cracks. At Homburg, however, the Germans more than held their own. The contest for the Homburg Cup, valued at £100, found no Englishmen even in the semifinal. The best of the Germans, Otto Froitzhoim and Kreuzer, came together in the top half, when Froitzheim won a hard fought match. In the bottom half the holder, A. F. Wilding, was opposed to Baron K. Von Lessner, and won easily, but he "came undone" badly when opposed to Froitaheim in the final. The German, who had recently given a taste of his quality by beating Mr J. G. Ritchie, was "all over" the New Zealander, whom he beat decisively by three sets to love and eighteen games to nine. The Australasian internationalist did not play up to the top of his form, but there is no getting away from the fact that m Froitzheim he met an opponent who, if he cares to take the journey, will take a lot of beating at Wimbledon next year. He is certainly the most versatile player Wilding has yet met on the Continent, and has a cast-iron nerve. He has, indeed, much the same match-winning temperament as Norman Brookes, and, like that great player, always seems to b© able to rise to the occasion when affairs are going against him. A Lawn Tennis Club has been formed at Opunake.