THE DAVIS CUP.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVI, Issue 14912, 3 December 1912, Page 8

THE DAVIS CUP.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID. SYDNEY PR-ESS COMMENT. Press Association—Bt Tel. —Cooyiignt. Received 8.5 p.m., Dec. 2nd. SYDNEY, Dec. 2. The- "Herald" says,:—" It would bo absurd for Australians to deny that the result of the Davis Cup has been ;i keen disappointment to them. AVe regret the- loss, for sentimental reasons, and for the more practical reason that Australia, for a time at least, has lost the right to expect a visit from the best players of Europe and America. No doubt the opinion of British experts should have warned us that our supremacy was in serious danger, and experience has taught \ us to be on our guard. We should j perhaps have anticipated the English i habit of refusing to recognise when they ought to be beaten, which has appeared more than once in. cricket, and it would appear in tennis also." Describing the play, t-ho "Herald" says:—" It is due to Parke's magnificent play alone that the Cup is taken back to the British Isles." The "Telegraph" declares that " Every tiling depended on Heath, and ho was unequal to the task. He had the misfortune to strike a player in the top of magnificent form. The honours of the contest unquestionably rest with Parke, who returns to his native land covered with glory." THE DINNER. MELBOURNE, Dec. 2. Lord Denman and Sir John Fuller were present at the Australasian Tennis Association dinner to the-teams. Mr Weig-el, president, in congratulating the Britishers, said that Parke had given Australia almost too much of himself to remember. That drive ni liis was reminiscent of the Scriptural hero, the late Mr Jehu. No doubt the visit of the Britishers had provided tho necessary funds to enable the Association to fit out an invading expedition in pursuit of tho Cup. PLAYERS EXCHANGE COMPLIMENTS. Mr Dixon eulogised the treatment tho team had received and the fine sporting spirit of the Australians. Tie said Parke's victory had absolutely won tho cup. He thought it. was hardly fair that the challenge round of the Cup should be held in. the country of the holders year after year, .".nd he suggested that it be held in c'iiffevent countries alternately, or if that was impossible let- it be the country of the .challenger, not of the holder. Such an arrangement would increase tho interest in the contest. Mr Lowe claimed that lie helped to win tho Cup by standing down. Unless he had done so, the Britishers would not now bo the holders of too Cup. Mr Parke, in proposing tho Australasian team, said that at Home it Lad always been thought that as long as Brookes was' playing it would be i.soless sending a team to Australia. The Britishers had been horribly lucky. Brookes was defeated on an off day for himself. He (Parke) had never played such a game in his life, and never hoped to play another like it Mr Brookes, replying, said the loss of the Cup was deeply felt, but the visitors deserved sincere congratulations on their splendid performance. Australasia, had played its best, team, :nd that team had done its' best. The visitors were really a British Tsles team, and had it' not been for Good Old Ireland, the Cup would, still be in Australia's hands. . He would be only too willing to make of a team to try and recover it. Mr Dunlop said the Australians bad been well beaten, and the Britishers undoubtedly deserved their win. Mr Heath, amid cries of dissent, regretted that' he had not supported Irs captain as he should have done. Mr Jones claimed that though he had not played he had done his best to pull his side through by barracking. , VISIT OF ENGLISH TEAM. DETAILS OF NEW ZEALAND TOUR, In connection with the visit to New Zealand of the English Davis Cup team, Mr A. J. Petherick, secretary of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association, has received detailed advice from the Australasian Association regarding the tour. The members of the team (C. P. Dixon, captain, A. E. Beamish, J. C. Parke, and F. L. Lowe) have booked passages to Auckland by the Marama, sailing from Sydney on Monday, December 16th, and arriving at Auckland on the following Friday. The New Zealand representatives for the first match (Geoff; oy Ollivier, JVC Peacock, F. M. B. Fisher, and R. N. K. Swanston) will meet the English team on the Eden and Epsom court at Auckland on Saturday and Monday, 21st and 23rd December. Tho Englishmen will then journey to Hastings, via Rotorua and Taupo, arriving there in time to compete in the Australasian championships, to be held there, commencing on Monday, 30th December. After that the team will proceed south to Christchurch, where the second representative match is to be played on the 4th and 6th January. From tho southern town the -earn v:ll I come straight back to Wellington, and here play the final representative match of the tour on Tuesday and Wednesday, 7th and Bth January. On the following Friday the visitors will take their departure from Wellington for Sydney. The New Zealand representatives to take part in the second and third representative matches at Christchurch "and Wellington respectively will be selected at a later date.