PLAY BEGINS AT WIMBLEDON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18187, 21 June 1927, Page 9

PLAY BEGINS AT WIMBLEDON.

WORLD’S LEADING TENNIS CHAMPIONS COMPETE FOR TITLES. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. A.P.A. and Sydney “ Sun ” Cables. (Received June 21, 11 a.m.) LONDON, June 20 Intense interest is being taken in the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon. Profiteers have sold £4 4s season tickets for as much as £25. The presence of W. T. Tilden fully compensates for the absence of ! Mile Lenglen, judging by the demand j for seats, which already shows that the ! new Wimbledon is quite inadequate to ' meet the demands of tennis enthusiasts | desirous of watching the championships. ! Results:— Men’s Singles Championship. Landry (France) defeated Harada (Japan), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2. WIMBLEDON TOURNEY INTEREST GROWING. £4/4/- SEATS BEING SOLD FOR £25 BY PROFITEERS. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright Aus. and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, June 20. There is intense interest in the opening of the Wimbledon tennis tourney. The presence of Tilden fully compensates for the absence of Mile Lenglen, judging by the demand for seats, which already shows that the new Wimbledon is quite inadequate to meet the demands of tennis enthusiasts desirous of watching the championships. Profiteers are selling some £4 4s season tickets for £2O and £25. Mrs God free is regarded as the only hope of Britain for securing a championship. HISTORIC COURTS WILL AGAIN SEE MANY GRUELLING BATTLES. Ror fifty years first-class tennis has been played at Wimbledon. Those historic courts have seen new champions rise and old champions fall, but each year the contests are waged as fiercely as ever. Competitors from all over the world, from New Zealand ae well as Canada, from Japan, from Spain and Hungary, enter the lists and battle with the chosen of England, France and America. Brookes Broke the SpeU. From 1877 to 1906 inclusive the singles event was won by Englishmen, Then Norman Brookes, the great Australian left-hander, registered the first win for a player from overseas. A. W. Gore restored the prestige of the Old Country for two years, and after him came Anthony Wilding, who reigned for four years. Brookes scored again in 1914. and in the first year after the •war, 1919, Gerald Patterson won the title. For many years leading American players sought in vain the blue riband of the lawn tennis world, and it was not till 1920, when Tilden scored a somewhat lucky victory over B. I. C. Norton in the final, that their desiie was first attained. Patterson and Anderson were the finalists in 1922, and the former won the title for the second time by defeating his countryman in a closely contested five-set match. In 1923 W. M. Johnston gained a clear-cut American victory. In the following three years Wimbledon was completelv dominated by the brilliant French players. Borotra winning in 1924, Lacoste in 1925 and Borotra again in 1926. No English player has, therefore, held the championship since Gore won it in 1909, eighteen years ago.

Tilden and His Rivals. Tilden is this year’s tennis magnet. He has come across from America specially to regain the crown wrested from him in the States last year. The Frenchmen are evidently keyed up to oppose him. The crowds round the centre court will see that world-famed quartet—Jean Borotra (champion), Rene Lacoste (champion of the United States), Henri Cochet and Jacques Brugnon. Fierce battles will be fought on the centre court this year, having as their background last autumn’s sensational French victories and American defeats at Forest Hills, U.S.A. There France achieved the downfall of W. T. Tilden, seven times champion of the United States, and Jean Borotra (champion at Wimbledon) defeated William M. Johnston, accounted second greatest player in the world.

That is the great significance of this year's English championship. America, having lost her own title, is bent on making a supreme bid this year to recapture the laurels. Behind this American challenge lies the probabilitv that 19°7 will mark the end of Tilden’s wonderful reign as “world champion,” for he has indicated his desire to turn professional next year. Possibly he will never again be seen at Wimbledon. “ But I want one last fling at the chief amateur titles before taking the step,” is how he puts it. The championship meeting will benefit, too, by the piquancy of the reemergence of German players, who, for eight years, have been barred at all lawn tennis tournaments in which players of Allied nations participated. The Leading Lady. Who will take Suzanne’s place as “leading lady”? Three names suggest themselves as “possibles.” These are Miss Helen Wills (America), Mrs Godfree (England) and Senorita Alvarez, the Spanish “star,” whose strokes electrified the Wimbledon crowd last season. In addition, there will be the dashing English gjfls, Betty Nuthall, Eileen Bennett and Joan Fry, as well as Mile Ylasto (now Madame Jean Siepieri), the French lady champion, and Fraulein Aussem, of Germany. Miss Wills at present is the ruling favourite. In the final of the Kent championships she defeated Mrs Godfree by the decisive score of 6-2, 6-4, but too much significance cannot be placed on this result, as the English champion has just recovered from a recent illness. She should have struck form by now. Senorita d’Alvarez is a great favourite with the public, her beauty and her charming personality making her an outstanding figure of the courts. She is a forceful player who should at least reach the semi-finals. Startling reports have come from Germany of the prowess of Fraulein Aussem, eighteen-

year-old German champion, who is said to be the successor of Suzanne.

N.Z. Players. The nominated New Zealand players participating at Wimbledon are R. R. T. Young, F. Wilding, F. M. B. Fisher, and the Misses Macfarlane. It is not a formidable contingent, but nevertheless their doings will be watched with interest. Fisher, who is now in his fiftieth year, is a great tactician, and as a doubles player he holds a notable record both in this country and in England. With J. C. Peacock —still one of our leading players —he first won the New Zealand title twenty-six years ago, and this pair was successful on three subsequent occasions. He was also the holder four times of the mixed doubles championship with Miss Nunneley and Miss E. Travers. Although ho. never won the singles championship of the Dominion he has been runnerup in this event on no fewer than six occasions. Fisher has now lived in England for a number of years, during the whole of which time he has been a prominent figure at many British and Continental tournaments. In 1920 and 1921 he won the covered court mixed doubles championship with Mrs G. Peacock who was for many years a leading player in India, and a few years ago with Mr J. G. Ritchie, a veteran English player, he won the doubles at Cannes His last association with New Zealand lawn tennis was in 1924, when her represented the Dominion in the Davis Cup match against Czechoslovakia at Prague. On that occasion Zemla and Kogeluh beat F.sher and Peacock, 46, 63, 68, 6., <3.