What Chance Has England Of Regaining Davis Cup.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18340, 17 December 1927, Page 7

What Chance Has England Of Regaining Davis Cup.

YOUNG PLAYERS MUST LEARN THAT CONCENTRATION IS SECRET OF SUCCESS.

When arc we going to find a worldbeater. a Tilden and a Lenglen? I believe we will, but not for a few years yet (writes G. Crole-Rees. an English tennis player). In every tennis-playing country except Britain, hard courts are the order of the day. In most countries, apart from England, sunshine and dry courts may be relied upon: in short, it means the standardisation of courts and standardisation of weather. The players from other parts of the can practise whenever they* wish, for as long as they wish, and. owing to the courts being almost always in the same condition, each practice tends to start where the last practice left off. Those Rainy Days. Consider, for instance, the care of a first-class English player who has de- j cided to put in a week's good, hard ! practice at lawn tennis. We shall as- i sume that the Monday is a fine day. Right: he gets in several good sets on ; a splendid grass surface. It rains dur- 1 ing Monday night, not too much to • make the court unplayable, but it rains, j He plays again on Tuesday on the ' same court. What happens? The bound of the ball is lower; the court is not true. He has to adapt himself to new conditions and put aside, for the moment, all the good effects of his practice of the previous day. Being England, it rains again on Tuesday night. This time it rains really hard. No play on the grass court, so our player transfers to hard courts. He again has to adapt his game to new conditions. A higher bound, a faster ball and a faster game altogether. The Bard Court Problem. He may play on. the hard court for •two days, and then the weather may get so bad that he probably transfers his game to a covered wooden court, which, of course, means upsetting the style of game to which he was settling down on the two other types of surface. “ But,” you may say*, “ why not stick to the hard courts all the time, irrespective of weather?” This, on the face of it. seems good advice, but practically half the English tournaments during the lawn tennis season are played on grass courts, and it would not be good practice to play' for the main part other than on grass. The weather is not the only reason for our lagging behind at the game. The average Briton is very much inclined to be a “ jack of all trades and a master of none.” In other words, he does not specialise; he has not the temperament to specialise. Many of our leading lawn ttfhnis players have a pretty stiff golf handicap. Others have an excellent record on the Rugger or Soccer field. This is splendid from a point of view of keeping fit, but it does not tend to make a world-beater at any one of the particular games in question. Other countries specialise more. They have their own particular game, and they stick to it. They look at it from all angles and ;treat it as a serious science.

When Business Interferes. In England it is no uncommon thing for a young athlete to represent his school for tennis, Rugger, and perhaps golf at the same time. Such a fellow will probably play all three games exceptionally well, but his progress will be distributed more or less equally be tween the three. Business is another question of importance. Only a few of our leading lights at tennis are free from business ties. If they neglect their business, it may* soon mean that they would have to forsake lawn tennis altogether. Business and the very top rung of the lawn tennis ladder do not go at all well together. for obvious reasons. I wonder what success would be attained by our first-class boxers if they mixed their training with business routine. Business needs concentration —so does lawn tennis. It is impossible to participate thoroughly in both and get j to the top rung in either. Anderson, the Match Winner. I Concentration is a most important i qualification in a player who aims for ! the very* top. Take J. O. Anderson, of ; Australia. One can see by the set exj pression of his face when playing that i every* nerve is taut to the effort of his successful operation of his plans and schemes. Anderson, perhaps more than any* other player in the world, has a wonderful faculty for “ pulling games out of the fire.” Unless he w r as able to concentrate without the slightest relaxation, he would have lost many* great fights that now stand to his credit, and have been written down in lawn tennis history. Borotra’s Energy. Borotra’s success is largely due to that wonderful supply of nervous energy* and remarkable agility, another splendid tennis qualification. These qualifications are more national than personal. The average English gentleman is too phlegmatic to allow of such outbursts of energy*. America's success is chiefly* due to concentration. They specialise to a very marked degree. Their lawn tennis players play only* lawn tennis. They* let nothing interfere with their determination to get to the. top, and they study the science of the game. Mathematical Play. There is a lot of mathematics about the sty’les of play of Johnson, Richards and Kinsey*. That coolness on the court, the clever tactics employed, and the sphinx-like expression of these players in action seem to suggest that a lot of their play* was learnt indoors with a pencil, paper and protractors. The average Englishman enjoys his game too much to stand the same chance of leadership. He plays lawn tennis because he likes playing, and for no other reason. Other countries play, also because they* like it, but largely* to establish a world predominance of skill. They are in deadly earnest not only on the court, but off it. We are of a too happy-go-lucky disposition to lead the way*—at least yet awhile.

I French Temperament, The French temperament has a lot to do with the success of the players from that country, but temperament carried too far can be as great an enemy as an asset. Many of us have witnessed at Wimbledon one or two players from various parts of the Continent who, during the course of a match, have got so very excited, and in some instances so very cross with themselves, that they have found relief in breaking racquets, ballooning balls and stamping about. From a lawn tennis point of view, it is better perhaps to be phlegmatic than to be as temperamental as this. The One Exception. I have indicated that it is practically impossible to reach the very top of the 1 tree at any game where a player takes up more than one, but Senorita de Alvarez is a remarkable exception in this respect. This lady is certainly not a worldbeater yet, but she is probably the third best lady play*er in the world. With Senorita de Alvarez tennis seems to be little more than a side line, for she is an expert skater, a wonderful swimmer and, I believe, most skilful in other branches of sport. It is very probable that had she concentrated on lawn tennis right from the beginning, and had no interest in other sports, she would have had no equal in the world. The First Two Thousand. Special! ation and concentration, combined with the possession of the right tennis temperament, are undoubtedly the reasons for the phenomenal success of Mademoiselle Lenglen. I am convinced that, if it were possible to arrange a lawn tennis match between the first 2000 play*ers in this country and the I'reL. 2T.‘»o i n any* other, England -would win by an uvcrwhelming margin. While we have nobody at the very* top, we have dozens just underneath: we have dozens just below that standard,. scores a little below that, and hundreds just a little farther down. Bound to Come. There is undoubtedly a strong movement in favour of the hard courts in this country, but it will be many vears 1 before hard courts are standard. 'This step towards standardisation is bound ; to improve the general standard of play, but this is not enough to produce , the high degree of proficiency required. . I believe we have talent, we have ‘ young world-beaters in embryo, but . they never have the opportunity* or the ! conditions, or never receive the high de- ' gree of training necessary* for the pro- 1 deletion of really big things later on. ; i < ) ! j