THE DAVIS CUP

Wanganui Chronicle, 2 September 1950, Page 4

THE DAVIS CUP

AUSTRALIA has wop from the United States of America, the Davis Cup the treasured international trophy of the. lawn tennis world. Thus does Australia place herself once again in the forefront of the athletic world. Ip cricket she is supreme, m tennis she has attained once again to top place, and in swimming she is able to produce some pxpellent performers of the wfiild champion ela«s To what is this fairly consistent measure of success to be attributed’ What has Australia got, a country peopled with comparatively small population, that enables her to produce so many fine athletes? First and foremost, she has a climate which favours an out-of-doors life for a considerable period of the jeai she has a strong games tradition, and her people are willin„ tc devote concentrated attention to the development of any particular centotion of attention upon sport that produces the eham] ions Lord Bvron once wrote: “T’is sweet to wm no matter 1 w one’s laurels!’’ It may he sweet, but it st ill be winning an international trophy is worth the cost. It too nmen attention is devoted to sport then life can get put of focus in New Zealand as well as in Australia. To such a line of thought the condention is frequently opposed that “a healthy mind reato n benlthv bodv ” Quite so. but it is because the mind is sane that the odvts sanitary, not the other way round. The Greeks were. prone o ndvan-e that argument in favour of their games-loving civilisato promote the sales o. tenns c ! llampionshi p is worth having, for exploiting his own publicity 1 ~e a] , pn , lprship fill d? Xi the Championship stands in the way of any in any t • !■ That’s the pity of modern sport! championing of a good cause- That s the pny Of i