Is Santana Now Worlds Leading Amateur?

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30956, 12 January 1966, Page 9

Is Santana Now Worlds Leading Amateur?

AUSTRALIA has won the Davis Cup again. Because this has been said 13 times in the last 16 years it is hard now to find anything remarkable in it Of more interest this time were the sidelights that accompany any Davis Cup challenge round.

Attracting the most attention were the statements made at the close of play.

In their elation a number of Australians claimed that this win made Australia the greatest Davis Cup winning nation ever. There is some basis for this claim but it needs a qualification which they forgot to mention.

The United States has held the cup 19 times and Australia can now say it has held it 20 times —but only if it includes the years it won as Australasia when New Zealand was also included.

Strictly, the record is United States 19, Australia 16, Australasia 4, Britain 9, France 6. If Australia is to claim its 20, it is only fair to the memory of Anthony Wilding, who played such a great part in the Australasian wins, to New Zealand and to the United States, to make this qualification.

Then there is the complaint, for which there is also considerable justification, that Australia and the United States have a stranglehold on the cup because as long as one of them holds it the challenge round is always played on grass. This makes it a difficult task for countries like Spain and Italy which have reached the challenge round to gain a win. Like other Continental countries they have essentially hardcourt players.

Undoubtedly Spain suffered in this respect but again there is a qualification. Over the years Australia has been the leading Davis Cup nation its top players hava also won the world’s major hardcourt tournaments, beating the hardcourt players at their own game.

Then, on the last day, after the fate of the cup had been decisively decided, the leading Spaniard, Manuel Santana beat Roy Emerson, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 15-13 in the third singles. This has led to a Spanish claim that San tana is now the world’s leading amateur. But Fred Stoile beat Santana in the first singles, a much more important one which contributed towards the cup decision. So can the Australians claim Stoile is the world’s best amateur. He cannot beat Emerson. This sort of unrewarding argument can go on interminably. There may be just

cause in rating Santana as the world’s number one, at least ait present and one tennis pundit, not a Spaniard has already done so. The respected selection of Ned Potter in “Wort.. Tennis” puts Santana ahead of the Wimbledon champion, Emerson on the ground that Santana had 39 wins and only five losses against top players, compared with Emerson’s 23-13. Last year Emerson was undisputed first with Santana third after C. R. McKinley. Emerson has not been playing well recently and the Negro, Arthur Ashe, has been his conqueror several times, including in the United States championships. Ashe then lost to Santana who won the title

When Emerson announced after the challenge round that he was considering retiring from the world circuit and from Davis Cup play, it was greeted with the usual ‘"shock” and “surprise” descriptions. However, the 29-year-old Emerson was discussing this move as long ago as last May when he was playing well. If this is so his mantle could well fall on Santana who. as well as being a highly skilful player is a delightful sportsman. But, as far as the Davis Cup is concerned, the European countries which get as far as the challenge round seem able to produce only one player of top standard; Australia can almost always provide at least two.