DAVIS CUP HITCH

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1329, 5 January 1912, Page 6

DAVIS CUP HITCH

AND BEALS WRIGHT. THE AMERICAN CRITICISED. (By Telegraph.—Special Correspondent.} Christchurch, January I. One of tho Christcliurch papers this owning ileal* very plainly with the member of tho American tennis loam who was responsible for tho delay in starling Hid play yesterday afternoon, ami for (he ehange in I lie programme.

"Presumably," says tin; paper, "there will bo some official explanation of the failure of Mr. Deals C. Wright, to appear to lime. yesterday, when he was set.down to piny his Davis Cup niitlch. The referee contented himself with tin; bare statement that Mr. Wright's absence was duo to 'an unavoidable hitch,' but it did not take long for a circumstantial rumour to circulate among the spectators that the hitch was not. an unavoidable one, and that Mr. Wright had left the public and the lawn tennis authorities in the lurch without warning. "Whatever the cause of his offending may have been, lie canuot escape the charge of unsportsmanlike conduct. It is perfectly true that the fate of the Davis Cup had been decided on the previous day, but it is jiist under such circumstances as these that wo expect a man of Mr. Wright's reputation to keep faith with the authorities and the public. "The gap, so far as the public were concerned, was filled by an exhibition game in which Mr. learned courageously faced the certainty of suffering, and tho public did not complain, but the position is that Mr. Wright has committed the unforgivable sin of the sportsman, and, in the absence of a valid.explanation of his. conduct, he will have to bo ruled.out of future international contests. " "It would be manifestly impossible for the Australasian Association, to receive him. and we should think that it would ix> impossible for' the American Association to nominate him again. The incident is wholly regrettable. It is unprecedented in Davis Cup contests, and we hope that it will remain without a parallel in the future."