DAVIS CUP LOST.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1612, 2 December 1912, Page 5

DAVIS C UP LOST.

AUSTRALASIA BEATEN. PARKS DEFEATS HEATH IN THE \ .■'■■•• ;: SINGLES, . BROOKES IN BRILLIANT FORMBy Toleeraun-Prcss ABBoelatlon-OopyrritSt ; (Reb. December 1,5.5 p.m.) \ .Melbourne, December 1. The thn-d and'final day's play for the Davis*; Cup yesterday resulted in the defeat of. the Anstralasian team, and the coveted trophy now passes into the hands of Great Britain, after having been, held continuously by Australasia arice 1907. The two concluding matches were between Normaji Brookes (Australasia) and C. P. Dixon (England) and R. W. Heath (Australasia) and J. C. Parke (England). Brookes .was victorious,, but Tleath succumbed. The scores were:— Brookes ................ 6 .6 6 ': Dixon . ...„.;.............. 2: i , 4 . '. Parke ...1.,:...:....... 8 6, 8 Heath: ;................-:• 3,,-. i .4- ; There were some ten thousand spectators present, including the State Governor, Sir John , Fuller.. The courts were in splendid condition. , - Brookes v, Dixon, Oixon. won the toss, i and commenced /ith a double-fault. The next three balls Brookes hit out over the back line, but he won the nest three," and the game. Brookes then served,, and won the first ehot. He was then beattn by a beautifull cross-fourt return—fifteen all. Dixon brought the score to 30—15 with a lucky net corner, and. toot the :; next two strokes and the .game, He won off his 'service to fifteen, and Brookes did the. , same, the:scpres standing two all. Dixon lost 1 off. his ■ service, 'without scoring, although the first point was contested in a long rally.'.' 'Hβ eventually lost the game, on .a double-fault. '.-'. Brookes fol.lowed? with. a. double-fault but .picked up. the. game and won to thirty, with a perfect serve nght across and on : the side line. The score stood 4-^2,-.with Brookes leading. Dixon's next service.: provided good- rallies'," Brookes winning. Brookes next won off his eervice, taking .the set,: 6—2, The finishing' shot' was , a perfect 10w,.' volley into' the far corner of the court. .■'. ■';,' .■-■■' ■■• : '; ;;■/' . '. •.'.■". ■ In the second .set Brookes won off Dixon's,service, to .fifteen, and then off his qwnj. finishing, with a perfect serve down ihe middle. line, leaving ; Dixon . otanding. ; Brookes won the next two games, end then Dixon won-.Mβ , first game In the set, two fine serves into the corners, not being .returned. : Brookes won. the next service after/advantage to the server ( 'had been called.: Some lovely drives by Dixon followed, and making a good effort he won his service to love after some exceptionally fine volleying , at the net. : Brookes lost his service, Dixon pulling iip from '40—30 against him, y Dixon- made splendid passing shots from difficult positions,and won the next 'two strokes, 5—3, Brookes leading. .Dixon's service' ; was fiercely contested, but he wqn at which stage Brookes tried to win. the set outright with J a fieroe drive to the tasa line, which went out. Brookes won off his. own 'service' "to. fifteen and the set' without incident,, '^rlJ'T' '.'"%..'/"'?.''■."'■

In beginning; the third.set'Brbofee won' Dixon'e after: deuce had ••■ been called,, and then lost on his own, Dixon winning by two clever lobs."Dixon took Ma own service after deuce had been called thrice. Dixon , appeared , stronger at this stage. The eighth game was the best contested; of the , match.. Brookes, serving quickly, readied 30—0, when Dixon, , with two rare drives, got Brookes left a tall which looked like going out, but fell on the. line, 30—40, Dixon leading. Brookes made a splendid recovery, and broughtthe scoreto deuce. Dixon got vantage, , b'ut. deuce;and vantage to the server were next called. Dixon made it deuce.again with a fine 6low.passing shot.' Hβ • ■ next had vantage, and after several "more; vantages to each had.followed, , Dixon'got vantage and game, 4—4. There were twenty-six aces in the game. , Dixon lobbed persistently, and well. ThVcritics opined that if he had adopted eimilar tactics earlier te might have ; troubled' Brookes in the first two sets. In the next game, Dixon serving, Brookes got more, pace into Us\ shots, and won the,'garnet , Dixon did some fine;overhead work. In the tenth game Brookes got 30—30 off hisown service. With magnificent serves on the middle line, which, broke away from' Dixon's forehand, the next_ two strokes, both went to (Brookes, • who won the set, 6—4, ■ and the '.match: ■•■. ■ ..'.■•.

Brookes wag a different. player from Thursday. He had more paqo and length, and his driving and volleying were true to form. On.the day, Dixon was no match-for him..! .-.;.. • ' ; Heath v. Parke, ■ ; Heath, with' the onus of defending the cup, proved unworthy ■of the trust. He .started, and, lost off his first service to fifteen, ■ Parke mado a,beautiful passing shot when Heath! came to the net. Parke won his service to , fifteen, with fine driving on both sides from back corner to corner,. Heath won his service to thirty. Parke took the next game, winning the final ace with a magnificent slow passing 6hot. ' Parke .also won the next game, £—1, Parke leading. Heath took two games in succession, but Parke took the set,' M- • ■••"'•:■ ■/■•.■■■ -■■■.■-■ Heath won the first game in. the second set. A sensational incident occurred'whsn the score was at vantage to the server. While a good rally was exciting interest o spectator shrieked as the ball landed a foot inside the back line, and Parke,thinking the umpire had called, did not attempt to take Heath's return. Heath

'offered not to count the tell, but Parke refused, and was loudly cheered for his sportsmanship, Parke easily won the set G-4. ' Parko won the next set with equally fine play, o—4, and the Britishers won the cup. Heath ,made a fine resistance to a better, man. There was tremendous enthusiasm oa Dixon epramg into the court and embraced and kissed Parke, It-is doubtful if any player has shown such consistent excellence as Parko did in the last four matches, and on his present form he ehoiild be unbeatable. The Complete Scores. . The oomplete scores in the Cup contest are as follow;—= ' : Singles. ■ • Parko : ...».•• 8 6 5 G Brookes .•••• 0 3 7 2 Dixon • 5 6 6 6 Heath.-.. : -V'■ 4 .4.4 Brookes 8 6.6 Dixon ■• 2 4 4 ' Parke i 6 6 6 Heath. ••■- 8 4 4 Doubles. Brookes and Dunlop ... 6 6 7 . Parko and Beomish ... 4 1 5 ■ ' ' ' Summary. :'.•■' Britain, Australia. Matches 8 . . 2 Sets 1,-- » ■ - 8 „ -Off CI , Games * oo ■ do

HISTORY OF THE CUP.

THE CONTESTS OF TWELVE YEARS. ■ INDIVIDUAL RECORDS. When.(he happy inspiration of presenting a trophy, tor international lawn tennis competition occurred to Mr. Dwight "$• Davis in the year 1000, nobody,, himself included, had any idea; of ■ the world-wide interest which was to attend the contests for it. Mr. Davis-has said that if he had thought it would lead to the meeting- of so many and such distant nations as have already fought for its possession, "that bowl would have cost 10,000 dollars instead of 1000." But the intrinsic value of the trophy is of little importance. What has been the keynote of the success of the competitions for the Davis Cup, as a recent writer remarks, is the fact that any nation which aspires to the title of champion in the sport of lawn tennis must be prepared to journey to the land of the holder of the title. For this reason, British players went to America, Oad, later, Americans, 'Austrians, Belgians, Prenchmen, and Australasians visited England. It was Australasians' good fortune to defeat the British at Wimbledon, with the result that two American teams have, played in Australia and one in New Zealand, and there is now in Australia for the first time a team from the British Isles. In view of the success which has attended the competitions for the cup, and the enthusiasm which prevails in eo many nations and amongst people who ordinarily take little interest in sport, the somewhat' diffident strain which Dr. •Dwight, president of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association, adopted when first' approaching the secretary of the Lawn Tennis Association of England on the matter, of the cup sounds peculiar. Here are some extracts from his letter:— .. ' . :

"I beg to call your. attention, as secretary of the L.T.A., to an. experiment which we are making that will, I hope, increase the interest in lawn tennis, One of our players/here has offered a cup, to be a sort of international challenge cup. I enclose the conditions in a rough fcrm. I trust that we shall both take.a deep interest in them for;many years/to' como. ... I hop, as I said before, that the scheme will prove a success. It Eiight. do. a great deal for the'game here, and' possibly, even with you it might be a help. In,any case, I trust you will do what-you can to give us a lead in the matter , .", '■'" ; v ;". " The conditions referred to have s'nce required amplification, but are in substance similar to those originally proposed. The English association, took up the matter cordially, and dispatched a team, which, though not thoroughly representative, was generally considered sufficiently powerful to win. The strength of the Americans, however, had been under-rat-ed. Bumours of the wonderful Aineiican service had reached the Englishmen, but were regarded as travellers' tales. , Their astonishment was, therefore, intense when the first ball of the match, served by Dwight Davis himself, broke more than a yard, and left Black, his opponent, standing. Then when Whitman, the other American, went on against Gore, he unfolded another variety of break, the Teverse twist, As if these surprises were not sufficient; the home'- pair in the doubles adopted what ie still known as the American formation, , the server, and his partner both standing on : the same side of the. half--court line when the service was being delivered. This blucked the customary return, and, coupled with what one of the. English team designated "this nightmare of a service," onabled the Americans to add a victory in the doubles to the two'already gained in singles, and thus win the first contest for the cup. The temaining two matches of the singles were not played out owing to rain,

England tried again with, a stronger team in 1902, but was repulsed for the 'second time. In 1903 the brothers Doherty formed England's team for the nation's third attempt, and they proved successful.. With the Cup in England, new challengers arose, Belgium, Fiance, and Austria entering for the 1904 contest. Austria withdrew, Belgium defeated France, and was in turn vanquished by England. • * . ' The 1905 contest is notable as marking the advent of Australasia into the inters national arena. A suggestion had been made in Sydney in 1902 that Australasia should challenge,' but it fell on unreceptive soil. :The New Zealand Association, however, brought the matter up in 1904, a conference was held, attended by representatives of the Dominion; and of each of the Australian States, the Australasian Association was ■ formed, and a challenge issued. It was not regarded very seriously in England, as Australasian tennis was an unknown quantity. The first practices in England of Brookes and Dunlop, who, with .Wilding, formed the Austra-. lasian team, convinced English critics that an , adversary of unexpected power ivas in the field. Success did not attend our first essay, as America beat us in the preliminaries after a. win,over Austria, und England proved too strong for the men from 'the United States. Similar results happened the following year, America winning against Wilding and Poiderin, and succumbing to the holders. Then came 1907, when Brookes again went to England, and, with Wilding, beat the Americans first and then the Britishers. The history of the Cup since it has been held by Australasia is too.well known to need recapitulation, .• What the future will bring forth can only be surmised. That other nations than those which have already; taken part in the contests will take their places in future battles for the Cup is certain. South Africa has made so -rapid an advance that her early participation in the contests seems assured." Germany could put a very formidable team into the field, and there may be other nations as lightly regarded now as Australasia was a few years ago that.before long will have their names engraved upon tho Davis Cup.

The subjoined table gives the rscordg of individual competitors in Davis Cup contests up to and including that just completed. The greatest number of wins stands to the credit of N. E. Brookes, who alone has reached double figures in singles. H. L. Doberty's performanes aro remarkably good. He has won seven matches in singles, and five in doubles, without experiencing any defeats. S. H.. Smith is another- with a record of great merit. Hβ won four matches, his opponents being Larned, Clothion, Ward, and Little, in the course of which he lost only one set. SINGLES. AMERICA. Matches Matches ■ won. lost. ' P. B. Alexander 0 2 . Karl Behr 0 2 W. J. Clothier I 1 Dwight F. Davis 1 0 W. A. (Larned 9 5 M. H. Long 0 .2 R. D. Little 1 3 M. E. M'LougWin 2 3

f H. Ward - -, 3 4 ! M. D. Whitman .._..:.. 3 0 R. D. Wren 0 2 B. C. Wright 6 a AUSTRALASIA. N. E. Brookee ...; „12 4 E. W. Heath 1 2 L. 0. S. Poidevin 0 2 A. P. Wading B 5 AUSTRIA. R. Ktnzl 0 2 C. von Wesseley 0 3 BELGIUM. P. de Bornian 1 8 W. Lemaire ....... 2 1 BRITISH ISLES. E. D. Black 0 1 H. R. Barrett 0 2 C. P. Dkon 3 5 R. F. Doherty 2 1 H. L. Doherty 7 0 A. W. Gore '. 2 3 A. H. Lowe 0 2 J. Pirn : 0 2 J. C. Parke 2 i P, L. Riseley 2 0 M. J. G. Ritchie 1 1 S. H. Bmith i o TRANCE. P. Ayme 0 2 M. Decugis 1 2 11. Germot 0 2 A. H. Gobert 1 1 DOUBLES. AMERICA. Alexander and Hackett 1 0 Alexander and Wright 0 1 Behr and Wright 1 0 Bundy and Little 1 0 Davis and Ward 1 1 Hackett and Little 1 ' 0 Littlo aud Ward l> 1 Long and M'Loughlin... 0 1 M'Loushlin and Wright 0 1 Ward and Wright 2 1 G. L. Wrenn and R. D. Wrenn 0 1 AUSTRALASIA. Brookes and Dunlop ... 8 1 Brookes and Wilding ...' 2 . 2 Poidevin and Wilding... 0 1 AUSTRIA. Kind and Von Wesseley 0 1 , BELGIUM. Der Borman and Lemaire 0 g BRITISH ISLES. Barrett and Black ; 0 1 Barrott and Dixon 1. 0 Barrett and Gore 1 ft Beamish and Dixon ..... 1 0 Crowley and Parko 0 1 H. L. Doherty and R. F. Doherty 5 0 Parke and Ritchie 0 1 Parke end Beamish ... 0 1 FRANCE. Ayme and Decugis 1 0 Deougie and Germot ... 0 1 Gobert and Laurentz ... 0 1