FRENCH STARS

NZ Truth, Issue 1143, 27 October 1927, Page 12

FRENCH STARS

Will They Visit Dominion ? (By "Umpire.") The exact position seems to be known only to the Racing Club of France, but the odds against the French tennis team for Australia visiting the Dominion appears to be considerably bigger than those punters get at races. THE immediate and large hurdle on the other side of which the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association has to plant both feet is the old obstacle of £.s.d. In dealing- with the Frenchmen, the Australian Association seems to have met its match. Accustomed to be regarded as the top-side draw -m lawn tennis, and the natural challengers of the United States all through the .Davis Cup series since 1921, the Australian management has been fond of asking other associations for a monetary guarantee. Now our Commonwealth friends havo struck another body which can think m terms of thousands. For the pleasure of seeing m action Brugnon, Borotra and other French stars, the Australians are guaranteeing £2000, while up to £4000 the Racing Club of France takes half the gross returns of the tour. After that the Australians take what is left. They are terms worthy of the most extravagant days of the Commonwealth Davis Cup team, when it cost a young fortune to send Hawkes, Patterson, Anderson and Pat. O'Hara Wood to the United States for a few months. If it is suggested that the New Zealand L.T.A. can look at an organization which imposes such terms as these we wait anxiously to see who will do the suggesting. A tour of the country is out of the question. Reliance on our scenic attractions to

bring throe thoroughly travelled and ennuictl Frenchmen to our midst seems to be optimism of the last degree. A match at Auckland on the way through seems to be about the only reasonable thing to hope for. And that is likely to prove expensive enough unless the Racing Club oC France unexpectedly develops philanthropic ideas. The team which the Frenchmen are sending to this part of the world is scarcely equal to the whole broadside of an Australian opposition. Lacking their two Davis Cup singles strings, Henri Cochet and Rene Lacoste, the visitors will be brilliant rather than solid. Borotra, of course, at his dazzling best ■will be equal to anyone who is likely to be arrayed against him, but even Borotra is not the man of two seasons ago when, he scintillated through three Davis Cup matches. There should be at least four men m Australia able to beat either of his companions. After the way m which Borotra shapes against the leading Australians, most interest attaches to the doubles. | How will Commonwealth doubles play ! measure against the champion nation of the world? "Umpire's" opinion is that it will be quite a measurable bit better. When next the International Lawn Tennis Federation assembles it will have before it a proposal by the French that the Davis Cup playing rules should be amended to provide for contests being held on surfaces other than grass, and, if the Federation decides to do this, one more tennis superstition will have gone for good. This move is the natural outcome of the French victory against America, for m France hard courts are the rule and all the Gallic representatives m the big series have been bred on hard court work. Moreover, the French will say, tennis is now the biggest international sport m the world and the Davis Cup contest by far. the largest clash of nations. • In many countries grass courts are an impossibility and to cling to the rule laid -down when Dwight Davis presented the cup. will be to penalize many nations whose climate does not lend itself to the making of grass surfaces. What is. more, tennis owes more to the hard court men than to anyone who has been trained upon a grass surface. The Californians, who speeded up the game, came from hard' court surfaces. The men who have brought tennis supremacy back to Europe have learnt their tennis on the type of court that breeds hitters and hard runners. .Good form is being shown by Wellington's tennis reinforcements. E. McGill, ex-Canadian representative, reveals himself as a man with both steadiness and punch and he will be a factor m any singles championship. Another welcome face is that of Neil Goldie, ex- national" junior title-holder and Wellington metropolitan champion. Neil is proving that all the old vim and doggedness which made him so formidable m past years have not been impaired by his long stay m the backblocks. His forehands wallop is just as swift as ever and his service takes watching-.