LAWN TENNIS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 235, 22 February 1913, Page 7

LAWN TENNIS.

THE dayis cur. American Lawn Tennis comments on the win of the liritish I-l»= in (lie Davis Cup contest iis follows: -"However much we !!-.;iy svmp.ilhiie will) ;i great sporC ing nation like Australa-sia, we cannot lint rejoice at the success of the British Ialos" first attempt to lift tlie Davis Cup in Melbourne. It is undoubtedly best for the same that the famous trophy is' at last to return to the country which won it from u- ami retained possession of it for four years. Now it can. and undoubtedly will lie contested for by ,all the leading lawn tennis-playing nations. Tile inhibition of distance ami time. which operated to reduce the number of challenging nation-, and resulted in keeping the number of ties phued iii Australasia down to four in live years, is ! now removed, temporarily at least. Next j year we shall, unless all signs fail, have ! in England a real world's championship lof the nations. It will be a contest the like of which has never been seen, and ' interest in it will be intense. ■ "The victory of the liritish isles te;-,-> was almost astounding in its uuexpec. edness. We have become accustomed lo the sights of Britons rising to heights at supreme moments-, and we fi It saire that the present team would make a gallant light and acquit itself creditably. But that it should 'lift' the cup, and that easily, seemed at first almost unbelievable. Yet after the first day's play no other ending of the contest seemed reasonably possible. For Parke to beat ■ Brookes and then lose to Heath was inconceivable; it would have been an anticlimax as regrettable as amazing: Whether the man. he vanquished was still the 'Mighty Brookes' is something we cannot tell until we get the full accounts of the battle; but the Australian's vic- ; lory over Dixon in straight sets is proof that he could not have been very much ofT his game. At any rate, the two central figures of this Homeric battle were Parke and Brookes. The former's ] victory over the latter in the opening [ match gave the British Isles' a command- j ing lead, while Brookes' defeat struck a terrific blow to Australasia's prestige, j and undoubtedly shook Heath's confid- ' eitce. Dixon's win was the second blow, I end after that recovery was almost hope- ! less. In one afternoon the world's fore- I most exponent of the game was toppled j from his lofty perch and a new and hith- { erto little regarded player thrust himself J in the limelight. We wait anxiously to learn how Parke beat Brookes, the vollever from the baseline."