Davis Cup Tennis, Cricket and League Tests

New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 651, 21 December 1951, Page 6

Davis Cup Tennis, Cricket and League Tests

LTHOUGH Test cricket, the Melbourne Cup, and other big sporting events take place within range of New Zealand fairly frequently, international tennis is one of those things that comes near only once-or at most, twice-in a blue moon. The last Davis Cup match to take place in New Zealand was played at Christmas, 1920, and the last to take place in Australia, in 1946. This year, though, the finals will again be held jn Australia, when the U.S. challenges the Australian squad, the present holders, on December 26, 27 and 28. Arrangements have been made for the ZB stations and 2ZA to broadcast a preview of

the contest at 9.30 p.m. on December 24. On December 26, 27 and 28, at the same time, the same stations will broadcast ,recorded excerpts from commentaries by the Australian Ted Harris (whose portrait appears at left), taken direct from the courts, together with reviews of. plays. This will be in addition to the usual link summaries and reviews noted on the programme pages. Station 2YA will broadcast excerpts from the ABC’s Davis Cup commentaries throughout each day, and other YA and YZ stations will give progress reports. Results will be broadcast in the 7.0 p.m, Sports summaries. The first Davis Cup contest was played in August of 1900, between England and the U.S., at Longwood. The United States won 3-0. Dwight F. Davis himself played in both singles and doubles, and made a considerable contribution to the American victory. From then on the Davis Cup comtests were something established in té nis. The only years when there were no contests were 1901, when the U.S. held the cup unchallenged, 1910, when there was no team willing to challenge Australasia, and the war years 1915-18 and

1940-45. Each year that the contest has been held has seen a progressively increasing international interest in the game. Although tennis. will bulk larger than usual in holiday sports broadcasts (the N.Z. championships start at Wellington on January 5), it will face strong competition from racing, with holiday meetings all over the place (Cup Day at Ellerslie is December 27), and cricket. Australia will meet West Indies at Adelaide on December 22 for the Third Test, which on present form may well decide the rubber; the Fourth Test begins at Melbourne on December 31, and there will be Plunket Shield games throughout the holidays. Score-boards, highlights and summaries will be heard from National and Commercial stations on each day of play. There will be news of the Rugby League team’s games against France at Paris and Bordeaux (December 24, 31), and the Springboks’ match against England (January 6). Nor will the sporting minorities be forgotten. There will be results of the Dominion chess championships at Napier (beginning December 27), North and South Island croquet championships (January 3), and- of the North v. South Island softball game (January 5).