Evening star., 1920-01-18
rubber" MATCH
IN DAVIS CUP PLAY
England and Australia Each
Has Won Five Times,
U. Thrice.
By w. H. HOTEL.

BY w. HI. HOTEL.
Competition for the Davis cup fol-
1920 in which the English and Aus
tralian tennis players will play the
final matches at-Sydney tomorrow Is
in the nature of rubber. In the COM
plete record of the international con-
tests England and Australia are tied
won the trophy three times and no
other nation has scored.
Dwight F. Davis of st. Louis. do
nor of the cup. a member of one OF
Americas greatest doubles teams
and now an active influence in mid
die western athletics, helped defend
his own prize against an English in
vasion in 1900, the inaugural year Of
the International matches. With NAL
com d. Whitman, the national singles
champion of that time. and Holcome
Ward. his doubles partner. Davis
Gore. E. D. Black and H. Roper Bar
rett in the four singles and one
doubles contest
U. 8. Loses Trophy I'm 1908.
In 1902 the Americans successfully
defended against another Englist
team composed of the famous Doher.
ty brothers and DR.. PIN, although
William Larned, American titleholder
was beaten in the singles and the
Dohertys won the doubles. However
the Britons came back the next year
and lifted the cup, the Dohertys also
carrying off the American doubles title
England kept possession of the tro-
ply for the next three years, defeat
ing Belgium in the challenge round
of 1904 and the United States in 1906
and 1906. Norman Brookes and Anthony
Wilding, the latter killed during the
world war, came on the scene in 1907
and took the cup to Australia for the
first time.
The. antipodeans repelled three Amer
ican invasions before succumbine
to England in 1912. The United States
Mclaughlin, Norris Williams and
Harold Hackett on a successful quest
in 1913. It's return to Australia BY
the sensational series of matches al
Forest Hills. Long Island, in 1914 il
well remembered by followers of the
lin defeated both Brookes and Wild
ing, but Williams lost both his singles
matches and the california Comet
and Thomas Bundy were defeated ir
the doubles.
America did not challenge for the
cup this year because of the greater
handicap encountered by the Euro
pean players in the war
The 7th Regiment tennis team OF
New York. which has invited the Co
lumbia Country Club to send a COM
singles and three doubles, has q
formidable array Of racketers. Among
them is the veteran Walter Merris
Hall, one Of the country's leading
players for q number OF years; the
youthful Anderson brothers. Fred and
Frank; the Cragin brothers and ]. d
Ewing.
Should the Columbia players muster
a team for the match with the SOL
diers. they probably also could sched-
ule on the same trip the Brooklyn
Heights Casino combination, which
Alexander, H. S. Parker, Seiichirc
Kashio and G. A. L. Dionne, all racket
ers of national repute.
If Mile. Suzanne Lenglen, the French
girl who is hailed as the champion
woman tennis player of the world.
carries out her intention of coming to
this country next spring to compete
for the national title she will have to
overcome the keenest kind Of competi-
ton to reach her goal Mrs. George
Wightman. the Champion; Mrs. Molla
Bjursted Mallory, who relinquished
the honor last season: Miss Eleanor
Goss and Miss Marion Zinderstein.
who were ranked Nos. 2 and in 1913,
and other stars already are preparing
through play indoors and under tute-
lage of professionals to repel the in
vader.
Tennis players and followers OF the
racket sport throughout the country
have learned with regret of the death
of Hachisiro Mikami, the Japanese
player. who died in the Philippines De-
cember T. Mikami came to the United
States in 1916, with Ichiya Kuma&as,
who. in 1919. gained the No: ranking
on the national list. While he was not
near so good a player as kumagae.
Mikami won many matches and won the
esteem of those with whom he was as
sociated.
In discussing the proposed change OF
the tennis scoring system from ID.
love-" etc. to a strictly mathematical
basis Of "1-0," etc, Paul Williams, heid
secretary of the United States Tennis
Association. gave the reason for the
planned shift. which will be decided at
the national meeting in New York. Feb
ruary Z. as follows:
"A fourteen-year-old girl in Deming.
N. NJ, wrote in to me and said she was
just starting to play tennis and had a
book of rules. but she couldn't under
stand the scoring system and asked me
to explain it. It was much easier to
devise a new system. for, after all. why
do we use Is or 80 or 40 or love- in
scoring! The point system VIII also
make it much easier to keep q complete
point score Of a match, which is q rec
ommendation In itself"