Evening star., 1922-09-01

meet one OF the dbleSt, most reSOu
whose games in his ties against F
level.
Many followers of the sport regard
the match between the two rivals to-
day as the unofficial challenge round
for the worlds title. inasmuch as Pat
terson, with the tall Philadelphia
absent from the competition, won the
crown which the latter wore for two
years previously. Tilden has met
Patterson four times before in .our-
nament and Davis cup play and been
victorious on each occasion.
Anderson Fully Recovered.
Anderson. prevented from playing
in the semifnal and final rounds by
an attack of. pneumonia, has fully
recovered and in practice against
some of the leading American players
has shown all of the brilliancy for
which he is noted. In Johnston he
will meet one of the coolest, most re-
sourceful of court generals. With
Tilden, Little Bill" twice national
champion. has kept America supreme
for two years. and his game this sea-
son is apparently as strong as ever.
In reserve, America has Vincent
Richards, who has risen to sensational
heights in the past few years, and
the team captain and former national
champion. r. Norris Williams. Rich
ards, who. with Tilden, successfully
defended the national doubles title
against Patterson and Pat OHara
Wood earlier in the week, may pair
with the Philadelphia tomorrow.
The choice of doubles combinations
will depend largely on the outcome of
that a defeat for either Tilden or
Johnston may result in the pairing
of the singles stars to meet the emer-
gency.
Wood. who holds the worlds mixed
doubles title with Suzanne Lenglen, and
II. c. Wertheim are the other members
of the Australian team.
Most ColorfuI Competition
In all the annals of sport there Is
no more co1orful story than that
weaved about the Davis cup. In no
other branch of athletic endeavor
have men gone to as much effort to
win, nor travelled so far for the sport
ing chance of pitting their ability
against each other with no reward
except the red-blooded fellows satis-
faction, sin meeting an opponent in
fair game and doing his best for the
honor. of his nation.
Base ball has it's world series;
pugilfsm boasts girdles or belts; golf
has it's American and British open
championships, polo has its interna-
tionaf cup matches and so has yacht
ing, but in none of these are as many
countfies"entered and Interested. try
ing yeSr after year, often against
hopeissE odds, as in Davis cup tennis.
since She.*cup was donated in 1900
by DWiGhtzEF. Davis of Washington.
ID. c. now a vice president of the
United States Lawn Tennis Associa-
tion. three countries have held 1t, the
United States. British Isles and
have scontested for it in one year.
Australia has kept it longest, winning
and defe endAAg 1t six times: America
and Great Hftain, Ave times each.
First Contest I'm 1900.
The original idea was a contest be-
tween the United States and Great
Britain. 1t was conceived by DR..
dent Of the old U. s. N. L. T. A.. and a
leading player in the early days of
the American game. He started nego-
tiatiohs in 1897, and British players
came here that year. but the first cup
contest was not held until 1900.
The first matches were played at
the Longwood Cricket Club, near
Boston. Mr., Davis and NJ. D. Whitman
representing this country, and easily
defeating A. W. Gore and e. D. Black
Of England. The contest was unsatis-
factory, since the courts were ant
hung or stretched properly and the
British players were unused to the
American ball
However, England challenged again
in 1901. but later could not organize
representative team and waited until
the next year to come to America.
They lost, but returned here in 1903
with the famous Doherty brothers
and won easily. losing only one of five
matches, and that by technical de-
fault,
Other Nations Enter Series.
During the four years that the cup
remained IN England other European
nations became interested and chal-
lenged. The United States did not
challenge in 1904. but Belgium and
France did and lost in 1906 Australia
made it's premiere with q team that
will live long in tennis history-Nor-
man e. Brookes and the late Anthony
F. Wilding.
Australia was defeated by the
United States. which lost to England,
but in 1907 Australia defeated Amer
lea in 4 preliminary round-the only
time this country failed to reach the
challenge round after entering, and
the antipodeans then defeated Britain
and took the cup home. Undaunted
by three successive failures. America
challenged Australia and then the real
story began to become written.
In 1908 tBeals Wright and Fred B.
Alexander defeated England and then
went to Australia. With the score
two-one, Australia, on the final day,
BROOKS and Wright played q match
that TASTED three hours, and both had
to be carried from the field. Wright
winning. Alexander became SO un-
nerved Watching that match that he
was in nervous tatters when he
started to play the deciding match
with Wilding and was easily de-
feated.