Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-24
VISITORS SURPRISE
WITH SNAPPY PLAY
ColorfuI Team Is to Play Here
This Week End in Inter-
zone Final.
BY r. d. THOMAS.

A RGENTINA, headed for a
~ high place in the world Of
1 \ sport, has come a long way
in tennis in recent years.
and this week is expected to make
your Uncle Sam beStir himself
with unaccustomed vigor to re-
main on top in the Western Henri
sphere, assuming the American
team is victorious over the Cana
dians in the matches now in
progress at Montreal and in which
the Yankees are leading, two
matches to one.
The champions of North and
South America will clash next
Thursday, Friday and Saturday,
at Chevy Chase, in a Davis Cup
interZone final, and though the
United States will be the favorite,
the outcome is not to be taken for
granted as usual.
Washington tennis folk we're dis
appointed by the matches at Chevy
Chase last year, in which the United
States polished off Mexico without eff
fort, and the competition the previous
year between the Yankees and Japanese
was warm only In spots.
But this time. we have 1t from quail
fed observers, the business at hand is
serious. The Argentines have been
batting away at Chevy Chase for a
week and have shown more stuff than
for - Jan at
swept through the South American field
with the loss of only At games in IS sets.
OTTO GLOCKLER, Chevy Chase
~ tennis pro, has been impressed.
Says he: This far away it looks
like real action"
BY request Of Edwin French, the
Argentines' non-playing captain, Clock
Ter took over the squad several days
ago and is said to have obtained some
| quick results
Ronaldo Boyd, 26 years old, is the
, visitors No. l player. He has been a
leading performer in South America
for several years and in 1928 scored
grand slam in the continental champ
ionships. In singles, doubles and mixed
doubles he counted tmpressively.
Another veteran, Guillermo Robson,
| %. ranked No. 2, has competed with
credit in all of Argentina's important
events since 1925.
The other dependables, Lucilo del
Castillo and Adriano Kappa, are COM
| parattve youngsters, both being %. Lu-
clio made his first appearance abroad
at Wimbledon in 1928 and didn't do
so well, but has come along rapidly
| in the last couple years. He has
beaten Boyd time or two in important
championships and with Kappa won the
Argentina doubles title last year and
the year before. Capt. French hasn't
decided whether the champion duo will
be kept intact in the Davis Cup doubles.
HOWEVER. the most interesting
i / member of the squad in some re-
spects is a 17-year-old schoolboy,
Ricardo Sissener. He's the junior
champion of Argentina and his trip
with the Davis Cup team was reward
for winning the title.
We have it from Prof. Glockler that
Ricardo is made-to-order tennis ma
terial. He is tall, wirey and fast and
possessed of an excellent assortment of
strokes. Moreover, he is gifted with
competitive spirit. To quote Glcckler,
IF that boy gets the proper instruction
you'll hear lot about him in the next
several years"
Sissener's daddy is q. Norwegian and
the youth is strongly marked with
Scandinavian characteristics. The Latin
shows only in his eyes, which are brown.
His hair is the color of and resembles in
texture yellow corn silk.
The team itself is in keeping with the
cosmopolitan character of modern Ar
gentina. Capt. French was native born,
but of English parents. Robson takes
his English name from his father and
Boyd from his granddad Only Del Cas-
tillo and Kappa are full Latin.
FRENCH, by the way, was one Of
l. South Americas first great ath-
letes Back in go he ran the CEN
fury in 10 lis seconds, sensational time
in those days. and sometime later step
ped the quarter in 81 3-5 seconds for a
title III the first South American
Olympics.
For IA years French has been leader
in Argentine tennis and has main
tanned lively interest in other sports
He mentions with pride the Pampas'
high standing in polo and soccer and
its progress in tennis and golf. He be-
lieves Gas do many Yankees) that Firpo
whipped Dempsey. Luis, by the way, is
doing right well as an auto merchant
French has read with keen interest
accounts of remarkable time made by
Yankee sprinters. He believes the chief
difference between the modern dash
man and the ace of his day is length
ching of stride.
BY profession French is an engineer.
Robson is a sports outfltter and Boyd
is in the petroleum business. Kappa
and Del Castillo are dental students.
SO is Mario v. Gonzales, who ranks
about twentieth among Argentine rack
eters and who paid his own expenses to
accompany the team. Gonzalez will
study at Harvard.
THE team reached its full strength
i yesterday for the first time in the
current Davis Cup campaign.
Boyd, due to illness, remained out OF
the South American competition. He
arrived here yesterday and took part in
a vigorous workout. With Ambassador
Don Manuel E. Malbran of Argentina
in the gallery, he and Robson played a
flashing game in which Boyd, red
haired, 210-pounder, showed no i'll eff
feet of his lay-off since March except
occasional miStiming.
AS Capt French explained: Boyd
suffered a liver attack early in the
Spring and did not travel north with
the team. I have great hopes for him,
though, for he experienced the same
trouble in 1923 and came on well after
ward to play close to his best game"
The Argentine lineup for the coming
tie probably will be decided today. On
Wednesday the South Americans will
give an exhibition on the White House
courts, following which they will be
the guests at luncheon given by DR..
Leo S. Rowe, director general of the
Pan-American Union.