In August 1914, as German troops were slogging through Belgium, the eyes of the sport world focused for a moment on a tennis court at Forest Hills, N. Y. There, in what was probably the most dramatic tennis match ever played, Australasian Tennists Norman Brookes and Anthony Wilding, on the eve of joining their British regiments, captured the Davis Cup from U. S. Tennists R. Norris Williams, Maurice McLoughlin and Tom Bundy.
Last week, with Norman Brookes (now Sir Norman because of "distinguished service to the Empire") looking on,* a new generation of Davis Cuppers from Down Under challenged a new generation of U. S. Davis Cuppers in a war-clouded spectacle that promised to be as dramatic as the one 25 years ago. In the stands at the Merion Cricket Club at Haverford, Pa., grave-faced tennis fans gathered for the opening matches of the threeday, best-of-five series, wondered if this was to be the last Davis Cup contest they would ever see. German troops were already slogging through Poland, another World War was only a few hours away.
But the Merion courts last week saw no such titanic struggle as the never-to-be-forgotten Brookes-McLoughlin match of 1914, in which the American beat the Australian 17-15 in the first set. What last week's matches lacked in suspense, however, they made up for in surprise.
The Australians were 3-to-1 favorites to regain the Cup they had lost in 1920. Ambidextrous, 20-year-old John Bromwich (Australia's top-ranking player) and stocky, 26-year-old Adrian K. Quist (Australia's No. 2) have been considered the world's best amateur tennists since California's Donald Budge turned professional last winter and Germany's Baron von Cramm retired to the sidelines.
The U. S. singles players, 21-year-old Bobby Riggs and 23-year-old Frankie Parker—despite the fact that Riggs won the All-England championship at Wimbledon this year and Parker clinched the Davis Cup for the U. S. two years ago —were considered the weakest Davis Cup players the U. S. had had in a generation. For the doubles—to face seasoned Quist and Bromwich—U. S. Davis Cup Captain Walter Pate selected 20-year-old Joe Hunt and 18-year-old Jack Kramer. It was a last-minute, panic choice. Gene Mako, who had teamed brilliantly with Don Budge in three previous Cup matches, had proved to be a chump with any other partner, and Bobby Riggs & Elwood Cooke (who were good enough to win the Wimbledon Doubles championship this summer) were trounced by Quist & Bromwich in the U. S. Doubles fortnight ago.
Riggs was expected to win one singles match last week—most likely against Quist, whom he had defeated in the Davis Cup Challenge Round last year. Beyond this lonely hope, few tennis experts expected much from the U. S. team. But at the end of the first day's matches, the experts realized that they had sold Riggs and Parker short.