Jean Borotra usually makes a tennis match interesting by falling down, laughing at the gallery, wagging his head clownishly, whistling with exaggerated disappointment when his opponent makes an ace. When he plays someone as good or better than himself, he has less time for antics and his admirers have noticed that the more seriously Borotra plays the more likely he is to be beaten. He was serious when he came out on the centre court at Wimbledon last week to play Francis Xavier Shields, a handsome, 21-year-old New Yorker who was anxious to do what only William Tatem Tilden II and Gerald Patterson have done—win the British Championship on his first trip to Wimbledon.
Borotra unrolled and adjusted his blue beret, quickly got a lead of 3-1 in the first set. Shields pulled even, kept winning his own serve till the score was 6-5 on Borotra's serve. The Frenchman won the advantage point nine times in a row, but could never win the next one against Shields's superb cross-court backhand drives. When it finally became Shields's advantage, it crossed Borotra's mind that he might lose the set on a double-fault. He did.
Borolra won the next set, 6-3, lost the third, 4-6. He was making too many doubles—14 in the whole match; netting too many volleys; playing without his usual happy brilliance. The raven-haired Shields, always a favorite with galleries, delighted the Wimbledon crowd by the style and power of his ground-strokes, his serve not unlike Tilden's which he seldom followed to the net. When he had Borotra 4-3 and 40-30 in the fourth set, he seemed certain to win in the next few minutes. Then another unaccountable thing happened. Running for a shot in the forecourt, Shields dropped a ball he was carrying, stepped on it, twisted his leg badly, tumbled full-length into the net.
Borotra helped him to get up, rubbed the leg, brought Shields some water and his coat, said: "We can finish the match some other time." When they went back to the court, the umpire called to Shields: "Are you all right?" Shields was not all right. He rested again, patted his leg, rubbed it, but refused to consider a postponement. He limped out on the court, won the game with an unreturnable serve, lost the next game without trying for it. Serving again, at 5-4, Shields delivered an ace, a first-ball which Borotra hit out, then lost a point at the net. At 30-15, he served a second ball which Borotra netted, and another ace which ended the match.
In the other semi-final match, towheaded Sidney Wood put out Fred Perry, son of a Laborite M. P., whom he had beaten four years ago in a tournament at Harrow7. Perry won the first set after being behind at 0-4. Thereafter, Wood finished him off quickly, took the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.