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Show V J CMVTLAND 1 4 CPORT has an odd way of hook- ing up time and space. On ona night lately we ran across an Australian Aus-tralian sportsman in New York, who felt fairly confident that Jack Brom-wich Brom-wich and Dinny Pails could take pretty good care of the Davis cup next December. Next we had lunch with Beals Wright, the famous U. S. tennis star. Wright defeated both Norman Brookes and Tony Wilding on Australian Aus-tralian turf in Davis Da-vis cup play back in 1908, when they were considered unbeatable, . although al-though Australia retained the cup 3-2. Here was a gap GrantlandRice of 38 years in time and 12,000 miles in space with the Davis cup the main item of conversation. "I think we have an excellent chance to hold the cup," our Australian Aus-tralian friend said. "Bromwich is good but in my opinion 19-year-old Dinny Pails is even better. Or he will be better with the 9 or 10 months of play and training he has left before next December. Some good advice from Sir Norman Brookes won't hurt. Bromwich is still in good form, an excellent player and a stout competitor. And we may have others by the cup date." "Against this strong Australian pair the U. S. must bank largely on Frank Parker, Billy Talbot and possibly Kramer and Schroeder if they can get out of service in time to reach former form. You will discover dis-cover no Big Bill or Little Bill in this group the pair who brought the cup home in 1920 after World War X. But it will be an experienced team that can at least put up a good front." Beds Wright and 1908 "Australia and 1908 are a long way and a long time back," Beals Wright remarked. "We took a foolish fool-ish gamble because only Fred Alexander Alex-ander and myself made the trip. I kept wondering what would happen hap-pen if either of us should get sick or injured. We had no substitute. I had two great matches with Noi-man Noi-man Brookes and Tony Wilding and was lucky to be at my best in both contests. "Unless conditions have changed the U. S. team must be ready to face two important factors. One is the intense heat in December. When we played the temperature was 115 degrees. While it was a dry heat, still 115 is what you might call a bit warm. I recall an Intense desire to take a drink of water through the matches, which, of course, I couldn't do. You shouldn't drink any water or anything else while the play Is on. "The second factor is the turf. Australian turf is quite different from ours and England's, where the grass has a much lighter or thinner thin-ner texture. Australian turf is much stronger, much more rugged. This means your spikes are likely to stick, affecting your ankles and your leg muscles. I don't think my legs were ever quite as sore. I had to go In for rubber-soled shoes." Beals Wright is the son of the late George Wright, who played shortstop on the unbeaten Reds of 18G9, a team that won 55 games, lost none and was tied once. George Wright played professional profession-al ball until he retired In 1876, the year that gave birth to the National league. He was also a brilliant cricketer and a good golfer late in life. Calls Tilden Greatest I asked Beals to name the greatest great-est tennis player he had ever seen in his 40-odd years of competition and observation. "I've seen many great ones," he said. "The Doherty brothers Brookes and Wilding Lamed McLoughlin Billy Johnston the French stars, especially Cochet the best that have come along since 1900. But the top man is still Bill Tilden in my opinion. Tilden had both speed and power on the court. As far as I could see he had no weakness in his championship years. He had amazing stamina. In addition to this Tilden had unusual court generalship. He was one of the few men I've seen in sport who could let down and then pull himself him-self back. He had the art of keeping keep-ing his opponent ofT balance, both mentally and physically. No one ever knew what was coming next." Honesty Pays Off Several years ago Hurry-Up Yost, Michigan's famous football coach, made over 200 addresses in one season sea-son to high school and university gatherings. The theme of his many talks was this "Honesty is the best Investment." Invest-ment." "I wanted to prove,'' he told me, "that honesty was ttt only the best policy but that it also paid bigger dividends in every way. In other words that you could make more money being honest." J |