At Germantown

Five sets of championship ten-nis can make strong men sob., To play those five sets a man must have a sturdy heart; a stomach un-corroded with strong drink, a breath uncontaminated by cafe smoke.

Yet, last week, Rene Lacoste and Henri Cochet, French by blood, birth and habit, accustomed to wining with their meals, to puffing tasteless "Maryland" cigarets, to dissipating as only a French gourmet can--these men won the world's highest tennis honors from hardy, ascetic U. S. men.

At the Germantown Cricket Club, Philadelphia, the contest for the famed Davis Cup stood even with two matches for the U. S. and two for France after William T. Tilden II had lost to Rene Lacoste 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Out ran William Johnston, famed Davis Cup defender, only hope of the U. S. team. He would show that U. S. stamina could whip French flabbiness any day.

He faced Cochet. The Frenchman won the first set 6-4, but Johnston was hardly warmed to the game. The U. S. man took the second set 4-6. Cochet, mak-ing a desperate rally, won the third 6-2. The fourth stood at 2-5 in favor of Cochet. Johnston exerted every ounce of muscle, pulled the set up to 4-5. Then, Cochet won the last game and the Davis cup passed, for the first time in history, to France.