Davis Cup

The U. S. beat China, Mexico and Brazil (by default). Germany beat Italy, Australia and Czechoslovakia. Last week at Wimbledon they met in the Davis Cup interzone final to see which would play England in the challenge round.

Because, if the U. S. won, its chance against England would depend largely on the newest, homeliest and youngest member of the team, interest in last week's round was largely concentrated on shambling, freckled, redhaired, 20-year-old Donald Budge of Oakland. Calif. When he went East for the first time last summer and put Bryan Grant out of the National Singles Championship. Budge was asked whether he hoped to make the Davis Cup team. Said he: "I'd be lucky to get on the Canary Island team. ... I'd rather play basketball than tennis anyway. . . ." Invited to go abroad mainly for the experience, he promptly distinguished himself by reaching the semi-finals of the Wimbledon championship. He was given Sidney Wood's place as a singles player on the Davis Cup team. The importance of Budge to the U. S. Davis Cup campaign lies in the fact that Germany and England each have one singles player who can be counted on to win two matches. Last week, experts expected that Germany's Baron Gottfried von Cramm would defeat both Budge and Wilmer Allison, that Allison and John Van Ryn would win the doubles and that Allison would beat Germany's No. 2 player, Heiner Henkel. The outcome might therefore well depend on the first match, between Budge and Henkel. A small gallery watched Budge nervously fumble through the first three sets, 7-5, 11-9, 6-8. In the fourth, he finally found his game and ran out the match, 6-1. Enraged when the umpire announced that the Allison von Cramm match would be postponed because of showers, the spectators threw cushions and teacups. Two days later, von Cramm won even more easily than anticipated, 8-6, 6-3, 6-4.

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