Sport: The Cup Recouped

In the sunlit horseshoe of the stadium at Forest Hills, Long Island, a roaring chorus of Waltzing Matilda rose from the north section of the stands. Some 300 Australians were cheering the return, after a brief eight-month stay in the U.S., of the Davis Cup to Australia. With some 12,500 Americans, the. Aussie visitors watched Harry Hopman’s brilliant youngsters outshoot and outrun U.S. Tennists Vic Seixas and Tony Trabert in three straight matches. There were few surprises, but some magnificent tennis.

Sad Climax. The first day’s singles matches revealed the Aussies’ fast-growing power and agility. Dueling with 20-year-old Ken Rosewall, nervous Vic Seixas rarely got his net play going, was trapped cold by the little Australian’s backhand and spectacular lobs, lost in four sets, 6-3, 10-8, 4-6, 6-2. For Seixas, it was the sad climax to a summer’s uneven performance; at 32, he was just not steady-handed and agile enough to win. Said U.S. Captain Bill Talbert: “You add eight months [since Sydney] to 32 years, and you’ve got to come up with less.”

Bulwark of the U.S. team, despite a month-long layoff with a strained shoulder muscle, was Tony Trabert. He had won 16 of his last 18 tournaments, including the Wimbledon and French championships. At first it seemed that he might beat cocky, towheaded Lew Hoad, Australia’s rocket-launcher. He took the first set, 6-4. Then Hoad, in his finest form in two years, began slamming out a cannonball serve that Trabert could not match or break. Bothered by a blister on his racket hand, Trabert weakened in the third set, dropped five straight games. In the fourth set, ahead by 7-6, Hoad switched tactics, stopped blasting Trabert’s serves and began dinking the ball back. Trabert’s timing was upset. He could not clear the shots fired at his feet, then and there lost game and match.

Behind 2-0, the U.S. team showed up next day hoping to stave off defeat in the doubles. As at Sydney, Trabert and Seixas played better together than apart, but they were still not good enough. They took the first set in a tenterhooks service duel, 14-12, against Hoad and steady Rex Hartwig, who at 26 is the old man of the Aussie team. But from then on the U.S. team was usually in trouble, striving to break through service. Trabert-Seixas occasionally shook Hoad with their “crossover” signal, but they could not shake Shotmaker Hartwig.

Last Stand. Head’s cannon ball and Hartwig’s fine backhand won two quick sets despite one diehard net play from a reinvigorated Seixas. Coming back with his best performance of the afternoon, Trabert belted a two-handed push volley past the astonished Australians, smashed ahead to win the fourth set and tie up the match.

At five-all in the crucial fifth set, Trabert and Seixas thrice came within a stroke of breaking Head’s service. But the Aussies did not falter. The end came when Seixas, serving, put two in the net. His next serve was successfully returned by Head’s erratic backhand. Hartwig’s backhand volley drove one in the alley; Trabert reached for it, slid to the grass, and the game was over. The match and the Davis Cup were Australia’s. Said Australia’s balding, jut-jawed Captain Harry Hopman: “We are very much relieved.”