France
ANDRE GOBERT
One of the most picturesque figures and delightfully polished
tennis games in the world are joined in that volatile,
temperamental player, Andre Gobert of France. He is a typically
French product, full of finesse, art, and nerve, surrounded by
the romance of a wonderful war record of his people in which he
bore a magnificent part, yet unstable, erratic, and uncertain. At
his best he is invincible. He is the great master of tennis. At
his worst he is mediocre. Gobert is at once a delight and a
disappointment to a student of tennis.
Gobert's service is marvellous. It is one of the great deliveries
of the world. His great height (he is 6 feet 4 inches) and
tremendous reach enable him to hit a flat delivery at frightful
speed, and still stand an excellent chance of it going in court.
He uses very little twist, so the pace is remarkably fast. Yet
Gobert lacks confidence in his service. If his opponent handles
it successfully Gobert is apt to slow it up and hit it soft, thus
throwing away one of the greatest assets.
His ground strokes are hit in beautiful form. Gobert is the
exponent of the most perfect form in the world to-day. His swing
is the acme of beauty. The whole stroke is perfection. He hits
with a flat, slightly topped drive, feet in excellent position,
and weight well controlled. It is uniform, backhand and forehand.
His volleying is astonishing. He can volley hard or soft, deep or
short, straight or angled with equal ease, while his tremendous
reach makes him nearly impossible to pass at the net. His
overhead is deadly, fast, and accurate, and he kills a lob from
anywhere in the court.
Why is not Gobert the greatest tennis player in the world?
Personally I believe it is lack of confidence, a lack of fighting
ability when the breaks are against him, and defeat may be his
due. It is a peculiar thing in Gobert, for no man is braver than
he, as his heroism during the War proved. It is simply lack of
tennis confidence. It is an over- abundance of temperament. In
victory Gobert is invincible, in defeat he is apt to be almost
mediocre.
Gobert is delightful personally. His quick wit and sense of
humour always please the tennis public. His courteous manner and
genial sportsmanship make him universally popular. His stroke
equipment is unsurpassed in the tennis world.
I unqualifiedly state that I consider him the most perfect tennis
player, as regards strokes and footwork, in the world to-day; but
he is, not the greatest player. Victory is the criterion of a
match player, and Gobert has not proved himself a great victor.
Gobert is probably the finest indoor player in the world, while
he is very great on hard courts; but his grass play is not the
equal of many others. I heartily recommend Gobert's style to all
students of the game, and endorse him as a model for strokes.
W. LAURENTZ
Another brilliant, erratic and intensely interesting figure that
France has given the tennis world is Laurentz, the wonderful
young player, who, at the age of seventeen defeated A. F.
Wilding.
Laurentz is a cyclonic hitter of remarkable speed and brilliance,
but prone to very severe lapses. His service is of several
varieties, all well played. He uses an American twist as his
regular delivery, but varies it with a sharp slice, a reverse
twist of great spin, and a fast cannon-ball smash. Laurentz is
very versatile. He has excellent orthodox drives, fore- and
backhand, and a competent forehand chop.
His volleying is brilliant almost beyond description, but very
erratic. He is very fast on his feet, and anticipates remarkably
well. He will make the most hair-raising volleys, only to fall
down inexplicably the next moment on an easy shot. His overhead
is like his volley, severe, brilliant, but uncertain.
Laurentz is a very hard worker, and, unlike Gobert, is always at
his best when behind. He is a fair fighter and a great match
player. His defeats are due more to over-anxiety than to lack of
fight. He is temperamental, sensational, and brilliant, a
sportsman of the highest type, quick to recognize his opponent's
good work and to give full credit for it. He is one of the most
interesting players now before the public.
He is a clever court general but not a great tennis thinker,
playing more by instinct than by a really deep-laid plan of
campaign. Laurentz might beat anyone in the world on his day or
lose to the veriest dub when at his worst.[1]
[1] It was with deepest regret the news of his death reached us,
as this edition went to press.
J. SAMAZIEUHL
The New French Champion of 1921 who defeated Andre Gobert most
unexpectedly in the challenge round, is an interesting player of
the mental type. He is anything but French in his game. His style
is rather that of the crafty American or English player than the
hard-hitting Frenchman.
Samazieuhl is an exponent of crafty patball. His service is a
medium pace slice, well placed but not decisive. His ground
strokes are a peculiar stiff arm chop varied at times with an
equally cramped drive, yet his extreme mobility allows him to
cover a tremendous amount of court, while his return, which is
well disguised, is capable of great angles. His volleying is
reliable but lacks severity and punch. He makes excellent low
volleys, but cannot put away shoulder high balls while his
overhead is not deadly.
It is Samazieuhl's clever generalship and his ability to recover
seemingly impossible shots that win matches for him. He is a
comparatively new tournament player, and should improve greatly
as he gains confidence and experience.
R. DANET
One of the most interesting young players in France is R. Danet,
who has come to the fore in the past few years. This boy, for he
is little more, has a hard hitting brilliant game of great
promise.
His service is a speedy slice. He drives with great speed, if as
yet with none too much accuracy, off both fore and backhand. His
net attack is very severe while overhead he is deadly. His speed
of foot is remarkable, and he is a very hard worker. His
limitations are in his lack of a set plan of attack and the
steady adherence to any given method of play. He throws away too
many easy chances, but this will correct itself as time goes on
and Danet has fought through more tournaments. I consider him a
player of great promise.
Max Decugis and Brugnon, the two remaining members of the 1920
Davis Cup team of France, present totally different types.
Decugis, crafty, cool, and experienced, is the veteran of many
long seasons of match play. He is a master tactician, and wins
most of his matches by outgeneralling the other player. Burgnon
is brilliant, flashy, hard hitting, erratic, and inexperienced.
He is very young, hardly twenty years of age. He has a fine
fore-hitting style and excellent net attack, but lacks confidence
and a certain knowledge of tennis fundamentals. A few years'
experience will do wonders for him.
The French style of play commends itself to me very highly. I
enjoy watching the well-executed strokes, beautiful mobile
footwork of these dashing players. It is more a lack of dogged
determination to win, than in any stroke fault that one finds the
reason for French defeats. The temperamental genius of this great
people carries with it a lack of stability that can be the only
explanation for the sudden crushing and unexpected defeats their
representatives receive on the tennis courts.
I was particularly impressed during my visit to France by the
large numbers of children playing tennis and the style of game
displayed. The sport shows a healthy increase and should produce
some fine players within the next ten years.
Keen competition is the corrective measure for temperamental
instability and with the advent of many new players in French
tennis I would not be surprised to see a marked decrease of
unexpected defeats of their leading players.
Japan
A new element has entered the tennis world in the last decade.
The Orient has thrust its shadow over the courts in the persons
of a small group of remarkable tennis players, particularly
Ichija Kumagae and Zenzo Shimidzu, the famous Japanese stars.
Kumagae, who for some years reigned supreme in Japan and
Honolulu, has lived in America for the past three years. Shimidzu
is a product of Calcutta, where he has lived for some years.
No player has caused more discussion than Kumagae, unless it is
Shimidzu; while surely no man received more critical comment than
Shimidzu, except Kumagae. The press of America and England have
vied with each other in exploiting these two men. There was
unanimity of opinion concerning these two men in one respect. No
finer sportsmen nor more delightful opponents can be found than
these Japanese. They have won the respect and friendship of all
who have met them.
Kumagae is the speedier tennis player. He came to America in
1916, the possessor of a wonderful forehand drive and nothing
else. Kumagae is left- handed, which made his peculiar shots all
the harder to handle. He met with fair success during the year;
his crowning triumph was his defeat of W. M. Johnston at Newport
in five sets. He lost to J. J. Armstrong, Watson M. Washburn, and
George M. Church. He learned much during his year in America, and
returned to Japan a wiser man, with a firm determination to add
to his tennis equipment.
In 1917 Kumagae returned to America to enter business in New
York. Once established there he began developing his game. First
he learned an American twist service and then strengthened his
backhand. That year he suffered defeat at the hands of Walter T.
Hayes and myself. He was steadily improving. He now started
coming to the net and learning to volley. He is not yet a good
low volleyer, and never will be while he uses the peculiar grip
common to his people; but his high volleying and overhead are now
excellent. Last year Kumagae reached his top form and was ranked
third in America. His defeats were by Johnston, Vincent Richards,
and myself; while he defeated Murray, S. H. Voshell, Vincent
Richards, and me, as well as countless players of less note.
The season of 1920 found Kumagae sweeping all before him, since
Johnston, Williams, Garland, and I were away on the Davis Cup
trip. Williams barely defeated him in a bitter match, just
previously to sailing. Kumagae left America in the middle of the
summer to compete in the Olympic games, representing Japan.
Kumagae is still essentially a baseline player of marvellous
accuracy of shot and speed of foot. His drive is a lethal weapon
that spreads destruction among his opponents. His backhand is a
severe "poke," none too accurate, but very deadly when it goes
in. His service overhead and high volley are all severe and
reliable. His low volley is the weak spot in an otherwise great
game. Kumagae cannot handle a chop, and dislikes grass-court
play, as the ball bounds too low for his peculiar "loop" drive.
He is one of the greatest hard-court players in the world, and
one of the most dangerous opponents at any time on any surface.
Shimidzu is to-day as dangerous as Kumagae. He, too, is a
baseline player, but lacks Kumagae's terrific forehand drive.
Shimidzu has a superior backhand to Kumagae, but his weak service
rather offsets this. His low volleying is far superior to
Kumagae, while his high volleying and overhead are quite his
equal. He has all the fighting qualities in his game that make
Kumagae so dangerous, but he has not had the experience. Shimidzu
learns very quickly, and I look to see him a great factor in the
game in future years.
Both Shimidzu and Kumagae are marvellous court coverers, and seem
absolutely untiring. They are "getters" of almost unbelievable
activity, and accurate to a point that seems uncanny. Both men
hit to the lines with a certainty that makes it very dangerous to
attempt to take the net on anything except a deep forcing shot
that hurries them.
With such players as Kumagae and Shimidzu, followed by S. Kashio
and K. Yamasaki, and the late H. Mikami, Japan is a big factor in
future tennis. 1922 will again see Japan challenging for the
Davis Cup, and none but a first-class team can stop them. The
advent of a Japanese team with such players will mean that this
year we must call out our best to repel the Oriental invasion: so
competition receives another stimulus that should raise our
standard of play.
The probability of journeying to Japan to challenge for the Davis
Cup is not so remote but that we must consider it as a future
possibility.