Wimbledon

Jean Borotra usually makes a tennis match interesting by falling down, laughing at the gallery, wagging his head clownishly, whistling with exaggerated disappointment when his opponent makes an ace. When he plays someone as good or better than himself, he has less time for antics and his admirers have noticed that the more seriously Borotra plays the more likely he is to be beaten. He was serious when he came out on the centre court at Wimbledon last week to play Francis Xavier Shields, a handsome, 21-year-old New Yorker who was anxious to do what only William Tatem Tilden II and Gerald Patterson have done--win the British Championship on his first trip to Wimbledon.

Borotra unrolled and adjusted his blue beret, quickly got a lead of 3-1 in the first set. Shields pulled even, kept winning his own serve till the score was 6-5 on Borotra's serve. The Frenchman won the advantage point nine times in a row, but could never win the next one against Shields's superb cross-court backhand drives. When it finally became Shields's advantage, it crossed Borotra's mind that he might lose the set on a double-fault. He did.

Borolra won the next set, 6-3, lost the third, 4-6. He was making too many doubles--14 in the whole match; netting too many volleys; playing without his usual happy brilliance. The raven-haired Shields, always a favorite with galleries, delighted the Wimbledon crowd by the style and power of his ground-strokes, his serve not unlike Tilden's which he seldom followed to the net. When he had Borotra 4-3 and 40-30 in the fourth set, he seemed certain to win in the next few minutes. Then another unaccountable thing happened. Running for a shot in the forecourt, Shields dropped a ball he was carrying, stepped on it, twisted his leg badly, tumbled full-length into the net.

Borotra helped him to get up, rubbed the leg, brought Shields some water and his coat, said: "We can finish the match some other time." When they went back to the court, the umpire called to Shields: "Are you all right?" Shields was not all right. He rested again, patted his leg, rubbed it, but refused to consider a postponement. He limped out on the court, won the game with an unreturnable serve, lost the next game without trying for it. Serving again, at 5-4, Shields delivered an ace, a first-ball which Borotra hit out, then lost a point at the net. At 30-15, he served a second ball which Borotra netted, and another ace which ended the match.

In the other semi-final match, towheaded Sidney Wood put out Fred Perry, son of a Laborite M. P., whom he had beaten four years ago in a tournament at Harrow7. Perry won the first set after being behind at 0-4. Thereafter, Wood finished him off quickly, took the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

The Wimbledon gallery looked forward to an all-American final, like last year's when Tilden beat Wilmer Allison, like the finals in 1923 when California's little William Johnston defeated Frank Hunter. WTood, who divides his time between New York and California, justified comparison with Johnston. Slight, delicate, with big forearms and incongruous stamina, he plays a heady game, often loses a set or two while experimenting with his oppo nent's weaknesses. As was Johnston's, his best shot is his forehand though until this year it was so undependable that he made j a habit of borrowing his friends' rackets, taking lessons, practicing against a wall when the trick deserted him. Two of his uncles are Watson Washburn, 19 21 Davis Cup player, and Julian S. Myrick, onetime (1920-22) president of the U. S. L. T. A.

Shields is Wood's best friend. Last year they were classmates at Roxbury School. Shields has often invited comparison with Tilden whom he resembles in build and technique rather than temperament. His game, less artful than Wood's, has some times seemed less determined; but his strokes, now that Tilden has turned pro fessional, are the most impressive in U. S. amateur tennis. Till this year his con viviality, his susceptibility to admiration, have made it appear unlikely that he would turn his potentialities into a championship. Aged 21, a year older than Wood, Shields started to play tennis at 8, has since found time to become good at basketball, bridge, poker. He practices five or more hours a day, diets carefully and cuts down his smoking in the tennis season which, for him, is nearly all the time.

Teamed together in the doubles, Wood & Shields lost their match to Henri Cochet and Jacques Brugnon the day after the singles semifinals. Shields, because he found his leg still hurt badly, then de faulted the singles to Wood. Wood thus became the youngest of all Wimbledon champions, the only man in Wimbledon's 54 years who has won without playing in the finals.

Disappointed but not resentful, the knowing Wimbledon gallery was only partly recompensed by the phenomenon of a final in the women's singles champion ship between two sprightly German girls, the first all-German final on record. Long legged Fraeulein Hilda Krahwinkel, who hits her drives hard and never gets tired of running, had won a long match against Helen Jacobs of the U. S. after Helen Jacobs had surprisingly beaten England's Betty Nuthall. The other, Fraulein Cecilie ("Cilly") Aussem, a demure little brunette who played well in the French champion ships last month, decided to take no chances. They stood as far back in the court as possible, banged the ball until | one put it out or in the net. Fraeulein ! Krahwinkel hit the ball harder, hit it out or in the net more frequently. Fraeulein Aussem, wearing an eyeshade and a pre occupied air, looked a little like Mrs. Helen Wills Moody. She won the first set, 6-2, fell down hard in the second but finally won that also, 7-5.

Three other championships were decided before Wimbledon Week (which | lasts a fortnight) was over. George Lott Jr., who last year declined to be a "tennis bum" but still tours the world playing tennis, and John Van Ryn, who jumps around the court as though his legs were pogo-sticks, won the doubles championship in a long match against Henri Cochet and Jacques Brugnon -- 6-2, 10-8, 9-11, 3-6, 6-3. Two British women, Mrs. D. C. Shepherd-Barron and Phyllis Mudford, be came women's doubles champions. Mixed doubles champions were George Lott Jr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. Harper, a slim, serious Californian who plays with a bandeau around her dark hair and looks like an Indian.

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