Davis Cuppers

When U. S. Tennis Champion Donald Budge returned to the U. S. three weeks ago with three of this season's foreign tennis crowns (Australian, French, English) on his carroty head, he turned his thoughts to defense of the Davis Cup, scheduled for Labor Day weekend at Germantown, Pa. "If Australia beats Germany in the interzone final, I figure Adrian Quist and John Bromwich might be good for one victory apiece in the challenge round against us," said he.

Last week, while Don Budge was further demonstrating his invincibility by breezing through the Newport Invitation tournament in his first appearance in singles competition on U. S. courts this summer, the Australian Davis Cuppers (Quist & Bromwich) were at Longwood--proving their proficiency by taking all five matches from the German team of Henner Henkel & Georg von Metaxa (an Austrian acquired by anschluss to replace imprisoned Baron Gottfried von Cramm). After losing their third straight match, the German team received a cable from the German Tennis Federation "requesting" them to discontinue further competition in the U. S., return home ''to be saved from too much tennis" (meaning, presumably: Aryan humiliation).

Among the spectators at Longwood was 20-year-old Robert Riggs, Los Angeles minister's son, who within two years has zoomed from nowhere to second ranking U. S. tennist. He had passed up the Newport tournament, last major tune-up before the U. S. championships, in order to scout the Australians. For cocky young Bobby Riggs, who has won 14 U. S. tournaments this year, was smarting under Don Budge's recent innuendo (that, if he were chosen for the Davis Cup team, he would probably lose both his singles matches).

When Riggs makes his Davis Cup debut next week, international tennis will witness a display of court histrionics reminiscent of the days of Tilden. Riggs mannerisms include a Charlie Chaplin walk, laughter after a good shot, clenched fists after a bad one. Because he often moves his lips when in a tight spot, a sportswriter asked him if he prayed as he played. "Heck no," he answered. "When I find myself letting down, I give myself a pep talk. I say 'come on now, for cripe's sake, snap out of it. Quit playing like a dope.' "

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