Welcome to Davis Cup Visitors

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7278, 4 October 1933, Page 10

Welcome to Davis Cup Visitors

Never in tlie history of British ton nis have “stars” had such a reception as was accorded the Davis Cup players, F. J. Perry, If. W. Austin, G. P. Hughes and H. G. N. Leo and their non-playing captain, H. Roger Barrett, on their arrival at Victoria Station, London, on their return from France.

Hundreds inside the barriers and thousands outside went wild with enthusiasm when the train drew in. Barriers and policemen were brushed aside in a wild dash for tho players. Perry was carried shoulder high down Lie platform, but he managed to escape and ran back towards his father’s car. He

climbed in, and with six policemen clingiing to the footboards and a wildly cheering crowd in attendance tho car moved out from the station.

Austin was met after the first rush by his mother, and then drove off with his wife, formerly Miss Phyllis Konstam, the film star.

The train was an hour late. Due at seven, it did not arrive until eight, but by 6.30 there wero hundreds outside the platform gate, a big proportion of them girl tennis ‘'fans,” waiting for a glimpse of their heroes. Special barricades had been erected, and an additional force of police engaged to deal with the crowds that were expected. Mounted police were drafted to the station; they escorted the cars containing the members of the team until the precincts of the station were left. When the train drew into the station the scenes were truly amazing. The crowd,’ which by this time numbered several hundreds inside tho barriers and thousands outside, were wild with enthusiasm. Tho sight of tho Davis Cup in tho window of the Pullman, with the smiling face of Mr. .Roger Barrett behind it, was tho signal for a burst of cheering tho heartiness of which even Victoria has not heard for many a day. The crowd surged forward to the door of the carriage, and the police and station officials had the greatest difficulty in clearing a way for the relatives and Sir Samuel noarc. 1533 Winners. There is no room on the Davis Cup itself to inscribe the names of the 1933 winners, so “Britain” will be engraved on the tray on which tho bowl rests. Mdlle. Suzanne Lenglen was on tfcv platform, the centre of an admiring crowd. She graphically described the matches in Paris. “I am more tired,” she said, “through having watched it than J. could have been if I had played. The strain is terrific. One wants to get up und hit the ball. “I have seen tho Davis Cup many times, but I have never looked so longingly at it as I did last night, and I cannot remember a more friendly tennis banquet than the one in Paris to tho British players.”