Tennis in Surrey Magazine 2016

Memories of 1936
Davis Cup Success
In a year of Davis Cup Success, Frances Presley,
wife of ex-Surrey President Ron Presley, recalls her
memories of 1936.
I was ten days old when Great
Britain last won the Davis Cup
which took place at Wimbledon in
July 1936.
The last time that GB had made
the final was in 1978 and I was
lucky enough to be there. We had
watched the British team beat
New Zealand in the semi-finals
at Crystal Palace, one of those
rare matches in which John Lloyd
could do no wrong, and the rest
of the team of David Lloyd, Buster
Mottram and Mark Cox all played
their part in winning through
to the final. This was the famous
occasion when one of the, rather
more mature lady line judges fell
asleep on her chair!
Ron came home one evening in
November and asked if I would like
to go to the final which was to be
held at Palm Springs, California,
at the Country Club of Mission
Hills. There were still four boys
at home, the youngest being
nine years old, but I had never
been to California let alone to a
major occasion like that. A call to
my parents (what would we do
without grandparents) and my
mother, who was a great traveller,
said “go, go go!
December in that part of the
world is all contrasts. In the day
time the temperature rose to the
60’s and 70’s but once the sun had
gone below the mountain range it
plummeted to freezing and below.
It was the first time that I had ever
seen a mink coat being worn over
a very upmarket track suit, and I
found out what a condominium
was. It was also strange to see all
the Christmas decorations waving
in the hot sun and then frozen stiff
at night and I was introduced to
ice sculpture in the form of swans
floating on a lake.
One morning we travelled up
promotion
the mountain in a cable car. There
was snow about a foot deep and ski
trails all over the place. You could
look down to the valley and see
people in shirt sleeves.
This was the first time John
McEnroe had played for the USA
and he blasted his opponents
off the court. In fact, John Lloyd
mentioned when he was in
Belgium, that he had never had
to face such fierce hitting. Buster
Mottram was the only GB player
to win a match beating Brian
Gottfried, and we lost 4 -1.
When the matches continued
after the sun had gone down, guess
who departed to the warmth of the
clubhouse and guess who were still
sitting stoically outside!
We were not then, the only ones
with rather old line judges. One of
our party was heard to say in a very
loud voice when the line judges
walked to their positions, ‘I see
they have brought on the geriatrics
then’ - not much change in that
side of the Atlantic then, although
I don’t think that would happen
today.
The hospitality of the Americans
was quite outstanding. I had never
seen such fantastic table spreads
in my life and we were welcomed
and entertained wherever we went.
I have two abiding memories of
the visit. The first was seeing Stan
Smith put his very new baby son
into the Davis Cup itself, at that
time there were only two tiers
underneath, now there are three.
The other was a comment made
by the then Chairman of the All
England Club, Buzzer Hadingham,
when he was watching a friendly
between the LTA and the press.
The LTA was winning and one of
the press men, who hit a really
poor shot, swore very loudly
ending with “Jesus Christ’! Buzzer
stood up and said, so that all could
hear, ‘I don’t think that He will
help you’.
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photo: Tad Moyseowicz