At Wimbledon

The interest of Spaniards in matters of sport follows the King. Therefore, last week, the presence of King Alfonso at Wimbledon was almost equivalent to a royal cheering section f r the great Spanish net star Senorita Lilli de Alvarez. His Majesty did not cheer, but he watched, animated. She, warmly beautiful, vivacious, and compellingly feminine, came up, last week, in the women's singles finals against Miss Helen Wills. The contrast was between darting flames and scintillating ice. Serious, studious, book-writing, sketch-drawing Helen Wills seemed, in her stiff, skeletonized cap merely efficient. Senorita de Alvarez came out onto the court in .a brilliant red sweater and turban, took off the sweater, changed the scarlet turban to one of bottle green. If she won the match the world would have another Suzanne Lenglen, tempestuous, temperamental, a little spoiled, quite regal.

They played the first set without either young woman ever coming within 20 feet of the net. Miss Wills, smashing like clockwork, won 6-2. She seemed to have regained and even surpassed the magnificent speed and rallying power which she possessed before her operation for appendicitis.

During the second set Senorita de Alvarez suddenly switched from backcourt play to a furious storming of the net which had about it the flavor of a battle cry: "For King and Country!" Soon Miss Wills had lost the third game, the fourth, the sixth, the seventh. Senorita de Alvarez led by one game and fairly scintillated pleasure. Throughout she had shown the full gamut of emotion whenever a point went for or against her. Europeans in the gallery warmed to approval of her frank spontaneity. Anglo-Saxons beamed pridefully upon the correct, emotionless, orthodox sportswomanship of Miss Wills.

Putting her strokes like pistol shots, Miss Wills took the eighth game, the ninth, the tenth. Then she was women's singles champion at Wimbledon--and, by popular consent, women's singles champion of the world. Not since Miss May Sutton (now Mrs. Bundy) won at Wimbledon, 20 years ago, has a U. S. woman worn this supreme tennis crown.

As Miss Wills and Senorita de Alvarez walked off the court, the new champion chanced to be a step behind at the gate. Senorita Lilli de Alvarez smiled in friendly fashion, stepped aside, and gestured for Miss Wills to pass. "Queens first!" she said.

Tilden's Loss. Famed William T. Tilden II, said after the Wills-de Alvarez match: "The last set was the greatest ever played between two women."

Three days before, Mr. Tilden had watched Henri Cochet (France) defeat Francis Hunter (U. S.) in the men's singles by 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3. "Precious few in the tennis world," said Tilden, "could have beaten Cochet today. ... It was a glorious defeat for Frank."

Two days later Cochet defeated

Tilden in the semifinals, 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3. Said Mr. Tilden: "Age, I think it is. I used to win this sort of match myself. But are we downhearted ? No."

Tilden is 34.

Next day, Cochet took the championship by defeating his countryman, Jean Borotra, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.