At Wimbledon

What the Morning Telegraph is to race-track addicts in New York, L'Auto is to sports enthusiasts in Paris. Last fortnight, L'Auto published a letter by Didier Poulain, its tennis expert, denouncing famed Jean Borotra for "letting France down" by not playing singles on France's Davis Cup team. Jean Borotra promptly replied with a letter denouncing Sportswriter Poulain. Last week, the Borotra v. Poulain controversy became a subject of international excitement when Sportswriter Poulain sent Tennist Borotra a challenge to a duel which Tennist Borotra, at Wimbledon for the 55th All-England Championships, angrily announced that he would accept. In Paris three days later, the seconds of both combatants put their heads together diplomatically, announced that no one had been insulted, that the duel would be canceled.

In the usually calm days of Wimbledon's first week, the Borotra-Poulain uproar was by far the most disturbing circumstance. In the grandstands, enlarged this year, bigger crowds than ever before --more than 25,000 every afternoon-- watched the matches. They saw Borotra indicate that he might not have been of much use to France's Davis Cup team in any case by losing, after five hard sets, to Czechoslovakian Roderick Menzel. In the most startling upset of the week, Wilmer Allison lost to Australia's unorthodox Vivian McGrath in the first round. After seven days of play, the only U. S. player left in the men's singles was red-haired Donald Budge of Oakland, Calif. Experts agreed that England's Fred Perry, last year's champion, still had the best chance to win.

In the Ladies' Singles, playing far below her best but still so much better than any of her opponents that she had lost only one set, Helen Wills Moody had reached the quarterfinals.

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