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Cup Expansion and World War I: 1910-1919 1910 The British Isles team anxious to stage the America tie in Britain, agreed a deal that would guarantee the USNLTA £400. Dr Dwight accepted, but this was rescinded a few weeks later, when the United States felt they couldn't field their strongest side. 1911
The British team of Charles Dixon, Arthur Lowe and Alfred Beamish, hadn't taken into account a dock strike, which lasted two days in the Liverpool Dock, delaying SS Adriatic. Cables were sent to the West Side Tennis Club, in Broadway, Manhattan. West Side's chairman agreed that the matches would be put back two days. The tennis was worth waiting for and 5,000 people watched in awe at the ability of players at the top of their game. American Lawn Tennis wrote, following the Americans 4-1 victory: 'It was, on the part of Dixon and Beamish, superb exhibition of scientific doubles play, an exhibition the like of which was only seen only when such teams as the Dohertys, Ward and Wright, and Hackett and Alexander were in their prime. It was at once a revelation and an inspiration.'
This time the final was played in Christchurch, New Zealand and with William Larned able to make the journey, American hopes were high. Kiwi Anthony Wilding didn't feel the need to play and left it up to Norman Brookes to steer Australasia home, winning 5-0. The American's were scarred by this performance, and officials questioned the United States' participation in future competitions. 1911 The Australasian's were getting blasé about their yearly success, so in front of a reduced crowd, the British Isles team consisting of Dixon, Beamish, James Parke and Gordon Lowe, won the Cup back. James Parke was in inspired form and with the final rubber, on the third day deciding the tie, his strong ground-strokes proved too much for Heath, winning 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 and the Cup for the first time in six years was travelling again. 1913 Germany played France, in Wiesbaden, winning 4-1; the United States played Australasia, in New York and triumphed 3-1; Canada beat South Africa 4-1, at Queen's Club. This left the United States with a tie against Germany, in Nottingham, which they won easily and Canada playing Belgium in Folkestone, whom they whitewashed 5-0. Now battle hardened by two preliminary rounds, it was a North American battle and the experienced United States side, won 3-0, at Wimbledon. Age and experience were on the side of the British Isles team, sadly though youth was not. Parke and Dixon, with Roper Barrett in the doubles, made up the British side. It was no match for the youthful Americans, with a player nicknamed 'The Californian Comet' Maurice McLoughlin, who was turning into quite a player. Wearing spikes and rushing the net, the American side gained little appreciation from the knowledgeable Wimbledon audience. Parke defended resolutely, but McLoughlin proved too strong for Dixon and the United States regained the trophy after ten years in the wilderness.
1914 The second round saw Australasia suffocate Germany resistance 3-0 in Pittsburgh, with Wilding and Brookes in no mood to lie down. Australasia then faced the British Isles, at Longwood Cricket Club, where chivalry on the part of James Parke - at 5-4, 30-15, in the fifth set of the opening rubber cost Parke his match. Parke played a winning volley but glanced the net, owning up to the umpire and opponent Brookes. Parke didn't win another game. Brookes and Wilding won their doubles easily and so to the tie, 3-0. Now it was the challenge of the United States. The West Side Tennis Club, in Forest Hills, in its relative infancy with hastily erected stands, provided the setting for the United States defence and the first great match at this legendary venue. 12,000 spectators, a record at the time watched the ensuing battle. It was to be Anthony Wilding's last competitive match. The onset of war was taking hold and men were being called up for military service. McLoughlin beat Brookes in the first rubber 17-15, 6-3, 6-3. The first set had been the longest in duration of any Davis Cup match. Order was restored on the second day when Brookes and Wilding beat 'The Comet' and Tom Bundy, a controversial selection. Brookes won the first reverse singles, Wilding unfortunately lost the final rubber, his mind elsewhere. The Cup was American, 3-2.
On returning to England, Wilding asked good friend, Winston Churchill, then the First Lord of the Admiralty, to get him assigned to the motor division of the British Army. But a mere nine months after the Davis Cup triumph, Prime Minister Asquith, interrupted business in the House, to announce, with deep regret, that Captain Wilding had fallen in Flanders. 1915-1918 1919 The British Isles seized upon the United States' kind gesture and took the opportunity to make another appearance in the Challenge Round, defeating France, in Deauville. In the final in Sydney, Australasian Brookes had been 'polishing' a prodigy in the shape of strapping athlete Gerald Patterson. He beat Arthur Lowe in the singles on the first day, and followed this with an impressive display as he partnered Brookes to a 6-0, 6-0, 6-2 victory against Algernon Kingscote and Beamish, cutting them to pieces. The tie finished 4-1. Next: Big Bill Tilden and the Four Musketeers: 1920-1929
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