Very much a loner off the court, Kafka has been romantically linked with two young women, but refuses to comment on marriage plans. ‘That is not the question,’ he said.
In his first appearance on Centre Court today, Kafka came up against the flamboyant Italian Gabriele D’Annunzio in an unusual match which sometimes descended into farce. D’Annunzio grabbed an early lead and then, at 2–2 in the second set when it looked as if there would be a rain interruption, began packing his bag—but Kafka came back out and stood waiting to receive service. D’Annunzio pointed to the service line where drops of rain were falling. The umpire asked Kafka what he thought. Kafka shrugged and referred the umpire to the tournament rules. This became the subject of some discussion between the umpire and the referee, Charles Darwin, who decided that play should continue. Back came D’Annunzio, singularly unimpressed, and prepared to serve. Kafka now drew the attention of the umpire to a sodden area of the court. The adaptable Darwin was called back, another regulation was cited by Kafka, and play was halted.
D’Annunzio was very annoyed. ‘How can it be dry one minute and wet the next?’ he asked.
‘By reason of the effluxion of time,’ said Kafka.
‘What on earth are we supposed to do? Man is a creature of action. We should be doing something.’
‘We are doing something.’
‘What are we doing?’ asked D’Annunzio.
‘We are waiting.’
‘I mean something active. Man is supposed to be active. To have women. To fight.’
‘We are doing something active,’ said Kafka.
‘What are we doing?’ said D’Annunzio.
‘We are avoiding having women or fighting,’ said Kafka.
When they came back the Italian took up where he left off until Kafka pulled out four blistering returns of service to change the course of the set and the match.
The big Italian was as surprised as his supporters when it was over. ‘I didn’t do anything wrong,’ he said.
‘I didn’t do anything wrong either,’ said Kafka.
Igor Stravinsky was very much on song against Diego Rivera. The lumbering Mexican got his game working in the third set but by then the writing was on the wall. A bandaged woman in a richly coloured dress shouted encouragement to him throughout the match but eventually he asked for her to be removed. He was warned twice for racquet abuse, three times for audible obscenities and once for indecent exposure.
Day 12
Garbo v. Arendt • Pasternak v. Miró • Beiderbecke v. Malraux • Eisenstein v. O’Neill • Porter v. Borges • Faulkner v. Ray • Breton v. Isherwood
Greta Garbo, one of the most celebrated players in the history of the game, is out. She was on a plane this afternoon and we will not see her again. Seeded eighth, the Swedish ice-maiden, born Greta Gustafsson and now living in the US, departed in style and issued a statement following her match with German American Hannah Arendt.
‘I congratulate Hannah,’ the statement began. ‘She played most beautifully today and she deserved to win. I said before the tournament I would not be playing doubles with John Gilbert or with Mercedes da Costa. I am a singles player. That is my condition. Goodbye.’
This has been a shock. No one can believe it. ‘Garbo gone?’ a man said. ‘Garbo? Gone where?’
‘Huge surprise,’ said Arendt. ‘I can’t remember a time when she wasn’t at the very top.’
And how did Arendt rate her own performance today?
‘I think she let me play well,’ said Arendt.
Let you play well? Why would she do that?
‘I think she wanted to go.’
Let us get this straight. Greta Garbo threw her match?
‘She didn’t throw her match. That’s your expression. I just think she wanted to go.’
Big Boris Pasternak, carrying the hopes of Russia, ran away with his match against the Spaniard Joán Miró, who succeeded only in providing a track for the unstoppable Pasternak train. Pasternak is another player at odds with his own national administrators, and questions must be asked about whether those entrusted with the organisation of the code in Russia are fully possessed of the facts. Pasternak is power personified. He hit the ball today with such force and depth it is difficult to imagine how an opponent might approach the question of resistance. His victory, when it came, was treated by the huge crowd as the final chord in a great symphony. It met the requirements of drama, of music and of history.
Two days ago Bix Beiderbecke was backed in from 100–1 to 4–1. It is difficult to say what went wrong. André Malraux was generous in victory. ‘I didn’t think I had any chance,’ he said. ‘The Americans are just so strong. My only plan was to try to upset his rhythm.’ To be fair, Malraux is a very experienced campaigner, having won in France, China, Spain and Britain. Once banned from the German Open, he turned up under an assumed identity and won. Today he cramped Beiderbecke and put him under the hammer from the outset. Some of his cross-court passing shots were glorious.
‘I wasn’t over-confident,’ Beiderbecke said. ‘I didn’t serve badly. I made very few unforced errors. Plain fact is, the guy was too good.’
A four-hour battle was waged on Court 1 late yesterday between Russian Sergei Eisenstein and American Eugene O’Neill. O’Neill had seventeen match points and Eisenstein twelve before the weary Russian nudged a return just beyond the reach of a desperate O’Neill lunge. It was nearly ten o’clock, the air was full of fireflies and the crowd
