At two sets up and 4–2 in the fourth Fields chased an angled cross-court smash from Dali, got to it and threw up a very high lob. Dali ran back and waited for it, let it bounce and smashed it again, this time deep into the other corner. Fields never re-appeared.
The drug tests established that Fields had been playing with a blood alcohol level of 24 per cent but that Dali showed no trace of any illegal substance. ‘That’s a relief,’ said Fields by phone, ‘although poor old Dali’s obviously got a few problems.’
In the women’s draw events were slightly less alarming, Maria Montessori going through against Constance Markievicz (one of the Gore-Booth sisters who did so well here as juniors), Virginia Stephen-Woolf (one of the Stephen sisters who did so well here as juniors) eventually getting on top of Katherine Mansfield (one of the Beauchamp sisters who did so well here as juniors) and Anna Pavlova impressive against Melanie Klein.
As dusk began to close around the arena and the lights came up, the controversial Magritte emerged on to Centre Court with his opponent, the marvellous Greek Nikos Kazantzakis. Magritte has been in fabulous form and tonight was magical. He mixed his game up beautifully and Kazantzakis had trouble picking what was coming. Magritte would appear to be setting up for a forehand and would hit a backhand. He would move into position to hit a smash and instead would let the ball bounce and hit a different shot altogether. Only the Greek’s great passion kept him in the match. His compatriots appear at this tournament with (Hel) after their name. Kazantzakis alone insists on (Gre). He took the third set and did a lap of honour in tunic and sandals, punching the air. Normal transmission was soon resumed, however, and the talented Belgian came away with the win.
Day 18
Bernhardt v. Lenya • Barnes v. Chanel • Picasso v. Beckett • MacNeice v. Levi • Krishnamurti v. Russell • Prokofiev v. Tolstoy • Freud v. Casals
The sensation of the day occurred in the afternoon. Sarah Bernhardt and Coco Chanel had been cheered from the arena after good wins, the heroic Bernhardt draped in the French flag, Chanel in a little black dress.
The illuminated sign at the end of the Centre Court now read PICASSO V BECKETT. The match was delayed while a group of oil and movie people were photographed on court with Picasso in an atmosphere made up of equal parts radical chic and celebrity bullfight.
The Beckett people were also there but were quiet and slightly bored. They didn’t care where they sat, they purchased no memorabilia and some of them watched the entire match without dismounting from bicycles. Beckett, who has represented his country in both tennis and cricket, is very handy in a tough spot, which is exactly where he quickly found himself today.
Picasso came out firing on all six and for a while appeared to do no wrong. He is strong and his footwork is excellent. Beckett kept the ball in play a lot and, like Satie, encouraged the expectation that he would vary the play, and then didn’t. Picasso slipped away again in the second to win it 6–4. In the third set, however, he played to the crowd and began to spray his returns. As the replay showed, Beckett’s approach in the fourth was very simple. He hit the ball to Picasso’s strengths, his big forehand and that wonderful sliced backhand. Picasso found himself hitting six or eight superb shots in one rally but getting six or eight returns coming back at him like familiar friends. As the match wore on Beckett began to hit the ball later and very high and the player most famous for his speed would rush into position and wait. As the pauses got longer, people began to laugh. Someone asked a woman near the press box, ‘What are you laughing at?’
‘Nothing,’ she smiled.
The fifth set consisted of Picasso hitting the ball even harder, thereby lengthening the pauses generated by Beckett. He achieved everything except a victory and Beckett won the match by successfully resisting defeat.
There will also be drinks from the upper shelf in Ireland and doubles at the BBC tonight following the performance of Louis MacNeice, who has never got past the first round of a tournament before. ‘Normally I’m playing against Auden,’ he said. Today he played classic tennis to see off the Italian Carlo Levi.
‘I’m on some sort of medication,’ said MacNeice. ‘So how I got up today I don’t quite know.’
Levi was philosophical. ‘Louis is underrated,’ he said. ‘Normally he’s playing against Auden.’
It is not clear what MacNeice is on medication for. ‘They won’t tell me,’ he said. He is undergoing tests and so far only problems associated with pot-holing and liver dysfunction have been ruled out. ‘If I knew what the problem was,’ said the silken Ulsterman, ‘I wouldn’t be on medication and I wouldn’t be in the same half of the draw as Auden.’
There were some difficulties late in the day during the match between the elegant Indian Jiddu Krishnamurti and the pigeon-chested Englishman Little Bertie Russell. Krishnamurti doesn’t hold with concepts such as ‘left’,
