General Edgar Forest (Gar)
Moon
Male
Australia
1904-03-12
Forest Hill, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
1976-05-26
Greenslopes, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia


About

From The Western Mail (Perth), 13 February 1930:

Gar Moon’s Rise to Fame

By “Bawl”

Six months ago Queensland enthusiasts were alone in voicing the opinion that Edgar Moon should be included in the Davis Cup team; three months later the other States began to sit up and take notice of the tall young Bananalander; and now his selection as second string in the team – the others are Jack Crawford, Harry Hopman, and Jim Willard – has been accepted as a matter of course.

Moon, named Forest, in memory of his birthplace. Forest Hill, which is 50 miles south-west of Brisbane, comes of an ardent tennis family, in which both his father and mother were homely professors. The parents introduced their offspring to the white oblong at an early age, and they had the happiness of beholding, beside the celebrated Edgar, another promising son, and a daughter of 17, who is playing a very good game.

Moon went to the Brisbane Grammar School, which, strongly addicted to team sports, and tending to frown on such selfish and individual pastimes as tennis, encouraged him to burn up his patience in the dear old game of cricket. But cricket could not hold him. Once home, and with his parents’ earth court beckoning him to play, he put away the bat and took up the racquet once more. It was at Cabooltura, where his father pursued the life of a dairy farmer, that Moon sharpened his eye and developed his punch in practice. There were no regular competitions – only impromptu matches between families – but the youth exhibited unusual form.

The two features of his play then were his hard, plugging drive, and his dour, fighting face. The latter, indicative of his concentration, has been a warning to many of the valour behind his hand. The drive, produced after great practice, is considered to be one of the severest hits in tennis. Good judges declare that it has more pace and overspin than the forehand drive of either the late American geniuses, Bill Tilden and Bill Johnston. And of his backhand there was nothing but the best to be said.

His game has not been tutored by local virtuosi, or by the syndicated advice of oversea wonders. He has never had a lesson, scarcely a hint, though he is grateful for the kindly interest manifested in his progress by the ex-Queensland champion, Bert Saint John, the Victorian enthusiast, T.E. Robinson and the celebrated Gerald Patterson. It was a compliment to the young man when the good-hearted Gerald came out of his retirement lately to partner him in the doubles in the South Yarra tournament, and add another trophy to his pile. Saint John, however, was the first to discover his possibilities and haul him out of his rustic obscurity to present him before a metropolitan audience.

In 1923 he joined up with East Brisbane, and then with the Toombul team. There is no doubt that it was largely due to his own sparkling tennis that Toombul won the first grade pennant in 1926. It was Cam Hammod, the veteran Victorian umpire and savant of the game, who declared, a little over two years ago that Moon was the find of the century. Moon was then appearing in the Victorian November championships, and the way he was finishing off good local players like Charles Buckley and past internationals like Norman Peach, showed that he was a potentiality to be reckoned with. Since, then, despite a few lapses from form, he has hardly looked back.

What improved his game, however, and made him a serious challenge to the best in tennis was his tour abroad with Jack Cummings in 1928. Both were conspicuously enterprising, and their appearance at Wimbledon added immensely to the interest of that famous tournament. Moon, strange and unadvertised, ran into the fourth round of the world's champion singles, eliminating the Englishmen Brian Gilbert and Randolph Lycett, and the Japanese champion Yoshiro Ohata, before he was put out, after a hard fight, by the brilliant young Frenchman Christian Boussus.

George Lott and John Hennessy, the hard-hitting American pair, defeated him and Cummings in the third round of the doubles. But he managed to reach the semi-final of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon with Meryl O’Hara Wood, which, on the whole, was not a bad achievement for a comparative tyro making his début.

Moon’s subsequent travels through Denmark, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and
South Africa were of considerable educational value, inasmuch as he met and
beat in Copenhagen Denmark’s two Davis Cup players, Axel Peterson and Einer Ulrich, and also in Berlin overcame Otto Froitzheim, the same adroit Deutschlander who was in America to play Australia for the Davis Cup when war broke out. The Germans – indeed, all the continentals who beheld Moon during this expedition – spoke and wrote of him with the highest admiration, and declared then that he merited a larger Australian recognition.

Moon is an example of the tall, wiry athlete that this Commonwealth produces in great quantities. Nearly as high as James O. Anderson, he is not so long in the leg, his most remarkable characteristic being the width and strength of his shoulders, which, even in mufti, catch the eye of the stranger. In personality he is probably one of the most diffident fellows wielding a racquet. His reticence about his performances has earned him a reputation for sourness and aloofness which he does not deserve.



Media


Archive statistics 1922 - 1940
28
305
235


Tournament wins 1936 - Darling Downs (Amateur)
1936 - Queensland Hardcourts (Open)
1935 - Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts (Amateur)
1935 - South Queensland Championships (Open)
1935 - Darling Downs (Amateur)
1934 - South Queensland Championships (Open)
1934 - Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts (Amateur)
1934 - Queensland Hardcourts (Open)
1934 - Darling Downs (Amateur)
1933 - Queensland Hardcourts (Open)
1933 - Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts (Amateur)
1933 - Darling Downs (Amateur)
1932 - Maroochy Championships (Amateur)
1932 - Queensland Championships (Amateur)
1932 - Darling Downs (Amateur)
1932 - Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts (Amateur)
1931 - Darling Downs (Amateur)
1930 - Australian Open (Grandslam)
1929 - Royal South Yarra (Amateur)
1929 - Darling Downs (Amateur)
1929 - Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts (Amateur)
1928 - City of Perth (Open)
1927 - Darling Downs (Amateur)
1927 - Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts (Amateur)
1926 - Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts (Amateur)
1926 - Queensland Hardcourts (Open)
1925 - South Coast Championships (Amateur)
1924 - South Coast Championships (Amateur)


Tournaments Queensland Championships - 1940 Darling Downs - 1940 Maroochy Championships - 1940 Southern Downs Championships - 1940 Australian Open - 1939 Queensland Championships - 1939 Darling Downs - 1939 Australian Hard Courts Championship - 1939 Australian Open - 1938 Queensland Championships - 1938 Darling Downs - 1938 Australian Hard Courts Championship - 1938 Brisbane Exhibition - 1938 South West Queensland Championships - 1938 Australian Open - 1937 Queensland Championships - 1937 Darling Downs - 1937 Queensland Hardcourts - 1937 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1937 Australian Open - 1936 Queensland Championships - 1936 Darling Downs - 1936 Queensland Hardcourts - 1936 Brisbane Exhibition - 1936 Australian Open - 1935 Philippines Championships - 1935 New Zealand Championships - 1935 Queensland Championships - 1935 Darling Downs - 1935 Queensland Hardcourts - 1935 South Queensland Championships - 1935 Brisbane Exhibition - 1935 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1935 Australian Open - 1934 South Australian Championships - 1934 New South Wales Championships - 1934 Queensland Championships - 1934 Darling Downs - 1934 Queensland Hardcourts - 1934 Metropolitan Cricket (MCC ) Autumn Tournament - 1934 South Queensland Championships - 1934 Brisbane Exhibition - 1934 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1934 Australian Open - 1933 Queensland Championships - 1933 Darling Downs - 1933 Great Britain vs. Australia Test Match 2 - 1933 Queensland Hardcourts - 1933 Brisbane Exhibition - 1933 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1933 Australian Open - 1932 Victorian Championships - 1932 Queensland Championships - 1932 Darling Downs - 1932 Maroochy Championships - 1932 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1932 Australian Open - 1931 New South Wales Championships - 1931 Queensland Championships - 1931 Darling Downs - 1931 Northern Suburbs - 1931 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1931 Australian Open - 1930 Wimbledon - 1930 Roland Garros - 1930 New South Wales Championships - 1930 German International Championships - 1930 Zürich Baur du Lac LTC - 1930 Lac Léman Championships (Grand Hôtel) - 1930 Australian Open - 1929 New South Wales Championships - 1929 Queensland Championships - 1929 Darling Downs - 1929 Royal South Yarra - 1929 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1929 Australian Open - 1928 Wimbledon - 1928 US Open - 1928 German International Championships - 1928 Gipsy - 1928 City of Perth - 1928 Australian Open - 1927 Victorian Championships - 1927 New South Wales Championships - 1927 Queensland Championships - 1927 Darling Downs - 1927 Metropolitan Cricket (MCC ) Autumn Tournament - 1927 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1927 Australian Open - 1926 Queensland Championships - 1926 Darling Downs - 1926 Queensland Hardcourts - 1926 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1926 Australian Open - 1925 Queensland Championships - 1925 South Coast Championships - 1925 Queensland Championships - 1924 South Coast Championships - 1924 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1922

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