LAWN TENNIS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 76, 28 March 1908, Page 14

LAWN TENNIS.

FIXTURES.

March 19th and 20th—Hawke's Bay Championships and Handicap Tournament at Napier. March—Ashburton School Championships. March —Christchurch School Championships April 17th, ISth, and 20th—Brougham Hill Open Championship and Handicap Tournament, at Brougham Hill courts, Wellington. April 17th, ISth, and 20th—Gisborne Open Championship aud Handicap Tournament, at Kaiti, Gisborne. April ITth, 18th, aud 20th—Canterbury Championships and Handicap Tournament, at Linwood Club's courts, Chrisrchurch. April ISth and 20th—Hamilton Club's Open Championship and Handicap Tour nament. Hamilton. April ISth and 21st— Inter-Univ&rslty Championships, at Kaituna Club's courts, Dunedin.

The results of the Auckland, Parnell. and Devonport Club tournaments, so far as they have gone have appeared recently in the daily papers. Apparently, Eden and Epsom are further behind than any of the other clubs, and it will certainly take the committee all their time to get through the long programme still in front of them, before the winter really sets in.

The Auckland Club matches appear to have produced some very good contests. I observe that all the matches were best of 21 games, except the ladies' singles, which were best of 17 games. This system, of course, economises time, but it can hardly be regarded as a satisfactory test of strength between anything like evenly matched opponents.

In the third round of the Auckland men's handicap doubles, a curious incident occurred. Hudson and Coppard beat Gillett and Arkell, but it was then found that the odds had been calculated wrongly, and the match had therefore to be played again. This illustrates the difficulties that are bound to arise unless umpires take careful note of the handicaps before starting a game. I see, by the way, that the Auckland Club secretary desires to thank Messrs. Palethorpe, Warner, and Milnes and the Rev. A. Black for the trouble they have taken in umpiring during the tournament. I am sure that they deserve public recognition, for umpiring is, at best, a thankless job, and the worst of it is that few men are competent to do it really well.

In the Auckland men's handicap singles 1 see that Milnes and Whyte have to play off in the final, and on their previous form there should not be much between them. In the combined handicap doubles, Gillet and Miss Goldie beat Whyte and •Miss McMasters in the final after a hard struggle. In the ladies' handicap doubles, the final tie lies between Mrs. Herz and Mrs. Palethorpe on one side, and Misses Mace and Goldie on the other. The prize in this event is a trophy presented by one of the vice-presidents—Mr. Alex. Grierson.

The ladies' singles eventually went to Miss Woodroffe, who beat Mrs. Palethorpe in the final, 6—3, 6—2. Miss Woodroffe is distinctly the strongest lady player at the Auckland Court. She has a good service and a powerful drive, and gets up any quantity of strokes from the back of the court. I observe that at the West End "At Home" last week Mis? Woodroffe won the first prize after a good fight with Miss Fallwell. By the way, I should have mentioned that the Auckland ladies' singles carries with it a trophy presented by Mrs. J. Ledingham. Auckland Club has been very fortunate in securing trophies for the various competitions this year. Mr. W. F. Whyte has presented a trophy for a special event—the men's championship singles, which is now being vigorously contested.

I hear that Mr 0. S. Swinnock, who has been officially connected with the Auckland Club for some years, and has discharged the onerous duties of ground superintendent this season, leaves next week on a trip to England. Mr "Swinnock" is well known as aa enthusiastic .gnjgoitgr ef the. game,, trat-jt- jaa% no<<j

be generally understood that Aucklandtennis owes more to him than to any other player now on the active list for his services in keeping the game going through the winter months. For several years past Mr Swinnock has been secretary and treasurer of the Zealandia Club, which plays on the asphalt courts in Stanley-street, and I venture to say that if it had not been for Mr Swinnoek's energy and enthusiasm the club would long since have died a natural death. Mr Swinnock for a long time carried on the business administration of the club| practically single-handed; in fact, he I was, to use an Americanism, "the whole circus," and 1 don't think that his devotion to the cause has eyer been properly appreciated. It is very seldom one finds a secretary prepared to do tarring and sanding, and drain cutting and fencing with his own hands merely for the honour and glory of his club. As one of many who have enjoyed the asphalt tennis at the Zealandia courts, I venture to assure Mr Swinnock that he will not. be forgotten in his absence, and that all j tennis players here wish him a good trip and a safe return.

In the semi-finals for the Parnell championship, Mowbray had a good fight with Grigson. The first two sets were called "five all," and, as Mowbray won the first 6 —5 and Grigson the second 6—5, the third set was naturally exciting. The play was again exceedingly even, and. after "5 all" had once more been reached, no less than eight mare games had to be played to decide the contest. Mowbray's condition finally told, and ho won the set and match 10— S. He is essentially an accurate player, while Grigson, though more brilliant, is rather too rash to win in a long struggle against a steadier man. In the final Mowbray has now to meet Simpson, who beat P. Hunt by careful and accurate play in the semi-final. Hunt is distinctly a hard hitter, but sacrifices too much for an occasional brilliant stroke. Simpson is a more experienced player than Mowbray, and beat him last year in the final, but I am inclined to think that this year the result will be reversed.

Here is a short extract from an article -written last season by the well-known tennis critic, Mr. Wal'lis Myers, dealing with the popularity of the game at Home. The figures may give some idea of the extent to which the game is played in England. "Seventeen open lawn tennis tournaments at which English players took part were held last week. This week there were fourteen, and before the grass season closes in the middle of September something like two hundred meetings will have taken piace during the summer. Assuming that on an average sixty competitors will be engaged at each of the fourteen tournaments, this week something like 850 rackets are wielded in competition. As a. reward for prowess, prizes to the estimated value of £ 1200 will have been distributed; while in entrance fees alone nearly £800 will have been collectively paid by competitors. Still, taking only a solitary week in the season—true," one of the most popular weeks —we should probably find that over £500 had been spent on new balls, half as much again on appurtenances in the shape of nets, stop-netting, canvas back-grounds, umpires' chairs, and tents, and that yet another £300 had been involved over such items as printing, hire of labour, ball-boys, and referees. Some of the prizes are, of course, presented, while others take the shape of challenge cups which are not necessarily won outright; but allowing for these' concessions, it will be seen that about £SOO will have jointly to be collected at the gates of these fourteen meetings if all are to pay their way."