LAWN TENNIS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 264, 7 November 1928, Page 16

LAWN TENNIS.

FIRST BRITISH MATCH.

LOCAL PLAYERS OUTCLASSED

(By HALF-VOLLEY.)

Beautiful weather on Saturday afternoon attracted a large crowd to the Stanley Street courts to watch the Test match against the British team. It was expected that the visitors would prove a stiff proposition, but it was hardly thought by local critics that the New Zealanders would be so completely outclassed as was the case. Without in any way detracting from tne merits of the British team's play, it must be admitted that the New Zealanders have not had time to strike form, and it is certain that the local players would have put up a more finished performance if the match could have been played a month later. G. OHivier and E. L. Bartleet had the hardest singles matches to play, and each was completely and thoroughly beaten on the day. Bartleet never had the upper hand against Austin, who took the offensive against him the whole time. Austin's consistency was wonderful; he literally never gave his opponent a loose or easy shot, and Bartleet consequently never had a chance to play his Usual aggressive game. Gregory, too, was exceedingly aggressive against OHivier, who appeared to be on the defensive throughout. Gregory's hard topped backhand shot was a contrast with Ollivier's sliced backhand. The British captain obtained just as good a position with very much more pace. Indeed, Gregory's backhand shot was as fast as the best forehand drives that Auckland can show in local tennis. More satisfactory tennis from our point of view was seen in the other two singles, one of which resulted in New Zealand's only win on the first day. D. G. France's steady play was too sound for Higgs, who vas frequently hitting hie severe drives into the net. N. R. C. Wilson, in the first two sets of his single against Collins, played the best tennis seen among the New Zealanders. He managed to hit right over the top of Collins' spin service, even when it was bouncing head-high, and for the first two sets appeared to dominate the game, advancing to the net and volleying with great severity. The wonderfully persistent and accurate returns of his opponent, however, gradually wore down Wilson's initial brilliance, and Collins clearly outplayed the Wellington man in the concluding set. Collins was the only one of the four visitors whose backhand shot was noticeably weak, but his wonderful agility enabled him to make up to a large extent for the weakness. Lessons of the Match. These remarks are written before the second day's tennis is complete, but it seems to the writer that at least two lessons stand out clearly for us to learn from our visitors' play. The first is thai a first-class player must possess ax attacking backhand. While most of the front-rank New Zealand players have a reliable backhand, a stroke that can b< relied upon to return the ball consis tently, the British team have shown .us once again what a vast difference there is between a reliable defensive backhanc and an attacking backhand. Boti Gregory and Austin possess not onlj excellent attacking forehand shots, but backhand strokes of equal value. Con' sequently they were never caught out oi position through preferring to use theii forehands", for they were assured thai they could hit juet as hard and accU' rately on the one side as on the other It can hardly be eaid often enough, thai a good attacking backhand is the basil of all first-class championship^play. The second lesson that I thought was particularly to be le'arned from th« visitors is in regard to net play ir doubles. They realised that the key t< doubles ia the position at the net, anc they went to the net the whole time risking everything elee in the effort t< obtain this key position. Their excellent ground shots on both forehand and back hand gave them the certainty of beinj able to return the service across the court, and thus enabled them to use witl comparative safety the Australia/ doubles formation, the partner of th< striker-out being stationed at the net AH the time, in both doubles, the Britisl pairs "sat on the net" and dealt ouf destruction to the driving tactics of the New Zealanders. It seemed to me thai tie New Zealanders hardly exploited the Job as much as they might have done it the doubles matches, but perhaps the smashing of their opponents was toe deadly. Doubles Play. Continuing ray custom of devoting my concluding paragraph to advice to begin ners, I wiU say a few words about doubles play. I cannot complete discussion of this topic this week, but will start by defining the positions which each player should take up at the commencement of play. The server's position is, of course, defined for him by the rules; he should, however, stand fairly close to the centre of the baseline. Most good doubles players avoid serving from the corner of the court. The reason for this is that the service in doubles should for the most part be aimed at the centre line,' for if the service is kept in the centre of the court, it ie more difficult for the strikerout to pass the service partner down the sideline. The server's partner stands some six feet from the net, as far from his own sideline as is consistent with safety. The further towards the centre he stands, the easier it is for his partner (the server) to come into the net. But he should not stand far enough over to allow himself to be passed down the sideline. The server having delivered his service should lose no time in joining his partner at the net. It must be pointed out at this stage that in doubles the partners should always form a line parallel with the net. "One up, one back ,, is hopelessly bad tactics, as it need not be pointed out that a huge gap then exists between the two partners. Either both must be at the net, or both must be back behind the base line. There are two cardinal sins in doubles positions; one is to be "one up, one back," and the other is to be caught half-way in to the net. Either be right in or else be behind the base line. As for the postions of the other two playersfl the striker-out, of course, stands back waiting for the service. His position is largely defined by the service itself. The tendency of young players is generally to stand too far back. The aim should be to hit the return right at the top of the bounce.

The partner of the striker-out should stand in one of two positions. The more usual or orthodox, and indeed by far the safest, is some two yards behind the base line on his own side of the court. This is the position used by the Americans, and usually in England. The Australian custom, howeve'r, is for the partner of the striker-out to stand at* the net. I will discuss next week the conditions under which it is safe to use this formation, and the shots to be used in doubles play.

SOUTH TAURANGA CLUB

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) TALRANGA, Tuesday. Beautiful weather favoured the postponed opening of the South Tauranga Tennis and Bowling Club, which attracted a good crowd of members and their friends. Visitors were present from the Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and Te Puke clubs. The president, Mr. F. A. Boyd. extended a hearty welcome to all on behalf of the club and emphasised the club's progress as evidenced by the addition of three new tenuis courts, a verandah to the pavilion, a tool house and imposing entrance gates. He complimented Mr. Cox on the excellent condition of the grounds and greens, and emphasised the growing popularity of the club, whose membership had been increased by 35 new tennis players and 15 bowlers. A silver trophy had been presented to the club for competition between bowlers by Mr. Thos. Bunting and four silver medals and four brooches for tennis players by Mrs. Boyd. During the afternoon bowling matches were played by teams representing the president and vice-president respectively, and resulted in a win for the president's team.