STANDARD OF PLAY IN DOMINION.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18268, 30 December 1924, Page 11

STANDARD OF PLAY IN DOMINION.

NOTABLE IMPROVEMENT. J. C. PEACOCK'S IMPRESSIONS. (sreexu. to "the press.'') AUCKLAND, December 29. Since the time of Wilding the fact that New Zealand lawn tennis has been unable to produce a player entitled to rank among the first flight of world exponents of the racquet game has been responsible for the prevailing impression that the standard of play has fallen in this country. This impression, in the opinion of competent judges, is unfounded. They contend that the standard cannot be judged by counting the number of international representatives that a couutry produces. That is emphatically the opinion of J. C. Peacock, of Thorndon, tho New Zoaland Davis Cup representative, who played against Czechoslovakia and returned recently from a lengthy visit to England and the Continent. A veteran Now Zealand player himself and still a prominent figure at Dominion championship meetings, Mr Peacock has watched tennis growing in popularity here, and by his visits to older countries has kept himself informed upon the standard of play abroad. "I don't think the standard in England is so good now as it was compared with tho Continent," lie observed today, "and the leading men in England do not rank so high as the best in Australia, Europe or America. Leaving out Kingscoto there arc not very many first-class players in England." Many of tho older players are still holding their own. The veteran M. J. Bitchic, for example, who has been a prominent figure for many, many years, has won quite a number of open championships this year. At the recent Wimbledon meeting, no Englishman showed winning form. They were dominated by ■Tho best players from America, France, Spain and other countries, and Kingscote was'tho only one among them who looked liko having any sort of a chance."

Asked if he could name the causes of this apparent decline in England, Mr Peacock said that it was partly on account of many of the best players being lost in the war, and partly to the fact that the courts in England were grass, which meant a. slower game than on the hard chip courts of the Continent. New Zealand, he thought, had done well in the last few years, and considering tho disadvantages here, it was rather astonishing th.it the standard of play was bo high in comparison with English tennis. "I think the first half dozen New Zealand players would give a very good account of themselves against the first kali' dozen Englishmen, 5 ' he remarked. There was no doubt the game was gaining in popularity here, and he was very much impressed with the possibilities of chip courts-, which, be found in games that he played on the Continent, were superior to grass in showery weather, and were always truer and faster. He was satisfied that chip courts were coming into favour in England, and a few also had been formed in New Zealand.

Mr Peacock emphatically denied that the standard of men's tenuis in tlie Dominion was unduly low. He recalled tho Davis Cup year of 1920, the last occasion on which the New Zealand championships were played at Auckland, and said he had observed a noticeable improvement since then. "I am quite convinced." he observed, "that considering the difficult conditions under which we play, and the fact that we do not get an opportunity for constant practico like men who devote the whole of their time to tennis, our men players have done well. There are certainly more players above the average standard than there were in 1920." "While expressing himself as well satisfied with the standard of men's tennis in New Zealand, Mr Peacock said that our ladies were a long way below the world's leading players. He fonud that girls in other countries used the volley more than they did here, and played the same yort of style as men. A New Zealand men's (cam, he considered, could do far better in England than a ladies' team.

CANTERBURY TOURNAMENT. ANOTHER POSTPONEJIENT. The Canterbury Lawn Tennis A«ociation'* Cbnetmis tournanKn*, which ■*•&« to have been continued yesterdar, had to bo postponed ajaia ovin; to win. The Match Committer decided that, if -weather permitted, games would ho ji)tycs at the l«inwood Club's

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Sir Alfred Butt, at Balharo, replying to a beckLer who suggested that talk came cheap from one reared in the lap of luxury, said;—" You poor fool! If you live to be 99 you will not have done half tbo work that I have done 60 far in half my life. I was not born with a silrer spoon in my mouth. Whatever T havo got I ha.ve worked for. I worked atHarrods till S o'clock at night for 10=, a week. Tbeu T went home and addressed envelopes for Smith's at 2& a 1000."