LAWN TENNIS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26971, 21 February 1953, Page 8

LAWN TENNIS

VISIT OF AUSTRALIAN TEAM MATCH AGAINST N.Z. TODAY The Australian tennis team which will meet a New Zealand team at Wilding Park this afternoon consists of players who are contenders for inclusion in the next Davis Cup team. They are R. Hartwig, the captain, I. Ayre, C. Wilderspiri, and N. Fraser. The New Zealand team is J. A. Barry (Wellington), M. A. Otway (Auckland), third and fourth ranked players in New Zealand, and the first and second ranked players in Canterbury, A. N. Bailey and J. J. Borough. The New Zealand champion, G. Worthington, and J. E. Robson, whose title Worthington won last month, were not available for the New Zealand team.

Hartwig (Victoria) holds the Australian mixed doubles title with Miss Mary Hawton. Hartwig, who is 23, nearly beat V. Seixas (United States) in the quarterfinals of the New South Wales championship recently.

Ayre, first emergency for two Australian Davis Cup teams, is,singles champion of Queensland. He lost to M. Rose in the South Australian singles championship recently, in five sets. He recently beat his team mate on this tour, Wilderspin, in the quarter-finals of the Austrar lian singles champion, after a four-set, 51game match.

Wilderspin (Western Australia) is known as the giantkiller in Australia because of several of his notable victories. Aged 22, Wilderspin has been graded in Western Australian tennis since 1947, when he was ranked No. 1 at the age of 16. Recently he beat L. Hoad, 9-7, 6-2, 9-7. Last year Wilderspin finished his five-year engineering apprenticeship. He works for an engineering firm owned by his father and uncle. Wilderspin was known earlier as

’’the little fellow with the big forehand.” but according to Harry Hopman, his backhand played a big part in his win over Hoad.

The fourth member of the team, Fraser (Victoria) is an outstanding junior and is only 19 years old. Frfcser is regarded by Hopman as one of the most promising players in Australia, and is the present Australian junior champion. When J. A. Kramer saw Fraser last year, he was so impressed that he offered to take him abroad as a pupil. Fraser was anxious to go, but he had commitments in national service with the army, and the Lawn Tennis Association of Victoria refused him the necessary accreditation. Hartwig, Wilderspin, and Fraser are making their first trip from Australia. Wilderspin has been named with Ayre in the official Australian team for Europe and the United States this year. It is expected that the Australian ranking list to be issued next month will place Ayre at No. 3, behind K. Rosewall, the Australian champion, and M. G. Rose. The ranking would be equivalent to a world rating of about No. 6 or 7. Hartwig is expected to be at No. 5, behind Hoad, and Wilderspin about No. 8. Fraser may be No. 10.