Lawn Tennis NEW ZEALAND ON TOUR

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28284, 23 May 1957, Page 5

Lawn Tennis NEW ZEALAND ON TOUR

Hurlingham Tourney [By J. W. GUNN for N.Z.P.A.] LONDON, May 18. Heaven must be like the Hurlingham Tennis Club grounds, where the New Zeala id team took part in the club’s tennis tournament. Sixty acres, almost in the heart of London, contain picturesque grounds and weaving streams. In this setting, there are tennis courts, both hard and grass, croquet lawns, and cricket grounds. The tournament was played on en tout cas courts, and the weather was anything but - kind. To us, coming from Beirut, where the temperature had reached 98 degrees, it was freezing The tennis was affected by the cold climate, and even the great Drobny could not produce his real form. He played many of his singles matches in longs. Robson was surprisingly eliminated by Barrett, the English player, who just missed selection in Britain’s Davis Cup team. Robson had an off day, which is most unusual for him. Barrett attacked at the net very strongly, served well, and won in straight sets. Parker and Drobny Parker won in three sets from Jamar, of Belgium, beat J. M. Watson and R. Lautenburg (South Africa). Then he met Drobny. So well did Parker play that he reached set point, and after a lung rally in which there were three net cords he lost it, and finally the set, 8-6. He pushed Drobny to 6-4 in the first. To get single points from Drobny on this surface is difficult; to get games is much harder, so that Parker’s performance was a good one. Nicholls was beaten by Drobny, but Woolf had an excellent win over Picard, a young English player who has been to Australia and who was invited to play with the British Davis Cup squad. Picard had beaten Bekker in the previous round, and was much upset to lose to Woolf, who was then beaten by Oakley, a previous English Davis Cup player. Drobny beat Barrett in one semi-final, while G. Koenig, who was a finalist in the South Afri can singles championship, beat Oakley in the third set. It was all Drobny in the final, and Koenig could not match him. Miss Morrison and Tinling

Mrs Robson was beaten in an ' early round in the women’s singles, but Miss Morrison played well to reach the semi-finals Being a Maori, she is an object of considerable curiosity, and Tinling, the dress designer, saw that she wore his dresses. Miss Morrison celebrated her twenty-first birthday and was given a presentation of a bag from the members of the team, which Mr Mercer, as manager, presented to her at a function in the clubhouse. After the tournament, the club turned on a magnificent cocktail party followed by dancing and the All England Tennis Club took our whole team to the Bath Club for dinner and a show afterwards. Our host was Dr. Gregory, who toured New Zealand in 1928. He inquired about Ollivier of Christchurch, to whom he had lost in a singles there, and asked about E L. Bartlett, of Auckland. Doubles at 52 At 52 he was non-playing captain of England against Hungary a year or two back. All his players became incapacitated and he had to play himself in the doubles or default. ’ After worrying all night as to what he should do he played and won in five sets Next day, Mottram won his singles and England had won. On Sunday we went to Eastbourne to prepare for the Davis Cup ‘tie on grass. These are about the first grass courts open in the country. We wonder why Britain chose grass so early in the year as theif. players too have had no opportunity for play other than on hard courts. Amateur Tennis An English official said that cur players were at a disadvantage in not being able to play the whole year round because we were obviously the most amateur country in the world. By that he meant we adhered most strictly to what amateur rules should be, and that our players did not make a profession of tennis as so many do here. Two well-known players, for instance, who have not yet had time to work, last week purchased new cars each. Their expense accounts must therefore be liberal