World's Finest Tennis Players At Wilding Park Today

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29401, 31 December 1960, Page 5

World's Finest Tennis Players At Wilding Park Today

r pWO old friends, R. Gonzales and L. Hoad, and four new players, A. Olmedo, A. Gimeno, B. Mackay, and E. Buchholz, will combine to entertain tennis enthusiasts in the opening matches of the Beecham international professional lawn tennis tourney at Wilding Park this afternoon. Three singles and one doubles will be played. Today’s matches are notable for their quantity as well as their quality. The five previous appearances of the professionals in Christchurch since 1955 have been two singles and one doubles, except in 1957 when one singles a

Gonzales, who has dominated, professional lawn tennis for seven seasons, has not had a happy record in matches at Wilding Park. In 1957 there he lost

to K. Rosewall, 6-2, 10-8, 3-6, 3-6, 7-9, and in the ' following year he lost to Hoad, 4-6, 5-7. At the age of 21, and with the United States singles titles of 1948 and 1949 to his name, Gonzales turned professional. He was promptly thrashed 96-27 by J. Kramer in his first world series, and it was not until four seasons later that he gained another chance at the major title. This chance Gonzales accepted gladly in 1954, when he beat F. Segura and F. Sedgman in a round-robin contest to take the first of his six successive world series. His others were in 1955, when he beat M. A. Trabert, 7427; in 1957, when he beat Rosewall, 50-26; in 1958, when he beat Hoad, 51-36; in 1959, when he beat Hoad, A. Cooper and M. Anderson in a round-robin contest; and this year when he stayed on top in a round-the-w’orld series. Gonzales announced his decision to retire from competitive tennis several months ago, but has now signed on for another seven-year term. Aged 32, he will have to call upon all his ability to outlast his younger and eager rivals on another strenuous world tour. Few tennis players have rivalled Gonzales for his determination and concentration while on the court, and all young players could well follow him in these regards. Indeed, the whole of Gonzales game is a model. Although at times he is at odds with his opponent, the officials, or himself, Gonzales wpuld never allow this to affect his play. His booming serve, with such an easy action, is the focal point of Gonzales’ game. Many have tried to emulate it His first serve, hit almost flat is consistently good, especially when he is losing. One writer has said that at 0-40, 15-40 and 30-40, Gonzales has a 95 per cent, certainly of getting his first serve into play.

The net game is Gonzales’ speciality, and with such a fine serve it is natural that bis smash should be deadly. His anticipation, co-ordination and instinctive ability to play the right shot to the right ball, have made him a great volleyer. His ground-strok-ing ability was shown when he matched . the baseline experts Rosewall and Segura when playing under the experimental threebounce rule. Spectacular The Australian, Hoad, is another spectacular serve-and-volley expert In 1956 he won the Australian, Italian, French and Wimbledon singles titles, and another win at Wimbledpn in the following year gave him a good background for the hard professional play.

Hoad will be remembered for his two previous appearances in Christchurch—his defeat of Gonzales at Wilding Park in 1958, and-, his 6-4, 6-4 win over Sedgman in the King Edward Barracks last season. Much shorter than Gonzales, he imparts nearly as much power into his game, and the way in which he punches his backhand return of service is unrivalled.

Hoad last year came very close to unseating Gonzales as world professional champion, and many would look to the blonde Australian to be the next titleholder. His power and range of shots equip him to take this honour. The Spaniard, Gimeno. is a player of a completely different type. He turned professional in the middle of this year, before he had attained great heights as an amateur. However, there is little doubt that he would have reached the top in amateur tennis in another season or two. Perhaps not as powerful as the other professionals, Gimeno has a classical style of shot. Wellproduced shots give him a safe game with plenty of margin for error, and in touch and subtlety is he supreme. He has had several months of play in the hard professional school, and the benefits should now be apparent.

Mackay, who with his teammate Buchholz turned professional two weeks ago, has been in the top few in the world for several seasons. Ranked third in the United States in 1958 and 1959, Mackay was ranked tenth in the world in 1959 by the statistician, Mr E. C. Potter, and third this year. A player of great versatility, he has won major tournaments on grass, clay, cement and indoor surfaces. Cannon-ball A thundering cannonball service is Mackay’s best weapon. He likes to get to the net ip the shortest possible time, and to finish off the rally with a hardhit volley. A weakness in his game has been his inclination to hit his second serve as fast as his first, but as a professional he will soon appreciate the need to cut down on his errors. The 20-year-old Buchholz has come a long way in two seasons. In 1958 he won the junior titles of Australia, France, the United States, and Wimbledon, and was ranked sixteenth in the United States. Last season he had risen

In the illustration above, the pickup boat Elaine tows home lan Bond’s P class yacht at Charteris Bay on Boxing Day. Bond had to retire from racing that day after breaking a centreboard. At the helm of Elaine is Elliott Sinclair, a former Sanders Cup yachtsman and now vice-commodore of the Charteris Bay club, and with him (at left) is BUI Mace, a member of the club’s general committee. Both men have sons yachting—M. Sinclair (Pipi), one of the short handicap group in the senior division of the P class in the club; and E. Mace, skipper of one of the new Junior Cherub yachts, Hylite.

to sixth place in the United States, and his platings on Mr Potter’s world list were seventh in 1959 and fifth in '1960.

Great Fight Buchholz is known for his great fight with N. A. Fraser in Wimbledon this year. In a quarter-final match he held five match points against the eventual champion, and at two sets to one to Buchholz and 15-all in the fourth the American had to retire with cramp. Cramp also affected him in the United States singles, and reduced him to offering only token resistance to R. Laver after holding three match points. He had previously beaten Fraser at Beckenham. Serve and volley are again the main weapons in Buchholz’s armoury. He has periods of absolute brilliance in his ground shots, and his courtcraft is well in advance of his years. Very quick on his feet, Buchholz has been regarded as America’s most promising player for a long time. He should soon settle down into the hard routine of professional tournament play. A meteoric rise to fame in the amateur ranks was the lot of Olmedo, but, like all the others, he has found professional tennis hard for the first year. He came to prominence in the Davis Cup challenge round in 1958, where he won the trophy single-handed for the United States, and in 1959 he won the Australian and Wimbledon titles, and the United States indoor singles. His United States rankings were second in 1958 and first in 1959. Best Assets Olmedo’s serve, return of serve and speed on the court are among his best assets. He disguises his shots well, and an opponent can never take anything for granted. His best performance as a professional was probably his winning of the world professional championship tournament at Cleveland this year. Gonzales, winner for the previous seven years, did not compete.