Tennis Award For Young Player

Press, Volume C, Issue 29466, 18 March 1961, Page 5

Tennis Award For Young Player

VEXT week the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association will announce the winner of “The Press" £5O award to enable a young Canterbury player to compete in the New South Wales age and school championships in May. The selection will be no easy task. New Zealanders have attended these tournaments in the past, especially J. B. Souter, of Wellington, who went twice, and they have 'considered them good experience. A Canterbury player this year will not be on his own for P. Thomson (Waikato) and Miss C. Cavaye (Hutt Valley) will also take part. They are going after their success in the BP tournament where Thomson was runner-up to I. Crookenden and Miss Cavaye won the girls’ section. The two tournaments, the age one in various groups and the school one. take place one after the other. It has always been the policy in New Zealand to send players who qualify for both tournaments so the player selected must be a school pupil and must be under the top age limit which has still to be checked on by the association. It would seem the association will consider about six players in making its selection on this season’s form, mainly L Watkins, of Rangiora High School; R G Hastie and A. Brooks, of Christchurch Boys’ High School: J. Cullington, of Cashmere High School: Miss S. Rich, of St. Margaret’s College: and Miss D Smith, of Rangiora High School Watkins. Hastie and Miss Rich are 17. Cullington and Miss Smith 16. and Brooks 15 For those who are 17 entry may depend on the dates of their birthdays. Watkins, a player with a well - developed all - round game, has played consistently throughout the season. He won the under 18 singles at the Cromb and Merritt tournament. beating Cullington in the final, he won the senior secondary schools’ title, beating Cullington in a semi-final and Hastie in the final, and he won the Canterbury under 19 title, again beating Hastie. At the junior championships

he was put out in the first round by R. Purser but he reached the final of the boys' plate, the quarter-final of the under 19 doubles and mixed doubles. He then won his section at the BP tournament. As a member of the Slazenger Shield team he won his singles against West Coast, Marlborough and Otago but lost to two Wellington players.

More Power Hastie, perhaps developing more power than Watkins but lacking some of his finesse, lost to Watkins in the secondary schools’ final and in the Canterbury under 19 but he did well at the national junior championships to reach the third round of the under 19 singles, beating the eight-seeded B. Taylor, of Wellington. 3-6. 7-5. 8-6. on the way. It was Taylor who later beat Watkins in the plate. Hastie reached the doubles quarterfinals with Watkins. He had three wins and a loss in Slazenger Shield and in section II of the Christchurch senior reserve competition he won his five singles for Cashmere 11. ( ullington. a rangy, determined player, after his losses to Watkins m the Cromb and Merritt and the secondary schools. Jost to Brooks in the final of the under 17 section of the Canterbury titles. In the national under 17 titles he reached the quarter-finals. He won ail his six matches lor South Brighton in senior reserve Section II and he also had some success in the Canterbury senior championships where he lost B Johns in the third round after beating K. Baddiiey. of Wellington a sponsored New Zealand jumor, in the second round. Brooks, at the age of 15 is well ahead of his contemporaries in Canterbury. He won thp junior section of the secondary schools tournament and the Canterbury under 17 title when he beat Cullington. 6-2. 0-6. 6-0 He won four out of six matches in section I of senior reserve as top for Beckenham but one of his most impressive performances was in taking a set. 6-0. from the experienced A. D. L. Hunter in the second round of the Canterbury championships. Brooks did no‘ F compete in the junior

national titles. Miss Rich, an aggressive player for a woman in the style of Miss J. Davidson, has had a fine season in both junior and senior competition. She won the Cromb and Merritt under 18 singles, the secondary schools’ title, the Canterbury under 19 title. At the Ne v Zealand junior championships, she beat the fourth under 19 seed, Miss C. Drummond. of Auckland, in the third round, and then went out to the fifth seed. Miss P. O'Carroll. of Auckland. 6-2. 1-6. 2-6. in the quarter-finals. She reached the semi-finals of the doubles and the quarter-finals of the mixed. She won six out of the eight Howe Shield singles, losing to two Auckland players Miss Rich has also been prominent in - senior competition. She reached the quarterfinals of the Labour week-end tournament, losing to Miss Davidson, the semi-finals of the Canterbury senior championships where she lost to Mrs P. Leopold. She has played in representative matches against Wellington. Otago, and South Canterbury and won her singles each time, the best win being over Mrs E Wentzel of Wellington. Strong Driver Miss Smith, a strong-driv-ing player. Jost to Miss Rich in a Cromb and Merritt semifinal and in the secondary schools but she had a win over her in a senior interclub singles She reached the final of the Canterbury under 17 singles, losing to Miss .1 Mackenzie, of Nelson. She reached the third round of 'he New Zealand under 17 singles. Mass Smith has also been prominent in senior competition. She has had five wins and a loss as second player in the senior FernsideKaiapoi team, she reached the quarter-finals in the Labour week-end tournament, losing to Mrs D McKinnel. and she lost to Mrs P Leopold in the second rounds of both the Show and Canterbury tournaments. 4-6. 1-6. and i-6, 6-8. The association may consider other players besides these and its selection will depend on whether it wishes to enter a boy or a girl and in what age group, and its assessment of which player is likely to benefit most’ from potential for improvement