Canterbury Prominent In Provincial Tennis

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29798, 14 April 1962, Page 9

Canterbury Prominent In Provincial Tennis

f T’HE 1961-62 lawn tennis season, completed now except for the annual Easter tournament, marked the return of Canterbury to a place among the leading provinces; its success, the greatest for many years, could not have been envisaged a few seasons

Part of the reason is the sustained effort by the association over several years to raise the standard but the success also came about from a generous quota of good fortune, in the transfer of the national champion, L. A Gerrard, from Auckland to Christchurch towards the end

The good fortune continued when I. S. Crookenden of Waikato, joined the same firm as Gerrard recently and came to Christchurch just before he left with the Davis Cup team. He is expected to return to ChristchunJ) after the tour. So Canterbury at tne end of the season had the first and second New Zealand men and the top woman. It lost something, however, by the shift to Auckland of G. D. Moss a few weeks ago.

Evidence of the return to prominence by Canterbury was given in the 1960-61 season when C G Judge and Miss J. Davidson won the rational mixed. Miss Davidson won the women's doubles and both were

But it is the singles' wins that carry the prestige and Canterbury’s riches arrived together this season. Miss Davidson won the first singles title for the province since Mss J. Mac Gibbon in 1952; Gerrard won the first

men's title for Canterbury since C. Angas in 1932; and it was the first double success for Canterbury since G. Ollivier and Miss M. Spiers won in 1928 As well, Gerrard and Miss Davidson won the titles from similar fields in the Canterbury championships. Although Canterburyjunior Slazenger and Howe Shield teams, after winning their zones as usual, were soundly beaten in the semifinals. individual players did well in the national junior championships immediately afterwards, especially Miss S Rich, runner-up in the under 19 singles and doubles Miss Rich was also runner-up in I the national BP tournament, and she and L W. Watkins won the International Club competitions The outstanding feature of the club season was the success of the Cashmere club which won senior men's, women's, mixed and first grade

Unfortunate

It was unfortunate for the association that the recoveryin standard and signs of a revival in interest among the public could not coincide with a bumper season financially. In this respect luck could not have been worse. Support on the earlier days of the well-run national championships suggested an excellent crowd on the finai day but the rain kept out several hundreds. The association depends on a good return from this tournament when it is i held here every third year, as lit does from the annual visits of professonals. Arrangements for their appearance this season were also upset by rain, with drastic results financially. So the season had its satisfactory and unsatisfactory aspects and there are problems

which may be considered in the off season. Some thought should be given to the dates of the Canterbury titles so that the province can have the leading players it now has at least playing in its own championships and not somewhere else.

The plan originated in Canterbury for the Wilding Shield and Nunneley Casket to be played as tournaments should not be allowed to slip now it has progressed so far and has actually been adopted in principle, although there is still opposition The highly-praised coaching abilities of the Australian professional, L. Atkins, not taken advantage of by Canterbury this season, should not be missed again.

A system by which leading country players can be eligible for Canterbury representative teams should be considered because there is no doubt that some are good enough. . Now that th« province has a quota of leading players, administrators might note the great public support for ranking matches held among similar players on Sundays in Wellington this season.

The lack of interest, play of good standard or hard competition in the senior mixed grade should give concern. and although the association instituted it in good faith for more tennis it must now doubt whether it is worth while. The search for a substitute may be continued. The thought is entertained by some that the best team did not win the senior men’s competition this season and the circumstances which led to the result might be considered. In inter-club competitions. also, the rule about inter-change of players when one club has two teams must be clarified. An inconsistency appeared this season.