Young Team On Trial In Mexico

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31345, 15 April 1967, Page 15

Young Team On Trial In Mexico

[By Our Tennis Reporter]

As usual, the New Zealand Davis Cup team will face a formidable task when it meets Mexico at Mexico City this week-end.

All the customary disadvantages—court surface, climate, crowd and high altitude—will be met by the youngest team New Zealand has ever fielded. Only the supreme optimist could entertain hopes of a New Zealand win; most followers of the team’s fortunes will be pleased enough if it

shows ability and courage in losing. L. A Gerrard and I. S. Crookenden, a more formidable pair than this present team can yet provide, had two sallies into Mexico and each time were three down at the end of the second day. This is New Zealand’s eighteenth Davis Cup venture since it separated from Australia in the tennis international in 1923. Eight of the teams have won one tie but none has won two. • New Zealand has entered in the American zone for the fourth time—this year because its entry in the European zone was rejected. The first American entry was in 1960 when Gerrard and M. A. Otway beat West Indies, 5-0, but lost 2-3 to Venezuela. Four years later, New Zealand had its first meeting with Mexico, losing 1-3 with one drawn when it was abandoned because of rain. The next year, Gerrard and Crookenden beat British Caribbean (formerly West Indies), without a loss, but then suffered a clean sweep from Mexico, hampered considerably by Gerrard’s stomach illness. There were a number of significant points in the losses to Venezuela and Mexico. At Caracas, Gerrard lost to the /it

top Venezuelan, I. Pimental, 3-6, 4-6, 2-6, and then beat him a few weeks later, 6-2, 6-2, 64 on the grass at Forest Hills. Crookenden scored wins over both R. Osuna and A. Palafox, of Mexico, in New Zealand, and Gerrard beat Palafox in England, but neither could cope with them in Mexico City. Mexico City stands 7500 ft above sea level—a height at which New Zealanders are unused to playing tennis and at which visiting players suffer from loss of breath. Apart from its effect on stamina, it also affects the flight of the balls which float disconcertingly. Another big obstacle for New Zealanders is the clay court surface. Used to the aggressive, attacking, pacy game developed on grass, they find clay courts need patience, placement, tactics and retrieving ability, and that the court and the atmosphere put a premium on the chip shot and the lob. New Zealand teams have not been good at adjusting to these needs. Gerrard and Crookenden were considered not a great deal behind Osuna and Palafox in ability but they found the odds insurmountable. The present young team of B. E.

Fairlie, O. Parun, K. Woolcott and H. Broun may find the task even more difficult Mexico rose to a high place in world tennis in 1962 when it reached the challenge round. However, it is not as strong now. Aged 28, Osuna has been United States singles winner and Wimbledon doubles winner with Palafox. Attending more to his business career in recent years, he has slipped from the world’s first 10 but he was still good enough towards the end of last year to beat M. Santana, second in the world, A. Ashe, sixth, and C. Drysdale, seventh. Palafox has dropped out, and the other Mexicans in the team to play New Zealand are L. Garcia, M. Lara and J. Subirats; all have had much experience of tournament play in North and South America.

Garcia is of a standard to beat players such as R. Barnes (Brazil), J. Jauffret (France) and Juan Gisbert (Spain), but he has lost to R. Taylor (Britain) and A. Roche (Australia). Last year he had the second Davis Cup singles place to Osuna when Mexico beat Argentina, 4-1. The 18-year-old Fairlie, who received his Davis Cup blood-

ing last year when he gave a grand performance against both Taylor and M. G. Sang; ster, of Britain—he actually beat Sangster who had to withdraw because of illness—has been drawn against Osuna in the first singles today. They will be followed by Parun v. Lara.

The New Zealand captain, Mr S. Painter, in a cable message from Mexico City yesterday, predicted that his team will win. He said his young players had had trouble at first with the altitude, but have now adjusted and were suffering no discomfort