Tennis Preparation Is Strongly Criticised

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31987, 14 May 1969, Page 23

Tennis Preparation Is Strongly Criticised

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON. A former Davis Cup captain, Mr J. W. Gunn, claimed on Monday the preparation of the New Zealand players for their first round tie against West Germany was inadequate and on the wrong type of surfaces. Mr Gunn was the only member of the management committee of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association who favoured the Riviera circuit as preparation for the team instead of Caribbean tournaments. B. E. Fairlie and O. N. Parun were decisively beaten,

4-1, by West Germany, and reports said that both players were “visibly ill at ease on the slow courts.” “Knowing how different the slow, red en-tout-cas surfaces are, and having played extensively on them, I strongly advocated that the team should play the Riviera circuit instead of the glamour Caribbean tournaments which cost several hundred dollars for each player in addition to their round-the-world air fares,” Mr Gunn said. “You have only to consider Arthur Ashe’s poor results on en-tout-cas,” he said, “to realise how difficult it is for a grass-court player to adjust.” Mr Gunn said that he believed in the creed laid down by the successful Australian

I Davis Cup captain, Harry • Hopman, that players must ' be trained and supervised at all times. t “And although we spent ■ nearly $2OOO on sending a I captain, his period did not • even cover the Caribbean i tournaments, but covered ■ only short periods of the Ital- - ian and Dutch matches,” he i said. i “What we should do now i is to keep our players on the ■ Continent until they learn how to handle the courts.” Mr Gunn said that W. Buns gert was a busy businessman > and had little tennis this year : and C. Kuhnke, the . other ■ West German singles player, had been out of tennis for ■ three years while he qualii tied as a lawyer. i “New Zealand has a sorry

tied as a lawyer. “New Zealand has a sorry record in Davis Cup play, and we won’t improve it until we realise here that clay court tennis is almost a different game and that a thorough and proper preparation for it is essential—if we want to win,” he said.