Now Playing For Cash

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32208, 29 January 1970, Page 11

Now Playing For Cash

A last minute decision by the leading Canterbury woman tennis player, Miss R. Legge, to change her status from amateur to registered player has already paid her welL For her first-round doubles win in the Benson and Hedges New Zealand open on Tuesday afternoon she made SW; and for beating Mrs F. Taylor (Britain), wife of the touring professional, R. Taylor, yesterday, she gained another $4O.

So Miss Legge has joined the ranks of those who play a game they like as a job, and are .ewarded for it And probably on Saturday she is likely to become an international player in the real sense of the term.

TOUR SELECTION That day, the Davis Cup team and the two young men and two young women to make a fivemonth tour overseas are likely to be announced. Miss Legge’s chances of being selected were bright before, and' her performance yesterday can only have enhanced them. If by some mischance she is not selected, she will embark on a working holiday with tennis in Australia. Mrs Taylor, formerlly Frances MacLennan, the Scottish No. 2, had the midriff of her white frock emblazoned by red and blue stripes, but was unable to gain the necessarystrength from her patriotism, or from her husband playing on an adjacent court Miss Legge, who reached the finals of her last three tournaments—New Zealand. Auckland and North Shore, has gained in confidence. and she is an addition to a rare breed of

attacking Aew Zealand women tennis players. She forced to the net, volleyed crisply, served strongly and smashed with gusto. Certainly, she made a number of the errors that still plague her game, but in this case they did not matter. Mrs Taylor was not up to her standard and she hit the net a lot to lose, 3-6, 1-6. TOUGH OPPONENTS i However, Miss Legge’s prospects of adding to her new-found wealth in this tournament are not good. Her singles quarter-final will be with the Wimbledon champion and New Zealand open title-holder, Mrs A. Jones, her doubles quarter-final will almost certainly be against Mrs Jones and the brilliant Australian, Mrs M. Court .However, for a girl of 19, who has just left Avonside Girls’ High School, and who has had her tennis career r.pset by two serious accidents to the same leg, the Canterbury player’s success this season must have delighted her.