“Davis Cup” Draw Gives N.Z. Chance For Good Start

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32215, 6 February 1970, Page 15

“Davis Cup” Draw Gives N.Z. Chance For Good Start

(By Our Tennis Reporter)

Based on match results over the last year, New Zealand had cause to be satisfied with the draw made yesterday for the Davis Cup-style tennis match against Australia, to be played at Wilding Park tomorrow and Sunday.

The draw was made! after both teams arrived: by air from Wellington and practised at Wilding Park. It is: Saturday.—R. Crealy v. O. Parun; R. Ruffels v. B. E. Fairlie. Sunday.—Crealy v Fairlie: Ruffels v. Parun. The captains will announce their doubles teams tomorrow. In WeHinfton. on Wednesday, when the New Zealanders won, the pairings were Fairlie and Parun, Crealy and Ruffels. The other members of the teams are J. Alexander (Australia) and J. Simpson (New Zealand). NO STRANGERS Ruffels, Crealy, Fairlie and Parun are no strangers to! each other and have met a number of times in the last year or so. The Crealy-Parun score for that period stands at 2-0 to Parun, who beat the Australian at Marion, Pennsylvania. in August, and again in the Pacific Coast in October. Ruffels and Fairlie. who will play the second singles tomorrow, are 1-1 for the year. Fairlie won at the Caribe Hilton tournament in April and Ruffels was the victor when they met in the final of the North England at Hoylake, after Fairlie had beaten the Spanish No. 1, M. Santana. However, the Australians have a better record for the Sunday line up. Crealy is 2-0 over Fairlie, having won in a round-robin in Quebec and in

Wellington on Wednesday,) and Ruffels is 3-1 on Parun,! with wins in the 1969 Australian championships, at St Petersburg, Florida, and in! the plate at Wimbledon. There is little precedent for' doubles apart from Wednesday’s encouraging win for the New Zealanders. CHANGE OF ENTRY Australia has entered the Eastern zone of the Davis Cup this year for the first time and has been drawn to play Korea. New Zealand, in the American zone, has been drawn against Mexico, to which it has lost the last twice it has been in that zone and to which Australia lost last year—not reaching the challenge round for the first time in 32 years. The Australian team man-; ager, Mr G. Pollard, who .was in New Zealand with an Aus-, tralian universities side sev-! eral years ago, said yesterday that he thought the Austra-’ lian chances of winning the Eastern zone were good. Its successive opponents after Korea were likely to be the

Philippines, Japan and then India, which might be tough with its experienced players,| R. Krishnan, P. Lal and K.l Mukerjea. The Australians have been undergoing intensive preparation. The three players in New Zealand, plus A. Stone, the other member, spent three weeks in Melbourne under Mr N. Fraser, the former cup player who will manage the team, doing physical exercises, weight-lifting and running. When they return, Ruffels and Alexander will practise in Sydney and Crealy will go to Melbourne, where he will make sure that a knee with an injured ligament is fully recovered.

Mr Pollard said that the loss of W. Bowrey, who recently turned professional, was not quite as severe as it might have been some time ago because the selectors had dropped him to number three in their placings. If he had still been available when the tie was played,.he would probably not have been named. SOUND PREPARATION

Matches of the type that will be played this week-end are favoured by Mr Pollard as good preparation for the teams. If they had not come to New Zealand they would have practised on their own, but play in a tournament such as the open at Auckland, in the match at Wellington, and in this weekend’s contest, would keep the players on their toes. It would be the Australians’ last competitive play before the tie in Korea in the first week in March, he said. Both the Australians and New Zealanders practised yesterday on back courts, with one hitting up to two. Mr Pollard said that the courts were more like those in Australia than the ones in Auckland and Wellington, and both he and Crealy praised the centre court where the matches will be played.