Clash of dates threat to N.Z. open tennis

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32458, 19 November 1970, Page 28

Clash of dates threat to N.Z. open tennis

"The Press" Special Service

AUCKLAND.

The holding of the Asian open lawn tennis tournament at Calcutta in the first week of March has caused problems about the staging of the Benson and Hedges Centennial Open in Auckland from March 1-7.

The Asian tournament has been approved by the international federation, and the Auckland association will have to wait until the I.L.T.F. meeting on December 5 before permission is granted to hold the Auckland tournament at the same time. The problem first arose, said Mr B. W. Ryder, chairman of the A.L.T.A. promotions committee when the I.L.T.F. set a deadlined for approved tournaments last July. “We couldn’t ask for definite dates for the tournament at that time,” said Mr Ryder,

“because we had no agreement from World Championship Tennis that some of their players would appear in Auckland. FINAL APPROVAL “We have been writing to W.C.T. since April, but only recently got the final approval that between nine and 14 of the W.C.T. players would appear in Auckland.” The Auckland tournament had been arranged, said Mr Ryder, to come before the Australian Open in midMarch so that players going to Australia might be attracted to play in Auckland as well. The alternative, if Auckland cannot stage the tournament in early March, would be to play it in late Febru-

ary, said Mr Ryder, with the prospect of the leading professional players still being available. There would be problems holding the Auckland tournament after the Australian Open. PROBLEM OF DEW One was that there would be the heavy dew on the courts for the planned night matches. The other was that the W.C.T. players might be committed to the $50,000 tournament in Miami in the third week of March. Staging the Auckland tournament in the last week of February would also create problems, said Mr Ryder. “We hope that by pointing out to the I.L.T.F. that the Calcutta tournament is in the Northern Hemisphere and the Auckland tournament in the Southern Hemisphere, there would not be a fundamental clash,” he added.