Eight great women players

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32778, 1 December 1971, Page 15

Eight great women players

Even without Miss Evonne Goolagong, the Benson and Hedges women’s tournament, which will be played at Wilding Park from today until Sunday, has the best field of women for any tournament in New Zealand.

Players like Mrs Margaret Court, Mrs Billie Jean King, Miss Goolagong and now an exciting new American, Miss Chris Evert, have put women’s tennis into a period when it is attracting as much, if not more, interest than men’s tennis. The tournament for women exclusively has become a favourite with United States crowds since the advent of the group controlled by Mrs Gladys Heldman, the editor and publisher of “World Tennis” magazine, but this is the first solely women’s tournament to be held in Australia and New Zealand.

The full list of players is: ! MRS HELDMAN’S GROUP , Mrs B. J. King (United States). Miss R. Casals (United States). Miss V. Ziegenfuss (United States). Miss K. Kemmer (United States). Mrs J. Dalton (Australia). Miss K. Melville (Australia). Miss L. Hunt (Australia). Miss F. Durr (France). OTHER VISITOR Miss M. Struthers (United States). NEW ZEALANDERS Miss M. Pryde (Wellington). Miss C. Fleming (Auckland). Miss R. Legge (Canterbury). Mrs C. Armitage (Canterbury). Mrs J. Langford (Canterbury). Miss S. Armstrong (Otago). Mrs M. Rennie (Otago).