Tiny, but quick

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

Tiny, but quick

ONLY sft 2jin and 1181 b, w little Rosemary Casals, bom in San Francisco of Spanish extraction, is one of the smallest players in tennis but she makes up for any disadvantage this might cause by her great speed. Now aged 23, she has sometimes lived in the shadow of her great partner and friend, Mrs King, but she has made a fine tennis career in her own right. At present she is ranked number three in the world.

One of those players who is quick enough when at the net, still to get back to cover the baseline, she is extremely difficult to lob over in spite of her size.

Miss Casals was a child prodigy in tennis because she reached the semi-finals of the U.S. Nationals as a junior and in 1966 when ranked

only 11 in the United States reached the last 16 at Wimbledon. Since then she has built an outstanding record in both singles and doubles.

Her singles successes have included the Pacific Southwest, Gstaad Open, Westren Open, the semi-finals at Wimbledon twice, runner-up in the U.S. Open twice, including this year. She has taken four Wimbledon doubles titles with Mrs King —in 1967, 1969, 1970 and 1971 and has won the doubles championships of Italy and South Africa.

Miss Kemmer ’THE youngest member of Mrs Heldman’s troupe, the 19-year-old American, Kristien Kemmer, fashioned a fine record as a junior in the United States and is now becoming a threat to many of the more experienced women.

In the last year she has beaten H. Gourlay, W. Shaw and P. Bartkowicz. A left-hander with a strong forehand and a two-handed backhand, she began tournament play at the age of eight and won the United States 16-year championship when she was 15. In 1967 she won the Australia under 16 girls’ singles, in 1968 and 1969 the United States junior claycourt championship and last year the 18 and under doubles and the Australian junior hard-court title. Miss Kemmer, sft sin and Bst 131 b, has already played in New Zealand this season