Souter, Mrs Hunt in tennis squad

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34026, 15 December 1975, Page 3

Souter, Mrs Hunt in tennis squad

The choice of the 1962 ■ Davis Cup player. John 1 ’Souter (Timaru), in the men's side and lhe selection of the former national singles champion. Robyn Hunt, as reserve for lhe women's team are features of the i Canterbury combinaliens to contest the’ Rothmans inter-' districts’ tennis championships at Wilding Park on December 26, 27 and 28. ( Souter, who has success-!, ifully mixed tennis with’ ■ long-distance running in re-; ■ cent years, is the only l | player from outside Christ-: ’church to win a place in the| Canterbury district teams. i Competitors from Nelson, (Marlborough, and West:’ (Coast were also eligible fori (selection. Mrs Hunt has been vir- . (tually off the tennis scene!, isince the birth of her second; |son two months ago, but as! ’reserve player she can be (called upon during the three-! (day tournament which will’

’.decide regional supremacy in national tennis. As expected, Warren •Edgecumbe was a popular! ■ choice as No 1 in the men’s ( ■ team, and his fellow players will be two juniors, Peter ■ Hampton and Stephen Har-| Iley, and Souter. Ralph Webster has been named as the ’reserve. The doubles pairings will; be Edgecumbe and Souter.’ and - Hampton and Harley. (Jacket win Hampton has twice been; (national under-17 singles, champion, and Harley was’ ! the runner-up for this title ,to another Canterbury ! junior, Michael Mooney, last; ■ season. ■ The women’s team, not, necessarily in playing order,* (will consist of Shirley Haig,l ■ Judith Phillips, Sally Chap-1 man and Christine Newton,' with Mrs Hunt as reserve. I Mesdatnes Haig and Hunt land Misses Phillips and; Newton retained the Nunne-j ’ley Casket for Canterbury! ’last summer. Miss Chapman,; I a triple national title-holder! in the under-17 division, has! ■ been one of the.most promi-( Inent players in Canterbury

; tennis in the last three : months. In the new-style, round- ■ robin inter-district contest,; (Canterbury will pit its ’strength against teams from Auckland.. Wellington. Otago, ’Centra! Districts and .Northern Districts. The tournament will act as a prelude ’to the New Zealand open (championships, at the same venue from December 29 to. ■ January 4. The selectors (Mrs P. Leo•pold and Messrs C. A. Hunt and T. Ralfe) had a lot of' ’trouble in reaching their; decisions, especially with the! men's side. “We held exhaustive trials, but the choice of; ’players was clouded by the ’ fluctuations in results,” Mr; Hunt said yesterday. Good chance I ‘‘The men’s selection was •not as cut-and-dried as we !would have hoped. The standard of the • triallists was! ; particularly even, apart from ; j Edgecumbe: everyone was in : contention for the team, and tall had equal chances.” ■ Mr Hunt said the women’s; ’team had every chance of ’ holding its position at the ■ top of the national ladder: it. ■ has won the Nunneley Cas-i ket in each of th£ last two’ seasons. “From now until the time! of the tournament J expect: the players will reach their best form with hard practice,” he said. Mr Hunt adopted a realis-; tic approach when questioned on the prospects of (the men’s side. ; “We have a good team, but we will be struggling to (win against an Auckland iside containing Jeff and Rus-: ; sell Simpson (both Davis Cup squad members') and (Chris Lewis (the current (Wimbledon junior chain(pion).”