Choice tennis plum falls in city’s lap

Press, 15 October 1981, Page 32

Choice tennis plum falls in city’s lap

By

JOHN BROOKS

The predominantly low-key aspect to the forthcoming tennis season in Christchurch changed dramatically yesterday with the news that the Davis Cup tie between Spain and New Zealand had been allocated to Wilding Park.

The contest, to be decided on March 5, 6 and 7, 1982, will be the fifth cup tie in Christchurch in three years, and the fourth at Wilding Park. The most recent match, between New Zealand and Britain, was played in the Pioneer Stadium in July. The Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association’s experienced and well tuned organising committee began preliminary planning within hours of the announcement. Because of the committee’s success at running previous ties, it was a foregone conclusion that Christchurch would play host to the cup teams if New Zealand was selected as the venue.

and Gimenez seventieth. The only New Zealanders listed in the top 100 were Lewis, fiftieth, and Russell Simpson, eighty-ninth. Orantes, one of the great figures in world tennis last decade, has been severely troubled by arm problems in the last three years. Although still an able player, he is said to be only a shadow of the champion who whipped Jimmy Connors in straight sets to win the 1975 United States Open. But his colleagues have good court form. Luna, the youngest at 23, has several impressive top singles wins in cup ties to his credit, and Gimenez won the British hardcourt singles title last year. The most interesting member of the quartet is Higueras, who is an insomniac and a hepatitis sufferer. In 1979 he was ranked in the world’s top 10, but his problems have nagged away at his form. Victory against Spain would lead the New Zealanders to a quarter-final tie in Europe, with either Italy or Britain as the opponent. The match will be played in July. Mr Wells said if New Zealand lost to Spain it would then have to face the loser of the Italy-Britain tie to determine which side would be eliminated from the top division. “So a win against Spain is pretty vital," he said.

Wells, said that the home court advantage would be a great help to New Zealand. “The Spanish have one of the best teams in the world — four of their players are ranked in the first 70 — but they don’t enjoy playing on fast grass surfaces, and they will certainly get one of those at Wilding Park." Mr Wells said the Spaniards would have held a huge advantage on their own clay courts, but he rated New Zealand’s prospects of success as at least 50-50, or even 60-40, on grass. But despite the apparent disadvantage the Spaniards will face in Christchurch, they will still prove formidable opponents for Lewis and his team-mates. In the latest A.T.P. singles rankings, Jose Higueras was thirtieth, Manual Orantes sixty-fifth, Fernando Luna sixty-ninth

The decision will give Chris Lewis a chance to make good his pledge to the crowd at the Pioneer Stadium that he would return to Christchurch and help New Zealand win a cup tie. He said this after his lacklustre display on the final days to the tie against Britain. New Zealand will have a better than even chance of success against the Spaniards, who frolic on clay but harbour a keen distrust of grass as a playing surface. Only one of their cup men, the diminutive Angel Gimenez, played at Wimbledon this year, and he was eliminated in the second round of the singles. The executive president of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association, Mr lan