Tennis selection folly hits top women players

Press, 17 April 1982, Page 64

Tennis selection folly hits top women players

By

JOHN BROOKS

The folly of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association in dispensing with its national panel of selectors has been exposed by the announcement of an illogical team to contest the Federation Cup, for women, in July.

The biggest shock is. the omission of Christine Newton. who has represented New Zealand in each of the last seven years, who won the national singles and doubles title and carried off the top grand prix prize a year ago. and who just happens to be the leading New Zealander on world rankings. Eyebrows have been raised, too. at the rejection of Sally Chapman, the. one top grade player who devoted herself to the domestic circuit and made a significant advance in all facets of her game. The team to make the trip to the Decathlon Club in Santa Clara. California, consists of the seasoned Judy Chalenor. the little-known Linda Stewart, and a poor youngster being thrown to the wolves. Belinda Cordwell. Their New Zealand rankings? They are second, fifth and seventh, respectively.

So the team which sallies forth to tilt for the women’s equivalent of the Davis Cup will be without three of the top four ranked players in the country — Misses Newton (1). Chapman (3) and Brenda Perry (4). The latter, a Federation Cup player for three years, and Miss’ Chapman. hold the national doubles title. The situation is reminiscent of the reaction of grizzled South African reporters to the announcement of the All Black team for the fourth rugby test against the Springboks in 1970. “Ha ha, that is a very good joke,” one said after the names were read out. "Now, tell us the real team."

Sadly, on that occasion and just as sadly, this time, in women’s tennis there was no

joke — only a feeling of despair among New Zealand sports followers. How did this extraordinary business come about?. The answer lies in the tennis hierarchy's curious coyness over conventional selection methods. The panel system was put to the sword back in 1979 and, as far as women’s tennis is concerned, replaced by a shadowy and not clearly defined substitute.

Judy Chalenor was appointed captain of the cup side two months ago and, according to the minutes of the N.Z.L.T.A. management committee, "the composition of the team will be announced later, after discussions with Mrs Chalenor." The blonde Aucklander might be a good player, but she is not a good selector on the evidence of this effort. Miss Slewart went overseas and drifted into anonymity, as her current international ranking of 264 out of 265 indicates. The left-handed Miss Cordwell has undoubted promise, but at 16 she is hardly ready for the Federation Cup furnace. The 'obvious stepping stone

would be her participation in the Annie Soisbauit Cup contest. the junior teams' com : petition in which Misses Chapman and Perry cut their competitive teeth. The dropping of Miss Newton is certain to raise awkward questions, because she and Mrs Chalenor have been associated at international level since 1975 and now one is seen to be passing judgment on the other. The national body is cast in an even poorer light as on the one hand it has been a party to the dismissal of Miss Newton and on the other it has approved her No. 1 ranking. A case of the right hand not knowing what the left is up to? And what of the case of Miss Chapm,an. who, this season, fashioned a more assertive approach and gained a siring of impressive victories as her reward? A national selector following fortunes on the circuit would have had no hesitation in choosing her for a national women's side.

But, deprived of the chance of pitting her skills against Mrs Chalenor, or Miss Newton, or Miss Stewart — because they were all overseas — Miss’Chapman was left without a yardstick to call her own. That was to the detriment of women's tennis in New Zealand, for scores of up-and-coming girls.' their parents and their coaches, will wonder if the effort is worth while when the selection policy appears lo have been modelled on the gaming tables at Las Vegas. In these days of greater enlightenment for women in all fields of endeavour, tennis appears to be at the end of the queue.