LAWN TENNIS.

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 75, 22 December 1926, Page 8

LAWN TENNIS.

(By “

"Forehand.”)

NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

A FORECAST. G. Ollivier (Canterbury), the present champion, L. France (Wellington), E. B. V’. Smyth (Wellington), and J. Laurenson (Matamata) will be the outstanding absentees from the men’s events in the New Zealand championships commencing at Auckland on December 27.

MEN’S SINGLES. The task of forecasting the possible winner of the men’s singles is rendered more difficult, not easier, by these absentees, and the fact also that there will be present those comprising the team from New South Wales to tour New Zealand. Kahns, who it was hoped would be their No. 1 player, has been unable to come because of illhealth. The match' between .1. C. Peacock and N. G. Sturt should be interesting, as showing what the latter’s standard maybe. Since losing his chance of, winning the junior championship of New Zealand in Auckland two years ago, when, against It. McL. Ferkins, he outed a smash by inches for the match, Sturt has improved greatly and occupies a sound position on the Auckland ladder. However, Peacock’s experience and courtcraft should rise superior to the handicap of his age. I expect Haege to beat Brinsden in a hard match. The Seay-Malfroy match should be worth seeing, but the latter may not have the strength nor stamina for hard fiveset matches. Contrary to what many people think, 1 pick Al. L. Lampe to beat E. W. Griffith.

The third round may comprise D. G. France. Dr. A. T. North, Warne Pearce (whom 1 expect to beat A. G. Wallace in the second round), F. Peach, J. C. Peacock, P. Haege, 1. A. Seay, J. McCausland, A. VV. Sims, C. Brewster, E. L. Bartleet, J. Fitzgerald, 11. Ferkins, N. Peach, E. D. Andrews, M. L. Lampe. I expect to see in the fourth round D. G, France, Warne Pearce, J. C. Peacor— I. A. Seay, A. W. Sims, E. L. Bartie.” N. Peach, I). D. Andrews. Pearce’s pertinacity ought to carry him past Frank Peach, who is not now built to play solidly for five sets, and Pearce knows how’ to spin them out. The Pea-ecck-Hacge match should be hard fought, but Peacock on the court is still a force. J. Fitzgerald (Australia) is more of a doubles player than a singles player. Bartleet shquJd be equal to the task of defeating him Ferkins 1 do not give much chance «s yet against Norman Peach. E. IJ. Andrews should dispose of .11. L. Lampe, but the latter’s pugnacity li-'st not be under-estimated.

My selection tor the semi-final is D..G. France, 1. A. Seay, A. W. Sims, E. D. Andrews. Last year Peacock matle a phenomena I come-back and defeated Seay at the end of a long five-set match. Peacock is not up to last year’s form and Seay has improved. The Sims-Bartleet match should he hard fought and Sims’ lighting qualities should bo the deciding factor. Nor will Andrews have it all his own way with Peach, but youth plus tennis ability and accuracy and hard corner to corner -hitting should carry the day.

I do not expect Seay to beat D. G. France in Ihe semi-finals, or Sims, befiiiise of his long absence from serious match play, to beat Andrews. Therefore I should not bo nt all surprised to see France and Andrews in (ho final. Franco is a greatly improved player this season Ho has more variety of strokes, a better temperament, a cooler head, than last year. Where Andrews depends on pace France will now depend on pace and guile. In Auckland two years ago, France beat Andrews in a hard driving game in five sets., This time if will not be all driving - by France. Ho is indebted this year- to many wrinkles learned in the hard school of experience from his brothci. LADIES’ SINGLES. It is rumoured that Mrs. AV. J, Melody is at present far from well, and unless she improves very much she may not be-able to play at > Auckland. The trouble is said to be a. recrudescence of something akin to poisoning by which she was attacked in England. This feature may have a vital bearing on the championship, for if Mrs. Melody is fit and well I pick her to play with Miss Spiers in the final. It is to bo regretted that Mrs. Scott (nee Miss Jean McLaren), Miss Ballantyne, Miss Ferrier, Miss Murison, Miss Wake, Miss Marjorie MacFarlane and Miss Tracy are unable to compete. Miss N. Lloyd is to be congratulated on having once again come over from Sydney. With regard to Miss Spiers, her experience m Auckland two years ago when, in defending her title, she was beaten by Miss Ballantyne, must not be forgotten. She could not accommodate herself to the, heat, and she was consequently unwell. There was also the strain of defending (he championship. Will history repeat itself? If she is below form she may be beaten by Miss Knight, whom she will meet, in my opinion, in the semi-finals. The last eight players, in my judgment. may be Spiers, Ramsay, Knight, Francis, Mrs. Melody. Misses Whitelaw, Howe, Lloyd, and the semifinalists, Misses Spiers, Knight. Mrs. Melody, Miss Howe. Fit and well, Mrs. Melody should be in the final against Miss Spiers, but if she does not play tjien Miss Howe may he Miss Spiers’s opponent. Tn any case. I expect Miss Spiers to win. MEN’S DOUBLES. In the men’s doubles I would expect the semi-finalists to be North and McCausland. Brewster and Fitzgerald, Bartleet and Robson, Peach and Peach, and for the Peach brothers to - beat North and McCausland. LADIES’ DOUBLES. The ladies’ doubles should result in a win for Mrs. Melody and Miss Spiers if the former plays. The semi-finalists I expect may lie Misses Howe and Ramsay; Misses Lloyd and Watson, Misses Knight and. Colebrook. Mrs. Melody, and Miss Spiers, and the finalists Misses Llovd and Watson and Mrs. Melody and Miss Spiers. Misses Knight and Colebrook may prove a formidable combination. COMBINED DOUBLES. I expect the last four in the combined doubles to be Miss Lloyd and A. G. Wallace, Miss Spiers and D. 0. Frapce, Mrs. Melody and M. L. Lampe, and Miss Knight and A. W. Sims, and the semi-finalists to be Miss Spiers ami D. G. France and Miss Knight /and Sims, with Miss Snier« and D. F France winners in the final. BOYS’ CHAMPIONSHIP. C. E. Malfroy should win the hoys’ championship with ease.

A Grading System. The inter-club matches are proving the absolute necessity for the grading of clubs and players, and a clear definition from the association as to wliat standard of play constitutes senior, junior, and third grade. Th 4 present haphazard manner will not succeed. the tendency in present circumstances is for the smaller clubs to harbour the idea they are better than they really are, and thus enter teams in grades too hi"h for them. No one benefits by this. If “the association is not in a position to grade clubs and players, it is making the admission that it has kept, and is keeping, no hold on the clubs to the extent of securing information on standards of play that obtain in them. Perhaps the following suggestion might be useful. . , Let the association secretary send to club A a representative list of. say, five or ten (men and ladies treated separately) of players from that club who competed in the last association tournament, and their handicaps. j a representative list I mean a list that would be likely to represent all the standards of play m that club, and the handicaps would be from the lowest to the highest. For instance, club A might have been represented in the association handicap tournament by A, B. c, D, and E. The player on whom all the handicaps were based at the fpurnanient might have been the vyellington provincial champion or a Dominion player of note. He might have been minus 15 in 50, while A might be plus 10, B plus 15, C plus 2<), D P lus and E plus 30. A line could be got on other players in club A who did not compete in the tournament bv the club committee seeing how they shape a-minst any of these representative handicaps. The same procedure would have to be followed in the case of all the clubs. The association might then determine that senior players are those from minus 15 to plus 10, junior players Il to 20. third grade players from 21 to 30, and so on. It would then declare that those clubs that had pot eight players within the limits of the handicaps set ns the standard for each grade, shall not lie allowed to v.nter a team for that grade. But whatever the basis of the grading it will have to bo on the' association tournament handicaps. If a club champion is owe 1(i for the purpose of his club handicaps, nnd plus 20 when it comes io nn association tournament, then his standard of play in the inter-club matches must be reckoned as of the plus 20 variety. He most probably will not bo cock of the walk outside of his club.

Interclub Matches. It would bo impossible to better the weather conditions that prevailed last Saturday -when the first round of the third grade interclub matches was completed on the Association Grounds at Miramar. The first half of this round was played on (he previous Saturday under conditions that made it impossible to even approximate to good tennis. Relatively, the standard of play in (he third grade on Saturday was much higher than pertained in the senior grade played three weeks previously. The relatively low standard shown in the senior grade was, of course, duo to the fact that at least four clubs and more than half of the players were not of senior standard at all. The result was (hat when pitted against players who were senior players the remainder were hopelessly, or almost so, outclassed. But on Saturday, with few exceptions, the players of the principal clubs were all third grade players, while players from the minor clubs pitted against each other were about the same standard. It was i’ost refreshing to see the enterprise. > energy, and the initiative displayed • ; some of the players, and their matches were far from being of the pat ball variety. Relatively to the ladies the standard of the men was higher. ’ The [day of nearly all the men of the Broughani Hill and Khandallah Clubs (who were drawn against each other) was, in singles, up to good junior standard. M. Sutton, or Khandallah, is unquestionably a junior player, and a good one at that. The standard of play of the eight men comprising these two teams was very high, nnd more should be heard of Sutton, Blyth, Engel, Plimmer, P. Williams, and IL Howe. There was hard hitting, good net play, and good position play by most ot these players. Although Miss McDonnell fount! in Miss Dorman a very inaccurate, although hard, driver, the former lady should be debarred from participation in the third grade, as she is clearly up to junior standard. Credit is due to Miss Wild for the dogged fight she put up right through her match She is a hard grafter, and a sporting one. Both Mrs. Hooper and Mrs. Elias were too superior for their opponents. Talavera is what one would term a minor club, and if the team from the Wellington Club can be regarded as a third grade team, as I believe it is, then Talavera is well below that standard One match in 12 and 45 games to 105 speaks for itself. Aluritai did well to defeat the newlyformed Miramar Grounds Club. The latter’s four men are all Brougham Hill Club players who show brilliant flashes interspersed with unaccountable bursts of extravagant inaccuracies. Miss Shortt, of Muritai, is undoubtedly a junior player, and in some quarters she was even suggested as being worthy of consideration for inclusion in a Wellington representative team. The position of Miss Tucker is peculiar. I personally believe she is correctly graded at grade 3. Did she but put her mind on the. game her grading would easily be m higher, for she has the strokes. She played off against a lady for fourth position in the Miramar Grounds first team a*d won. She did not play in the senior team, however, because the club secured the services of Mrs. Pen' lington. Both Miss Tucker and the lady she beat were then placed in the third grade team. The Association Committee refused to allow the defeated lady to play (considering her senior rank), but has permitted Miss Tucker to remain in. A strange proceeding, surely. The problem of a standard below third grade confronts one in the Trentham Defence A and Berhampore clash. Both are minor clubs, and Trentham could only win 2 matches in the 12.

Jliss Nessie Bell, of the Newtown Club, should not be long before she is considered too good for third grade. The Newtown ladies altogether were too good for Mitchelltown. Taita and Victoria University were evenly matched and are good average third grade teams.

Primary Schools Tournament. One who has witnessed primary schools’ tournaments for many years, and is well qualified to comment on them, has expressed the opinion that the ctandafd of play this year among the school children who competed was of a higher average than in previous years. The girls’ tennis he considered to be higher than the boys, generally speaking. The outstanding performer of the tournament was, in his opinion. M. Huggins (Upper Hutt), winner of the girls’ singles championship. Not since Nancy Curtis (now Mrs. Sturman) won the event has he seen such a brilliant player in the event as this girl. By no means possessed of a pretty style she is none the less effective. With an abundance of confidence and self-assurance, plenty of energy and strength, resource, and ingenuity, she hits hard. The ball travels like greased lightning. Her opponent in the final (G. Jones, of Eastern Hutt) is a stylish and a good player, but she was forced always on the defensive. There should be a great future for M. Huggins if she sticks to the game seriously enough.

The quality of' Ayres’ "Championship” Tennis Balls is a tribute to the skill of British Workmanship. Perfect in flight and bounce. Britain’s Best Ball.—Advt. (6)

All the world’s tennis champions and leading players consistently use Spalding Tennis Balls This proof of Spalding superiority is backed in New Zealand bv its adoption by the Auckland Lawn Tennis and other leading associations. Made in England.—Advt.