LAWN TENNIS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 87, 11 January 1928, Page 7

LAWN TENNIS

■ THE FIRST TEN LADIES

The outstanding feature of the play of the ladies in the New Zealand tennis championships, was. in singles, the fact that nearly all of them played almost entirely from the backline. These matches largely comprised deep driving, which was generally of a high standard in consistency and accuracy, if not in pace. There was a tendency noticeable in most ladies of playing their backhand shots with their weight on their left (or back foot), that is, going away from the ball .instead of having their weight on the right (or front) foot—that is, their weight going into the shot. This defect was responsible for so many errors and weak returns. The ladies who took the net consistently might be counted on the fingers of one hand. They were Miss M. Speirs, Miss Tracy. Miss Partridge, Miss Knight, and Mrs. Penlington, and Miss Myers. When any of these ladies took the net, they went right up, no stop half-way. Although they might miss their shot, it had to be conceded that seldom did they go to the net on the wrong ball. All of them, when playing from the baseline, maintained their court position well, that it, behind the middle of the baseline. Miss M. Speirs.

Miss M. Speirs has won the singles championship of New Zealand for the third time. Her three wins have been in Christchurch, and the twice she failed in her defence of the title was in Auckland. In .1924 she was unexpectedly beaten by Miss Ballantyne, and in 19~b she was overwhelmed by Mrs. It. 1 - Adams (nee Miss Arita Howe). It is important to insist on this latter match, as Miss Speirs was then beaten by a type of game which will always beat her. A type of game, that is, that will keep her always moving backwards and forwards, not merely from sideline to sideline along the baseline. From back-court, Miss Speirs drives beautifully, although her footwork is faulty. Her drive is made when she faces almost full to the net, her feet being almost together. Her shot in this position carries both pace and depth, and is generally a sound shot to take the net on. Against the majority of players from there, especially if she is at ail confident, she can win, her volleying and smashing are excellent. At r best they are faultless. The game pr,'d by Mrs. Adams not only prevents Miss Speirs from making her drives without she runs for them (in which case Miss Speirs loses accuracy), but effectually prevents her from taking the net. When Mrs. Adams strikes form, Miss Speirs become merely an average player. It is necessary to state that Miss Speirs. because of the admiration the Canterbury people as a whole have for tennis, and their pride, in her, completely dominates Canterbury'players, and they are beaten almost before the' match begins. The same applies when she meets most players from other centres. That was how she beat Miss Tracy, and also’ Miss Knight . She cannot so impress Miss Macfarlane and Mrs. Adams, and that is why she is liable at any time to be defeated by them. A player is very precariously situated who can give of his or her best only in his or her own home town. Miss B. Knight.

“The palm without the dust.” The victory without the struggle. In these are Miss Knight’s chief weaknesses, tor in stroke equipment she is brilliant. At her best she will smash and volley like a man, and always are her steady drives, backhand and forehand, directed to the onei aim of allowing her to get the net. Unfortunately for her, these days are most rare. Not for her is the dogged intent to stick it out to the end. It is unfortunate, because for just the want of that determination, New Zealand loses a a brilliant lady player who would bid fair to rival the performance, of Miss Nancy Curtis (now Mrs. Stunnan). Miss M. Macfarlane.

Miss M. Macfarlane has had a long sojourn in England and on tlie Continent, and considerable interest was taken in her on her return to New Zealand,, and her prospects in the New Zealand championship freely discussed. Well, those championships are now over, and Miss Macfarlane come away from her match with Miss Speirs with an enhanced reputation both as regards her play and her sense of sportsmanship. In this latter repeat she is unexcelled in New Zealand, and I have seen her correct an umpire in a wrong decision, when by doing so she placed her opponent in the position of having two match points. As the championships progressed, it was seen that Miss Macfnrlane’s game had improved. She now no longer dashes in and. swats a short shot so hard that it hits the back stop on the full. Those shots she plays carefully and correctly. . While her forehand drive still retains its rugged strength, her backhand is beautifully played, and is as much an attacking weapon as her forehand. She plays her backhand with her weight right into the shot, while her forehand is played perhaps a little too late, the weight being more on the back foot -instead of oy the front-foot. When drawn to the net (sh« does not go there by choice), her volleying and smashing are good. She has cultivated a chop stroke, and every time in Christchurch she played she won the point. She chose her time to play it so well that the element of surprise was complete. I would like here to take this opportunity of stating Wiat a too rigid attention to what in the past were undoubted defects in her play (defects she has now gone far id remedy), has perhaps prevented me from doing full justice to a magnificent sportswoman. If she will only now learn to mix soft shots cleverly in with her hard ones, it will affeet a further great improvement. It is pleasing to be able to record these impressions of her. Sirs. R. P. Adams.

It is within Mrs. Adams’ power to be as well known throughout New Zealand tennis under her married name as she, was under her maiden name of Miss Arita JHowe. It is one of the defect? of her qualities that her club mates seldom see her .play that game which she does when the importance of a big occasion demands it. Perhaps a certain care lessness and playing for the fun of the thing has much to do with this state of things. Be this as it may, Mrs. Adams at a big tournament and in form is one of the finest lady tennis players this Dominion has produced. 1 would emphasise the words “in form.” She then calls the tune to which the others must literally dance. No lady player can then approximate to her in tlie number of earned placements, as with a mixture of length and pace and perfect placing, she works the opponent off the court, and whips over her cross-court drive that is unique in New Zealand. Mrs. Adams, too, is fast developing as a combined and mixed doubles' player. She was perhaps tlu most unfortunate of all the lady players at Christchurch, for, as she was on the day she met Miss Knight, almost any other competitor in the ladies’ singles could have beaten her. She is definitely superior to Miss Knight, and, I make bold to add, in form, she would beat Miss Speirs, in form, as decisively as she. did in Auckland. She plays just that type of game to do it. It is a pity, however, that Mrs. Adams makes no serious effort to strengthen her backhand and seek to make it aggressiveMiss M. Tracy. One must record a distinct falling off in the game of Miss M. Tracy, compared with last year. She is less confident in her singles’ play, and seems almost to, play without strength. Her strokes are still there, unequalled in perfection in New Zealand, but there is not the same certainty of result. She is making more mistakes in her volleying and smashing, while too much of her play is down coin - : rather than to the sidelines. I’erhap-'. however, the slump is merely a passing phase, and that we will again see Miss Tracy in the heights. She has more strokes than any other -lady player in New Zealand, and more than most men. and her footwork is unrivalled. Much of her failure, I think, is attributable to the fact that her lightness of build is against her standing up to the strain of a heavy tournament, and so give of her t best throughout.

Mrs. W. J. Melody. Mrs. Melody, against Miss Andrew, and even in her game against Mrs. Adams, showed glimpses of that form that made her New Zealand champion. But her game has a sameness that, when once got used to, presents few difficulties beyond that presented by the effect of a heavy cut drive. It is to Airs. Melody's great credit that she has sought to cultivate a backhand, and she made several fine shots with it. Many of the juniors could take a lesson from her in fighting with determination, even when all chance of winning has gone, and in accepting defeat cheerfully and without complaint or excuse, and, in victory, without boasting. To beat Mrs. Melody one must vary length and pace, and keep her moving, and, above all, keep her from the net, for siiCjVolleys well and smashes well. Her severely cut drive has length, and pace, and even though she now plays some backhand shots, she prefers, when possible, to run round (he ball and play it forehand, thus leaving her open to be beaten by a return to the forehand corner. But that she must still be reekom.il with may be understood from her victory over Miss Myers, and the fact that she took Miss Tracy to three sets last wi-ek. Miss Pattison. Miss M. Pattison, who - lays a quiet driving game, and when at the net volleys well, is somewhat too slow at getting off the mark in going for a ball. It is her chief defect, but a great one. She made a big mistake in trying to play Miss Macfarlane from the backline. Miss Wake. Miss Wake is noted lor the steadiness of her backline play and her stamina. She has little to show in the way of variety, but she has plenty of determination. It is this and her steadiness that make her a very difficult opponent'to beat. Mi>s J. E. Ramsay. Miss J. E. Ramsay is a cutstroke player almost entirely. She presents some difficulty until one gets used to her shots, and then she ceases to. be dangerous in first-class company. Miss Speirs concentrated on Miss Ramsay's backhand, and so prevented Miss Ramsay from indulging her favourite pastime. Mrs. _. W. Campbell. Mrs. B. W. Campbell was unfortunate in meeting Miss Speirs in the first round, as against some qli the others she would have probably pul. up. a good performance. Mrs- Campbell s weakness on the backhand is one mainly to the fact that she plays that shot when facing almost full to the net instead of getting well round sideways, so that she may swing her arm and racket freely. It was to her backhand that Miss Speirs devoted her attention. Miss M. Myers. Miss M. Myers plays a strong game from first to last, and never lets up. Slit is not, however, always accurate. This is due in some measure to her impetuosity. When driving on the forehand she swings tlie racket very far back- She lobs well when occasion demands, but her volleying and . smashing are inferior to the rest of her game, even though she occasionally brings off some brilliant shots. She dues not vary her pn.ee much. She gave Miss Tracy a big scare. Miss M. Andrew. Miss M. Andrew is one of whom Canterbury may well feel proud, for she plays high-class tennis, having a beauti ful drive, a service like a man, confidence to take the net, and great speed over the court. Not being used .to Mrs. Melody’s cut drives she did not know how to deal with them. Nevertheless, she sent over some stinging drives. Her game will no doubt show considerable improvement, for it is solidly based in all essentials. Miss M. East. The steady baseline play of Miss East, with deep driving, was playing too mucn into the hands'* of Mrs. Melody to give Miss East much chance of winning. In Miss East’s singles’ play there is a too great a sameness. With Miss Myers she played a fine game against Misses Macfarlane and Knight. Miss E. Partridge. Miss Partridge is inclined to be somewhat inconsistent, and when on her game is very hard to beat, because of her fine driving and net play. When below her best she makes far too many nets rather than outs. Mrs. E. M. Penlington. Mrs. Penlington did very well to take the first set off Miss Wake, but it was because her peculiar cut drive was worrying the Canterbury player. Mrs. Penlington uses her deep drive to follow to the net on whenever possible, and is often unfortunate enough to fall into many volleying and smashing errors from there. Who Shall Be the Ten? Who then shall be the first ten? It is a difficult question. Certain positions are practically assured, and those I place Miss M- Speirs (Canterbury), Miss Mac farlane (Auckland). Mrs. R. P. Adams (Wellington), Miss M. Tracy (Wellington), Miss B. Knight (Auckland), and Mrs. W. J. Melody. Then for some of the others one must look away from the last New Zealand championships altogether. I do not think a New Zealand first ten would be complete without Miss F. North (Wellington) in it. She is a remarkably steady and persistent player, whose shots are not easy to handle, because of their length and the cut that is on them. She also volleys well. Next, I would add Miss Wake (Canterbury), who gave Miss Knight such a good run, although ,slie dropped a set to Mrs. Penlington. Then Miss E. Partridge, I think, is entitled to a place. Again coming away from the tournament, I am convinced that tenth place could be filled by a bracket, Miss M. Williams and Miss D. Howe, both of Wellington. While Miss Williams is a sjonetValler who gets everything back with shots that are difficult to be driven, Miss Howe plays a strong varied game with drives that whip off the court. She can both attack from the net and defend from the backline with equal soundness. She is quick to seize the opening, and never does she let up. In this latter feature Miss Williams resembles her. The great thing about Miss Howe's play is that her weight goes into her forehand drive, and the ball gathers pace from the ground. Miss Williams’ shots do none of that. Indeed, their slowness and their high bounce mid variation in length make it difficult for Miss ’Williams’ shots to be driven without great care. Both Miss Williams and Miss Howe are adept Jobbers, when necessary. Both are not beaten until the last point is played. Of the two Miss Howe has the greater possi-bilities-by far because of the soundness of her ail round style of play. She is rapidly developing a game without weaknesses, in which even her backhand is an aggressive-and very accurate weapon. She might even be higher placed, notwithstanding the fact that about a month • ago Miss Williams won a trial match in three hard sets. Since then Miss Howe on handicap 6 in the Brougham Hill Club handicaps, beat Miss North (owe G), 40—29. after Miss North was within two of her at 21 —19, and in the final she beat Miss Williams (handicap 4), 40—25. My first ten’, therefore, are: Miss M. Speirs (Canterbury), Miss M. Macfarlane (Auckland), Mrs. R. P. Adams (Wellington). Miss M. Tracy (Wellington). Miss B. Knight (Auckland), Mrs. W. J- Melody (Wellington), Miss F. North (Wellington), Miss Wake. (Canterbury). Miss E. Partridge (Wellington), and Miss M. Williams and Miss D. Howe (Wellington), bracketed.

Tennis enthusiasts are looking forward to the coming visit of the French players. At their exhibition matches next month thev will play with Ayres’ C.S. balls exclusively. ' British-iriade, highest grade.—Advt.