LAWN TENNIS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 6, 2 October 1929, Page 8

LAWN TENNIS

“FOREHAND”

By

NORTH ISLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

WILL THEY BE AT WANGANUI?

As Wellington apparently has not put in a claim for the North Island championship tournament this season and Wanganui has, it is to be hoped that that association will secure the right of staging it. While this tournament has not worked out as satisfactorily as was anticipated, last season witnessed easily its greatest success, and for this credit is due to the energy, enthusiasm and enterprise of the secretary of the Wairarapa association, Mr. H. M. Boddington. He left no stone unturned to secure an entry that was almost the equal of the New Zealand championship tournament one. If the mountain will not come to Mahomet, then Mahomet must go to the mountain. If the entries would not come in of their own accord, then must the secretary go out into the highways and the byways and bring them in by dint of personal contact and the power of persuasion. This Mr. Boddington did, and he had his reward. It is one of. the duties of the New Zealand Association to see that the tournament is held only in that centre where players will be most readily catered for, where the playing facilities are fully up to championship standard, and where the enthusiasm is greatest and the organisation efficient. Among the minor associations Wanganui must hold strong claims. The city itself is a tennis playing one. The Wanganui Club has ten grass courts that will be, with the season’s play, among the best in New Zealand. As a valuable auxiliary St. John’s Club has six grass courts that are being made into excellent condition. Should rain interfere with the grass courts, then St. John’s Club has seven good asphalt courts and Gonville Club six asphalt courts. Another factor of moment is that of situation. For the purpose of a North Island championship Wanganui occupies a very central position as from Auckland and Wellington and all else between. Where time is a factor this is a most important matter and is a great contributory in the securing of the necessary entries from the best players. Wanganui Association is organised on sound lines and the authorities are very keen to get Wanganui as the locale of this year’s North Island tournament. They are prepared to make big sacrifices to get it. They feel that they are about due for that consideration to be extended to them, They know that the presence of such a tournament in their midst will give an added impetus, a greater zest to the game in Wanganui.

Silver Buttons. St. John’s Club, Wanganui, has a competition called the “Silver Button Competition” that might well be followed by other clubs throughout the Dominion. Because it has its basis on competition it is a valuable adjunct in improving the standard of play in the club. Silver buttons have been presented for doubles play (men’s, ladies’ and combined), the winner to hold them for a week against challenges from all'comers on the Saturday or week-end, with the proviso that the challenges must not exceed three for the day. Challengers may, of course, team as they please, but having done so they must, if successful in winning the buttons, keep that same team Until defeated, when they may, if they choose, search round for another partner to have another shot at regaining them. The matches are best of seventeen games, and they cause a great deal of interest among spectators and a great deal of keenness among the players themselves. They represent most praiseworthy effort to instil life and excitement into club play. It is a most original scheme and worthy of consideration by other clubs. There is ■ nothing like tournament play to improve the standard, and this represents a step towards the securing of tournament play. No provision is made for singles because on Saturdays and the week-ends there is no room or time for singles matches. Mention of St. John’s Club brings also to mind that its star member is M. L. Lampe. What he has done to advance that club is incalculable. There is no more enthusiastic man in New Zealand tennis than he, and he has imbued the majority of his cluJ, mates with some of his enthusiasm. He may be seen, almost any time, playing with players several grades below him for the reason that by doing so he will help raise their standard. And the members are quick to appreciate the opportunity offered them. Lampe, though he may have the strength of a giant in a tennis sense, never uses it as a giant against these weaker players. His consideration for them is delightful to witness. Not that he by any means plays patball. He plays merely to keep them stretched to their work all the time, and he helps them along still further by kindly words of encouragement.

What Lampe does among the men, Miss Myers is doing no less efficiently among the lady players. St. John’s Club also includes among its members Miss Mary Purcell, who won the girls’ singles in the New Zealand junior tournament which was held in Wellington last season. The Grip.

In my last week’s notes I had something to say on the choice of a racket. I tried to make plain that the most important thing was to select a racket the handle of which fitted comfortably into the hand. This week I would like to add a few words on how to hold the racket while playing. The grip most favoured is that where the hand is well behind the handle and so making racket and forearm in the same straight line. The effect would be as though you were hitting the ball full with the open hand swinging well out in a horizon-

tai position. If it is not possible to hold the racket so that racket and forearm are in the same straight line then try to get as near to it as you comfortably can. Many players hold their _ racket handle exactly as they would a hammer or an axe. Be sides putting a big strain on the wrist, it results in great loss of power. It is a tendency with the English men players and is one of the causes why their game lacks severity. By keeping racket and arm in the same straight line you are able to deal the ball a much more forcible blow with a minimum of effort. Some player* like to hold the racket at its extreme end. Others again like to have the button just comfortably touching the centre of the wrist where the hand commences. Personally. I think that method has great advantages as it gives the comfortable feel that the racket is correctly held, presenting a full open face to the ball. Between strokes the racket should be lightly held, the left hand supporting it at the splice. This is done to relieve the player of some of the weight, for in a long match a racket can become very heavy. When making the stroke, however, see that the racket is held firmly so that it will not slip round in your hand, and on no account loosen your grip until after the ball has been struck.

To play the backhand stroke requires a changed grip and the change is effected by turning the band back towards you until the knuckles are more on top of the handle. This turn of the hand allows of a comfortable grip being obtained and prevents that stilted style one so often sees of playing the backhand stroke with the same racket face as for the forehand. With the changed grip the ball is hit on the backhand with the opposite side of the racket as for the forehand. Bv many the placing of the thumb along the back of the handle 13 grcatlv favoured on the grounds that this steadies the racket. If you find you can keep your thumb there comfortably and that it is an improvement by all means put it there. But not everyone can do so. Others again place the thumb diagonally across the back of the handle, while others again just close their thumb round the handle natural to the position ot their hand as they grip the racket for the backband. AH these ways are matters of personal preference so long as they help you to play with the racket face opposite to that used for the forehand, help you to swing comfortably without straining the wrist muscles, and help keep arm and racket in the same straight line. E. L. Bartleet.

While certain of the positions accorded the plavers may be open to criticism, generally speaking the New Zealand ranking committee has not done its work badly. It has at least sought out the best men and women. After long striving, E. L. Bartleet has at length achieved the height of his tennis ambition to be New Zealand champion. It is not of bis performances but of his play that I would here say someare very fortunate to have in their midst such a player as Bartleet. He is a model of correct style, and one on whom the keen player would do well to found a sound forehand and backhand drive and excellent service. Bartleet is probably the finest server in. New Zealand, even though, at his best, Sturt may be a little faster. Bartleet is not tall or verv solidly built, yet by throwing the ball up so as to utilise all his inches, and also to permit the weight of his body to go into the stroke, be gets speed and accuracy without sacrifice of physical resources. Also ne uses his head well in placing his service. As with his service so with his driving, both forehand and backhand. He gets all the weight of his body into tfie stroke, and this with perfect timing, makes the ball travel fast with a minimum expenditure of energy. Bartleet, too, keeps a good court position. A baseliner by preference, he can move quickly over the court, but, because he does all his running between strokes he seems always to be moving easily and freely, conserving always bis resources. The result of sound coaching received in England, be plays every shot as though it was, and indeed is, the chief business in hand. The ball comes from his racket cleanly to the desired part of the court. He may make mistakes, but they are mistakes inseparable from the game so long as mortals are not infallible. If his game has any weaknesses it is in a little uncertainty overhead (though that is not always so), and the fact that there is not a sufficient variation from his plain, well-placed, driving game. He has not a great assortment of strokes even though the ones he has are so fine and have been sufficient to win him the New Zealand championship, and to hold him among the outstanding players of the Dominion for so many seasons now.

Ye Ancient Game. While the game of tennis in the sixteenth century was not by any means the game of lawn tennis as we know it to-day, the following account of a match taken from a book published in 1593. “The Parlement of Prattlers," by John Eliot, bears many recognisable features for the present day. To the tennis player they will be apparent without the necessity for elucidation. THE TENISE-PLAY. John: Shall we play a set at teniae, you and I? Nich: Let’s go to the great Bracke at White-hall. John: Where is the maister that keeps the tenise? Man: Here I am, sir, what is your pleasure?

John: Give us some soft and gentle shoes here. Backets and balls bring here, ho. Nich: Well, play. John: I have fifteene. Nich: A losse. marke that chare there. John: Fifteene all. Nich: This racket is not worth a rush. John: Some more rackets, ho. Nich: Now give me a faire ball. I cannot take a ball above hand, nor at rebound. John: The chace is mine. Nich: I am thirtie. John; Thirtie all. NiHi: Aske siandera by, I touched ft not. John: Fortie five. Nich: At dews. then. John: A ball. I have the advantage. The set is mine. I will bande a ball moi* than six score paces mounting, with this racket which you refuse. Book here. Nich: O divell! What a stroke is that. You have an arme of iron.