LAWN TENNIS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 54, 27 November 1929, Page 8

LAWN TENNIS

By

“FOREHAND"

INTER-CLUB MATCHES NORTH ISLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

The first challenge match in the senior A grade of the Wellington Association interclub matches was played ou Saturday, when a strong Wellington Club team had to submit to defeat at the hands of not the strongest Brougham Hill Club team, the first holders of the challenge trophy. Brougham Hill were minus the services of A. L« .-I? rimce <ui(l Miss M. Tracy Fourth places in the team were therefore filled by C. Fi Williams and Miss D. Howe. One of the greatest pleasures was to see that the IV ellington Club had included Roussell, the New Zealaud junior hard court champion, and he proved himself in every way worthy of his place. ■ People remembering that Mrs. R. P. Adams was once New Zealand champion and also that Miss M. Tracy (who was selected to play No. 3) had a national reputation, expressed surprise that Miss M Williams was played in No. 1 position for the ladies. The surprise comes from the fact that few outside the chib understand the rules of selection that obtain at Brougham Hill—rules that with advantage could be followed in many another club. First is the rule never- to take any notice of performances outside the club itself. Sonic will remember that the year Mrs. Adams (then Miss Arita Howe) won the New Zealand ehampion-, ship she had to play second to Miss M. Tracy in the interclub matches, as Miss Tracy was the club champion. Miss Williams is placed first iu the Brougham Hill team because she is club champion'. Another thing to remember is that the runner-up for the club championship is not necessarily the second player in the club or placed No. 2 in the team, for it is possible the runner-up may have been helped by the luck of the draw. Positions apart from club champion are determined on merit of performances in the club by the match committee. Those not satisfied with their placing have the right to challenge the jflayer next above in the team when selected. If the challenger wins, he or she does not immediately take the place of the defeated player, but only after the conclusion of the match for which the team was selected. That is to say, a team has been selected to play against, let us say, Wellington Club. A player challenges the last player in the team and wins. The defeated player still plays in the matches against the Wellington Club, but afterwards must give way to his or' her club conqueror. This method has been the result of experimenting, and serves to give every en - couragement to club members. In the challenge match on Saturday, Wei lington . Club, although beaten .41—5,.. were not disgraced. Mollison, their new number ■ one. could scarcely be expected to beat D,. G. France. None the, less he. fought well, and the quality’of TiiS game may be judged from the fact that he is placed ahead of B. O’Brien, whose hard hitting and harder fighting have made him a previous provincial representative. Mollison is a hard hitter, too. wicnout much guile. He will be beaten less by strength than by earcful placement. In his . driving on Saturday he was not always accurate. His service, a reverse one, has more pace and deception than the general run/ D. Dobie and B. O’Brien fought another of their many backline, hard hitting duels. Dobie, who Is a left-hander, possibly because of first-of-the-seasjn strangeness to grass, seemed to have lost much of his old-time accuracy. Both O’Brien and Dobie play a type of game that never alters. When a ball comes to the forehand, that is the signal to clout it. In defeating Smith, the Hawke s Bay champion, in the third set, after being down 2—5, M. G. Moore put up his best performance of all his Interclub matches Last season he seemed almost to throw his matches away. On Saturday he played much more confidently, but less recklessly. His placing and driving were sound, his volleying and serving were good, and he ran valiantly after anything that seemed at all possible of getting to. Smith, too played well, and in the first set and part of the third, outplayed Moore with brilliant drives down the sidelines, and fine smashes. Like many other players, however, he could not maintain the pressure and inacciwacies, instead of serving to steady him, made him fall into still more errors He was weakest in his volleying. He has a delightfully free-and-easy style. The Williams family have justly earned the reputation ,in tennis of. being fighters to the end. and with the exception of I. 8. Williams, who has broken away * from the family tradition to indulge a more versatile and attacking game, they are steadiness personified. But C. F.'s steadiness in driving on the forehand (he runs round the ball rather than play a backhand) availed him not against the all-round game of Roussell. Roussell, by fine, accurate driving, backhand and forehand, frequently ran Williams right out of position, and then took the net and volleyed or smashed for the winner. There is no reason why Roussell should not make rapid strides. . ' , The steadiness of Miss M. M illiams had little chance against the aggressiveness and severe cut drives of Mrs. W. J. Melody. When playing with the light breeze behind her Miss Williams several times completely outplaced Mrs. Melody. Mrs. Melody however, even against the wind, was keeping for the most part a good length to the corners. Miss Williams made some very good volleys, but generally she was

in this department. When Mrs. Mefody had the breeze behind her she had Miss Williams defending all the time, and while the latter returned several times the severe drives on the backhand, it was there where she was most decisively beaten, • Miss V. Shortt found Mrs. R. P. Adams in rood form, and although Miss Shortt p aixffi some delightful drives, both backhaiid and forehand, she was caught times out of number with Mrs. Adams s severe forehand drive to the corners. The pace wls too hot for Miss Shortt tu cope with. Miss Shortt, too, was hitting many of her drives too low and so finding the net. ■ Ml„ F North has always proved herselt to be one of the most reliably players, min or woman, in the interclub matches, and it was unfortunate for Miss Young that she should catch her right on form. Besides a natural cut stroke that does not seemto take much pace off the ball, Miss North keeps a beautiful length, and places to -Ive the opponent the maximum ot runn°ug about. Miss Young chased valiantly, but s too often netted her drives after gettl”lrst°Slu?phynwar always a trier against Miss D Howe, who was driving souudly backband and forehand. The Wellington Club player fought all the way, making some tine recoveries. . X do not intend to go into details much concerniug the other grades, except to say that there appears to be cases calling lor regrading by the Wellington Management Committee I previously expressed, the opinion that Khandallah would be better in the junior grade. That opinion received further confirmation ou Saturday by reason of Khandallah's hollow victory over Miramar Grounds. Wadestown might perhaps go down to at least the intermediate Sl The Lvall Bay team In the senior B -rade is‘most unevenly balaii|eed. It. has one man who is definitely a aenjor A play er, another who is a possibility. Hie lenuiinder of the team should not be h gher than junior, and some not above third has a very strong third grade in the intermediate grade. Victoria’s win over Brougham Hill was by a matter of but three games, after sets were equal at 8-all, that club is to be congratulated on the progress it is making.

Miramax and the Championships.

The following is taken from the tennis notes in the Christchurch “Star :— “Canterbury decided to protest against the Wellington Association borrowing fcuUU from the New Zealand Association on the security of an iron grandstand. Uns stand is now on the way to New Zealand and will be used in the New Zealand championships, to be Held at Miramar in Januar "Canterbury’s objection to the loan was probably to a certain extent influenced by the knowledge that Miramar is not a suitable Place to hold a championship meetin*- Wellington is well known for its wind, but ona calm day in Wellington Miramar has a strong breeze. A. well known player, who put in five years play at Miramar, once said that on only two occasions had lie seen the day calm ou. has its own tennis writers to blame if Canterbury thinks that the New Zealand Association is in favour of making Wellington the permanent home of the championships. The New Zealand Association has bad the same officers it for vears. They are all Wellington people, ’so they feel the inconvenience of travelling to Auckland Christchurch tn manage the national championships. How much nicer.it would be if the tournanient was held in Wellington. . “In a recent/number of Tennis’ is an article on New Zealand by a well-known Wellington tennis writei. He savs: ‘There is as yet no fixed abode for "tlie championships, the bohiir held alternately at- Auckland ana Christchurch. Very shortly it k?D ed t have a permanent home in Wellington, where 72 courts are now under construe U “Not onlv should Wellington not be the X r d inWeningm. 0 They have a Wellington outlook,"

T. Rhodes-Williama.

“T. Rhodes-Williams,” say? a Christalso trouble Glanville. geV Rhodes-Williams won in the third set. RhnriPK-Williams has never met Au»as on the grass In the Linwood championship final Pair met, and Rhodes-Williams ied 6—o, 4—3, aud at this stage he smashed the two centre strings of his racket. It is possible but for that that he would have won. The match was. not a true test however, as neither was in good the ex-Wellington player has shown enouffh to prove he is going to De a great asset to Canterbury tennis. He beat B. B. Loughnan last week, b—-, tr-A* Rhodes-Williams ranks No. 1 in the Cashmere Club. It is stated that he will be playing witli I. A. beay in the Canterbury champlpnshfp doubles. Last year thev won the Easter event. He is-playing with Miss M. Andrew in tlie Christmas tournament, and with Miss M. Make m the United Club championships. It is stated also that N. R* C* will be paired with A. Steadman, of Auckland, in the New Zealand championship doubles. Mrs. W. J. Melody and Mrs. Scott (nee Miss Jean McLaren) will play together in the ladies’ doubles.

North Island Championships Tournament. I have received a programme of events for the fourth annual North Island championships tournament, which is to be held this season at Wanganui on January 1,2, 3 and 4, 1930. and following days if necessary. The Wanganui Association has well deserved the honour, and no pains are being spared to make the ten grass courts of the Wanganui Club in perfect condition. The committee, besides being an energetic one, is comprised of men who know tennis from the practical side as actual plovers of tlie game. It is most pleasing to know that the lion, referee is Mr. Stan. Powdrell, whose enthusiasm has done so much for the game in Wanganui. All entries for the various events, accompanied by entrance fees, must be in the hands of the lion, secretary. Mr. A. W. J. Peacock, Box 234, Wanganui, by Tuesday, December 24. The draw will be made on December 28 at 8 p.m. Dunlop balls will be used and there will be no adjournment for lunch. The committee reserves the right to seed the draw, and, in the event of wet weather, to shorten the games. In the handicap events the committee reserves the right to rehandicap players and also to divide the handicap events into two classes. Play will commence at I) a.m. on January 1. The North Island championships comprise men’s singles and doubles, ladies’ singles and doubles, and mixed doubles. There are also handicap events of the same class. The men’s singles and doubles championships are best of three advantage sets, except, tlie finals, which are best of five advantage sets. Ladies’ singles and doubles, and tlie mixed championship, are best of three advantage sets. All the handicap events are best of 17 games, advantage in the final. It is anticipated that the entries for the championship events will be of such a class that the tournament will lie almost, if not quite, the equal of the New Zealand championships tournament. E. D. Andrews.

E. D. Andrews, who performed very finely at Eastbourne when he won the South of England championships, went down in the final at Gleneagles. 6—4, 6—2. to W. H. Powell. Powell, who played third to Austin and Farquharson in the .Cambridge University team two years ago, has the reputation of being a hard man to beat because of the way he gets everything back. One who has seen him play has expressed the opinion that his service is weak, and he volleys very little, relying almost entirely on a strong forehand drive. In the final at. Phyllis Court, earlier in the season Andrews beat Powell by two sets to one. Lust year '.l.' S.'Olllff boat Andrews ill tlie final at Gleneagles, after Andrews had beaten Olliff in tlie final for the North of England championship at. Scarborough.

THE CHOICE OF A TENNIS BALL. Kurd Kozeluli, the world’s professional champion player, writes: “Whenever I can choose the hall, I always select Spalding’s. I use no other rackets but' Spalding’s.” Ask for Spalding’s.— Advt.

Bight through the Tennis Season the over-played muscles are sore and still, the joints ache and pain. Keep the muscles fit, the joints supple with ELLIM AN’S EMBROCATION.—Auvt