TENNIS UMPIRING

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 104, 26 January 1933, Page 11

TENNIS UMPIRING

Recent Tournament Held at Wellington ,

CANTERBURY DISSATISFIED

‘'We were beaten by a better team,” was the expression of opinion given by several members of the Canterbury lawn tennis teams that played off against Wellington for the Wilding Shield and the Nunneley Casket, on their return to Christchurch. Nevertheless, there was considerable dissatisfaction with the umpiring. All had comments to pass about the continued foot-faulting of the Canterbury players, which they held to be unjustified and unreasonable. Mr. J. Mercer, the manager of the Canterbury team, stated that out of the eight members of the two teams, Miss Dulcie Nicholls and Miss Thelma Boole were the only ones who did not suffer in this manner.

“It seemed,” he said, “that the umpires had had instructions beforehand to look out for foot-faults, and that they did not think they would be doing their job if they did not call out occasionally.”

Emphasising the importance of the matter to the Canterbury players, Mr. Mercer pointed out that C. Angas had been leading D. G. France 3-love, when he was first foot-faulted. After that he was foot-faulted twice every time he served. W. B. Robinson was an even worse case, continued Mr. Mercer; he was foot-faulted “no end of times.” On one occasion he was foot-faulted three times in succession on his service. He, like Angas, was thrown off his game by the continual calls. Miss Edna Rudkin had also suffered. On one occasion, as manager of the team, he had challenged an umpire on a call, asking him on what he based it. The umpire had told him Miss Rudkin was “swinging.” It was recognised, said Mr. Mercer, that the umpire on the box could not see a foot-fault of that nature and he had pointed this out, asking leave to appoint a line-umpire. This had been granted, and he had also advised Miss Rudkin to stand back a bit from the line when serving. Yet even after all this the box-umpire had called footfaults on several occasions. N. R. C. Wilson was the only other player who seemed to have foot-faults called against him. Mr. C. Angas stilted that it was not so much the faulting which upset the players as their lack of knowledge of how they were offending. He had asked line-umpires to direct him on one or two occasions and they could not tell him clearly what was wrong. “Andrews was very impressed with Angas,” said Mr. Mercer. “He told me he was a very difficult player to beat. Angus’s strokes had caused hini more trouble than those of any other player ,in the Dominion.” A number of people had been rather disappointed with Angas’s showing against Andrews, but when Andrews had later beaten Malfroy so decisively they had changed their opinion. In the Nunneley Casket contest the Canterbury players’ type of play was definitely superior to that of the Wellington players, with the exception of Mrs. Dykes, Mr. Mercer said. The Wellington women still played a baseline game, keeping the ball in play until the point was won. Some of the Wellington juniors were verv impressive, Mr. Mercer continued. Bedford, who won the junior title, played a remarkable game, and the other finalist, Page, was also a good type. Bedford had given W. G. Robertson. of Timaru, a bad fright in the final of the intermediate. It was only the latter’s greater experience which enabled him to stave off defeat. Mr. Angas also commented on Bedford’s play, describing it as similar to Noel Wilson’s.