LAWN TENNIS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 112, 5 February 1935, Page 13

LAWN TENNIS

Nunneley Casket PLAYERS REVIEWED A Brilliant Canterbury Pair (By Forehand.) Canterbury is to be congratulated, on winning the Wilding Shield and “the Kathleen Nunneley Casket, the two principle teams’ trophies for lawn tennis in New Zealand—the former for men and the latter for women. One who must be given credit for the Canterbury victories is Mr. Mercer, manager of the Canterbury teams, who gave his players every encouragement and imparted to them some of his enthusiasm to do their best. He counts no sacrifice of tinfie or money too great if he can see his team fight for victory i.n .the true sporting spirit, and if defeated, accept that defeat with equanimity. Canterbury is indeed fortunate to possess such an enthusiast.

Wellington had high hopes of victory in file Casket matches. The team —Miss Dulcie Nicholls (New Zealand champion, and champion also of Manawatu, Hawke's Bay, North Island and Wanganui), Mrs, N. St. Clair-Dickson (Wellington champion) and Misses Freda Fernie and Freda North, was quite a strong one. It is true that Miss Margaret Whyte, who had played her way into the team, was not available.

An Unexpected Defeat. One of the setbacks that Wellington sustained on the first day was the altogether unexpected defeat of Mrs. N. St. Clair-Dickson. 'Wellington had high hopes that its two ton players would not be defeated. Mips Dulcie Nicholls upheld her reputation by winning all her matches decisively. Mrs. N. St. ClairDickson went down to Miss M. Sherris, the Canterbury champion, in straight sets, after making a great recovery from down 1-5 in the second set to s_-all. nnd had a very hard task to beat Miss Edna Rudkin, Canterbury number two, in three sets.

Except in the.doubles when her lobbing was a great feature in the success of her side. Mrs. St. Clair-Dickson was not playing up to form. She was slow in moving about the court, and her stroking, particularly on the forehand, was very laboured. Miss Sherris beat her because she was able to force the pae'e with fast drives to the corners, particularly the forehand corner. Miss Rudkin would have won had she been able to keep up the same forcing tactics with which she started.

An Attractive Player. Miss M. Sherris is a most, attractive player on the court nnd a trier all the time. Because she plays the ball early she is liable to slumps and to periods of great brilliance. There is no half-way house about her game. At Miramar she was fortunate that the slow courts gove her the chance to play her fording shots, for she does not defend. Had Mrs. St. Clair-Dickson been able to get length and speed into her shots instead of half-court balls that bounced straight up. she might not have gone down to defeat. What she did against Mrs. St. ClairDickson. Miss Sherris was ou the way to repeat against Miss Dulcie Nicholls in the second set after losing the first set to love. For a quarter of an hour she gave an example of inspired hitting on both wings forcing Miss Nicholls into errors, mainly on the backhand. Some of the forehand drives Miss Nicholls did not even go for recognising the impossibility of dealing with (hem. But the effort left Miss Sherris exhausted. Then Miss Nicholls came into her own. Exploiting every shot from the backline, and placing carefully to make Miss Sherris run, she won six games in a row for the set and match.

A Graceful Player. . Miss Edna Rudkin is a big-built girl who while not moving very fast about the court moves very gracefully, and is seldom out. of position. There is a quiet dignity and restraint about ail her game. For her forehand drive she gives a peculia’r flick of her wrist just before hitting. Her timing is good and the ball travels fast, long and low when she is on her game. Because she uses her height and hits the ball at the top of its bound she is able to keep a perfect length when playing at her best. But she is not a confident player and a few. mistakes make her cautious and afraid to hit out. Hence her length gets short and from being the attacker she becomes the defender. Her slowness in moving about the court makes her late in getting to very short halts and these she nearly always nets. In her volleying and smashing too she is very uncertain, preferring to block the ball ratlier than punch it hard. Her smash, indeed, is very poor for one of her height. She docs not get. over the ball but is inclined to hit under it. Decent smashing and volleying would have won her singles against Mrs. St. Clair-Dickson and would not, have prolonged the doubles against Misses North and Forme. The shots that were giving most trouble to Mrs. St. Clair-Dickson wore just the sort of strokes that Mjs's Dulc'e Nicholls won aces on. The matches showed how much better than nny other woman player in Now Zealand Miss Nicholls is. A Brilliant Pair.

It is impossible to speak too highly of Misses Thelma and Irene Poole. They were the admiration of the crowd for their sportsmanship and the jolly way in whidh they played. They were full of the joy. of the game and as happy as larl:s. Even the crop of mistakes they made which lost them the first set against Miss Nicholls and Mrs. St. Clair-Dick-son did not damp their ardour. They were full of energy, and in singles and doubles were racing about the court after everything. Their objective was always the net. From there they made brilliant volleys and smashes and very poor ones. They scarcely knew what it was to exercise restraint. Seldom would they place a smash if they could clout it. But their smashing is wrongly done in the sense thn, they do not try to get over the ball. They just swing into it and hit. If they hit too hard then the ball, unable to fall in time, goes well ..out of court. If they i‘iin correct this defect there is no reason why they should not win a New Zealand championship doubles, and indeed, become one of''the finest doubles pains seen in New Zealand for many years.

They think as quickly ns they run. They show how they can rend the minds of the opposition nnd make brilliant interceptions from the net. Not only do they make the net their objective but their ground strokes are sufficiently accurate nnd fust for (hem to get to the net. It is difficult to drive them from (lio not when once they ore there. Mrs. St. Clair-Dickson solved Ihe problem when she resorted to lobbing, That resulted in an alteration of tactics, the Poole sisters adopting the one tin and one back formation. In that they showed themselves also masters, As much ns possible they kept the ball nwnv from Miss Nicholls and bombarded Mrs. St. Clilir-Diokson. She stood up to it well playing her backhand with the accuracy for which it is noted. But Miss Irene Poole from her backhand court was not one whit behind Mrs. St. Cliiir-Dickron in plnving the backhand stroke. Miss Nicholls at the net became merely a spectator, Miss Thelma Poole at the net liad other designs, however, and waiting the opportunity time and time again ran along the net ami volleyed down the middle for the winner. But these two girls are not only brilliant doubles players, they are no mean singles players. This they showed in their victories over Miss North and Mis' Fernie. They drove hard and deep and they were not afraid to take the net. The Wellington women are not used to meeting such a form of attndk as that and were unable to cope with the whirlwind. Variety Wanted. The time has now arrived when Miss Freda Fernie should cultivate a lob mid

a cutstroke to be used as a variation with her plain driving. Her forehand and backhand drives are beautifully played. The way she leans in to her shots is a treat to watch. All this makes for good timing and when she does not have to run for the ball she can be very accurate When she has to run for the ball, however, her footwork goes astray _ and _so she nets on the forehand, or hits wide over the sideline on the backhand. She plays every ball with the same swing and at the same pace so that an opponent after a few games knows what to expect. She knows nothing of the subtleties of change of pace and length and she cannot condeal the direction of her shots. The lob and a cutstroke would give her a very much needed variation in her game. It is a pity if she is not encouraged along these lines for she is too good a player to be let slip without, some effort on the part of her club and the Wellington association to get the best out of her. Miss Freda North was the cutstroke player of the two teams. She played exclusively from the baseline and her method was to drive to the corners alternately to keep the opponent always on tho move. Many times in going for these shots she sliced over the sidelines. Very rarely she went to the net but when there she did not volley badly. She could not cope with the energy of the Misses Poole and because her shots cleared the net at a high trajectory, they Courageously stormed the net and placed the volley out of her reach. Miss North was unable to stand the pace these two girls set in their respective matches. She was too slow on the heavy court and her slow service was not effective enough. Miss North was seen nt her best in the doubles when she played with Miss Fernie. Her lobbing and driving were very accurate and nearly won the match against Misses Rudkin and Sherris.