LAWN-TENNIS. (By "Huka.")

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 77, 30 March 1912, Page 15

LAWN - TENNIS. (By "Huka.")

Last Saturday was an ideal day for the raokafe wielders, and all the courts were fully engaged At Thorndon tho final of the men's handicap singles was due to Finish. SWinston had heaten Lalshley in tho semi-final, and had to meet Parker in tho final. Parker had a big start, aud many rockoned that he would win in sots straight; but after tw.o sots had gone the score was one set each. In the third set Swaflston had n lead- of a few game.", when, to everyone's surprise, ho in some wp£ cJr .ot^er pu]),'his kneo out. It was a very,- bad twist, _ and considerable lime elapsed before it was got into place again. The popular "Swanie's" luck has bedn out this season, but his many friends will be pleased to h«ar that he is about again, and that he hopes the stiffness will coon leave hi* knee. It would be a bad thin^f for Wellington tennis if this enthusiastio'player were to bo plaoed aside; h* is one we can ill sparo. 1 trust that he will soon be his vigorous self .again; that it is the general wish of all who know him. EADIES' TENNIS. The ladies of several of the clubs arranged progressive tennis afternoons during th« se»66n. The Wellington Club ladies in particular have been keen in that direction, and, have playad several matches. On Wednesday four Wellington Club players were invited to the Hutt, and had an enjoyable afternoon's tennis. On Monday the Wellington ladies play, at Newtown. These games are purely social, although small prizes aro given. It would appear that the ladies have hit &,_yory "good patoh"; on© that the men are out of. Perhaps this has come about through the ladies' ■ and men's inter{club matches being separated- A 'certain*' amount o£ pleasure was taksn a way "from: the club matches by, making them distinct from one another,. and possibly th© ladies have now successfully filled the gap. At least Homo of them have. Tho writer honestly, believes that there was. more -enjoyable tennis when^fhe result of tho combined doubles often settled whether a win or loss was to be marked down. of course, from the male point -it is, no doubfc better-that r th© men-should hay« their solid-afternoons tennis. "'For all that, would it not be possible for the clubs to have one Saturday —or two even — sot apart for the playing ,of combined doubles against some of the other clubs? , Or it'might even bo possible to 'nave - . challenge matches. INTERPROYINCIAL TOURNAMENT. The North Island interprovinoial team matches' to be played at Auckland have not given rise to the enthusiasm expected. Auckland has picked Keith, Eobson, Quinnell,' and Wj A. Brown to represent ■ that city, but no other teams have been ' heard of ac yet. The Wellington association hu not so far picked any team, and 1 it is liwdly likely that players will pick themselves. Players do not care to send their names in, as they are afraid that it might be taken as presumption, The only' ir»y to tackle'the task is for the association to give the lead, as it should do in tho interest of the. sport and in fairness to Auckland, where the events are to b» . played this year. Invite players individually'to go, telling them the conditions, and then'should it be found impossible to get a team, no one can point at-,the association, and challenge it with want" of interest in the matter. Definite information should ■- bo received from the senior players, and ', surely a fairly good team could be got' , together. Even if it is beaten, an appear - : - anoe,-with » loss, is. better'than; no appearance at all. It should be Remembered . that Wellington' will have the meeting ' sooner or later —that is, if the movement is not killed in its infancy through lack ; of interest on the part of'the associations that have arranged it. A PROMISING -PLAYER. < Young Wilding, a promising player; of ; Christchurch, has been transferred' to Suva. ' .- ' TENNIS IN AUSTRAXIA, ;In the Western suburbs singles cham- , plgaship,' ik fe B*'Jones..heatJE. Rice, $-5,4, / $ff%« B#tei|s§^, br^therl^ tsl Dfrial Clip representative. jB. L. Jones beat IL I Marsh (who was lately in England), 6-4;. 6-3/' M- tA- Parker.and./E. C Anderson :- 'jbe'at'Jadßton'and- Webb' n^tho-doubfti? 16-*, 6-2. The result of the finalß are not yet to hand. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. South Australia beat Victoria in the inter-State match at Adelaide by 14 . matches to 7 in the men's gamee, and by 7 in&tckes to 5 in the ladies' contests. Taylor (who has been also successful in beating H. Rice of Sydney, in the championship singles) beat Holland, of Victoria, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. In the singles, Miss t Wilmoth beau Mrs. Rowe, 6-5, 6-0; but the latter turned tha tables in the championship singles, and beat the Victorian 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. This clearly shows that a winner of a two-set match may not see out a three-Bet go. In the inter-State match Mrs. Rowe just lost the first set, which, consequently^lost her the match} but in the championship she took the first set, lost the second almost as badly as she did in the inter-State, and yet '•nine away in the third, and won handsomely. Miss Parr,_ a player who has bsen to the front in. tennis for many years past, beat Mise Watson,'of Victoria, in the inter-State, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. Mies M. Addison was beaten by Miss , Lovely, 64, 6-2._ The loser is not thei Victorian champion. OLYMPIC TENNIS. •"• Wilding and Doust will represent Australasia m the tennis championships at Stockholm, Wilding having decided to make the trip. The events are to be : played in May and June, and will include singles and doubles on grass and on covered courts. Our representatives should hold their own. on the grass, but the French ohampions—Decugis, Laufentz, or Gobert—should shalce them up on the covered oourte,, as the Frenchmen are more accustomed to playing matches ufiQer covered court conditions. Still, -.the New Zealand and Australian combination will take some beating. Should they be in form and condition, the writer looks for a win for Australasia in both contests. It is donbtful if any other 'combination can trouble our representatives,' unless some unknown champions spring into light. INTER-CLUB MATCHES. The t senior inter-club matches being over, it is now possible to say something about the ©onipetition. 'Victoria College, Wellington, Newtown, and Brougham Hill' entered teams; the Thorndon Club, which has admittedly the strongest men P»ayen»> stood out. Now, why 6hould this be? If the inter-club contest does not give good enough tennis, then something should be provided to bring the players of all senior clubs together- In other centres we find the beet players competing in the inter-club events. In the writer s opinion, a club that does not enter a senior team in the inter-club competition should not have any of its playera picked for representative matsbes. Fancy ,a cricketer v oiT footballer being mcked'itt a Representative team without having represented'his club in the interclub matches of .the season. If any club has, players bo far above the" players in Other'cltlbs,- surely 1 it Is-tune that the inte'ir-club. eyent was made- a • handicap one, ; and . then the top-notchere would have to more than extend themselves to win. . Is it that all the good players are slowly, but surely, collecting in one club, where 'grass play is procurable? If so, then the sooner the association moves and gets grass courts somewhere handy, so that players can have evening games, the^ better for the sport- It is 6uch conditions that exist at present that cause players to say: "Tennis is dormant" this season.