LAWN TENNIS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 142, 16 June 1923, Page 17

LAWN TENNIS

FOOT-FAULT RULE.

[BY "HUKA"] THE DAVIS CUP

IRELAND BEATS INDIA

PREPARING FOR THE WIMBLE^

DON TOURNAMENT.

The team that has been selected to do battle for the British Isles in its future Davis Cup matches does not appear to be overstrong. Lycett may be all right, and is the best of the %ir. Gilbert and Godfree, however, do not appear overstrong, and J. P. D. Wheatley is absolutely of the new school. Possibly the "Reform" party has had something to do with the new biood that is in the team, and should the team not be successful this year the experience gained may help it further afield in the future. The British Isles has to muft rfpain in the next round, and the Englishmen will have to be going at top to win three of the five matches. At the Roehampton championships Wheatley had a very hard task in beating N. H. Latchford, a schoolboy champion, 7-5, 6-4, in the fourth round. In the semifinal Wheatley caught P. M. B. Fisher on one of the latter's erratic days. Norton, the South African player, put Wheatley out in the final very easily, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. In the doubles, Gilbert and Greig beat Fisher and Harris in the semi-final, 10-8, 0-6, 16-14; and Lamb and Wheatley beat Lycett and Wallis Myers, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. 'in the final Gilbert and Greig beat Lamb and Wheatley, 6-1, 3-6, 5-6, 6-2. S. W. Harris, who played with Fisher, is the wellknown Blackheath and English international Rugby footballer, who only took up tennis two years ago while in" South Africa, and Roehampton was his first English tournament. One would not be at all surprised to hear of the "selected" players being beaten in the championships at Wimbledon by such players as, Kingscote, Norton, Lowe, or somo Irish player, and should the Wimbledon week be a dry one th.? French and Spanish players will exte.nd all-comers. The defeat oi India by; Ireland in the Davis Cup contest came as a surprise, as it was reckoned that Fyzee and Co. were good enough to beat anything that Ireland could produce, but despite the internal trouble a Davis Cup team was got together, and a sensational victory won. Ireland has now to meet France in the second round. Parke, the famous Irish player, cannot play for Ireland, as he played for the British Isles in the past. The British Isles will play Spain at Manchester to-day. The crack Spanish player, Manuel Alonzo, seemingly has not recovered from the illness that overtook him during the Barcelona tournament, as Count de Gomar and Eduardo Flaquer will do battle for Spain. H. Cochet, the French player, beat de Gomar in the semi-final, at Barceloifi 3-2, 2-6, 6-3, 8-6, 6-2, and put J. B. Gilbert (British Isles second player) out in the final 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. At the same tournament, J. Samazemch (France) beat E. Flaquer (Spain),' 6-2, 6-4, 6-3, but was beaten by Gilbert in the fourth round, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5. When the writer said that the British Isles team would have to be at its best to win three matches from Spain, it was with the understanding that Alonzo would be leading the Spanish team. Lycett and Gilbert should both be able to win all their singles matches—in fact the British Isles ehold have a 5-love victory. ;•■'

WILL MDLLE. LENGLEN WIN?

The critics are puzzled at the form produced by Mrs. Mallory, the United States' champion lady player. She has been beaten badly this season in most of her matches on hard courts in France and England, her latest defeat being at the hands of Mrs. Clayton in the North London championships. Mrs. Clayton, who in 1920 was the East of England champioij, was defeated this season by Mrs. M'llquham in the semifinal of the London County Clubs' championship, 6-4, 6-2. Miss Holman beat the winner in the final, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2. Then in tho Canforde championship singles' final at Hampstead, Miss Holman beat Mrs.. Clayton, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. At Boehampton Miss Kitty M'Kane (England's hope) beat Miss M'llquham in the semi-final, 6-0, 6-1, and won the final* beating Mrs. Beamirii, 6-2, 7-5. Mrs. Mallory may show some of her brilliancy of the past at Wimbledon, and it is possible she is working up that meeting— Americans train absolutely different to any other players when bent on securing a particular event. In the Middlesex championship singles (grass courts), Mrs. Mallory beat Mrs. Beamish, 7-5, 6-2; Mrs. Clayton, 6-4, 6-2 (semi-final); but in the final Miss M'Kane beat Mrs. Mallory, 6-3, 6-2. This goes to show that the American is better on grass than hard courts, but if Mdlle. Lenglen is defeated it will be by an English and not an American player. Should Miss Kitty M'Kane be able to win the first set, or even run it to an advantage set, against the French lady player, she may secure the match, for she has greater lasting powers than Mdlle. Lenglen. The latter so far has not lost a set this sealon JSi singles. Mrs. Mallory's stay of six weeks' along the Riviera was welcomed by all tennis enthusiasts on the azure coast, but the American player could not strike form. She was beaten by second-class players through not being able to become accustomed to .the glaring light. Still she stuck it out, being unwilling to default, a fact which was largely commented upon by the galleries that turned out to see her in action. Had she done so— and many players would have defaulted with even less justification—she would have disappointed thousands of tennis followers, many of whom bought tickets solely on tho expectation of seeing her play, and her refusal to retire when she could not strike form was a great act of sportmanship. At Nice, Mile. Lenglen beat her 6-0, 6-0; but at Cannes the following week she showed flashes of her real game, and beat in straight sets a most promising young Greek player— Mile. D. Vlasto, 7-5, 6-3. Then she met Miss Kitty M'Kane. The latter took the first set 6-4, but the American won the next two, 7-5, 6-4. She slumped again against Mrs. Beamish, who beat her 6-2, 9-7 in the semi-final. A week later, at Beau Site, Mile. Vlasto beat Mrs. Mallory 8-6, 9-7,,' and in the following round put out Mile. Alvarez, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Mrs. Beamish beat Mile. Vlasto in the semi-final 6-3, 6-2; and then was beaten in the final by Miss Kitty M'Kane, 6-2, 6-2. Mile. Vlasto and Mile. Alvarez aro young players who have come suddenly to the front in the course of the Riviera season, Mile. Vlasto has a most- powerful forehand drive, but her backhand is purely defensive. When she can become aggressive with backhand drives she should be able to hold her own with the best of the present-day players.

EX-PREMIER?

It is often said that one has to go abroad to gain fame, and the following, which appeared in "Lawn Tennis," the official urgan of thu English Lawn Tennis Association, bears it out;—"On bin mission tv tho West iudios, tv» Bt>». Jt\

M. B. Fisher happened to be in Bermuda at the time of the Bermuda championships (leave F.M.B. alone for that—"Huka"), a meeting sanctioned by the United States Lawn Tennis Association in a British possession. As a curtainraiser the ex-Premier of New Zealand played an exhibition game with Lawrence B. Rice. ■ . •" The genial

"Dahn" has occupied many positions, but it comes as an eye-opener, to New Zealanders at any rate, to see it published that he was an ex-Premier of "God's Own Country." F. M. B. Fisher, by the way, won the mixed doubles championship . of the London Country Club, at Hendon, with Miss. Harvey, beating Miss Holman and Ramaswami, the Indian player, in the final, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. He also reached the final of the men's doubles championship with Inglis, but went down 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, to Norton and Helmore. At Roehampton, Norton and Miss Colyer beat Fishev and Mrs. Beamish in the final of the mixed doubles (Surrey hard-court championship), 6-2, 6-1. Fisher is classified as one of the best mixed doubles players, and when his partner is a good volleyer the combination is very hard to beat. F.M.B. is always in training now, and is fit before a tournament starts, consequently he is playing better all-round tennis than he ever showed in New Zealand.

The editor of the American "Lawn Tennis," in commenting on the new foot-fault rule, says:—"The essence of the rule is that, from the time the server stands at rest to serve until the racquet touches the ball, both feet must remain behind the base line, and at least one foot must remain in continuous contact with the ground. To this extent, therefore, the enforcement of the foot-fault rule will be easier than in the past. That it should be enforced is quite beyond dispute. If the service is not properly delivered the whole fabric of laws falls to the ground. To violate the law by inches and by feet or yards is a difference of degree only ; no one would think of permitting the server to stand at the service line or midway between it and the base line." Recently a motion was moved at the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association's meeting concerning the foot-fault rule, and the real reason for moving it was that the rule was not being observed in New Zealand ; in fact, those who would have enforced the rule in matches were not at all popular, and were not wanted. In America all base linesmen are regularly reminded that it is their duty to judge foot-faults as well as balls that go over the line. Some day it will be the player who foot-faults that will be unpopular, and not the linesman who judges fairly for both sides.