TENNIS WONDER

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 129, 4 June 1927, Page 3

TENNIS WONDER

MISS BETTY NUTHALL

HER LATEST ACHIEVEMENT

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 23rd April. Miss Betty Nuthal!, the not-yet-16----year-old lawn tennis player, is coming more and more into the limelight on the courts, and Mr. S. N. Doust anticipates that England may regard Jier as one who is likely to win, at a not very distant date, the highest honours in the game. This authority further comments:— ...

. f'Miss Nuthall can. no longer be regarded as a junior in lawn tennis. She is now a tall and strong girl, and has developed that flourhand drive which I noticed four years ago, into a powerful weapon of attack which for sheer pace has few equals. Her whole game has improved not only through playing in tournaments, but also by hard'work and hard thinking. Miss Nuthall has become one of our leading women players, and at a very early age." A few days ago she defeated Miss Lumley Ellis by 9-7, 6-2 in the women's final of the Surrey Hard Courts Championship at Roehampton. ..Thus she gained her first big open championship since competing in the senior, ranks. Two years ago'she won a women's championship at West-gate-on Sea, but the opposition then was by no means so strong as that in the Surrey championship. On the way to the final Miss Nuthall beat such accomplished and experiencel players as Mrs. Lycett, Mrs. Stocks, and Miss M. "Valentine with the loss of only one set. The experts agree that Britain's girl prodigy is as far advanced as the great Suzanne was at the same age. She.will not make her Wimbledon debut this year, because her mother feels she is too young, ut she will doubtless have an opportunity of winning the highest tennis honours in 1928.'

ABILITY TO SPUET.

In the semi-final round against Mrs. Lycett, Miss Nuthall began like a, whirlwind.' Her opponent, though pl&ying woll, could do little against such a withering onslaught.

After taking the first set to love with the loss of only ten aces, Miss Nuthall (says the "Morning Post") became just a little too exuberant, and her valiant hitting was less adequately controlled. Mrs. Lycett was thus given a respite of which she made the best use, and throughout the. second set the play was dead level, each player vicing with each other most ably in the length and the strength of her drives. Mrs. Lycutt had the lead several times; bu£ Miss Nuthall finished off the mat-'. from 6-7 down at 9-7 with a fine spurt—the third in three consecutive matches.

The ability to spurt was also shown by Miss Luinley Ellis. She won the first set from Mrs. Macreatty at 7-5, after being 3-5 down, and the second with a run of five games at 6;3, after being 1-3 down. This was an achievement against an opponent who had beaten Mrs. Bruce-May; but it must be remembered that Miss Lumley Ellis, when she is in the vein, is an exceptionally fine player.

Finally, Miss Nuthall beat Miss Lumley Ellis. This (again to quote the 'Morning Post") was just an ordinary match raised from the level of. the commonplace by the fact that the contestants were two young girls of charming mien, who, when they failed, failed gracefully.' They had both' played far better in their previous matches. In the first set Miss Nuthall Js hitting power, discounted by numerous errors, was further discounted by Miss Lumley Ellis's retrieving power. She flitted about the court so industriously that she led by' 3-1, 4-2, and 5-3, and later after being caught, by 7-6. But from thi3 point onward she fell off somewhat unaccountably, and Miss Nuthall, without making anything in the nature of a- great effort, was able to finish the match off with the loss of only two more games.

TEMPERAMENT AND STAMINA.

A writer in the "Evening News" comments:—

'' One must, I fancy, go back to the days of Miss Lottie Dodd to find a parallel for the present-day achievements of Miss Betty Nuthall. It is safe to say her latest title either on rubble or grass has never been .won by one quite so young. It may be of inierest to mention in passing, however,. .that Miss Lottie Dodd, the wonderful girl champion of the 'nineties, who took part in the champions'. jubilee procession last summer, won the All-England title at Wimbledon at fifteen. •

" Although Miss Nuthall is very tinlikely . to achieve a similar distinction her tennis has. undoubtedly 'grown up' with her. A year or two ago her build, to speak frankly, did not suggest high honours at the game; shingled, taTler, and slimmer, she was decidedly impressive in the Surrey final. Girl contemporaries may possess more finished styles, but she holds the whip hand in temperament and ttomina—tap of .the greatest assets at tarn tmjris.'V