LAWN TENNIS PLAYERS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 5, 6 July 1928, Page 7

LAWN TENNIS PLAYERS

LADY WAVERTREE'S VIEWS THE PLACE OF BRAINS (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 2nd June. . Lady Wavertree, the only woman councillor of the Lawn Tennis Association, contributes an article to the "Evening News," in which she discusses some well-known exponents of the game. Lady Wavertree ventures tho opinion that Lord Birkenhead, a follower of the game, would have mado a fine player if he had taken it up at an early age. He had some unique shots which have baffled some good players. "It can be said of poor Tony Wilding that the outstanding feature of his game was bis great physique. "With Mr. Roper Barrett it is brains—brains all the time. He did great things because he is clever. "In the days when he played regularly in tournaments he just wilted his opponents when they carhe on the court. He magnetised them in some way—he drew their teeth—ho blunted their swords—he threw shadows across their path—he seemed to alter the dimensions of the court so that his side was so much smaller than the other side that his opponent could not hit into it. Violent forehand drives became tameless efforts, his short lobs were mere snares. Tho opponent was 'Barretted,' which moans, in other words, 'flabbergasted.' And Mr. Barrett was made up of sheer mentality. He is a great personality in tennis and a real dynamic force on and off the court. "Perhaps Lord Birkenhead may be regarded as a somewhat clever selector by the inclusion of Mr. Barrett in his team (continues the wriier), but he had a second string to his bow in Mr. F M. B, Fisher, who, like Mr. Wilding, is a Nev Zealander. . "Mr. Fisher is an expert on 'angles' and 'drop shots/ whilst his overhead smashes are an object lessor to the younger generation. It may be said with a great deal of truth that the University teams who visit Lord Birkenhead invariably depart for home knowing a great deal more about the game than when they arrived. "My mention of Mr. Fisher and Mr. Wilding impels me to say a few words about Mr. Norman Brookes. If sheer genius ever governed the play of a great champion it surely is accountable for the immortality of Norman Brookes. He has not physique—that is to say, physique as the term is translated intomeasurement in inches. Thin and spare, with slender; limbs and form and thin plant wrists like a conjuror's, Norman Brookes is certainly one of the most uncanny players that ever stepped cm to a court. "He combines superb confidence, an inflexible determination, and a wonderful spirit of—if I may use the term —conquerability. He is a unique player. A left-hander, playing always with a racquet that all other players would despise, this steely-wiry genius can nose his way through in the most desperate encounters. Ho plays shots that no other players play, and ho plays them just when one least expects them. Mr. Brookes is a wizard. There is no other explanation to offer."