LAWN TENNIS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 47, 23 August 1930, Page 23

LAWN TENNIS

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ANNUAL MEETING

NEW ZEALAND RANKING List

HELPING JUNIOB PLAYERS

The annual general meeting of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association, will be held in the Chamber of Commerce room on Friday, 29th August, at 7.45 p.m. The association still continues to increase its membership. There are now 20 associations affiliated, and the membership is 28,690. Canterbury heads the lists with 5269 members, while Auckland is next with 4584. Then comes Wellington with only 2811, followed by Waikato 2352, Otago 1719, Hawkes Bay 1392, Taranaki 1318, Wanganui 1103, North Auckland 1079, Southland 1074, Manawatu 1041, Wairarapa 854, North Otago 743, Marlborough 632, South Canterbury 543, Poverty Bay and East Coast 535, West Coast 485, Nelson 448, Maori 363, and Thames Valley 345. The aggregate membership shows an increase of 1628 from last year. During the last ten years the membership has increased by 15,958, and if all the clubs in New Zealand would only affiliate, possibly over 10,000 more" members would be added to the present total. The report shows that the past season was a busy one, and from a tennis point of view a successful one so far as catering for players was concerned. Our players did not show to advantage against the Australian team, the reason being want of good, hard practice^ together and also lack of team combination in general. Next Championships at Auckland. The Canterbury Association has accepted the offer of the New Zealand championships for 1930 on Wilding Park, and has recommended that tho tournament be held on 26th, 27th, 29th, 30th, and 31st December. At present a resolution, provides that the championships shall not be held earlier than mid-January. A motion will be moved at the annual meeting to rescind that, and the Management Committee recommends that the selection of dates j for the championships in the thiee centres —Auckland, Wellington, and Christchureh—should be governed by the conditions usually prevailing in those centres during the months of December, January, and February. The latter part of the motion is as follows: "That the New' Zealand championship meeting be held on dates between 20th December and 15th January, such dates to be fixed by the Management Committee after consultation with the association in whose territory the tournament j is to be held, and that the location for the championship meeting be announced by 21st July in each year." Banking List. The ranking of New Zealand players is always' somewhat of a puzzle owing to the fact that some of the leading players lack sufficient performances. E. L. Bartleet appears to have been lucky to be placed No. 3, as he only had Auckland performances as a guide against other New Zealanders, and had he been placed at the head of the Auckland contingent it was all he merited. On performances I. A. Seay was also well treated, but it is hard to rank players who have only about two performances to judge by. One player appears to have been missed from the ladies' list, and that is Mrs. N. Thompson. She deserved to come in about sixth, as she was in the third round of the New Zealand championship singles, the same as Misses Knigh.t and Whyte, but she also reached the final of the New Zealand doubles and won the mixed doubles; Taken generally, the ranking cannot be taken exception to by anybody, as it is hard to classify players unless they have played in several tournaments, but those with but few performances should not be considered, and should come •tinder the heading "insufficient data." Junior Tennis. The committee is bringing forward at the annual meeting a scheme for fostering junior tennis, and delegates will be able to see at once that it is a matter

for their associations to show whether they are in earnest about the younger players or not. The scheme, if taken, up by the associations, should go a long way in assisting the juniors,'and should in a very short period enable the governing body to go a step further and. engage a coach for the sole use of the junior players who show promise. The' twenty affiliated associations must realise that it is to their interest that the juniors in their respective district* should be encouraged to play a better game, for the junior player of to-day, may be the champion, of the near future. It is in the hands of the associations to say whether there will be a junior New; Zealand Association or not. ■ New Zealanders Abroad. Cambridge University played against D. Poweil's VI. about ten days before the Wimbledon championships started. C. E. Malfroy showed good form by defeating G. K. Brewer, .6-1, 6-1, but Cam* bridge's top man, E. E. Avory, wai beaten by C. H. Campbell, 7-5, 14-12. Avory and Malfroy beat Campbell and A. G. King, 6-2, 6-4; beat D. Powell and Brewer, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; but were beaten by H. Hunt and D. E. Putnam, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Cambridge won. by 7 matches t» 4. Three days later Cambridge met a team from the All-England Club. Eight matches were played, and the All-Eng« land side won by 6 matches to 2. H. W« Austin and 6. P. Hughes had a great fight against E.E. Avory and C. E. Malfroy, and the All-England pair just won out, 6-4, 5-7, 8-6. Avory and Malfroy beat O. G. N. Turnbull and M. D. ■ Horn, 6-1, 10-8. The Kent championships were played at Beekenham, and E. D. Andrews beat W. A. B. Collins, 6-0, 6-2. The latter is a brother of I. G. Collins, who was a member of the British team that visited New Zealand in 1928. In the second round Andrews put E, Crawshaw Williams out 6-1, 6-1, but F. J. Perry beat Andrews in the next round, 6-1, 6-4. The winner went down to H. G. N. Lee, the British Davis Cup player, in the semi-final, 6-3, 7-9, 6-3, and then H. W. Austin beat Lee in the final, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. C. H. Kingsley.and Andrews beat E. T. Barnard and H. L. Hollas, 6-1, 6-0, in the second round; then, beat J. H. Frowen and W. A. E. Collins, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; but E. Miki and F. J. Perry beat ' the English-New Zealand combination in the semi-final, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5, and the winners accounted for Aus- ; tin and J. S. Oliff, 9-7, 8-10, 6-1, in the final. F. J. Perry beat I. Gr. Collins, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, and as he was beaten by : Lee, a line can be drawn as to Perry's and Lee's form, which must be good, as Perry disposed o£ Andrews somewhat easily. The surprise of the'singles was Gregory's defeat by Austin, 4-6, 9-7, 7-5. The latter is usually better in the best of three sets than in the best of five sets. Another unexpected result was the downfall of Gregory and Collins in the;third round of the doubles, CroleEees and Eames beating them, 6-4, 1-6, 13-11. The winners then went down to Austin and Oliffi, 8-6, 1-6, 7-5. Big Gates. > Last Saturday, when Athletic Park was full almost to bursting point, a spectator who is solely a Eugbyite started barracking a companion, who happened to be a tennis enthusiast as well as a follower of the Eugby code. The main pait that reached "Huka's"_ ears wai that Eugby outclassed tennis as far as a "gate" attraction. /'Look," said the Eugby follower, "we have close on 50,000 here to-day. Your show has never had that in any part of the world," Possibly it may interest these two men who spent some time in. - argument, that at the French championships, recently played at Stade Eoland Garros, 94,500 spectators paid for admission. The "gate" amounted to approximately a million and a half francs, which is about £12,000. The ground has seats for 9800 spectators, though that is not the limit of its capacity. For twelve days in succession the championships drew daily a crowd of over 7000 paying spectators. "Invitations" per day totalled 800, of whom 250 were players, 200 officials, staff, and people who are described as being "entitled" to tickets, while 200 are invitations in tho real sense of the word, and 150 are journalists. The Wimbledon championships even go one better than that, as last year some£3s,ooo was returned to the unsuccessful applicants in the ballot for seats. ~ The charges to witness the Davis Cup challenge round, France v. the United States, was, chairs about £10 each, and standing room, 10s each. It is not known if a band was provided at those prices. ■ ■ .