LAWN TENNIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13781, 20 June 1908, Page 8

LAWN TENNIS.

After striving for seven years, Mr. A. j W. Bore has regained the covered courts; lawn tennis championship. In the challenge : round at. Queen's Club on Monday last ho j defeated Mr. A. F. Wilding (the holder) by"! three sols to one, the scores in Gore's lav- j our being 4—6. fc—6, 6—o, £—6. j Wilding's failure may have been due to { the effects of influenza, from which he was suffering a few days previously, and it is j not surprising in the circumstances to bo j told that his play lacked the dash which j is usually its strongest point. His volleying ] is described as having been especially weak, j the ball being quite as often sent into tlie j net as not. | On the same day the challenge round in the. mixed doubles came on, last year's holders (Mr. Wilding and Miss EastlakoSmith) again proving successful against Mr. Ritchie and Miss Greene, after a curiously uneven game. The holders over-wound (.rem- I selves in the first set, and came badly to | grief in the second. Wilding won the opening game of the final set in business-like fashion, but the steadiness of the opponents would not . be . denied, and they soon led three games to one. It required no little dash, and brilliance to make headway against the studied accuracy and steadiness of the challengers. From this point Wilding and Miss Eastlake-Smith played like champions (according to Mr. Poidevin) and won the next live games off the reel. Thus they retain the championship they won for the first time last year, the scores being: —1, 1-6, 6-3. In the challenge round of the gentlemen's doubles championship Messrs. Wilding and Ritchie (holders* were successful against Messrs. Gore and H. Roper (challengers), the scores being : 6—3, 6—2. 5—7. B—6. Tins, I may note, was the first time Wilding played after his attack of "flu." But his physical weakness was Dot demonstrated until the third set. On the opponent side Roper Barrett lacked adequate practice, so the contest was handicapped. In combination these two factors led to Ritchie and Wilding _ losing the third set at 75, by which time Barrett was betting into his stride. The fourth and final so-: was for some lime in .doubt, but Wilding made a very plucky effort, and Ritchie was complimented for his steady and pertinacious play. The holders were just able to avert misfortune— misfortune which, in -view of j Wilding's rapidly diminishing strength, j would probably have cost them their titles, A book called "The Complete Lawn Ten- ;• nis Player," written by Mr. A. Wallis j Myers, has just been published by Messrs. j Methuen. The writer mentions that dawn j tennis lias ' become a world-wide game, j Courts are to bo found in eve;-" European j country and all over the world. Its popu- ! larity is well illustrated by its progress in New Zealand. Thus: " Some idea of the ! growth of lawn tenuis in New Zealand may i he gathered from the fact that, the New Zealand Association has now affiliated to it nine district associations, two sub-associa-tions, 123 clubs, and 7110 playing members, I At the championship meeting held at Christ- ! church in 1906 there wero no fewer than j 429 onirics for all events." I