LAWN TENNIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19415, 25 August 1926, Page 16

LAWN TENNIS.

LEADING PLAYERS' METHODS, ; HITTING THE RISING BALL. COMMENTS ON WIMBLEDON. BY SIDELINE. Interesting comments on tho Wimbledon jubilee tournament are mads by Mr. R. J. Coates, tho well-known Parnell player, in a letter to tho writer, " Many of the leading players," says Mr. Coates, " hit at the rising ball as Brookes does. This is difficult and leads to more errors, but it gives the ball more pace and the return is quickei than the server anticipates. Borotra, Cochet and others stand one yard to two yards inside the backline. Their return meets the server at his service line, and he cannot make a ' kill ' so easily. " The text books have for years required the feet to be at right-angles to the net and the body turned sideways with tho feet parallel to the desired line of flight. I carefully watchc-d the best drivers, Cochet, "Lacosto, Richards, Brugnon, Van Lennep (the Dutch electric driver), Mile. Lenglen, Viusto and Mrs. Godfree, and none of them do as laid down in the books. They, more especially the French, play of? the right foot, and jerk tho body into the ball as they strike, something like Griffiths' action. The feet are not at right angles to the net, but what golfers call the ' open stance.' They all keep tho arm straight and keep away from tlio ball. How Champions Practise. " Most of our Auckland players err in their methods of practise. When about to play in a tournament a player will get another of his own strength and go and play, say, five sets. Now the leading players here do not do that. They go and practise strokes or, if they play games, they do not keep count of tho sets or bother much about the score. " For half an hour I watched Mile. Lenglen practise hard against Brugnon. First she served six balls from each corner for, say, four minutes. If, of course, any servo was right, the rally was kept up until an error. Then Brugnon drove everything to her backhand for a time, then all to her forehand, then she practised cross-court driving on both wings. She then advanced to the service line and he drove at her to practise her low volleying. Then he drove at tho sides to practise her half-volleying. Finally, she advanced to the net and he tossed everything to practise her smashing. Ho Long Rallies. " The top playersdo not keep the rally going. They close in on tho net as soon as a good length or well-placed ball is played. Players do not always follow in the serve, but, say, two out of five. The best English players, Austin, Lester and Kingsley, all young men, are great ground drivers, but rarely come to the net, and so the French players, who are equally good from the back of the court and come in after a good drive, always beat them. , "When Borotfa came in ho came rightin within one yard of the net and risked the toss. If ho got his racquet on the return he won the volley. Richards, Cochet and Borotra are splendid in the air, particularly at tho high toss, They bend back like, Laurenson used to do and get all theif weight into it. It was thought that Kinsey, with his alternating chop .and overspinning drive, would bother Borotra in the final, but the latter merely came in on every deep ball and volleyed, thus nullifying the spin." Anderson's Good Form, J, 0 Anderson made his first public appearance since his illness in an exhibition match against R. IS. Schlesinge? in Sydney recently. The. Sydney Morning slowlyj losing tho first two games, ; He slowly losing the first two games. Ho .was still ,in arrears at I—3, but from this point he took complete command and, sweeping the opposition aside, secured the match with the loss of only' one more game, nine of the remaining eleven games being won in succession.' Anderson's vai'ied attack covered every section of the court, and he played with ease and confidence, while on the few occasions when he was , fully extended by severe drives to his backhand ho won the points with returns of immense pace straight down the line. If Anderson can regain his old form, it should have a great hearing on Australia's chances in the Davis Cup matches. It will also add interest to the forthcoming match between New Sputh Wale* and Victofia, when Anderson v ill piobably meet G. L. Patterson. ' , Miss Macfarlane Wins. The Auckland singles champion, Miss Marjorie Macfarlane, met with her first success in England at the Leicester tournament in July, Playing in the singles she went through without the loss of a set, defeating Mrs. Mode m tne final, 6—2, 6—l. Mrs. Marshall also took part, but was beaten in one of the eafher rounds by Mrs. Milne, 6—2, 6—l. Miss Macfarlane's ooolneos and all-round skill gained many admirers. WINNING OF THE ASHES. BLENDING YOUTH AND AGE. The association of youth and ago was a notable feature of the English team which won the coveted cricket "ashes" from Australia at Kennington Oval last week. For instance, W, Rhodes and H. Larwood were the most successful English bowlers. Rhodes, a slow lefthander, is 49 years of age, and played for England in 1899, the year before Chapman,_ the English captain, was born. Larwood is the youngest member of tho English team, being only 22 years of age. He was not born until five years after Rhodes had won his England cap. Another English veteran, H. Strudwick, has stood the test of time remarkably well. At the age of 46 he still displays remarkable agility behind the stumps, although he almost missed participation in the final test. Brown's defection, however, resulted in Strudwick being called upon once again; "Struddy" as he is popularly known, commenced ill's, first-class cricket career in 1903. CRICKET IN LONDON. ZEALANDIA CLUB FORMED. New Zealanders in London have had such succe<t! with their Rugby Club dur ing the past season that they have now formed a cricket club, tho members of which are made up largely of those who played in the football teams. A meeting was held last month, when Mr. Sidney Jacob was elected president of what is, to be known as the Zealandia Cricket Club. Among the vice-presidents are the following:—Mr. M. E. Thomas, Mr. W. ft<=dcastle, Mr. G. Rvlance. Mr. C. L. Mclntosh-Newbery, Mr. Mulgan, Dr. Bernard Myers, Mr. Leo. M. Myers, Mr. K. R. J. Saxon, Mr. L. B. Rothchild. Dr. B. Comerford, and Mr. C. J. Wray. Mr. M. E. Thomas was elected captain; Mr 8. A. Salter, vice-captain; Mr, T. R. Brooks, honorary secretary and treasurer; Mr. D Yinnicombe, honorary match secretary; and Messrs. A. Flanagan, R. J. H. Miller and F. Westerby. committee. It was decided that the club blazer should be royal blue in colonr. Matches will nrolbably be played at Chingford, Epninft' Forest. Two games had been played even before the club was formed—one against West Middlesex, when the New Zealanders scored 82 and 95 for four wickets against 163 The other match was played against the Crown Club, who were *de feated by 112 runs to 48. It is, of course, only possible to play one-day matches, but some very pleasant cricket is anticipated during the season.