BETTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19712, 11 August 1927, Page 5

BETTY.

What sort of a child is this 16 years-old lawn tennis wonder, who so far is carrying all before her at Wimbledon ? I have known Miss" Betty Nuthall since she was no taller than the height of the net, says Stanley M. Doust, the lawn tennis international. To-day she is as sweet and unspoilt as she was then. As one watches her on the centre court at Wimbledon it is hard to realise that this tall, robust young woman has grown out of that baby girl oj a few seasons back. Betty is not only tall for her age, but very powerfully built as well. Few men get more force into their forehand drives. Notice the vigor-? ous muscles tauten in her long, brownarms as she makes a stroke, and you will realise what strength Betty can already put forth. Her unspoilt, natural self-possession is, in my opinion, the chief of Betty's assets for championship-winning. She walks on to the court before 20,000 pairs of eyes and twirls her racquet for choice of sides as unconcernedly as if she were on her own lawn at home. There are no tricks of temperament or pose about her. She is probably quite unconscious of the only little idiosyncrasy she has in play; it is the habit of twisting the tip of. her tongue into the corner of her lips as-she makes a difficult return, and it adds to the youthful charm of a pretty, mischievous face to which the photographers rarely do justice. Away from the tennis court Betty is just a typical, healthy English girl. She left school about two years ago and has a governess instead. Betty plays the piano and is fond of flowers, but she confesses that she does not like gardening.- She excels at dancing, however, which, she believes, helps to improve her footwork at tennis. Gifted with a keen sense of humour, Betty goes through her daily routine always in -a happy vein. She is a tease in her own family and in turn is teased by them. There is no chance of her ever losing her head through success; ' her brothers will see to that.