LAWN TENNIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20725, 19 November 1930, Page 16

LAWN TENNIS.

ONEHUNGA CLUB'S STRENGTH DAVIS CUP REPRESENTATION. i NEW, ZEALAND ASSOCIATION. BY SIIJELINE. The Onehunga Lawn Tennis Club will be strengthened this season by a number of young and enthusiastic juniors, who, by hard practice, have considerably improved their games. W. Grattan, a good Australian player, has joined up and should be a decided acquisition. J. T. Harrison, last year's club champion, has had some winter tennis and is showing good form. M. Robb and P. Harrison aro both playing well and can bo relied upon for good performances this season. Among those who arc showing improved form is 0. N. Johnstone, who appears to have benefited considerably from his recent visit to Wimbledon, where ho was fortunato in seeing tho world's leading players in action. A. E. Bockett, J. Herbert and W. J. Herbert aro all play- | ing very well this year. W. 11. MacDonald, the Grammar and secondary schools' champion, is improving rapidly and should do well in open tournaments. The club has lost tho services of Miss Litten, who has gono to Oarnaru, but some of the younger players aro improving and should more than compensato for this loss. Mis 3 W. Haydon, who last year did well in tho club competitions, shows great promise and with Misses McCrea, Campbell, Worrall and Tarr should form tho nucleus of a good team, while at the same tirno making competition for the club championship very open. In tho junior ranks Misses J. Chambers and C. La Roeho havo both shown tho benefits to bo derived from good coaching. Thames Valley Stars. The match between an Auckland team and Thames Valley at the Stanley Street courts on Saturday was marred by rain, but ndt before the visitors had shown that in Miss Shand and Dr. Gray they have two players of a high standard. It is a pity that the opportunity is not taken in these matches to include one or two of the most promising of tho younger school of players, such as Milne, of Remuera, or the Wilsons, of Eden and Epsom. There aro also other young players who would benefit considerably from these matches. If the rules of the association forbid selection other than from the ladder, then they should bo amended so as to give th© selectors some discretion in the matter.

If New Zealand is to be represented in ' this year's Davis Cup contest it appears to hinge on whether Andrews will bo available. Both ho and Malfroy have beeu doing exceptionally well in England and with a little luck in the draw would undoubtedly have taken New Zealand some distance through the European eliminating rounds. Tip to the present tho New Zealand Association has not coino to any decision regarding representation in the Davis Cup contest. Auckland players who will be taking part in the championships at Christchurch have only about six weeks left in which to get into form. Match practice is essential to prepare players for tho supreme test and with club draws delayed by wet weather players are not likely to get the serious tennis they should. Practice is one thing, but play in five set matches against a first-class opponent at the top of bis game is quite a different matter. F. M. B. Fisher is still apparently a power to be reckoned 'with in doubles play. In partnership with G. P. Hughes, England, ho won the international doubles championship at the Bad-Ems tournament, defeating the well-known German players 0. Froetzhcim and F. Kuhlman iri a closely-contested final, I—6, B—6. 7—5. Grouping of Associations. The council of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association, which will meet to morrow, will liavo before it some' irnjportant and possibly controversial mat' iters. Notices of motion have been given dealing with the following:—Time for holding quarterly meeting; two dealing with junior tennis; tho levy to bo paid by affiliated associations for the current season shall bo threepence for every active member, but should cither of tho junior lennis proposals be brought into action this season tho levy shall bo increased to fourpence a member; that competition for the Anthony Wilding Memorial Challenge Shield and the Kathleen Nunneley casket be controlled and managed by tho New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association. Tho competitions aro now controlled by the association which holds the trophies, which at the present time is Wellington. It is proposed to divide (he various associations into groups as follows:—No. 1, North Auckland, Thames Valley, Waikato. No. 2,_ Auckland. No. 3, Taranaki, Wanganiui and Manawatu. No. 4, Poverty Bay, East Coast, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa. No. 5, Wellington. No. 6, Marlborough, Nelson, West Coast. No. 7, Canterbury. No. 8, South Canterbury, North Otago, Otago, Southland. No. 9, Maori Association. It is propo=?d that tho teams be composed each of four players as at present, and that the matches in both competitions be played during one fixed week in each year. It is also proposed to transfer the sum of £SO to an account to be known as the Anthony Wilding Memorial Shield and Kathleen Nunneley Casket competitions account, all net profits from the competitions to be paid into this account, and transport expenses of visiting beams to he guaranteed by the association and paid out of this account. When f:'io account, will permit, it is also proposed that an allowance for accommodation expenses bo made to visiting teams. The members of the Uernncra Lawn Tennis Club have decided, by an overwhelming majority, to open their courts for Sunday play. SUPREME TENNIS PLAYER. (f. MISS B. NUTHALL'S FUTURE. ' It is quite possible, oven probable, that Miss Betty Nuthall will be supreme in women's tennis circles for the next ten vears," says a prominent American critic. Experiences of tho past, he. says, had proved that the real stars were comparatively few, and once they got to tho top they stayed there for a long period. Such was the case with Mrs. Mallory,, with Mdlle. SusaniiO'Lenglen. and, finally, with Mrs. Helen Wills 'Moody. It was satisfying and for the good of the sport that another girl of almost equal rank and skill should step forward to carry on. It. was no cause for regret, either, that she was an English girl Monopolies, even in sports, were not 1 wholesome. "Betty Nuthall ii 4an appealing girl. She has made a host of friends iri this country. Jfer smilo is infectious," lie concluded.