LAWN TENNIS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1664, 20 January 1904, Page 17

LAWN TENNIS

(By Our Special correspondent.)

All those who had the good fortune to be present at the recent lawn teniris championship in Napier voted the meeting a great success, while competitors who had been present at several similar meetings in, previous years seemed to consider the one just held to have been in many respects a distinct advance on earlier tournaments. On the whole the management of the meeting must be considered excellent, though I doubt whether much praise would have been accorded to the committee themselves, had it not been for the great assistance they received from tire advice, and/ indeed,, active help of Mr G. N. Goldie, the well-known lion, sec. of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association., who was -present at the meeting in an unofficial capacity. The courts were all that could' be _deshred except on the baselines, which, being devoid! of much grass, rapidly crumbled 1 , and towards the later stages of the meeting a hall pitching there raised a. cloud -of dust, and it was next to impossible for even a linesman of keen sight to say for certain whether ,a fast drive landing on the lino was in or out. A special word of thanks is due to the committee for the great trouble they took to arrange practice games for visiting players, ancl never in my previous experience has so much courtesy been extended to competitors, who have frequently been more or less allowed to shift for themselves, or at least find out for themselves what arrangements had been made. Finding the accommodation of the Scinde Courts insufficient, even "when, backed up by the kindness of the 'members of the Hawke’s Bay Club. Mr Tudor Baker, and others, in placing their private courts at the disposal of some of the players, the committee organised a, Christmas Day excursion to Hastings, where a good day’s practice was put in on the splendid courts of the Hastings Lawn Tennis Club, kindly lent, for the occasion. As regards the play itself it should surely by now be regarded as an axiom, by all players entering for championship events that to take part in a meeting when quite out of form and condition is quite fatal to any chance of success, and yet I dc net suppose that out of the 20 entrants for the Men’ Championship more than about three "were in anyfit condition to last out a five set match. The winner of the event, H l . A. Barker, who has now held the title for two consecutive years, spares no pains in preparing for this event and to this attention to detail both in his -condition and in his play his numerous successes are largely due. The champion used to be as reckless a hitter as anyone, and li.iis game was a most brilliant one to* watch, but be has been through the mill of experience, and now is dead safe aid the time. Parker not only possesses scoring strokes, but ho is exceptionally strong in defence;, as witness the ease with which he passed Cox and Peacock when they ran in to the net. His knowledge of tactics is undoubtedly greater than that of. any other New Zealand player, the result being that he is usually enabled to adopt a leisurely pace while his opponents are compelled to make very hard work of it racing about the court. The position he now: holds is due to incessant practice and deep study of the theory of the game and Mr Logan, the well known Napier player, in .-speaking at the distribution of prizes paid a fitting and well-earned tribute to bis play when he stated that he was the host player we had yet had in New Zealand. Before the meeting Peacock and Cox were probably the next men in fillei public eye, but after his fine performances Laiishley now looms larger as a favourite for future cliarnptonships. He plays a very similar-game to Parker*, and is a little stronger on the forehand, and as he is Vapidly dropping down to all the tactics of modern plav be is quite in the runnning feir the New Zealand championship single®. He ia a little uncertain on his overhead volleys, and Ms backhand occasionally fail’s him, but there is not much to find fault with elsewhere, and hi® service, is simply terrific, only fortunately for his opponents it cloes not always come off. Peacock, who has now figured in the final for five consecutive years, is a most remarkable player, famous not only for his fine style of play, but also for the ease with which he gets into form without On this occasion, however, he cut it too fine, and consequently did not show more than a glimpse of'his true game right through the meeting.. Gox, whose graceful style 3b always muioh admired, played -extremely well -in the doubles, both men’s and mixed, but failed unaceountabl v in the riingles against Barker. At the start he iseemed nervous, but even when

he wanned up .his gams was fitful. His service was not w accurate* er well pished as usual, and this hampered -his running] in game considerably, and all his ground ; strokes were uncertain and of indifferent length,, and to run in-on thee© ysd.. courting defeat My im%T!WSSA'Oik'/ that he did. not do Mimself fail jukriee, but I consider Parker too good for' hi-mt anyhow. After these four players oam© a considerable gap, and it is difficult to see Avhere our future champions are coming from. The most pFO.niM.ng} player in the colony two years ago was Anthony Wilding, of Cliristolmrch. who lia earning golden opinions in England for his dashing play. Of course, when he returns to New Zealand 'the present cracks may look to their laurels, and. so indeed may the Australians if rexports of his prowess be not exaggerated. Outside Wilding, however the selection! is very limited, and apparently resolves itself into Slpman., so far as fihe immediate future is concerned, and even be has a great deal to learn to* bridge over the gap separating him from the quartette of leaders. Furthermore, if he wishes to do anything, he will Lave to train hard and! systomarioailly, as this and his tendency to wild hitting have been his stumbling blocks to' excellence in the past. I -do not wish it. to be inferred that there .are no other promising players, as there are dozens such, hut in many oases their environment will prevent them becoming champions, and by this I mean that Where a player lives in a small town and i® unable to get bard practice his game must deteriorate, no matter how prb-i mT.sing a player he may be*. I was very pleased to see that the ladies’’ singles produced a record entry, induced, I think, by tire desire on the part of many young players to have si try at the redoubtable lady champion, Miss Nunneley. ' Some of these attempts to stand up to Miss Nunneley met with but little success, but. the merit orioufa performance put up by Miss Pcwdrell against the champion will no doubt put great heart into other rising lady players throughout the colony. It is simply wonderful what Miss Powdrell has. done with the small facilities at her disposal, as, living quite in the country, it would have been quite impassible for her to have attained her present high standard of play, had’ she not been peculiarly gifted for the .game, and new that she haa begun, to make the round of some of the tournaments, tl me is no knowing where she may stop, but my own impression is that she is a very likely candidate for championship honours before’ long. Milas Nunneley, of course, possesses a finer knowledge of the game and greater “sang fr’oid” than the Tarar nalri lady, but her experience has been much greater. Ido not, moreover, think that Miss Powdrell is as dose to Mass Nunneley a® the score in their match would seem to indicate, as the lady champion’s arm had suffered .some strain, and her favourite strokes found the net far more of ten than usual. If Mis® Gore could only stand the exertion of a long match, and exercise a little more control over her .stroke®, she would have to be reckoned with, but as it is she is not .sufficiently sure of her spots, and mistakes are too frequent, due mainly to sheer want of practice. Another lady who lias come very much to the front is Miss P. Genie, of Auckland, though she has developed her style in the direction of the double game, in which she has become very proficient, far more so indeed, than In a single. At the net she has become very useful, and will become -still more so when she gets a .little more sting into those neat little volleys others. Anyhow it was a great performance for the Misses Gerri© to put out- two such pairs as Misses Nunneley and Harman, and Mass Goto and IVLns Marchbariks. and they fully deserve their title. In -my opinion Mass Nunneley jeopardises her chance of success by playing each year with a differ-' ent .partner., which is not only unwise for purposes of combination. "but Is also' a departure from the unwritten rule that the winners of one year should defend ■ their titles Hie following year. As this championship has been held for eight years by Mis® Nunneley and her various partners, it wsq very refreshing to see it change handis at last. The ladies all round undoubtedly displayed far more promise than the men, and there are indications that they are improving in versatility, as volleying was far more often resorted to this- year > than previously-, and though it was confined to the ladies’ doubles events it is only a matter of time/ and we shall see the younger generation volleying both in mixed doubles' and singles as is continually seen iin - England. Many other ladies, whoza space prevent® me from giving an extended notice to* are sure to be heard of in the future if their .inclination takes them to public tournaments, 'and among the most promising of the players I have not yet mentioned are Mis® Fitzroy, of lutings, Misses Nevill B. and D. Hmdniarsh and of Napier, whSe -, Miss J. Berkeley, -of Christchurch., Is likely to improve very much. 'Tile Banner was won by ‘Welltqgtoli', "' a result principally due to Parker’*successes. ■ • Looking at the result® rff past medings from 1886 onward, 'eight-sen years in all, it Is Interesting to find out and classify the most successful players by allowing them the points given for the Banner in each.event. Thus the winners

of the champion singles 'would receive 6 points, the doubles 2$ each and the ‘mixed event - 1£ points. Of course these statistics only (indicate general success, and must not bo taken as placing the players in any order of merit, as some ' have taken,part more frequently than others, while others again have been \ pulled through by their partners. The results, however, are as follows: —H. A. ■Parker 31 points, M. Fenwick© 25£, R. Harman 21, Pt* 0. Fenwick© 201, J* E. Hooper 18, J. M. Marshall 141, J. O. Peacock 13Jr F. Wilding 121, 0. 0. Cox 11. F. Fisher Of, J. N. Collins 71, (A. W. Duinlop 6, O. Gore 5, F. Logan, J. F, Jardine, Marshall and F. jLaishley 21 each.