A NEW ZEALAND CHAMPION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 6042, 29 October 1906, Page 4

A NEW ZEALAND CHAMPION.

WILDING’S WONDERFUL RECORD. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, September 14. Mir A. F. Wilding, the übiquitous New Zealand, lawn tennis player who'is figuring prominently ‘in the • South of England Championships now in'progress at Eastbourne, has set up a unique record this season. He has appeared in no fewer than 24 open tournaments, and has won the singles at seventeen. In England he has only twice been defeated, on each occasion by H. L. Doherty, tho British champion and he has annexed prizes to the value of something like £3OO. Yet, despite the fact that he has hardly been, forty-eight hours at a stretch off a lawn tennis court since the second week in ' February, ho is playing to-day better than ever, and does not show the trace of stateness.

Ho has played as far north as Sheffield and'as far south as Barcelona; fie has carried his racquet' right along the Mediterranean shore, paid two flying visits to Austria, amazed the cure-seek-ers at Homburg by his prowess, reached the Borai-fiiials in .the All-England championships at Wimbledon, and, incidentally, defeated the American ex-eham-pion in the international match in Wales. Altogether he has:been serving halls 'oyer a' not. for nearly‘thirty 1 consecutive,‘.weeks;’ and in" that time has' travelled ' thousands of-.mile and met and defeated players of every, civilised nationality. ‘ Asked by a “Daily "Mail” interviewer to explain the.secret of his extraordinary consistency over this record-break-ing period, Mr Wilding- assumed , that it must ho his unquenchable enthusiasm for tho game, his great desire to improve, and his physical fitness. “Perhaps physical condition ought to come first,’’, he remarked. “Many 'players would doubtless have grown stale or had. periodical-off periods duririg such a strenuous bout of play, I. have tried to make my training a I matter of hahh —to keep fit -by instinct. I never smoke, and I never take alcoholic drinks ; ■ but I oat practically. whatever I fancy, especially all varieties of cake. When you are taking as much exercise as I do every day, I don’t think it matters a straw how much,you eat: so long as your digestiye.organs are unimpaired. “I’m a great believer in keeping every, ■■muscle-of. the .body Ah prime condition, not merely those in the arms. Early in the season I went in. for skipping and other ■ physical exercises calculated to harden every fibre in the frame. As for tournament,play itself,-1 have found that watching other matches, in-progress wearies-the eye and makes you slack. I have always liked to he moving about, except immediately after lunch. when I prefer to lie in the sun. Before an important match I often: read several chapters of a novel. This distracts the thoughts and keeps the brain clear. I suppose my interest has never slackened because I have always been trying to add new strokes'and perfect old. ones. My back-hand stroke was comparatively, weak when I went to Australia, so when I came against a man I knew I could beat I played practically every hall baCt.tund, with the result that that department improved like etc*in. “Of all tho many courts I have played on—grass, sand, gravel, brickdust, asphalte, and mud —I think those at Marienbad are about' the best. They are so perfectly level, the natural background is so pleasing, arid, the general surroundings so inviting. Next I should place, Cannes or .Baden. Om the whole, foreign courts are far and away superior to those in England; :but; then, look at tho money and, the time; that, are spent on them.” r 1 Air Wilding, who has recently graduated at Cambridge and been called to the English Bar,, .will, return ~to New Zealand early -next month, hut he hopes to pay another visit to this country next summer. I At Eastbourne Air Wilding appears fairlv certain to secure the Gentlemen’s Singles. Ho Alas already won four heats in very easy fashion. ■ Ho has also in partnership with-H. N. Alariett reached the third series of the Doubles. Alr-E. Wilding has also been playing at Eastbourne, .but has failed to survive in any of , the events, for which, he entered.