LAWN TENNIS

NZ Truth, Issue 998, 10 January 1925, Page 8

LAWN TENNIS

Dominion Tournament

PLAYERS' FORM REVIEWED

Bad Management. I

(By "Umpire.")

Bad weather, bad play, and bad management. ' That is the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Tournament <m brief. The weather was unavoidable, the play was unexpected, the management was unpardonable. The favored players seem to have been distinctly below par and thy./ were very obliging to some of their opponents. In some instances they had the' match fair.ly comfortably m hand if ,they chose to exert themselves, but the exertion was not made and the honors went the other way.

The whole of the tournament, m fact, was disappointing,. and the standard of play was not impressive. Bad management was responsible m part for the way things went; but even 'more to blame were the players themselves. The plain, hard fact is that some of the cracks went up to Auckland

WITH TOO LITTLE PRACTICE

Whether they were afraid of stakness, whether they relied upon playinj themselves into form as Laurenson d.ain 1922, or whether circumstances pre r ' vented them, who shall say? One; reason .or another would cover most of the cases. And let us hope that they learned a lesson. For they could not have chosen a worse tournament to work up form m.; The singles draw was small and snags were many. Thus very ordinary' players were taking sets off well-known men light from the beginning.' ; It was not good enough. There were fewer of the "rabbit" class, m the tournament than there has been for years. But what was principally lacking was THE WILL. TO WIN. Sims and Griffiths,^ and " then A. L. France and Peacock allowed themselves to, be shovelled aside m a manner which would be impossible had they got m some hai;d match play prior to the Dominion meeting. The shots were there, but the will was missing. That last extra bit of keenness which inspires a man to make almost impossible gets, to hit winners off tremendously aggressive shots, ' which sends him on the court a tingling, nervous ; mass of concentration and determination, was absent. In short, SAVE FOR OLLIVIER and a few Aucklanders, the players had not the confidence which comes from good form. ' . And despite Ollivier's come-back, and his really excellent record :in the singles (he did not lose a set throughout), I am not convinced that he is New Zealand's best player. Not by half-a-dozen. To begin with, he had the easiest passage of the whole tournament. He met Doidge, Ferkins, the junior champion, Lowry, who has not proved himself anything extraordin^ ary, and D. G. France. The younger France, Ollivier found to be m one of his erx-atic moods, and not m the hu-. mor for that tennis which he can play. AnS m the final the champion met Laurenson, who had been KILLED STONE DEAD by an exhausting five-set struggle with A. L. France m the semi-final. Laurenson won 2-6, 6-3, 3-6) 8-6, 6-1, and was lucky to escape losing by one set to three". As it was he was three games up at the end of five sets, and was clone for when he went on the court against Ollivier. The match was over m less than 45 minutes and Laurenson won two games. Anyone knows what Ollivier is like when he has things his own way. And it was almost criminal to j ask Laurenson to take the court at all. What test of the merits of the players was it? And m what other country m the world would it be done? Thus we may dispose of the singles title as a ' ■ PIECE OF BLIND LUCK, ■■> hoping that it will not happen again. The heroes of the tournament undoubtedly were the Frances. D.. G. France's win over Andrews m five sets, and his decisive defeat of E. L. Bartleet, the Auckland first string; stamps him what Frank Peach ealle.3 him, one of the four men who should constitute New Zealand's Davis Cup team. A. ,L. France,;, by downing Wallace, last season's New Zealand representative, added to his laurels. Smyth created no surprise by beating Robson, though Lampe did by defeating Peacock. The -veteran J.C.P., however, has been troubled by rheu - matism m the shoulder, though he beat Glanville easily enough. All m

all, we can only hope that next season will see the seeded men better primed for the big encounter.

FITNESS IS NEEDED

and though I believe that the best training for tennis is tennis, fitness must be had m some way or other.

The men's doubles were a lucky bag. Smyth — Fotheringham would probably have been the last people to expect to get past Peacock — Sims. Once m the semi-final they were well placed, as Smyth knew all the .weaknesses of Len France's doubles play better than anyone m the tourney. And he exploited them. The new champions, indeed, should write the word "lob" above their doors. Each is an adept at that stroke, Fotheringham rather too much so, and with a well concerted net attack and Smyth's really .

SPLENDID COURT GENERALSHIP it got them there.

In the final this pair met Bartleet— Robson whom I and many others expected to win the championship. They I'ailed, and they failed because of "the erratic Rqbson," who fully deserved his name that day. In short, while Bartleet is not a brilliant player he is reliable. It is Robson who provides the winning- streak m the double, and he won the healthy respect of the Australians when they were over here. They should know a doubles player when they see one; at all events they beat us badly m the doubles' matches of the tour. "With Robson lacking: his usual sting: the issue was one-sided. Wallace — Dickie beat them m five sets only to be beaten by Ollivier — Seay, a flashy and unstable combination which cracked up before the solid wall presented by Smyth— Fotheringham. Neither of the Canterbury men possesses the patience to win such a match. So that here again the victory was ONE OF TEMPERAMENT. In the ladies' doubles Miss Spiers allowed herself to be beaten by Miss Ballantyne, one of those "get there and hit it over" plasters who will never be anything but a source of irritation to players off form or at all rattled. This gave Mrs. Melody a clear run and she deserved her win. She is better all round than Miss Macfarlane. Her service is more aggressive, her net work is one hundred per cent, better, her driving is more fine placed and harder to : deal with. Her backhand has improved out of sight , m the last two seasons and she has developed more tenacity than she used to possess when not satisfied with her stroke equipment. ' . . ■ . In the doubles with Miss McLaren she "made a bird" of it. There was no pair to" touch them. The mixed I called • A WILDERNESS, and a wilderness it proved. Early casualties were A. L. France — Miss Ramsay, Johns — Miss Payton, Lowry —Miss- Cato. The semi-finals saw that good' combination Wallace — Mrs. Melody . defeated by Robson— Miss Marjorie Macfarlane m three sets (they took the second to love), and Bartleet— Mrs. Marshall also go out. It looked odds on for Robson— Miss Macfarlane, but here again condition told. The Aucklanders had _. played two mixeds earliei-, and Miss Macfarlane had gone through three sets with Mrs. Melody and been defeated m the doubles. So Andrews — Miss McLaren won out 6—4, 6 — 3. The season of play together last year must have stood them m good stead. Also Andrews improved . greatly m his play. Ordinarily the mixed is not his long suit. But it must be admitted that the opposition was below par.