LAWN TENNIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18747, 28 December 1922, Page 9

LAWN TENNIS

By Skabb. The year 1922 has been a notable one in the history of lawn tennis, and followers of the game have had much to sustain their interest in events both at home and abroad. The chief features from an international point of view were the fine showing made by the Australian players at Wimbledon (when Patterson won the world’s clumpionship for the second time) and the bold bid made by those same players to regain the Davis Gup for Australia. In New Zealand •the game appears to have benefited by the visit of the American Davis Cup team of 1920 and by the fairly constant interchange of visits between the dominion and Australia. The New Zealand championships played at the beginning of the year in Christchurch aroused the keenest interest, and the surprise of the tournament was the victory in the singles of Dr J. T. Laurenson, who recorded the notable performance of defeating two ex-New Zealand champions—Ollivier and Peacock m the same day. Die University tournament was played afc Auckland at Toaster, the singles being won by B. G. B. liusk (Otago)* while the other four events all went to Auckland players. This year the tournament will be played in Dunedin. T-ho Otago Association’s annual tournament was also played at Easter, A. W. Sims winning the singles, and most of the other events being won by local players. During the current season a sei’ies of men’s inter-club matches has been added to the other competitions and these have proved very popular with the players, but perhaps not quite so popular with tho ordinary club members who have to stand aside. Generally speaking, the inter-club contests have run a rather chequered course on account of the broken weather, but nevertheless very fair progress has been made, and, given improved conditions in the New Year, the various competitions should be completed m good time. The principal centre of interest ot the moment is the New Zealand championship tournament at Hastings, where practically all the best players in the dominion are engaged, as well as the members of the visiting New South Wales, ladies team. The entries in the five senior events this year constitute a record, numbering 213, as compared with 171 at Christchurch last year and 198 at Auckland in 1920, when the American and Australian Davis Cup teams took part, and also the members of the New South Wales men’s team. On the present occasion there has been a slignt falling off in the junior events, and the total entry is 235, as compared with 210 last year and 242 in 1920. The games that have been played so tar have produced no surprises. In the men s singles M'Dougall went down to k. J. Walker in straight sets, and Sum had an easy victory over Young, the Wellington colt. Dr Laurenson, who has had about .a fortnight’s solid practice in Christchurch, is evidently playing very fine tennis., haying lost only five games in six seta, and it seems highly probable that he and Ollivier will again fight out the championship honours. E D. Andrews, the junior champion, had a very easy win in his first round, and jb'rank Wilding, who is reported to be playing very well just now, defaulted in the first round for some reason that is not explained. In the ladies’ singles Miss M'Laren started off well by defeating Miss Ballantyne, the Taranaki champion, but she cannot be expected to go very far against tho class of players competing at the tournament. The other games played in this event indicate that Miss Lance, one of the visiting players, is going to be very hard to beat. She certainly lost one set to Miss A. Home, the junior champion, but she won the next two to. love, and then went on to beat Miss Zita Wellwood in straight sots. Mrs Green, one of the seeded players, met Miss Welsh, of Invercargill, who ran her to 5—4 in the second set. In the men’s doubles Ollivier and Laurenson and Peacock and Sims both had easy, victories. The first-named pair will probably find Aitken and Wilding their toughest proposition in the top half of the draw and the other semi-final will most likely be fought out between Griffiths and Hobson and Goss and Greenwood or Peacock and Sims. In the ladies’ doubles the New South "Wales players have had comfortable wins so far, but during the next few days they will undoubtedly meet some pairs who will fully extend them. The mixed doubles" event contains many interesting ■ possibilities ana the fortunes of some of the leading players will bo very closely followed. M DougaU and Miss "Welsh were unfortunate to meet so strong a pair as Dr Allison and Miss Lloyd in their first game, and evidently Miss Welsh, who is a very steady player, put up a fine performance. L. France, who is making a good showing at the championships, advanced to _ second place on the Wellington ranking list last week by defeating R. N. K. Swanston, 6—o, 2-6, 8-6. At Timaru, Oamaru, and Invercargill local tournaments are in full swing, and in each case Dunedin is represented by a strong contingent. At Timaru G. Clark appears to have an excellent chance of winning the singles championship, and he may also be successful in the doubles championship, in which he is playing with N. S. Cramond. At Invercargill Fulton and Wilkinson have been doing well in the singles and doubles, and at Oamaru the Moana and Roslyn representatives are well in tho running in several events. Anderson’s defeat of Patterson in the Australasian championship singles marks.his third victory since his return from America, Patterson having won tho other two matches. It is also the first time ho has won the title. Under the ’new rules for the Australasian championships, which come into force in January, these events, instead of being tacked on to a State tournament as in the past, will be contested at tournaments held in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide in rotation at a fixed time of the year. The Australasian Association will itself pay the expenses of the invited players, and will invite from each State one or more players in each of the three "title” classes —i.e., men, women, and juniors (bovs). x rom Victoria and New South. Wales, two men, two women, and two juniors will be invited; from South Australia and Queensland one lady less, and from Western Australia and Tasmania one in class. The cabled report that the Lawn Tennis Association of Australasia has approved tho balance sheet of the exhibition match played by their Davis Cup representatives when in Auckland, but has passed a resolution that in future no honorarium be allowed to secretaries handling these contests, might be misleading to tennis enthusiasts in New Zealand (says the Auckland Herald), and the impression naturally created is that this is overdone. The facts, so lar as Auckland is concerned, are that on tnis occasion the small amount of three guineas was voted to tho local secretary, and it, is this paltry .amount that all the fuss is about. In no other contest handled by the Auckland Association has an honorarium been charged to tho Australasian body. Even the Davis Cup was run without the local association, or any official thereof, benefiting in any way. To make a quibble over so email a matter is hard to understand.