LAWN TENNIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18758, 11 January 1923, Page 9

LAWN TENNIS

By Swash. Local interclub matches will he resumed in Dunedin on tho 20th inst, when the B (trade Competition will be continued. C tirade matches will be recommenced on January 27. February S has been kept free of interclub matches. On that clay a Mixed Doubles Handicap tournament, will be held on the association’s courts at Anderson s Bay, The scoring will be on the point system, about 40 up, and the "sudden death” principle will probably obtain. A (similar tournament a couple of years ago ■was a pronounced success, and it is honed that a large number of pairs from all grades will enter this year. 'the handicaps will, ns far as possible, level up the in equalities between A. B. and C Grade players. An entry fee of 2s 6d per pair will be charged, and trophies will he provided for the winners. If it were possible to arrange the tournament so that each competing pair should have at leas! two lives it would prove more attractive. With a numerous entry the afternoon would of course be too short to admit of this. The invitation tournament in which the New South Wales ladies and representative ladies from the various New Zealand associations will compete is to be held at Christchurch on .Tannary If) and 20. Otago will send two representatives. Miss Jean "M'Laren and Miss Ada, S narrow. Miss M’Laren and Miss Balhinivne made a good show for Otago at the Wanganui tournament. They won (he Doubles Championship. Miss Ballantvne was runner-up to AT ns Melody in the Singles, and Poarse and Miss M’Laren easily defeated Wallace and Mrs Melody in the finui of the Combined Doubles.

Bv their management of the New Zealand tournament the people of Hastings have demonstrated that they could safely be trusted with such a responsibility. The whole town rose to the occasion. The hotels were full of tennis visitors, the shop windows bore evidence that tennis was the thought of the moment. The municipality took a hand by voting £SO towards the cost of preparing the courts. Water was a problem about the time of the tournament, and the council showed clearly where its sympathies lay when it decreed that the watering of gardens, lawns, paths, etc... must he suspended, with one exception, and ♦hat the championship lawn tennis courts. The club had available 15 grass courts, and Wey were in better condition at the close ‘ban at. the beginning of the tournament. Otago players found the heat, at Hastings mry trying. It caused so well-conditioned i player ns Bray to retire at the close of the second set with Ollivier. Bray put im n splendid fight in the first set. lie led the champion 5—4, and was “vantage in” thrice. On each occasion an ensv finishing stroke wont wrong, and eventually Ollivier ran out victor at 7—5. In the next set the heat was having its effect upon Bray, who did not go after many shots that ordinarily ho would have reached and returned. and eventually he retired done up with the score 6—o against him. Miss M’Laren was also considerably distressed bv the heat, by the time her match with M’ss Ballnntyno was concluded. The Men’s” Doubles Handicap, in connection with the South Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association’s first tournament wins Mon by N. Cramond (Timaru) and G. Clark (Kaituna) from the owe 40 mark. They won the final by 9 —4 from Sullivan and Keen, owe 30. The finals that Miss K. Black (Kaituna) had to default owing to the accident which nearly lost her the Ladies’ Doubles Championship wore tho Ladies’ Doubles Handicap (which went to Misses Hunt and Bradley, who won by default), and tho Combined Doubles Handicap. In the latter she was partnered by G. Clark on tho owe 40 mark, and they qualified to meet Cramond and Miss Green, owe 20 4-5, in the final. This would have proved a very attractive final.

N. Cramond had a meritorious sequence of successes at the Timaru tournament, lie won the Singles Championship, the Doubles Champion.ship (with G. Clark), the Combined Doubles Handicap (with Miss Green), and the Singles Handicap. Ho has improved his standard of play in all departments. If the news be reliable that Tilden’s recent reappearance in important tennis, when he defeated Francis Hunter (the holder of the Indoor Championships) 3—5, 7—5, 6—4, has demonstrated that the loss of part of his “stroke” finger will not impair his prowess, it will afford satisfaction to every sportsman. It will be noticed from the cabled American ranking that ho and William Johnston and V. Richards maintain their positions, first and second and third respectively. Williams has risen from sixth to fourth place, putting Wallace Johaison down to fifth. Washburn has declined from fifth to tenth position. Kumagae, Voskell, Rice, and Niles, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth, on last year’s lilt, have disappeared from the ladder. The Kinsey Brothers (Robert and Howard in addition to playing themselves into sixth and eighth positions, have won the distinction of being next in order of merit to Tilden and Johnston : as doubles players—a position held last year by Washbum and Williams.

During the holidays the public tennis courts at Queenstown were in great demand, and many devotees of tl>e game had to be content with much less play than they desired. There was a notable improvement in the standard of play on the courts. "Dear Smash,” —It is so long since we have seen « first-class tennis game in Dunedin, that we have almost forgotten what igocd play looks like. Last year a privileged few witnessed a brief battle between A. W. Sims'and R. W. K. Swanston, but whether the play reached a high standard or not we lannot say. We saw no other games to compare it with. This fact is clear, we have only one good player in Dunedin, A. W. Sims—and he lives in Hamilton. W. Bray is easily our second best, but he is not a first-flight performer. Of the ladies. Miss M'Laren is probably tho best, but among the women folk she ranks no higher than Bray does among the men. Taking the dominion as a whole, the position is just as unsatisfactory. Oilivier, Lnurenson, and Sims stand by themselves. Bartleet is probably fourth best. Twelve years ago Wellington province—in fact Thorndon Club—could have defeated such a team. Swanston, Peacock, Fisher, end Blair (all playing well at the time) were a stronger combination than the best New Zealand team of to-day. Moreover, at that time Canterbury, reinforced by i Anthony Wilding, oould beat Wellington. At Hastings, the Australian ladies seem to have had things very much their own way. Can any of your readers suggest any remedy for the present deplorable state of things. Of course, there are ups and downs in all things, but New Zealand tennis has been on the down grade too long.—l am, etc., “0.M.G.” “C.M.G ” plumbs the depths of pessimism. He will find plenty of dissent from his claim that Swanston, Peacock, Fisher, and Blair, in their form of 12 years ago, were a stronger combination than the best team New Zealand could pul forward today. As we add to our years, the stalwarts of days gone hy are apt to assume the proportions of giants, alongside whom the present chiefs appear as pigmies. An improvement on the general standard of play in. Now Zealand is tho popular wish. Now that more attention is being paid to (ho promotion of tennis in tho schools there is some hope that we may in due time seo that improvement. Meantime, in view of the lack of opportunity for practice with high grade players, and the comparative youth of this dominion, is it not a matter for congratulation that tho standard is as high ns it is? As to the relative (inferiority of Otago, tho explanation if this may bo summed up in one wordweather.

Aprf>2>os tho cultivation of tennis amongst the young, Wellington is fortunate in having, in the person of Mr W. J. Melody, a man who is doing for the schools of Wellington what Mr Houston is doing in Otago. Mr Melody is a school teacher, and commenced his work of organising tennis in the public schools, extending it later to the secondary schools, until his annual tournament for juniors now attracts about 600 schools boys and girls, and extends over three days Mr Melody and Mrs Melody (who assists in this valuable work) contemplate coming to Dunedin for the next Faster tournament.