LAWN TENNIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23054, 3 December 1936, Page 4

LAWN TENNIS

By Smash Matches were favoured on Saturday afternoon by dull, cool weather, which made for pleasant playing conditions. The successful teams in the Intermediate Grade were Moana, St. Clair, Otago, St. Andrew’s and Kaituna, and in the BI Grade St. Clair and North-East Valley. UNIVERSITY v. COSY DELL University gained a sweeping victory over Cosy Dell on Saturday afternoon and should be much encouraged by their success. Falconer and Smith engaged in a very protracted match, in which both men made their shots with great care. It was a match of varying fortunes. Smith took the first set 6—4. but Falconer held the advantage throughout the second, in which at one stage he led 4—3. The third set was keenly contested, but Falconer made the greater number of mistakes over the closing stages and Smith took the match at the fourteenth game. Macdonald again gave an attractive display of stroking and placing, which gave him a comfortable victory over Cameron in straight sets. Chapman and Drew hit out freely in their match and got through three sets in quick time. The University man took the first set to love, and, though he dropped the second, he again held the advantage in the third. Watson defeated Hunter in straight sets, put it was a very close match, and the Cosy Dell man, after being down o—3 in the second set, recovered to s—all, only to drop the odd game. In the Doubles Smith and Macdonald decisively defeated Falconer and Cameron, the latter of whom seemed to be somewhat out of touch. The second Doubles match was very evenly contested and .went to the University pair in the third set.

CHALLENGE MATCHES Pollock gained seventh place on the Singles ladder by defeating Falconer 7—5 4—6, 6—3. In’ a Doubles match Duthie and Ross beat King and Facer 6—3, 6—2. NO LIMIT ON ENTRIES By 18,093 votes to 12,767, or 14 associations to five, the council of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association at its meeting last week rejected a recommendation to the Management Committee that “It is desirable both from the point of view of the players and spectators that players who are below championship standard should not be permitted to enter.” Just prior to that the council had agreed, unanimously, to a recommendation that “ allowing for one day’s rain it is advisable that the entries should be so limited as to permit of finishing m five days without undue strain on the players.” During the course of the discussion Mr C. G. White (Otago) expressed a doubt whether the time had . arrived for the experiment. But he did think that players not approved by their association as reasonably fit should not be allowed to enter. He suggested that players eliminated in the qualifying rounds should be allowed to enter for the New Zealand Plate. Some interesting ideas were advanced by Mr G. W. Pownall (Wanganui), who said that the weakness of the present-position was the date on which the New Zealand tournament was held. He defied' anybody to say who was in championship form and who was not at that time of the year. He was extremely doubtful whether anybody was fit. There was no Tournament beforehand to test the players out, and very few inter-club matches. He was always opposed to holding the New Zealand championships so early. The North and South Island championships should be held in their respective islands definitely before the New Zealand championships; and also many of the other tournaments should be held before the. New Zealand championships. Officials could, attend the North and South Island championships, and then see what players were of sufficiently high standard to play in the New Zealand championships. The New Zealand championships should be held late in January or even early in February. The idea that they should be held in the holiday period was exploded. There would be no difficulty, he was sure, for men of New Zealand standard, in arranging with their em-

ployers to attend the tournament.

OPEN TOURNAMENT The relations of amateurs and professionals in lawn tennis came up for discussion several times during the quarterly meeting of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association last week. Professor F. P. Wilson said that he intended to bring forward at a future meeting the question of open tennis tournaments for amateurs and professionals. Golf had its amateur and open tourneys, and no harm appeared to have been done. He had no doubt that tournaments between professionals and amateurs would have a beneficial influence upon amateur play. New. Zealand ought to give a lead. Mr G. W. Pownall said that New. Zealand could not hold open tournaments without the matter first being dealt with by the International Federation. When the question of New Zealand entering the Davis Cup contest was under discussion, one of the delegates asked whether the status of New Zealand’s “ so-called tennis amateurs ” in England was not being, investigated by the English Lawn Tennis Association NOTES D. G. France, who, with N. G. Sturt, holds the Doubles championship of New Zealand, will not be a competitor in the national tournament at Timaru, The Canterbury Christmas tournament commences on Christmas Day, and as the large North Island contingent which is coming south to compete in the championships at Timaru will be playing at Christchurch, the results of this tournament should give some indication of the following week’s results. „ . It is reported that E. L. Bartleet, the Auckland lawn tennis champion in 1927, 1929, 1930, 1932, and 1935, is contemplating a really serious attempt at a “ come-back.” Bartleet is still an outstanding player, and, if he regains his best form, should have excellent prospects of winning the Auckland title for the sixth time. The Southland Association has nominated F. Lindsay, of Winton, and Miss R. Wilson, of Balfour, to represent the province at the New Zealand cham-

pionships at Timaru at the beginning of January in the junior events. Miss Wilson should stand a very good chance of winning the Girls’ Singles this year. For two or three years now she has represented Southland and has played remarkably well. If she is beaten the standard will be distinctly high. Mr William O'Brien, the American sports promoter, whose activities have been centred largely on the organisation of professional lawn tennis tournaments, said the • other day; “ Last year I lost 22,000 dollars (£4000) on lawn tennis. The game is crying out for someone who can give Ellsworth Vines a battle—and Fred Perry is the man.” From this statement it would appear that professional tennis is not in a very good way, and that it can only thrive by the frequent introduction of new talent. Mention is made in America Lawn Tennis that during the last United States championships practice games were played between Vines and Perry and Budge and Vines. These impromptu contests before and during the championships naturally attracted great interest, but the players were careful to keep the scores to themselves. Observers stated, however, that Budge and Vines played a fairly even match, and that in a game between Vines and Perry the professional had slightly the better of the play. DAVIS CUP PROSPECTS The famous English lawn tennis player, F. J. Perry, who recently turned professional, commenting in a special interview at Los Angeles on the prospects of the Davis Cup contest next year, said:— “It is too early to tell much definitely, but on paper, Australia, Germany, Great Britain, and America have good teams, and one of these four will surely win the Davis Cup. They should realise, however, that there are still eight months left, and a lot can happen in that time. By the time the Cup contest begins Great Britain may have found someone else “Australia has a better chance than for a great many years, but she must get down to business and make up her mind now who will be in the team Why not let the players rest this winter and be fresh for the Davis Cup play? Australia will have a much better chance with her players fresh instead of playing them in winter tournaments, as she always does. She must make up her mind whether the loss of her star players from the tournaments she holds all through the winter is balanced by the chance to win the Davis Cup—or she will never win it. She must choose between playing her stars at home or in the Davis Cup matches. "Australia’s chances are as good as those of any other 'country, but they would be infinitely better if she let her players rest. If she wants to see them in tournaments in Australia instead, that is all right, but they might as well give up their Davis Cup hopes.” Speaking of individual players. Perry said: “It would be a definite mistake if Crawford plays in all three matches in the Davis Cup. I never played in all three matches, because they told me it was too great a strain on my strength. I know that lam a better player than Crawford, and, if I could not do it, how can he? ” “ The Australians have a good chance for the Cup, and the race is open,” Perry concluded, “ but they must not forget that Britain still has a chance. I wish to emphasise that, just because I will not be playing, it does not follow that Great Britain will lose the Cup. The Australians brought a box along in some former years, expecting to take the Cup home, and were disappointed because they did not win. It is best to copy the European plan and say, ‘ We will try to win.’” LAWN TENNIS UNION

With the season now in lull swing interest is being stimulated in the performances of some of the teams which show every indication of being near the top of the ladder at the close of the competitions. It is the generous use of these columns that enables the various clubs to become acquainted with individual-performances, and all clubs are urged to make an attempt to acquaint the publicity officer with their doings. One or two clubs are very helpful in this respect, and it is hoped that every club will assist in the near future by sending in reports of matches, and on the form shown of various players. Recent ladder results are as follows:—Hanning beat R. Facer 13—11, Paterson and Brown beat J. Sims and Craig 10—8, Herbison and Callander beat Lawry and M‘Kay 9 —4, Ross and M‘Lay beat Coutts and Smith 9—6, Aderman and Sutherland beat F. Sims and Gibson 9—4, Stanton beat M'Donald 9—7, Stanton beat Smith 9—2, Herbison beat Johnston 9—o, Misses Asher and Blackwood beat Misses Sutherland and Maden 7—5. Callander beat Lawry 9—3.

A close game was witnessed In the B Grade match between Aotea and Fire Brigade, the former team winning by the narrow margin of three games. The issue was in doubt until the final game. For Aotea R. Meinung, in winning his three matches, was a big factor towards his club’s success, and was ably assisted by D. Hanning and Misses Paine and Channels. Lamb. Mrs Laidlaw, Mrs Craig, and Miss Hastie played serviceable games for the Fire Brigade. In the A Grade match Aotea v. Kiwi, the former team won by 10 sets to 6. The Kiwi ladies performed well to win the first three Singles and the second Doubles, while the men won only the first Doubles at 6—5. The other set lost by Aotea was the first Mixed Doubles.

The Aotea D team had a good win against St. Kilda Methodist, losing only two of the Mixed Doubles.

After playing much better tennis at Aotea the previous week, when it went down by 7 sets to 9, Musselburgh Presbyterian A team (C Grade) provided some good games against Trinity Methodists at Musselburgh on Saturday, when it won its second match of the season by 10 sets to 6. The credit for this victory, however, goes mainly to the women members of the team, three of whom (Misses Keen, Tonkinson, and Lean) won all three sets in which they took part. In the D Grade the B team made a better showing against Ravensbourne. but the players are still lacking in confidence, due to the fact that most of the members of the team are new to match play. A number of players are receiving some beneficial coaching from Mr D. A. Highet every Tuesday night, but more members should avail themselves of this opportunity to improve their tennis. TENNIS BALL WITH TWICE AS LONG LIFE.

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