BY RACQUET.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 63

BY RACQUET.

The Alexandra South Club tried conclusions with Cromwell on their own courts some weeks ago, but proved no match for the latter, losing by 59 games. The Cromwell Club were superior in every aepart--1 went of the game, and only met with 1 resistance in the sets in which Hewett, ! Murray and Theyers wera engaged. ln« i Cromwell ladies ■won all their events coniI fortably, and in most cases showed 1 good ' form. "The men all play a good average ' game, when it is taken into consideration ! that they eeldom play against town players ' of experience. .The .Alexandra team were i without the services «f O'Kane and Gunion, ! which weakened their chances coneideri ably. On the whole, the latter club has ! players who with intelligent practice could i do "better than they did. Evidently a rot i set in, as often happens, and no one seemed able to stop it. The Alexandra Club had a certain amount of consolation last month by defeating Clyde by 8 games. Four men and three ladies on either 6ide constituted the aides. On this occasion Alexandra did much better individually, but probably the reason lav in the fact that Clyde were weaJcer opponents. Be this a3 it may, the result ■was a decided improvement on the former display, and the play all round wa3 superior. These interchanges of matches in the country create a healthy spirit of rivalry which' cannot fail to have the desired effect of improving lawn tennis, and it would be a good tiling if more of them ware played. It is the only way players have an opportunity of meeting with different styles of play and thus improving their" own. The most interesting feature of the Nelson Championship Tournament was the second battle between Mi^es Nunneley and Powdrell, in which Miss Nunneley had her revenge for her defeat in the New Zealandf Championship. Only two acP3 separated the player* at the finish—Miss Nunneloy 85 and'Mi« Powdrell 83. It was a great match from all accounts, each lady waiting to take advantage of every loose ball, Neither was content to win on the other's mistakes, but in a sportsmanlike way strove ito win off her own racquet. Miss Nunneley was serving the better of the two, and in this department had an advantage over her opponent. Both drove hard from one corner to the other with unerring regularity and brilliant consistency. Consideorable "excitement was arow»ed over the game, and cheer after cheer followed each ahot. Pai leer succeeded in annexing another championship to add to his collection. Hid final with Fisher was productive of some interesting play. Fisher is one of the most sensatianal pla>ers one can imagine. He gets some almost impossible returns —balls that would be given up by the average player. Hi-* play at times amounts to brilliancy, o-nd such was the case at =ie\eral <=tage3 in this match. His brilliancy is unfortunately blended with carelessness, which brings his average play to the equality of a good medium player. Parker was the Parker of previous triumphs, and looked a winner from the cemmence-mc-iit. Parker a'-=o won the Cliampion Doubles in partnership with Quill. The final between this pair and Fisher and Peacock was «carc?lv to be considered first-claea. Peacock was off his game, and made shocking mistakes, while Fisher was not much. Letter. Parker and his partner merely coiitiiite'l thoiiisflves with tossing and wait"i£T for then,- opponent? to make mistakes, ■whic'i they im-ariablv did. Tho final of the Ladies' Championship j Poub'<-i wai a splendid game, and quito j u'^vjjactpeJly fell to Misses Traver3 and i \Y<?llv-ood —their ooponeivta h?ing Misses | NiiiMic'av and Braithwaitp. Mi'^c 3= Nun- ' nsloy and Travers figured most conspicuohslv in this match, and played more or I'—s of a sinjrlp Miss Ti avers, like most nky-pJo. has a failing, which is rashness. Mis- Xtnino'^v kn»w ihi c, and persistently 1 f d her in tho hope that soonar or later rlio ball would find a re*.tine place on the v . nng ■"]*-■ cf fie no*. Contrary (o exppctaiiOii I',l', Mi~; Ti^cn v>as quite gt-cady in

her play. and returned past Miss Braithr wart© at the net time and again with ball? of such length as to be difficult to win off. The next New Zealand championship meeting will take place in the North Island in 1909, and in 1910 Dunedin should ha.ye the honour. Quill won the Nelson Handicap Singles-.-Miss Braithwaite (a coming player of note)- * won the Ladies'/ Handicap Singles from* scratch. Tlia best method of forming a court for country use, where it is out of the question to keep a grass lawn in order, and wher«u the matter of expense prevents the use of asphalt : — Under such conditions the gravel court 13 by far the most satisfactory. The first thing to do is to select a suitable site-, which for a doubles court should, if possible, be 120 ft long from north to soutbj and 60ft wide- from east to west. Tlwj whole of the surface must now be excavate c? to a depth of 9in and levelled. We have then to decide on the slope of the court to ensure it bsin-g free from rain wate« lying on it, and the best plan for this style of court will be to have a slope from each base line to the centre. """ Two posts must be put in where the net posts will eventually stand (3ft outside the eide lines), and 7in above the ground, perfectly level with each other. Next put ia one stump 9in above the ground, 3ft outside the four base line corners, and then! four more 7in abovo the ground at tha extreme ends of your ground, and in » direct line with the three already fixedl down each side of the court. This will! leave the two stumps in the middle andf the four at the extreme run-back quite level, and the four at the corners of the base line 2in higher. You will now require to get a quantity of broken bricks, the various pieces notf bemg larger than 3in or so. Spread a layer of this over the whole surface 4ia thick in the centre, rising evenly to 6i» at the base lines, and then dropping aguini to 4in at the extreme baok. Roll with a* heavy a roller as you can procure several times both -ways, and use a heavy hammeif round the stumps and on any bumps whictf the rolling has not consolidated. It may be as well to put in a few row» of 3in agricultural drain pipes, leaving! the joints open, for good drainage; buti this is not essential in this country. About 80 loads of gravel will now b* required, which muoh be. screened, through? a ,l4m screen, and then spread evenly overf the surface to a. depth of 2m, and thani thoroughly watered and rolled with the' heavy roller until it is keyed into thtf brick foundation as one homogeneous masE.-; Ihe whole life of the court depends otv this layer, and no pains should be sparedK over this part of the work, too much water? and too much rolling bein* impossible.4 The final coat will consist of lin layer ofe fine travel (about the size of peas), and* enough ? rifc (not dirt) to bind iF Great' care will be required to otain a smooth? phshed a good watering and rolling for several days, until the whole is thoroughly t»U » i fc ™*^ry, after which ths tj— * sp6ady for m& r*-iiur and play.4 In dry weather, after much play, it will A «»vf JP * wa^" n «r at night and rolling next morning will ma ke it aa good as everT