LAWN TENNIS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3018, 17 January 1912, Page 73

LAWN TENNIS.

BY SMASH.

All the Americans wore black leather ahoes, and did not look so dapper as the Australians. . . .

Wright has a habit of grunting, giving a false impression that he is in distress. Thrice during play he lost hold of his racquet," on two occasions the mishap costing him a stroke Once, having beaten Brookes with a service, he earned applause by calling it a "let," as Brookes had not been quite ready. Anv pause between sets was made use of by Wright for practising serving. He serves a fair number of double faults. He puts a cut on nearly every drive, both back and fore hand. In the Doubles, ho and M'Loughlin conferred apart between sets. Both M'Loughliu and Wright were specially forciblo on overhead work, smashing murderously when the opportunity came. Dunlop, among the Australians, was the best overhead man. He smashed from any part of the court, and on several occasions he landed on tho side lino, beyond the possibility of acceptance, smashes so vigorous that the ball rebounded amongst the spectators. M'Loughlin's kicking service worried him, so that* finally he stood a couplo of yards behind the base line to receivo. and even then he co"H out th*nn back with any strength. Brookes wag at first in difficulties with that, service, but presently he was smothering the bounce and driving back hard across court. With the exception of Dunlop. none of the players varied his service, and each put on tihe second as hard as the first. Dunlop often sent, up a cut service, which looked slow and simple, but which was effective in that his opponents were unable to get any pace on to the return. Davis Cup and New Zealand Championship tennis have quite overshadowed Dlay nearor homo, hence the holding over until now of reference to the Southland Association's second annual tournament, held at Christmas time. Perfect weather and excellent courts furnished exceptionally favourable conditions, and although the meet- ; ing was not taken part in by many Otago cracks, some attractive play was witnessed, whilst, if the standard of merit reached by the leading players was not so high as has previously been attained, the general average was improved upon. "Deuce," in the Southland Times takes the Southland players to task for not supporting the mooting. He says, "Glancing over the list of competitors, one is struck at once with tho lamentable lack of supoprt accorded tho tournament by Invercargill players on the one hand, and the solid support of the country clubs on the other, mingled with a few players from Dunedin, Milton, and . Nelson. The number of players in Invercargill affiliated to the association runs into something like 250. yet out of this number only 20 entered for the tournament. One would gather from this fact that the town players had lost their keenness. -The chief reasons given were the long spell of unsettled weather, and the Davis Cup tournament in Christchurch, both rather feeble excuses, as the formor affected everyone alike, yet the standard of play was distinctly better than last year, and the latter —the Davis Cup —did not commence until the 29th inst. As a matter of fact, several of the tournament players finished their games and went north in ample time to sec tho tennis classic." Hamilton, of Kaituna, easily won tho championship, in the absence of Invercargill's leading light, Tucker. The papers commented upon Hamilton's great variety of strokes. Two promising young Dunedin players, S. M'Doiigall (Roslyn), and Miss Moore ((Balmacewon), carried off the Combined Doubles Handicap, after a close and interesting competition, which reflected credit upon the handicappcr. M'Dougall also won the Singles, a result attributed to over generosity upon the part of the grading committee. The same player, with Cuff, carried off the Doubl/a Handicap, winning 27 games and losing only 4. DAVIS CUP JOTTINGS. The Americans were careful to tho point of fidgetting with respect to the smallest detail. If tho ball from the first service (a fault) remained on the court the server would not deliver his second ball until a boy had removed the stray ball. Beals Wright was continually directing the ball boys. One of the linesmen who threw in a ball was asked to leave tho duty to the ball boys. When M'Loughlin broke a shoe lace notting, the severed ends might have sufficed, but, instead, the game was stopped whilst a new lace was adjusted, and when M'Loughlin came on again Wright drew his attention to the ends of the lace, and got him to tie them afresh before resuming play. Larned kept a towel at each end of the court, and had the sawdust boxes removed from one spot to another. Concerning the foot faulting complained of on tho first day, I was at the opposite end, and could not judge, but from my viewpoint, when serving at my end, both Brookes and Wright seemed frequently to pass the base line with one foot before the service was delivered. One line umpire created a ripple of merriment amongst all but the players by fiis apologetic attempt to correct a hastydecision regarding a service which landed doubtfully near the centre line. In sharp, short tones it came out in almost one breath, thus :—" Fault I—right!—beg pardon !—let !" Each player had his distinctive characteristics and * peculiarities. Brookes always wore a cap—none of the others did, even when facing the sun. Before serving, the Australasian captain pluced his foot as carefully as though everything depended on his foot being adjusted with the rarest delicacy in relation to the base line. Brookes's footwork throughout was pretty to watch, suggesting the training of a boxer.

Lamed, who wa-s absolutely free from tho suspicion of foot-faulting, was also very careful in placing his foot and testing it for a firm foothold before delivering his gervice* When receiving a service he

crouched and balanced from one foot to the other. When partly through his Singles he donned "a sweater, and played for the rest of the match with it on.

ENGLISH TEAM. SYDNEY, January 13. The Tennis Association has decided to offer Wallis Myers half the profits of the tour of an English tennis team, with a guarantee of £4OO, and to inform him that they might extend the tour to New Zealand. The offer is subject to team coming with the sanction of the English Association. It was decided to withdraw from the affiliation with the English Association, because many of the regulations are unsuited to Australian customs and conditions. THE DAVIS CUP. WHAT AMERICA WANTS. NEW YORK, January 12. Mr Harry Waider, secretary of the Western Lawn Tennis Association, announces that the United States players will cease to be contestants for the international trophy unless the Australians agree to play on American soil for the Davis Cup. Mr Waider said he believed that this was the feeling of tennis players throughout the countrv. * SYDNEY, January 15. Referring to the cablegram that America would not compete for the Davis Cup outside of America, the Herald 6ays: "The negotiations governing the contest would have to be altered by two-thirds of the nations which have competed. If the trophy were returned to America by legislation instead of by conquest it would be only Dead Sea fruit. It i 6 hard to believe that America would puf forward such a suggestion."