LAWN TENNIS

Otago Witness, Issue 3487, 11 January 1921, Page 37

LAWN TENNIS

By

Smash.

Those who were privileged to see the Davis Cup matches played in Auckland last week enjoyed a memorable and wholly delightful experience. In some quarters there was a tendency to compare Tilden and Johnston unfavourably to M. E. M'Loughin, who played in fhe 1911 Davis Cup at Christchurch. Perhaps they were not equipped with his extraordinarily fine service or his dazzling brilliancy, which appealed, so much to the spectators, but these qualities do not necessarily make great players, and that is what both Johnston and Tilden —I place them this way advisedly—undoubtedly are. They showed themselves to be masters of practically every 6troke, and an outstanding feature of their play was the fact that they were equally strong on the backhand and forehand. Their style of play gave evidence of long and studious practice, as if each stroke had been carefully developed and brought to perfection; but at the same time there was nothing laborious or monotonous about their game. As singles and doubles players alike they stand in the very front rank, and their decisive win in the whole of the matches just concluded was the result of sheer individual merit, amazing skill in the game of their choice, and efficiency right up to the hilt

One of the most striking things about the play of the Americans waF their great strength on the back-hand, both in driving and volleying, and occasionally, as in the case of Johnston, in smashing. In the Doubles game this feature brought them into sharp contrast with Patterson, and to a lesser extent with Brookes, whose strokes, while wonderfully accurate and well-placed, lacked the pace which the Americans imparted to their shots with apparent ease. Tilden in particular had a wonderfully clever back-hand half-volley stroke, and this, allied to his quickness of eye and speed of foot, enabled him time and again to pick up and effectively return Brookes’s cross-court volleys from the net. These he placed deep down the court with an almost uncanny degree of accuracy, and he frequently scored outright with them. When his partner was serving Tilden took up a position well in the centre of the service court, but so quick were his movements that the Australasians attempted on the rarest of occasions to pass him on the back-hand. Patterson succeeded in doing this only once with a beautiful side-line drive to the corner of the court, and once Brookes scored an nee by a fast lob just over his head which Johnston failed to reach. Johnston was also wonderfuly effective when he went to the net, where he stands poised forward on his toes with every nerve strained to the utmost. Some of the brightest things in this game of doubles were the volleying duels between Johnston and Brookes when both were near the net. The honours mostly went to the American, who thrilled the spectators time and again by the marvellous speed of returns. In the main, however, Tilden and Johnston seemed to favour the base-line game, their driving being truly magnificent. It was at all times accurate, crisp, and afuli of pace, especially in the case of Johnston, but every now and again both men would open out their shoulders to a loose, high, bouncing return, and it would come off their racquets like a shot cut of a gun. In the Doubles a veritable contrast of types was provided. The Americans, bv their l'ghtning drives down the side-lines and the centre of the court, literally forced Brookes and his partner away from the net, or if this failed they lobbed to the back-line with unerring precision. These tactics took the Australians at a decided disadvantage, and prevented them from adopting the volleying game which is their strong point, and in which lay their main hope of victory. In the third and fourth sets particularly they were practically driven off the court bv the fierceness of the American onslaught. And whatever allowances may he made for a lack of form on the part of Patterson and (to a lesser extent) of Brookes, the conclusion was forced on one that they were only playing as well as they were allowed to do. Even in the first set, which tney wen, the Australians were not impressive. On the other hand, the Americans, when they got going, conveyed a sense of power which, to the unbiassed mind, carried a promise of victory right from the start not to be denied, Both of the Americans were true “sports. '* Tilden plays the game for the game’s sake. He enjoys it to the full, laughing heartily when his opponent leaves him looking ridiculous by a cunningly-placed ball, and taking all the ups and downs of fortune v.ith the utmost good nature. Time and again he made the spectators laugh in his Singles game against Patterson by remarking, ‘‘That’s too good, Gerald,” or “I can’t get near that one.” Johnston takes his tennis rather more seriously, but he plays the game in the true sporting spirit, and it was only one of the many pleasing incidents of the contest to see Brookes walk off the court with his arm around Johnston’3 neck at the close of their Singles match. Brookes was as immobile and inscrutable as ever, but be appears to have lost some of his speed on the court and his powers of anticipation, which were always regarded as a feature of his play, availed him little against the clever Americans His placing was a treat to watch, and his courtcraft always invested his play with a unique degree of interest. He also played a true sporting game. Contrary to expectation, he played his best game in the two .Singles matches, appearing to be somewhat off form in the Doubles. His game against Johnston was an exhibition of brilliant tennis by both men, and although the Australian veteran had found his master, he went down fighting gamely. Patterson was something of a disappointment to the spectators on the first two days of the contest but he did much to retrieve himself on the third day, when he met Tilden in the final Singles game of the contest. This match provided a fitting termination to the three days of wonderful play. However, judged on his general style of play, which is marred by many faults, I doubt whether Patterson would ever, even at the top of his form, Ire able to defeat either Johnston or Tilden. He possesses a magnificent service when it comes off, but it is not so accurate as Tilden’s, and when on his game be can drive faster than any of the other three players. His volleying and overhead work at times are also wonderfully good, but bis weakness lies in his backhand and in a tendency to become erratic. In his game with Tilden he showed some genuine flashes of brilliancy, which earned him round after round of applause. Ilis driving was magnificent, and time and again its great pace simply left Tilden standing. His smashing, both from the not

and from further back in the court was most spectacular, but Tilden, by _ his thorough-going accuracy, studied placing, and superior steadiness gradually wore him down, and defeated him handsomely. Pa,tterson also showed good sportsmanship in the main, and was very popular with the spectators. An amusing incident which occurred on the last day of the match is worth recording. Any movement among the crowd in the stands invariably brought the players to a halt, and the late arrival of the Governor-General’s party produced one of these pauses in the game between Johnston and Brookes. After the adult members of tbe Vice-regal party were seated some of the younger members of Lord Jellicoe’s party crossed over behind Johnston, a.nd ihe American, growing impatient, turned round and waved his racquet as a sign to them to hurry up. Thp ripple of laughter which passed round the stands with increasing volume brought home to Johnston a realisation of what ho had done, and then he himself grinned broadly. SOUTHLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS. (Prom Our Own Correspondent.) INVERCARGILL, December 27. The Southland tennis championships w r cre continued to-day. The Men’s Singles between M’Dougall (Dunedin) and Scott (Timaru) was a great game, Scott retiring in the third set, when the score stood at B—lo, 6 —3, 3 —2 in M'Dougall’s favour. The first set played was fast, both driving well, but Scott scoring when at the net. In the second set M'Dougall passed Scott down the sidelines with good shots, while his cross-court work was good. Scott was visibly tiring at the commencement of the third set, and he retired at 3 —2. Miss Blyth (Dunedin) won through the Ladies’ Championship Singles to the final by good tennis, her driving being consistent and well placed. December 28. The finals of the Southland tennis championships were played to-day in ideal weather. The men’s singles was won by M'Dougall, who beat Gilmour 6—3, 6 —3, 6—2, after a good game, M'Dougall winning on courtcraft and placing. Gilmour failed to approach the steadiness of his opponent, whose ground work was good. The only part of the game in which Gilmour excelled was backhand work, and he won many aoes with it. M'Dougall and Scolt won by default in the championship doubles from Gilmour and Callander. The latter, in attempting to smash, sprained his ankle and had to retire when the score was 2 —o in M'Dougall and Scott’s favour. Miss Blyth beat Miss Wallis d eci sively in the ladies’ championship singles, the score being 6 —o, 6—2. Miss Blyth was too good throughout, and only lost seven points in the first set. Miss Wallis lacked experience, but played gamely. Scott won the handicap singles after a great game against O'Connell (Invercargill), and won by taking the last six games, when the score was 6—3 against him-. Misses Collie and Guest (Dunedin) were beaten by Mrs Ba-nnerman and Miss Metzger (Bluff) in the ladies’ handicap doubles. The former pair lacked experience. NEW SOUTH WALES DEFEAT NEW j ZEALAND. AUCKLAND, January 7. The match between the New South "'Wales and New Zealand lawn tennis teams was concluded to-day and resulted in a victory for the visitors by 12 lubbers to 8. The members of both teams were tired after their hard play in the New Zealand championship tournament, but some interesting tennis was nevertheless witnessed. Eight singles matches and six doubles matches were played to-day, making a total of 12 singles and eight doubles. The honours in the singles were equally divided, each team winning six matches, but in the doubles section the visitors lost only two matches. A change was made in the New Zealand team, -Dr Lawrenson (Remuera) being ill with influenza. He was replaced by Sims (Hamilton). WELLINGTON WINS TROPHIES. Wellington won the banner and the Anthony Wilding Memorial Cup, which in the final rested between Auckland and Wellington. The American and Australian teams were the highest scorers, but were ineligible to take the trophy.