TENNIS

Southland Times, Issue 20014, 30 October 1926, Page 18

TENNIS

“Chop.”)

(By

1926-27 FIXTURES. New Zealand Championships, at Auckland, Christmas week. North Otago Championships, at Oamaru, December 25, 27 and 28. Southland Championships, at Invercargill, December 25, 27 and 28. Wellington Christmas Tournament, at Miramar, December 25, 27, 28 and 29. Hawera Championships, at Hawera, December 25, 27, 28 and 29 (conditional). Hawke’s Bay Championships, at Hastings, December 27, 28 and 29. Martinborough Championships, at Martinborough, December 27, 28, 29 and 30. South Canterbury . Championships, at Timaru, January 1,3, and 4. Wanganui Championships, at Wanganui, January 1,z3, and 4. Pahiatua Championships, at Pahiatua, J anuary 1,3, and 4. Dannevirke Championships, at Dannevirke, January 1,3, and 4. Auckland Championships, at Auckland, January 3,4, 5, and 6. Taranaki Championships, at New Plymouth, January 4,5, 6, 7 and 8. Palmerston North Championships, at Palmerston North, January 11, 12, 13, 14. Waipukurau Championships, at Waipukurau, January 13 and 15. Canterbury Championships, at Christchurch, January 20, 21 and 22. Wairarapa Championships (locality not decided), January 21, 22, 24 and 25. Wellington Championships, at Miramar, January 21, 22, 24 and 25. Waipawa Championships, at Waipawa, January 25 to 28. West Coast Championships, at Grey mouth, January 26, 27 and 28. Nelson Championships, at Nelson, January 29, 31 and February 1 and 2. EASTER TOURNAMENTS. Canterbury Tournament, at Christchurch, April. Maori Championships, at Wanganui, April. North Auckland Championships, at Whangarei, April. Otago Championships, at Duiftdin, April. Waikato Championships, at Hamilton, April. Wellington Tournament, at Miramar, April. Hawke’s Bay Club Championships, at Napier, April. (Good Friday falls on April 15 next year.) Inter-club matches commence to-day. In the A grade Invercargill No. 2 plays Southend at Southend; Central plays Winton at Winton; Gladstone plays St. Mary’s at Gladstone; and Invercargill No. 1 has a bye. In the B grade Waihopai No. 1 plays Invercargill at Invercargill; Waihopai No. 2 plays Southend at Waihopai; Central plays Bluff at Central; and St. Mary’s has a bye. When is the provincial ladder going to be put up? It is time ladder matches were being played. They -are useful not only in giving the selectors a chance to study form, but in providing players with games under match conditions.

The presence of players from New South Wales at the New Zealand championships to be held in Auckland during Christmas week will make the play more interesting. P. Haege (Victoria) is also a likely competitor. The players from Sydney are as follows: —F. Peach, N. Peach, Kalms, North, McCausland, and Fitzgerald, with Woodman as emergency. It is far from being New South Wales’s best team, but for all that it is by no means a weak team. Norman Peach and Kalms will be the hardest to beat, and the latter, if in his best form, should go very near winning the New Zealand Championship, Ollivier, Andrews, Smyth, Wilson and Bartleet will make the visitors play all out to win. The participation by the visitors in the championships is only a side issue, their chief object being to play a test match against New Zealand and matches against the various provinces. Southland should be one of the provinces played, and as the matches will eventuate early in January, the representative team should be selected in plenty of time to get tfie all-important practice. It is being assumed, of course, that the Southland Association has formally applied for a match against the visitors. If they have not, no time should be lost. No royal road to success has Takeichi Hyada travelled (says American Lawn Tennis). Sheer hard and intelligent work, properly guided and encouraged, is responsible for the young Japanese’s success. Back of it is courage of a high order. There is the will to win, the never-say-die spirit that fights to the end. There is also the possession of a game worthy of very high praise. Taken apart and resolved into its constituent elements, that game leaveslittie to be desired. Its out-standing feature is the ability and determination to hit. But for those punching drives, that carried the ball into the corners at * tremendous speed, the victories over Lacoste and Cochet on almost successive days would never have been achieved.

According to American Lawn Tennis, Miss Helen Wills returned at the end of August to her home in Berkeley, after an absence of more than eight months in Europe. Her trip across the continent was as undemonstrative as she was able to make it. She had been forced to let her national championship go by default because of illness, and the strain of the play in the east before she left, together with the long journey, told on her, with the consequence that she was a very tired and somewhat shaken young woman when she stepped off the train at Berkeley Station. It had been her wish to arrive unheralded, but her many friends and admirers made that impossible. Almost the first thing she did, after passing through the ordeal of being photographed and interviewed by the newspaper representatives who were there to meet her, was to register for the University of California, where she is entering her junior year, majoring in the College of Arts. Miss Wills has announced that she will not take part in any match play for a time, and will only occasionally indulge in light play. She defaulted her Califorhian title at the September tournament at the Berkeley Tennis Club, just as she did her national title. Her plans are to devote the most of the time to her school work. She was given six months’ leave to make the European trip, and now has that back work to make up. Early next year, possibly before, she will begin to build up her game for next year’s play, but it is not known if she proposes to make another attempt to lift the championship at Wimbledon in June of 1927.

SUZANNE’S GOWNS.

The following extract from the New York Herald will prove very interesting to readers of both sexes. The article is headed: —She Sails for Professional Tennis Tour of U.S. With Eleven Trunks of Paris Gowns, Suzanne Dolls and Daily Quota of Champagne for Voyage. Suzanne Lenglen, with eleven trunks crammed with the latest French modes, sailed on the liner Paris. The queen of the tennis courts is going to America, both as a professional racquet wielder and a portrayer of French fashion. It was noted that Suzanne carried with her only four . racquets.

“How is your tennis?*’ Mlle. Lenglen was -asked just before her departure. “I don’t know; I haven’t played for months,” she answered, adding, "You should see that black and white evening dress of mine. It is a masterpiece.”

Mlle. Lenglen is keen for Jack Dempsey to defeat Gene Tunney at Philadelphia. do hope Mr Dempsey is victorious over Mr Tunney,” she said. “He is such a refined gentleman. I really don’t know where people get that man-eating idea about him. While Mr and Mrs Dempsey were in Paris, I had luncheon with them, and if Mr Dempsey’s ring tactics are as nice as his table manners he is sure to win.”

As the French girl entered her state-

room she seemed to be in splendid health and spirits. She asserted that she never felt better in her life. She occupies one of the best cabins on the liner. It had been converted into a bower of flowers by order of Charles C. Pyle, the American sports impressario, who was responsible for getting Mlle. Lenglen to forsake the amateur ranks and become a professional. Mr Pyle had given instructions that fresh flowers and champagne be placed in her cabin each day during the journey to New York. Mlle. Lenglen took aboard twenty-five dolls representing herself, each wearing her famous headband. She proposes to auction them at the ship’s concerts. Although not a single official of the French Tennis Federation bade her adieu either in Paris or Havre, there were crowds of friends at both places to give her a hearty send-off. In addition when she arrived on board the steamer there were many telegrams awaiting her and flowers, candy and books galore. On the dock Paul Feret, France's fourth ranking player who Mr Pyle also has converted to profession afism, kept aloof from the crowd surrounding Suzanna. His face bore a sad smile. He is still under the shadow of the great sorrow due to the death of his nineteen-year-o!d bride four months after his marriage It is said that he influenced in accepting Mr Pyle’s offer for an American tour mainly by a desire to du* tract his mind from his bereavement through a change of scene. He also la making the voyage on the Paria.