SOUTHLAND’S GOOD FORM IN ANNUAL TENNIS MATCH AGAINST OTAGO

Southland Times, Issue 23773, 22 March 1939, Page 11

SOUTHLAND’S GOOD FORM IN ANNUAL TENNIS MATCH AGAINST OTAGO

By

TOPSPIN

Southland has reason to feel satisfied with its showing in taking Otago to a close finish in the annual representative fixture played on Saturday. Otago certainly was without the assistance of Jolly, and the brilliant uxxiversity player, W. Smith; and the absence of its first woman, Mrs Rawlinson, weakened the side. The Southland men were definitely shaded by the Otago men, but the superiority of the Southland women helped to reduce the deficit. While the Otago team consisted almost entirely of Dunedin players, Southland was truly a representative side with players from Balfour, Gore, Wyndham and Riverton making up half the team. MISS R. WILSON’S DEFEAT The, big surprise of the day was Miss R. Wilson’s defeat by Miss M. Kerr. It was an excellent game between two versatile players, who provided a dashing and varied display of the singles game. Miss Kerr, though a young player, has had considerable match experience in both New Zealand and Australia. She may not yet be the equal of the Southland girl, but the win will give her confidence, and in no way impair- the fine record of Miss Wilson. Full credit is due to Miss J. Wilson for her fine showing in her three games, and to Baird and Cockerill for a flawless exhibition of smashing and volleying in the first set of their doubles. INVERCARGILL’S SUCCESS In he senior B competition Invercargill beat Waihopai and thereby wins the grade with an unbeaten record for the season. Waihopai put up a good effort to take six sets. Miss Moir was the most successful of the women with a win in both singles and mixed doubles, and R. Mahoney proved a valuable acquisition to the team with three wins. Colbert, Larcombe and Kay concluded a successful season with easy wins in their singles. , Colbert has been a good lead to the team. He lost only two singles in the competition, to D. J. Henry, of Southend, and J. McLean, of Makarewa, and gained wins over Johnston, Coward, Cameron and Boyd. Larcombe has an unbeaten record with wins over Dickson, Mclntosh, Checketts, Henzel, A. J. Henry and Lumsden. Kay suffered one loss to C. Breen, of Southend, in the first match, but thereafter won five singles. Rout proved of value in fourth position. The women’s team generally consisted of Misses McCallum, Fairbairn, Basstian and Mrs ' Larcombe, but the personnel has changed from time to time with Misses L. Barret, G. Barret, I. Campbell and Mrs Routledge giving support. Mrs Larcombe showed most consistent foxm with five wins in singles and no losses. In the other senior B fixtures Southend was unable to field a full team, and defaulted to St. Mary’s. The vacancies were filled with several A grade players, and in a friendly game Southend won the majority of the sets playThe table below shows that Tisbury was not far behind in the competition with only one loss, to Invercargill. Makarewa also fielded a good team and lost to only Invercargill and Tisbury. Rugby Park, although well down the list, gave Invercargill its closest match when it took seven sets. The details of the competition are:

In the other two grades leading teams errierged with comfortable wins. Bluff took only three sets from Southern, which is now level with Waihopai I at the top of the intermediate competition. Each team has had eight wins and only one loss, but Invercargill still remains unbeaten with seven wins. Tisbury and St. Mary’s maintained their positions at the head of the C grade competition with convincing wins over Moana and Invercargill. Fixtures for Saturday: Senior A.—Central v. Rugby Park, at Rugby Park; Invercargill v. Waihopai, at Waihopai; Bluff v. Winton, at Winton; Georgetown v. Southend, at Southend; St. Mary’s a bye. Intermediate. —Moana v. Kennington, at Moana; Rugby Park v. Waihopai I, at Waihopai; Waihopai II v. Bluff, at Bluff; Southern v. Georgetown, at Georgetown; Central v. Invercargill, at Central; Waikiwi v. Clifton, at Clifton. C Grade.—Tisbury v. Waihopai, at Tisbury; Makarewa v. Southern, at Southern; Southend v. Invercargill, at Invercargill; St. Mary’s v. Clifton, at St. Mary’s; Waikiwi v. Moana, at Waikiwi; Rugby Park, a bye. The handicap doubles tournament organized by the Invercargill Club for tomorrow, Anniversary Day, should give enjoyable match play for those tennis players who have a holiday. On Monday officials of the club reported that they had entries from a dozen pairs, with promise of further support, including members of the Riverton Club, who are keen to participate. WINTER TENNIS Tennis players will shortly be putting aside their rackets and turning to other sports for the winter months. There are some enthusiasts who take up their winter sports, but who do not forsake tennis entirely, and manage to get in a little practice at the game during fine week-ends. Again, there are those tennis players who do not take an active interest in other sports during the off season, but who would welcome the opportunity that an organized winter competition would give for match play. Why no cater for these players? • There may not be a very big number wishing to participate, but it would probably be found that there are sufficient keen ones among the different clubs to run a competition in one grade only. A winter competition has been run with success in Christchurch for years and interruptions from the weather have been remarkably few. The weather in Invercargill during the months of April, May and June is often excellent for tennis and there are many Saturday afternoons when players would have several hours of light which would enable a men’s team consisting of either four or six players to have plenty of time to complete both singles and doubles matches. JUNIOR PLAYERS New Zealand’s five young players, S. Painter, R. McKenzie, B. Kelly, A. Burns and B. Brown have just returned from a trip to Australia where they competed against leading Australian boys in the junior championships at Sydney. The New Zealand boys did not meet with any appreciable success as was only to be expected, but no doubt they gained a certain amount of valuable experience, which was the purpose of the trip. When six junior girls, Misses M. Beverley, J. Douthett, R. Wilson, K. Armstrong, P. Cooke and M. Hodge, were sent to Sydney last year, they too found that the standard of junior tennis in Australia was considerably higher than in New Zealand.

Painter, who won the New Zealand junior championship in 1938, and who extended Pattinson, of Canterbury, to five sets in the New Zealand championships, gained a fair measure of success in doubles play, but in singles went out to young Barnes, a boy of only 15, who is said to have a sound stroke production, and. a good all-round knowledge of the game. A. Burns, of Auckland, could gain only two games in the singles from Paile, yet he proved himself the outstanding New Zealand player under 18 when he convincingly won three titles at the junior championships at Wanganui in January. In turning over some old files covering the selection last year of the junior girls team which did not meet with universal approval in the north because of the inclusion of Miss Wilson, it was interesting to come across the following paragraph by a Wellington writer:

“Miss Wilson, apart from a representative appearance for Southland in Canterbury, has not shown her wares outside the weak standard Southland association. However, I suppose the authorities have more reason for her selection this time than they had for ranking her in New Zealand’s first 10 last season.”

In spite of the opposition of northern critics, Miss Wilson did get the trip, and the experience apparently was put to better advantage by Miss Wilson than by other members of the team judging by her success in the New Zealand championships, when she reached the doubles final, and was one of the two New Zealand women to survive the’ quarter-finals’ of the singles.

Her ranking on the New Zealand list this year must, therefore, be several places higher than last year, when she was placed tenth equal with Miss K. Armstrong. PERRY v. BUDGE The two former Wimbledon champions, F. J. Perry and J. D. Budge have begun their series of 36 professional matches. Budge proved superior in the majority of the matches played against Vines and in the initial matches with Perry he has outplayed the Englishman. Perry proved the better player when both were amateurs, and relative form of the two players cannot have altered so materially since then. Perry is a player who’can rise to great heights when inspired by the occasion. When Perry gave an exhibition in New Zealand as an amateur he suffered defeat by both Malfroy and Hughes on more than one - occasion, but these players would never have worried him in a serious match.

Commentators say that Budge’s form against Perry was so convincing that his claim to world supremacy seems completely established. s - That may be so, but in an open tournament with professionals like Perry and Vines and leading amateurs like Von Cramrn, Bromwich and Quist competing it is possible for any one of them to turn on super tennis and emerge victorious. An Australian paper reports that the well-known Queensland player, Mrs Molesworth, will shortly turn professional, and a certificate has been issued by the New South Wales council granting permission to do coaching. Mrs Molesworth visited Invercargill some years ago with the Australian women’s team consisting of Misses Hartigan, Lloyd, Valkenburg and Hall and later competed in the New Zealand championships at Auckland where she was beaten in the final by Miss Hartigan.

Mrs Molesworth is a noted doubles player and first won the Australian women’s doubles championship in 1930. She has won the title on several occasions in partnership with another Queensland player, Mrs Westacott. OTAGO CONTESTS

Entry forms for the Otago championship and handicap tournament, to be held at Logan Park at Easter, are now obtainable. There are 14 events on the programme, and in addition to the usual championship events, there will be held B grade championship singles-for both women and men. The B grade championship events are open to players other than A grade. The men’s handicap singles are run in two separate sections, one open to any player, and the other open only to B and C grade players. B and C grade players may enter for both these handicap singles. The boys’ and girls’ championship singles are open to players under 18 years of age on the first day of the tournament, and are not confined to members of affiliated clubs, but open to all boys and girls attending any college or school. It is hoped to have a big entry in these junior events. A big number of visiting players from both Oamaru and Invercargill have signified their intention of entering for this tournament, state a Dunedin paper, and indications are that it will be a great success. Alan Baird will probably be playing with Cockerill. Other pairings are reported to be Bryan and W. Strang, Bryan and Miss Wilson, G. Pearce and Miss Kerr.

Several members’of the Central Club including McKay, Miss Deegan and

Miss Woods are supporting the Roxburgh tournament. Merlo, of Central, and Sharp, of Wyndham, contemplate competing in the Eastei’ tournament at Wellington.

The centenary tournament is to be held in Wellington from February 10 to 17, 1940. The New Zealand Association, when fixing these dates, took into account the fact that it is anticipated that a number of overseas players will compete. The dates fixed are after the conclusion of the Australian championships, which will be held in Sydney about the end of January. Preliminary invitations have been issued to leading players overseas, asking if they would be prepared to consider entering the tournament. Replies so far received indicate that some leading players would be willing to compete, provided that their other engagements do not prevent them doing so.

P. W. L. Sts. Invercargill 6 6 - 12 Tisbury 6 5 1 10 Makarewa 6 4 2 8 Southend 6 2 4 4 Rugby Park 6 2 4 4 Waihopai 6 1 5 2 St. Mary’s 6 1 5 2