LAWN TENNIS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19672, 14 December 1933, Page 4

LAWN TENNIS

NOTES ON PLAY AND PLAYERS (By “Umpire.”) Ideal summer conditions were experienced in Timaru last Saturday and the courts at Maori Park were well patronised by devotees of lawn tennis as a consequence. A team chosen by the S.C.L.T.A. from the various Timaru clubs, entertained a team from Temuka and a most enjoyable afternoon resulted. Temuka were unfortunate in having to field a couple of reserves at the last moment, which left the major portion of their men’s section up against strong opposition. The veteran Warne Pearse showed that he is by no means a spent force and he got the better of N. Cramond 9-5. In the doubles, playing with' a hard hitting youngster in Fraser, he helped to give Cramond and Satterthwaite plenty of work to do to get a win at 9-5, and in the mixed doubles, he and Miss Poultney were definitely superior to Miss Sullivan and Cramond, Pearse at the net being most adept at piercing his opponents’ defence. Young Fraser, who is still at school, showed promise, not being afraid to go for his shots though apt to overhit. He was not comfortable against Ellis’s drives in the singles, but in the mixed doubles, partnered by Miss Pearse, who exploits the spin shot, they ran Miss Smvthe and Satterthwaite to 9-8, Satterthwaite taking quite a time to find out how to deal with the curly ones. Another veteran in J. T. Smart put up a good fight in the men’s doubles, against the hard hitting of Morrison and Ball, and in the mixed doubles, well backed up by Miss Hanifin, only went down in the final game. Miss Poultney was very forceful in her game w ith Miss Smythe and broke down the latter's defence with hard drives and good net work. In the mixed doubles she was a sound partner and made opportunities for W. Pears: to put paid to the rallies. In the ladies' doubles. Misses Poultney and Pearse were unexpectedly easily beaten by Misses Smythe and Bridges, the latter at the net being well backed up by the former. Miss R. Pearse found her spin shots of no avail against the hard driving of Miss Sullivan, who dealt with them in no uncertain fashion. Mrs Dick found her usually steady defensive game of no avail against th quick moving of Miss Eliot and the other Temuka ladies were also defeated In the singles by reason of the better attacking methods of their opponents. Mrs Tindall and Miss Dwan, however were very steady in their doubles match, and managed to snatch a win at 7-6 after being well down in the early stages. The value of the harder hitting game over the purely defensive tvpe was exemplified by Morrison. Ellis, Smith and Ball, of the Timaru side. In view of the lack of play on grass courts and the strength of the opposition, the visitors from Temuka are tc be congratulated on their display. In the B grade match, Aorangl v, Timaru, the former were the winners with 10 sets t< ti sets. S. Martin picked up everything and kept the ball in play to brat G. Keen 9-5, the latter making errors in smashing. P. Sinclair and G. Martin had a close game, the former being better on the attack and getting home at 9-6.

P. Young gave R. Holdgate little quarter, and kept too good a length for his opponent. W. Lewis beat G. Bridges 9-7, but was not impressive, his opponent making the play w'hich led him into errors trying for winners. In the doubles the Aorangi pairs both won, their team work being better balanced and their hitting harder. The Timaru ladies collected three of the four singles matches, Miss LeCren being too steady for Miss Oxford, Miss Campbell too severe for Miss Huston and Miss Swan a better driver than Miss McCallum. Miss Clark, however, got a 7-5 win against Miss Patchett, the latter providing the attack, but making more errors. In the ladies’ doubles, both teams scored a win each. In the mixed doubles, Aorangi scored three wins to one by Timaru, their work at the net being more effective. The St. John’s v. Wai-iti match was a very close contest, the result being 8 sets all, but Wai-iti just had the advantage on games 98 to 94. N. Collins was more forceful than A. Provan and won at 9-5. E. Laws served well and drove better than J. Kennedy. A. D. Mcßae, however, went down to F. McAteer 9-5, making more errors on his hard hitting and P. Mangos was not able to make much impression on F. Tuck. In the doubles there was little to choose between the pairs although St. John’s scored in both, the results being 9-7 and 9-8 respectively. In the ladies’ section, Mrs Sullivan gave Wai-iti great help by a straight out win, due to harder hitting and better placing. Miss Mahan aiso had a good win, her lobbing being a great asset. Miss Martin's forehand driving i helped her to a good win for St. John's, j and Miss Mangos just got the odd game in her match with Miss Brace- ] ’’.eld. Wai-iti scored both ladies’ doubles i with scores of 7-5 and 7-4, their team work being much more reliable. Both teams had a couple of wins in ! the mixed events, Miss Martin and ; Collins playing a good game to beat | Mrs Sullivan and Provan 7-2, and Mrs | Sheehy and Laws had a similar win. i The remaining Wai-iti pairs showed | greater steadiness in defence and won i by margins which just gave their side . j the victory. In the C grade, St. John’s and Fire Brigade had a close game, the former . winning by 9 sets to 7 sets. The games in the men’s section were evenly distributed .Caskey and Cunnold having a couple of wins each for the Brigade and K. Hall and Roper like- ; wise for St. John's. The St. John’s ladies, however, were [ in good form and had some good wins, though Miss Hill scored for the Bri- . gade with a 7-5 win in the singles and , a 7-4 win in the doubles, partnered by ; Mrs Bradley. I In the mixed events, Miss Hill and . Caskey completed their triple win of the day with 7-4 and Cunnold also had ‘ his third win, his partner being Mrs ! Bradley. i The two strong sides In the C grade , in Aorangi and Highfield had a good fight on the former's courts, the home . ! team winding up with 10 sets to 6 sets. | Rosevear and Turkington had a long struggle the latter's defence prevailing against Roscvear’s strong attack by 9-7. . It was a case of Rosevear’s forehand versus Turkington .; backhand. Milli- ( ken and Garr played a similar forehand driving game and the latter got the greater number of winners at 9-7 N 1 :• • Darby and was the steadier of the two, whilst Sinclair aiso played well to get a win against J. H. Thompson. In the doubles, the Aorangi pairs got two wins, their players utilising the net to better advantage and being better together.

The Highfield ladies showed up well, Miss Boal and Miss McFarlane both being severe with their forehand drives and Miss Mitchell very safe. Miss C. Robertson, for Aorangi, got a win through steadiness, her opponent making the errors. In the doubles, Misses F. and C. Robertson had a good win, their team work and steadiness being noticeable. Misses McFarlane and Mitchell for Highfield, were a strong combination and had a good win. Aorangi collected three of the mixed events, their men using the net to better advantage. Miss McFarlane and Darby played well to take the other game from Miss Neill and McNeill. A friendly match between ladies from Wai-iti and Highfield, held on the courts of the former, provided an enjoyable game, the result being 7 sets to 5 sets in favour of Wai-iti.

J. Crawford, contrary to expectations, is not resting and reached the final of the Queensland championships in which, however, he was beaten by A. Quist, 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 12-10, 6-3. In the final of the doubles the youngsters McGrath and Quist beat Crawford and Moon, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Quist is also in the final of the mixed doubles, partnered by Mrs Westacott. The second test Australia v. England has been postponed for a week owing to Perry having injured his hand through falling in an exhibition game played at Dubbo a few days ago. An American critic says Vines has sold his simon-pure status for 50,000 dollars. He has joined Tilden's professional organisation. He will play Tilden on January 10, and also in Feburary at Madison Square Gardens, the home of the big boxing contests. Miss Joan Ridley says: “Many players are affected by the nerve tension which preludes any game in which championship form is expected. It is as noticeable in the suburban tennis club as it is at Wimbledon. Personally I knit before and between my matches. That soothes my mind and steadies my hands. But still I often begin badly when I most want to start brilliantly, entirely because of stage fright.” It Is a good return if the ball be returned outside the post, either above ox below the level of the top of th? net, even though it touch the post, provided that it hits the ground within the proper court. A lot of misplaced energy is expended by many players when at the net through trying to knock the ball Inside out. It should be remembered that a well-placed volley is just as affective and less tiring—volley deep and away from your opponent—on occasions a gentle tap over the net when the opixment is at the baseline will be quite sufficient. When at the net keep cool and avoid the ultra keenness to make a spectacular smash. Activity has been manifested on the ranking list and the results of »he week's matches are as follows: I. Mathieson beat M. Crowlev, 6-1, 9-7. C. Minifie beat R. Gillies. Dr. Fea beat N. Satterthwaite. 6-4. 6-1. Miss Gibson beat Miss Smvthe, 6-2, 6-3. Miss Sullivan beat Miss Smvthe, 6-4 6-1. Winners of matches would facilitate matters if they would be good enough to report the actual result at once to the ranking list secretary. The S.C.L.:T.A. are hoping to have a visit from the Australian ladies' team I on Saturday. December 30. Tournaments Dates. 1 North Otago (Oamaru) December I 23. 25, 26.

Southland (Invercargill) —December 25, 26. 27. South Canterbury (Timaru) —December 26, 27, 28. New Zealand championships (Christchurch)—December 30 to January 6. TEAMS FOR SATURDAY Aorangi Club. Al. N Mathieson. Minifie. P. Sinclair; Misk-s j Mathieson. Eliot, Methven. Mrs Law- ! son. A2.—Taylor, Gillies (captain), Ellis, J Hobln: Misses Shill jto. Young. Marriott, D. Jones.