LAWN TENNIS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19953, 10 November 1934, Page 19

LAWN TENNIS

VISIT OF ENGLISH TEAM

EXHIBITION MATCHES Bv Telegraph - Press Association CHRISTCHURCH, November 9. Approximately 2006 people assembled at Wilding Park to-day to see the visiting* English lawn tennis team engage in matches against one another and with leading Canterbury players. A large proportion of those visitors came mainly to see Miss D. E. Round, first ranked woman player in the world, for while F. J. Perry, another member of the team, occupies a similar position in men’s tennis, he has already played in Christchurch. None could have been disappointed in Miss Round, for she played tennis of a standard that has never before been produced by a woman player in the South Island. Results of the matches were as follows: P. J. Perry (England) beat C. Angas (Canterbury), 7-9, 6-1, 6-0. G. P. Hughes (England) beat T. Rhodes-Williams (Canterbury), 6-1, 6-3. Miss D. E. Round (England) beat Miss N. M. Lyle (England), 4-6, 6-4. 6-2. P. J. Perry (England) and H. A. Barnett (Canterbury) beat G. P. Hughes (England) and H. Dymond (Canterbury), 6-1, 1-6, 6-2. Miss E. M. Dearman and G. P. Hughes (England) beat Miss D. E. Round (England) and T. Rhodes-Wil-liams (Canterbury), 6-3, 10-8. G. P. Hughes, cpptain of the visiting team, early in the day expressed a wish to have a work out in a singles and he was accordingly matched against a leading local player, T. Rhodes-Wil-liams. In addition to this match and a brilliant singles between Miss Round and Miss N. M. Lyle, a match that produced the finest women's tennis ever seen in Christchurch, the spectators saw Perry lose a set to C, Angas in a contest in which the local man made the English produce some really good, if not the best, tennis in order To win. There was also much brilliant play in the doubles in which Perry and Hughes were partnered respectively by H. A. Barnett and H. Dymond, Canterbury representative players, and a mixed doubles between Miss K. M. Dearman and Hughes and Miss Round and Rhodes-Williams. Speed and Accuracy. The speed and accuracy which Miss Round and Miss Lyle maintained throughout their match was a revelation. Miss Round may not have been at her best, particularly in the first set which Miss Lyle won 6-4, but she exhibited a repertoire of hard hit strokes and fleetness of foot on the court that might have been the envy of many men. All her strokes are produced with the rhythm and grace that are the hallmark of a champion. When necessary, too, they are played to a rising ball, tactics that when successfully carried out give their user advantage of that extra fraction of a section that makes the difference between taking advantage of an opening and missing it. Perhaps the most important lesson that the English women players have to teach New Zealanders is the perfection of their footwork, which Is half the game. Tall and heavily built, Miss Lyle nevertheless covers the court with great speed of foot and she is always in position for her shots. The manner in which each woman returned shots from deep in the backhand corner was remarkable. Miss Lyle displayed a beautiful forehand drive which, directed into Miss Round’s backhand corner, was a constant menace throughout the match. If Miss Round showed by her splendid driving and volleying that she is a worthy Wimbledon champion. Miss Lyle fully demonstrated that the hopes placed in her by the English tennis authorities are not misplaced. Perry’s Exhibition. Perry was the same dashing, debonair player who captured the imagination of New Zealand spectators last year. He gives the impression of boundless energy and physical resources, and it comes as no surprise to see him make an acrobatic leap at a ball far out of the court and send back a scrorching shot that his opponent has no hope of reaching. Perry made more mistakes to-day than he could allow himself to make in championship play, and he attempted many shots that would not have been justified in a more serious match. Every now and again, however, he produced a forehand drive or smash of almost blinding speed and Angas, his opponent, was fortunate if a short ball to Perry’s forehand did not escape punishment. Angas played in the first set as well as he has ever done in Christchurch, and although he won only one more game in the second and third sets he chased Perry’s corner finding shots heroically, and the champion paid him the compliment of maintaining an unrelenting attack for the remainder of the contest. RhodesWilliams played scarcely well enough against Hughes to make the Englishman reveal his wide repertoire of cut and sliced ground strokes and volleys. The Canterbury man was well below his best form and was unable to cope with Hughes’s varied spin. The Englishman had a wonderful variety of service—cannonball, American twist and reverse twist—and it proved a potent weapon in the doubles matches. Mixed Doubles. At the end of the afternoon Miss Dearman made her only oppearance of the day in partnership with Hughes, and Miss Round played with RhodesWilliams. Miss Dearman showed herself to be the possessor of a very complete stroke equipment, but her shots did not carry the speed of Miss Round’s and she had not the same facility for finding openings. In the opposite court, Hughes could never take liberties in intercepting in the driving exchanges between the two women. Rhodes-Wiliams played much better than in the singles and had some fine volleying exchanges with Hughes. Miss Round supported her fine driving with splendid volleying and smashing. Playing with Perry in the men’s doubles match, Harnett, a young Canterbury player, showed his very best form. He took advantage of every opening that Perry’s thrustful ground strokes and volleys engineered for him, and he was little less active than Perry himself in covering the court. Dymond was seen to less advantage, and was obviously a little overawed by the occasion, but he held his end up in a match against an obviously stronger pair.