WANTED TENNIS PERSONALITY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20930, 8 January 1938, Page 17

WANTED TENNIS PERSONALITY

AUSTRALIA’S POSITION NO PATTERSON OR ANDERSON Australia lacks a tennis personality. After seeing our best and worst in action in the New South Wales championships, I am certain that, for the time at least, we haven’t a player with the devastating personality of a Patterson or an Anderson, says H. A. de Lacy, in the Melbourne “Globe.” Our men have lost the joy of hitting a ball hard and strong for clean winners. They are all finesse, puddle and pat. If asked to name the most colourful player in Australia to-day, I would choose Nancy Wynne, without hesitation. But she is a girl and you know the theory, often proved, that a second-grade man will always defeat a first-flight woman. The Sydney title in the men’s section produced the poorest tennis I have seen served up as championship class. You could count the good-length drives per match on your fingers. The contenders as a general rule played fox’ safety first and patted and puddled the ball back and forth not more than a foot beyond the service lines. They should have been attired in skirts and sent to play B Grade pennant. Though the men were hi such subdued mood, among the women Miss Nancye Wynne hit the ball cleanly and often. Sydney discovered a girl who combined a classic style with severity, confidence and courage. . I was told that Saturday’s final was the best exhibition Quist has put up in New South Wales. I can’t credit it and in reply I would state that, if that be true. New South Wales has not seen Quist.

Not 20 Per Cent. True Self

In these championships Quist was not 20 per cent, of his true self. He did not have a ground shot worth while. Reg. Ewin asked me what had become of his forehand. "He’s pushing it,” he said. A yard or two further on Miss May Blick asked, “Did you ever see Adrian volley so badly or get into such weak positions?" Bert Tonkin and Colin Long questioned his backhand. Which, in short, all goes to say that these Victorians who had seen the real Quist let their collective score of his weaknesses tell the true tale. The zest and confidence is lacking from Quist’s tennis. He looks fit, but is he? After the semi-final against McGrath he looked really ill. He had played throughout with a nose and throat haemorrhage. He said he was fit before he played Bromwich, but his sustained efforts were far between and for the second and third sets he stood almost flat-footed and took everything without a comeback. Quist previously drove off his forehand, went right into the net and swept the ball a la-drive-volley for clean winners. It was fascinating play. On Saturday he hesitated on his volleying excursions, lost valuable ground, ended in an impossible position and was passed. It was not that Bromwich played so well, so much that Quist, previously the dominating force, allowed him to. He played his forehand with his feet wide apart. He lagged, stumbled and fell often. If this was the real Quist, by New South Wales standards, then all that can be said is that they’ll rub their eyes when they see him at his top. John Knows How to Fight

Bromwich is to be congratulated, not because of any super-excellence in his play, but rather because when defeat faced him he fought back to win. Put an Anderson or Patterson at their top on that court and Sydney would have seen Bromwich left without an answer to their killing services and then' forehand.

Something must be done about this two-mouse power service that Bromwich backs his light to. It is a 10/1 bet that the first time he stacks up against a player with a good forehand seven out of every nine of his services will be clouted for winners.

The rest of his game is not strong enough to withstand such treatment. Sydney is satisfied they have then' hero, and it is sincerely to be hoped that John Bromwich can keep his head amid the adulation that is being showered on him. If Sydney has found a hero to worship the rest of Australia will not accept her estimates.

I heard it on all sides, where com-mon-sense ruled the tongue, and not the head, “What would Jim Anderson have done to this fellow, or Gerald Patterson, or Pat O’Hara Wood?” A. well-known former inter-state player said, “We’ve had B grade men who would have pasted this fellow’s service.” Defeat Would Be Tonic I hope in the interests of Bromwich that he gets a thrashing or two off the forehand this season. I have great hopes of him and his ability to rise above his difficulties. He can “take it,” as Americans say, and above all else he is keen to Improve. A hiding or two off his service, therefore, will, I believe, be the best tonic his game can receive. It might prove a stepping stone to a great tennis future.

So while Sydney preens herself in hex- new found hero, Australian still awaits a great tennis personality. Crawford has passed. Vivian McGrath is stationary, John Broxnnot yet there, and Adrian Quist, the one man with all the qualifications, is not doing himself justice. Will Nancye Wynne dethrone her brethren and rule as “king” of the courts—the greatest Australian tennis drawcard?

I know I would sooner see Miss Wynne stack up against Dorothy Bundy, the United States girl, for two sets than I would sit out again those effeminate semi-finals and that scrappy final.