TENNIS

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16908, 6 December 1922, Page 2

TENNIS

On all tile Courts

COMING EVENTS. Canterbury Christmas tournament, December 25 and following days. Canterbury v N.S.W. Ladies, January 12 and 13. Auckland v. N.S.W. Ladies, December 15 and 16. N.S.W. Ladies v. N.Z.. Januarv 6 and 8. New Zealand Championships at Hastings, December 26 and 30. Kaikoura tournament. December 27 28, 29 and 30. ilawkes Bay Championships at Hastings, December 28 to 30, January 1 to 4. Marlborough Championship-- at Blenheim, December 25. 2(3 and 27. , Wanganui Championships, at Wanganui. December 25 and 26. Wellington Championships, at Masterton, January 20. .22 and 23. Auckland Championships, at Auckland, end of January. Taranaki Championships, at Auckland, end of January. Taranaki Championships, at New Plymouth, January 31, February 1, 2 and 3. West Coast Championships, at Westport, end of January. Waikato Championships, at Hamilton, Easter. Otago Championships, at Dunedin. Easter. Canterbury Championships, at Christchurch, Ea.stor. North Otago Championships. at Oamaru, December 25. 26 and 27. Waipukurau Club. Open Tournament. January 19 and 20. Masterton Club, Open Tournament. January 20. 22 and 23. Dannevirke Club. Open Tournament, January 25. 26 and 27. Entries for the handicap ©rents at the Canterbury midsummer tournament will close next Tuesday. If is on the cards that the NewSouth Wales ladies, if ever they reach New Zealand, which is very doubtful, will play in Christ church before Christmas. The ranking list is becoming more interesting than ever, and so far it has served a verv useful purpose i ; giving the leading players some serious match play. The challenges playel up till to-day leave the A list as follows :

Men. Ladies. 1 Ollivier I Miss Dorman 2 Glanville 2 Miss E. Partridge 3 Wilding 3 Miss Ferrier 4 Aitken 4 Mrs Speirs 5 Greenwood 5 Airs Hale * 6 Denton 6 Miss W. Partridge 7 Seav 7 Airs Lord 8 Goss 8 Airs Seldon (A) 9 Borrows 9 Aliss Stewart (A) 10 Sheppard 10 Airs Wake

Denton’s form in beating Seay, 6-2. 0-3, proclaimed him as a player who must take a higher place yet on the ranking list. Speed was the outstanding feature of his game, and be won without much effort. The younger man still shows the youthful characteristic of going for a whang occasionally ; but one is obliged to admire tho graceful finish of his shots, and Denton played really first-class tennis in beating him. Borrows beat Sheppard by superior court ‘Taft and harder driving. K° showed remarkable accuracy in his side-line shots and kept a better length, while Sheppard was never the aggressor, and played for safety. Borrows took the first set 6-4. and led 4 1 in the second. Sheppard getting the second game after deuce had been called four times. Sheppard evened and led at 5-4, taking a game off Burrows’s service with the loss of oni ace ; but Borrows took the last three games to 30, 15 and love. In the last game be scored the first two aces with soft drop shots. There was some very fine driving in the game, and ir it had gone to a third set SheppaH v ouid probably have won. Clark beat Browning. 6-1, 6-4, in a game which hardly bears describing, a:- Browning was completely at sea on the forehand, netting and hitting out with painful regularity. His service sparkled up in the second set, but his occasional service aces were badly set off by double faults. Clark concentrated well on the game. Glanville (2) lias challenged Ollivier (1) and the match will be played today. Wilding (3) has challenged Glanville (2). Borrows (9) has challenged Goss (8-. Loughnan (13) has challenged Browning (12). It is expected that Clark will chal-. lenge Sheppard. The Ashburton players have agre°d to the withdrawal of their names from the Canterbury ranking list, in view of the difficult situation created bv their inability, to challenge or be challenged. Tho players,' however, will not fie overlooked in the selection of Canterbury teams at. any time. Wellington ranking matches to November 28 leave the positions as under : Women’s Ladder. ATen’s Ladder. 1 Aliss Curtis 1 Peacock 2 Airs Alelody 2 Swnnstou 3 Miss Travers 3 Salmond 4 Aliss Tracey 4 France 5 Airs Peacock 5 Parker 6 M iss Howe 6 Power 7 Aliss Arrowsmith 7 Barkman S Airs Parkinson 8 Hollings 9 Aliss Walters 9 Berry 10 Aliss,Foster 10 Goldie 11 Aliss Williams 11 Young 12 Airs Turnbull 12 Martin 13 Aliss Shearer 13 Wright 14 Airs Norris 14 Fathers 15 Airs Rhodes 15 T. C. Ward The following games have been played (challengers’ names mentioned first in each case) :• —France v. Parker. 6-2. 6-4; Hollings r. Berry, 6-4. 6-3: Young v. Goldie, 3-6, 3-6; Martin v. Young- 7-9, 3-6. The following matches have been played for positions on the women’s ladder (challenger being named first): —Airs Alelody v. Aliss Curtis, 3-6, 6-8; Aliss Tracey v. Aliss Travers, 6-3, 2-6. 2-6 ; Airs Norris v. Aliss Shearer, 3-6, 4-6.

The Selection Committee of the Auckland Lawn Tennis Association haj selected the following team to represent Auckland against New South Wales in the ladies’ match. .to be placed on December lo and 16 :—Mrs Scott-Watson. Aliss Alarjorie Macfar lane, Aliss Knight, and Aliss Af. Payton. The New South Wales ladies’ team under the original programme was due to leave Svdnev on December 7. and arrive at. Auckland on December 11. but the shipping strike may upset

this programme. No definite word has been received as to the exact date the team will leave Sydney. The one crumb of comfort about the galling match arranged between “Great Britain and New Zealand” was the fact that AI. B. Fisher was beaten by Gilbert\>-1. 62. At* indicated in the “Star” when the first mention was made of the match, it had no official sanction, but for that, almost all New Zealand must have felt piqued at the cabled references to it. The tennis writer in “ The Dominion ” said:—“ A day or two ago a mysterious cablegram arrived from London, which read as follows: —“ Iri order to tost New Zealanders in Britain who are available to play for the Davie Clip, tho New Zealand Lawn Tenuis Association is organising a match at Roehampton on December 2. The team will consist of F. AI. B. Fisher. J. Lowry, R. Lowry. H. Pilmer, P. Hall, and J. AlcEwan. and will play a team headed by Wallis Alyers and J. B. Gilbert. The idea is for New Zealand to enter the Davis Cup contest as a separate nation. Now. as a matter of fact, this movement has nothing to do with the N.Z.L.T.A. whatever. Judging by the names, it would appear that this is a team which has been got together by F. Al. B. Fisher. 1. AlcEwan is a nephew of Fisher’s, while P. Hall will be remembered as a player who frequently appeared on the courts here, but whom no one would consider as up to international standard. Why AlcCarthy, the Oxford captain, lias not been included in this so-called New Zealand team, is difficult to explain. Another matter which requires explanation is why the cable man stated that the N.Z.L.T.A. had arranged tivi match. The governing hodv knows nothing about it whatever. True, the N.Z.L.T.A. have decided to enter for the Davis Cup as a separate nation, but when they do nominate a team it will be a. very different one to that which was cabled this week.” FAULTS AMONG LADIES. No girl can hope to become re-ally good at tennis unless she constantly is on the look-out for faults and mistakes in her game and methodically sets -to work to put them right, writes Airs Craddock. the famous tennis player. She can easily find out her errors, either by taking lessons, by watching first-class players, or by reading books and articles which give instruction on tennis. I did not begin playing tennis until comparatvely late in life. To be exact, I was fifteen years old before I succumbed to the charms of the game. Before that I was tremendously keen on hockey, and. through playing it a great deal, I developed an unusually strong wrist and forearm. This was something of a disadvantage when L-took up tennis, as I found 3 was able to get a hard enough drive by just swinging the racket from the shoulder without putting all the of tho body behind it.

j As my game improved, and I got j into better-class tennis. T found that: j.the drive which had been hard enough in club tennis was not nearly goo.l 1 enough to beat my opponents in the modern, hard-hitting game that ladies play. 1 had to spend hours of practice in developing a. drive that had the weight of my body behind it. So when beginners ask mo for advice I always tell them to be careful to avoid the mistakes I myself fell into, and to make sure that they form good habits at the very beginning. Another mistake T made was to put a lot of cut in every stroke. Now, the cut stroke is very useful at times, but it is wrong to use it on I al! occasions. The more cut you put j on a ball, the slower it travels.

j The only thing that wins points now_ . adays is sheer speed, for the faster tho ) ball travels, the less time your oppon- ! ent has to get to it and make up her ; mind whatl she is going to do with it.

Another valuable stroke is the volley. It is no good saying you can’t volley. In the modern doubles game you simply have to Afany girls, like ' myself, are not natural volleyers, but we have to keep on practising until we can make some sort of show at the stroke. Alixe<l doubles is the favourite game in this country, and a girl will increase the strength of her side by a hundred per cent? if she is able to stand up to the net when her partner is serving That, by the way, is probably tho reason why the standard of play amongst English girls is so much higher than in any other country in the world.

i The Englishman likes to see his womenfolk doing well in sports, and in tennis he gives them every help and encouragement by playing mixed doubles frequently A mixed game is generally much faster than when ladies arc playing alone, so the British girl gets into tho. . habit of hitting much harder than her cousins in other countries. | One last word of advice. It is : never too ■> oung to start tennis. Aly j small daughter, aged six. plays with n ! racket of mine that lias had about nine ; inches cut off the handle, and she ; already has quite a respectable fore- : hand drive.