TENNIS

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17179, 24 October 1923, Page 3

TENNIS

IS On ail tha Courts |

A player who saw the Labour Day matches between Opawa and Lin wood was impressed by the large number of boys from eighteen to twenty in both clubs, boys who were evidently coming on and were destined to play good tennis provided they kept hard at practice and did not forget that they had a lot to learn. Another arresting feature of tho match was the weakness oi the Lin wood ladies. Mr. Stanley Denton, whoa© marriage to Miss Jessie M Gregor took place today, will share with Mrs Denton the good wishes of ©very tennis player with whom he has com© in contact. It requires inexhaustible tact to he secretary as well aahandicapper in the tennis ■ection of a composite club like United, v here tb©*secretarv’s duties include the ©hooing off of ladies who persist in playing during men’s hours. M r D©nton’f firm but gentle manner on these occasions—“ iSuavifcer in modo, fortiter 3 ” apologies to Councillor Cooke) has quite taken the sting out of the enforcement. The ven ° best Wishes of ladies and men alike will therefore go.out. to him for a. very long and successful partnership in the" more serious game of life. The attraction*; of n “ dip in the briny ” between sets are held out ns an inducement to visitors to patronise the Kaikoura Teniii.s Club’s Christmas tournament, in which there are five championship and five handicap events. Morning tea will be supplied free. An interesting rule reads :—“ Competitors may he called upon to assist the management by umpiring.” ontrios for the club handicaps 1 at I niied have closed with very heavv entries in nil classes. There nre a good many new members this year i and rh© handicapping in consequence has been more difficult than usual. The courts are playing better every dav, and a run of fin© weather should improve them still further. There are. tv enty-two court© in us© this season, hut there will be twenty-eight next season. An indication of tho tennis boom comes from Oamaru, where there areonly seven courts between three clubs at present. A new- club, the Awamoa C lub, intends to lay six hard courts on one of the borough reserves on Holmes's Hill. Tho Inclusion of Malle. Lenglen in the French team to visit Australia in the season 1924-1925 is one .of the best bits of news ever cabled, says the '-Referee. The other members of the team will bo chosen from M M. Laooste, Cochet, Gentiien, Hirseh, Dunont and Brupnon. Laeost©. the world’s youngest chamnion. will also be ft great draw. YVhnt a year it will be! Evidently playing rights pro given at the association courts in Auckland. The following significant paragraph is from the Auckland “Star” of Saturday:—lt is to be hoped that players will patronise tho Association Court* at Stanley Street, better this season than they did last. Tho subscription has now been reduced to two guineas, with an entrance fee of one guinea. 'lbis reduction and the closeness of the courts to the city should increase their popularity. The match Cosy Dell v. Lniversity. though unofficial, gives indication that the first-named club will have to be seriously reckoned with in the forthcoming A grade matches, says a Dunedin writer. Smyth (University) is considered to he the equal of any player in town. He has been indulging in good practice with AY. Bray (provincial champion) and quite holding his own. Wilkinson - s defeat of Smyth speaks well for his form ; he is evidently improving rapidly. Wilkinson and Fulton defeated a strong pair, Smyth and Sims, comfortably in tho doubles. The Australian Association has beeu on the move for some time, says the Auckland “ Star,” endeavouring to secure a visit from teams of other nations, but it would appear that the English authorities are also on the move and propose to send a team on tour to the various Dominions. It is quit© likely that New Zealand will be mrluded iD the tour, and that- a team will visit these shores, if some encouragement is given by the New Zealand governing body to do so. It is not quite clear when the English players propose to travel, but more than likely it will bo towards the end ol 1924, w hen they arrive here. The opportunity of securing a visit from the team should not be missed, as such visits always give great pleasure to tennis enthusiasts, and go a long way to improve the game in this country. A revival of the annual tennis tournaments in Ashburton was stromdv urged by Mr F. W. Seldon at the Ashburton Tennis Club’s opening on Saturday. Mr Seldon emphasised the rant that past tournaments had been decidedly successful and popular, attract! ue* the- best of r | O T-o rs t ,, e cv... . tennis. He pointed ant that the tournaments wore very profitable affairs ,F

properly run. as the expenses attached to them were negligible. Another subject Air Seldon touched on was that ol a County Tennis Association. He regretted an association did not exist, as without a proper organisation of al clubs interest so far as inter-club competitions was concerned was at a lov. ebb. Practically all other classes oi sport had associations, and incalculable good resulted. An association would pave the way to big competitions foi premiership. Air Seldon mentioned incidentally, that n shield which wa? not accepted a long time ago was stil! available in Christchurch. If the clubs would come together and form an association he was confident tennis in the Ashburton County would make greater progress than it was doing today.

SUBURBAN NOTES.

(By “ BASELINE.”) : NTTBSERY B.HY3VCES FOB TENNIS TOTS. IVliy should the nursery rhymes of , less enlightened ages, that knew not tennis, ho dished up to children of , these progressive times. A child, I lulled to sleep hy tho sounds of the .. Wanna, saxaphoue quartet, broadcasted ! by the, Christchurch Radio Club, needs something better than the frivolous behaviour of the !amn that followed j Mary to school, to beguile the prebedtime period. Therefore, * Base. j line" takes the children of tennis ■ players on his knee, pokes the fire, and sings: ! Mary had a little lamb, And Dennis was bis name ; , Fie followed her to practice once, j And made the tennis tame. i He told her she must play with him, It fair gave her the bump To see him mess up all his shots— This Dennis tennis chump. No more does Alary have this lamb. She turned him down, tor itennis Alight be all right at making love— But, what is love to tennis? SATURDAY’S GAMES. St Paul’s A journeyed to Paparua on Saturday, and were defeated by a fair margin. The Papanui men held ■ their own, but Paparua ladies were too good tor the northern suburbs ladies Airs Garbutt won her singles 6-1, ah though Aliss F. Ward played a goo a ; game. Mrs Garbutt is undoubtedly j a fatal' player, end in one particular ! she stands in a class by herself as i • the owner of a perfect backhand. It j is a realty wonderful stroke and has 1 everything a drive should have —length and speed and placement, and added to it an easy and graceful action. Mrs Spicer for Paparua played her characteristically good game, "and won fairlv easily, as did Miss White. Miss A. Chapman, St Paul’s fourth lndv, won from Miss Al’Kenzie 6-4. With the men Tillman beat his championship doubles partner, A. Spicer, 6 2. Tim Panama first plaver was not at all well and lie did not seern to get going, j Bowbyes beat Kenworthy 6-4 after a good game. The Papanui man led throughout. St Paul’s contain. Alawson, went- down to M’Faddem and went down to H. Spicer. In the ladies’ doubles St Paul’s were outclassed, and in the men’s Tillman and Bowbyes won 9-7 and Alawson and Esson lost 9-7. j Little Biver were defeated bv Wool ston by the narrow margin of seven games. Miss Colombns continued her winning way, defeating Woolston’x first lady 6-3. but Miss Fahey after a good tussle lost to Mrs Ballon Tb~ Woo lx ton second Indy is playing a good gam© at present. The third and fourth ladies. Aliss Alartin and Monmouth, defeated Mrs Radford and Aliss G. Fahey, each 6-5. Strang© t*o sav tho Little River ladies pairing to gether in the doubles beat Miss Martin and Aliss Wenmouth 6-3. The country team’s first two men play solid games, and Guides’* defeat of Hawkins marks him as in the first MigM.. \Yoolston s popular delegate G. Pierre, defeated Radford after a hard fought match 6-4. Woolston’s third player, Collins, is a nevreomer in i suburban tennis, and he appears to lie oru> of the best doubles plavers we have. He is a left-hander. In the doubles with AT Kay he won 9-4. and m his singles against AVatkins he won 6-0. Al'Kay defeated Baird. Little . River’a fourth man, 6-5. The eountrv j team’s first two ladies won thei'r ’ doubles 6-3. and the men 9 7. Kaiapoi met Te Whaka on Saturday and non rather easily. The men’s team was strengthened by the addition of tho two Blackwells, both fine players, and the ladies hy, Miss Gillett. This young lady plays most attractive tennis, and won her singles 6-1. Kaia.poi’s I first and second ladies, Miss Blackwell , j and Miss Mitchell, won 6-4 and 6-0. and Miss Heeney 6-2 and Gabites 6-1 1 were the sole single* winners for the 1 Ci,H. FT. FT w--, fight for T© A\ hale a in the doubles and : only lost 9-7. but Hirst and Tunes won

i ! theirs very easily 9-1. Kaiapoi’s first i j ladies won 6-2. , Kic.carton were just too good for ; Papanui arid won by 16 games. Miss - i Hoimes defeated Eapa-nm’s first lady > j rattier easily and Mrs Chalklen, who, ■ , although she still plays for her old club - j in the Wednesday matches, is playing . 1 for Riccarton in the suburban compe--5 I tition also won 6-1. Miss Keeper won i j 6-4, for Papanui, and Mrs Guy, Exci carton fourth lady, was successful 6-4. ■ Haynes, playing up to his be*.r. form, . won 6-1. tiiake now plays first for > ' Riccarton. This club is unfortunate ;I in losing Carle ton, who now plays ; cricket. Chapman, the Papanui cap- ; tain, was too good for A. Kemp 6-4-HolJobon for Riccarton played good : tennis to defeat Gibson 6-2, and Mullins in winning from the promising i young player W. Banks 6-4. Papanui l *. first pair always combine well together and won 9-8, but the second pair were completely outclassed by HolJobon and Mullins and lost 9-1. 1 BELFAST HALS WELL MATCH. This match was chiefly remarkable fox* the success of the Belfast men and the greater one of the Halswell ladies. Miss Muirson 6-1, Mrs Page 6-3, and ' Mrs King 6-0 gave 14 games to HaLs- ’ well. In the doubles and combined dobules Halswell showed their superiority. Goes and Roberts, and Roberts and Miss Smith being the only Belfast wins. Halswell won by 85 to 63. A prophet has no honour in his own country, and a serve no matter how difficult to outsiders, is usually easily a simple matter t.o a man’s club mates. It may be for that reason that Sma.il has supplanted Goss from the first place in the Belfast team, for Goss i is usually considered one of the best players in the competition, hut a good , deal of his success has been due to his peculiar serve. NOTES. Rangiora-Cathodral match was postponed by mutual consent. , St Paul’s ran a Yankee tournament [ on Labour Bay. Miss A. Bauks and W. Baynes were successful with eight wins, and Miss O. Tait and G. Walter i were runners up with seven. Woolst-on played >St Martins on the v hil! suburb’s courts on Labour Bay. and won most of the matches. St Mar- , tin’s, although a new club, has some promising players. Among challengers for status positions are C. Gardiner v. A. Mercer (Halswell) and Collins v. G. Pierce (Woolston). Tregear, of this club, has successfully won a, place in the B team, defeating N. Wass 9-3. M est Spreydon Tennis Club, which i is now represented at the Suburban j delegates meetings, has one feature j that is unique. The club is founded on 1 a trust requiring it to hold four social ( functions each year, the proceeds to go to the destitute consumptive pa/- , tients of Br Blackmore. J B. team matches will be reviewed ; next Wednesday.

KNOTTY POINTS.

It is certainly -an astonishing fact thao nearly every tennis player is guilty ot violating some rum ot the gnme, the existence of which lie cannot be excused lor not Knowing* SSoo one in twenty tennis players, u. is safe to say, has ever read me rates, or oven thmics of doing so. How often aoes one see, in doubles, partners changing over so as to receive service in the forehand and bacKhand courts alternately. Such a proceeding is not allowable, and in a match would lx: immediately and drastically dealt* with by any umpire who knew his business. Once you have decided in which court you will play you must remain there for the whole of the set-. If you take the right (or forehand court) "you must keep to it throughout, the set and not change over. Rule 81 says: “ And the order of service and of striking out, once arranged, shall not be ! alter, nor shall the striker out change I courts to receive the service before tne j end of the set.” | Keep clear of the net- Should you he at the net. and when an interested j but inactive spectator of a lobbing com- ; petition between vour partner, on the j bar k line, and your opponents, touch the net, the rally is ended and the j point must be given against you. The j moment the net is touched, no matter ‘ by which of the players, the ball is | dead. Touch the net with your racket, your hand, or allow your clothes to ■ be blown against it, or it against them, j and you must pay the penalty. I A ball must not be hit before it I comes over the net to your side. Yet 1 frequently one sees a player standing , close to the net whose racquet, when it meets the ball, is beyond tjie net. In serving in singles you must not stand outside the side-line of the singles court. To do so is to commit a fault. Also if your toe so much a/* touches the base-line before you hit the ball in serving is a fault. You foot must he altogether clear of the i A ball is not out until it lands out. ’ Even though you may he ten yards outshlo the hack-line, and there catch on the full a. hall played by your opponent. the point must be given against you. To remain inside the court and to volley a return at the same time callout “out.” is an uunardonablo sin and on no account should it bo allowed to go unpunished. If a ball he returned outside the post, either above or below the level of the ton of the net, and pi*ovided it ; rli-orm into tho proper court, it is a ' good ball Should a plaver, even though standing on the or hevond. volbv a ball served to him evon though such service. <h«A the had been allowed to jjvud) would have h©«n a fault, he the onint. No service must, he touched on the full under anv circumstances. ,

COMMON TENNIS ERRORS.

n. FAULTS OF CONDUCT. Those matter, ar.rl they are com - ! moner than most of us would like to think It is vital that they should ho { sought mid dissected in the beginning, I and thence eradicated. Later on the j shortcomings we shall refer to would i not only stamp a player as “ impos- | siblo (a. perfectly dreadful epithet to > earn in any walk of life), but they would just, as inevitably react upon the quality of his play and the degree ot I his progress. Tennis is so essentially a. clean game, and t>o patently designed for the free j —not. disciplined—exercise of a sports- j manlike spirit, that it would seem 1 !y :• ' r he “ 1 der ” + - l in it. But we have all met at least on» bounder and rrn si of us are able, |

happily, to identify him without much THE “ BOUNDER ” DESCRIBED. He is the man who puts himself before the match or the tournament he is playing, in ; who arrives habitually late for his game: who pesters the already harassed committee for inforraa.ation that would easily wait—yea., and offers them advice upon occasion ! Returning the balls between strokes to the server, where ho or she isn’t—is an annoying habit; allowing an opponent to keep the score for both of you throughout a game in a little sug gestive of selfishness or patronage, and it is aggravating; '‘calling” your own ball, in the absence of an umpire is wrong and unnecessary. Your opponent should do it for your strokes—and vice versa. Serving without first making sure that your opponent is ready—it doesn’t take long to look across— introduces an unnecessary flavour of aggressiveness into the play. Ftpally—a. very common weakness, this—to hit back a service ball because it is a “ fault ” often fidgets the server and spoils his second delivery. It is pardonable only in the elementary atages. So much, then, for the two types of delinquent ; the “ bounder.” and the beginner who errs in innocence orignor- | ancc. For the rest, let us thing what I tenuis means to the world to-day. TENNIS A WORLD GAME. Tennis has spread to the furthermost corners of the earth, embracing both sexes in all nationalities. As the possible standards of play are raised and raised, and the physical demands become correspondingly greater and greater the prestige of the game will advance in proportion, and the, criterion of conduct be more and more insisted upon. 4 ‘ To play hard and fair and play to win ” will mean something more than a copybook headline-, and when the essential sportsmanship of every game is allied, as in the case of tennis, to the unconstrained and generous chivalry which the mingling of the sexes engenders, it is right to assume that the social possibilities—“ social ” in the best sense of the word—are tremendous. Tennis refines the- player. Therein lies the most classic of its charms—the most potent of its influences.

THE BACKHAND SMASH.

How to acquire the. Continental speed and accuracy is the. chief subject of conversation around British lawn tennis courts. for the young Frenchmen, who have recently visited England, have scattered so many of the pre-war maxims. First of all. conspicuous in the stroke repertoire of all the visitors was their execution of the hack-hand drive and volleys, says Alan E. Norman. That is a singular fact, because English players have for two generations been bred on the notion that these .shots were the most difficult of all in the game. To the Frenchman they seem the. easiest: every one of them had winning backhand strokes. One of the secrets was that they all went- out for this shot with supreme confidence, the source of most errors in late timing and failure to change the holding of the. racquet soon enough. Remember to get the thumb well be hind the handle, i.e.. the side oppositeto the striking face. Take a full swing back ; hit the baJJ just before, it reaches a. point in lino with tho body, and lot the racquet follow through, in an unchecked swing. Observance of these points will help all who funk the backhand drive. In tho past, all leading English players have declared that the most difficult shot, in the game was the back-hand smash, and their performances in court have always added weight to the assertion. But. the young Frenchmen made light of the difficulties and scored winners with amazing ease on this side. Once again it was noted that tho chief difference in their method >f handling the return was that they timed the, hit sooner—hitting the hail well before it was above the shoulder nearest to the, net. For this smash and -when correctly played the ball can be put. out of barm’s way in one—the thumb must ho straight up tho back of the handle. hirst of all vie must change our point, of view, we must, cease regarding these strokes as almost too difficult to attempt or such that only a feeble push may be dared. And to do this decide at once that, these halls in future you will really hit. Never mind for the time being where they go—get tho “feel” of hitting on the' 'hack-hand. That is the only way of demolishing the current back-hand-frame-of-mmd. Not until the mental attitude is right