N.Z.’S BEST LADY TENNIS PLAYERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18009, 20 November 1926, Page 11

N.Z.’S BEST LADY TENNIS PLAYERS.

MISS SPEIRS ON TOP, AND MRS MELODY IS .RANKED VERY CLOSE. | THEY PLAY SHOTS WITH VIM OF A CHAMPION. To rank the* ladies is a task more difficult than that of ranking the men (says a tennis writer in the Wellington “Dominion”). For too long have the associations regarded the ladies as mere appendages, and provision for them has been most perfunctory. Hence it is that no real opportunity has been given for the estimate of the lady players. But still it is possible to get somewhere near the order of merit. Without any hesitation I place Miss M. Speirs (Canterbury) No. 1. In her New Zealand has an extraordinarily fine player. “ She plays like a man," said one lady in explanation of a defeat at the hands of Miss Speirs. It is so. Canterbury is to be congratulated on the way that, in recognising in Miss Speirs a potential champion. they saw to it that sne was made fit to scale the heights. She plaj’s like a man because she has been made to play against the best men in Christchurch. She is at all times aggressive. What advantage that gives her against the great majority ol other lady players needs no comment. \Vith the same confidence I place Mrs W. J. Melody (Wellington) No. 2. and would remark that she is perhaps the only lady player who, if both were really fit, would have a good chance ot beating Miss Speirs.

It should not b« forgot ton that ono of the worst umpire decisions it has ever been my lot to have witnessed robbed Mi's Melody in Wellington of a straight sets victory. Mrs Melody, too. plays as a man., and she has even more energy in her play than has Miss Speirs. Now that she has returned from abroad she should be able to play herself into improved form. Were there more pace in Miss Tracy’s (Wellington) shots, I would I>e prepared to see in her a New Zealand champion. Unfortunately she seems to lack the strength to take her to the position which the class of her tennis undoubtedly warrants. She loses matches to inferior players by too great a consideration for her opponents. It is a weakness it seems impossible for her to overcome. - In a word, she would do better to put more ruthlessness into her match play. She is a versatile player equally at home at the net as from the base line. I place her No. 3. The courage to fight, on when all seems lost makes Miss Travers (Wei lington) one of the most dangerous opponents among the ladies in New Zealand. Her re-entry into championship tennis last season was a magnificent act of sportsmanship. Miss Travers has the hardest forehand drive of any lady in the Dominion. She is capable at any time of bringing off the unexpected. No opponent dare hold her too cheaply. I place her No. 4. I am inclined to put Mrs W. A. Scott (South Canterbury) No. 5. I am quite aware that she is a player who is very unequal, and I believe she is better in doubles and combined doubles than in singles. In the latter game shfe is inclined to get excited, and think more on things outside the match than on the match itself. But. for all that, she is a fine all-court player, who when she reaches the net smashes and volleys effectively. In Auckland she most assuredly ought not to have been beaten by Miss Marjorie Macfarlane. Miss Marjorie Macfarlane (Auckland), who I place No. 6, is the finest type of purely base line player wc have. She will stay on the back line and drive and drive and drive until further orders. Fleetfootedness and dogged perseverance in running after well-nigh imposible balls hay.® raised her to a positiop to which others have attained with less than half her expenditure of energy. But whatever shortcomings one may find in her tennis, on the court she remains an example of true sportsmanship. I have seen her correct umpires when to have remained silent was to have won the match. Miss B. M. Wright (Auckland), vjho I place No. 7, is equipped with strokes the most perfect and extensive of any lady player in New Zealand. She has flashes of brilliance . when she plays wonderful tennis that makes her opponents look veritable tyros. She knows what to do, and is always there to do it. But it is never done It seems as though she is affected by nerves. She is the champion who never arrives. Miss M. Wake (Canterbury) I put at No. 8. She is a determined fighter, who plays steadily rather than brilliantly, and counts no ball too difficult for her to have a shot at. Miss E. M. Ballantyne (Taranaki), who I place No. [), is the player she is by virtue of a splendid fighting spirit, and not through any brilliancy of strokes. She plods steadily along or careers speedily over the base line returning everything with a peculiar lob drive that is in itself a disconcerting factor to her opponents. She goes in fbr returning balls rather than striving to place them or go for the winning shot;. Miss Duleie Xicholls (Auckland) is. I think, entitled to No. 10 position! She is a strongly-built girl, with ri real genius for the game. She play* coolly and strongly, and all that is wanting is more experience. She plays brilliantly a deep shot from corner to corner, thus keeping her opponents always on the move.