MISS SPEIRS HAS NO ONE WHO CAN EXTEND HER PLAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18057, 18 January 1927, Page 1

MISS SPEIRS HAS NO ONE WHO CAN EXTEND HER PLAY.

“ ME!(| MUST INTEREST THEMSELVES IN LADIES.” "The men players did not take an interest in Miss Speirs’s tennis until shortly before the championships at Auckland. There is no woman player in Canterbury who can extend her, and she will not further improve unless she is able to take part in games with the. men,” said Mrs J. C. Lord, Marlborough champion in 1912, and Canterbury champion two years later. Mrs Lord, who saw the recent championships played at Auckland, agreed with Miss Speirs’s remarks . regarding the necessity fo,r a coach for lady

players. A coach would improve the play of Miss Speirs, and of all those who were showing fair form; also, it would bring forward the beginners, thus improving the general form of the play-_ “We are looking forward to Miss Speirs doing great things,” continued Mrs Lord. ' If she can play with the men her form will improve, but not otherwise, for it is only by being opposed by players stronger than oneself that one is extended. “Miss Speirs did not play up to form in Auckland. She struck her form only in the final of the combined doubles. The muggy heat had its effect, and the sole Canterbury lady representative did not feel really at home again until reaching Palmerston North, where the climate was less enervating.”