LAWN TENNIS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18547, 22 August 1928, Page 3

LAWN TENNIS.

NEWS FROM ALL THE COURTS.

By

H. TILLMAN.

Lacoste v. Tilden. After watching Tilden's great attempt at Wimbledon to regain his supremacy, a New Zealander, with his sympathies in favour of the American. “Tilden now lerl Lacoste two sets to one and r.o doubt realised this and in the fourth set took Lacoste s service game to love with some fine returns. In the second game he played with Lacoste as a cat with a mouse, and exhibited the highest level of tennis in the match. lie thus led 2-0 and my hopes were high. Then Lacoste made his effort with service. He seemed to put more pace on the ball. and. as always, placed it well. Tilden’s returns were not so snappy and after a fight the game went to Lacoste. Tilden won his service, after deuce, and so led three to'one. The pext game Tilden had his last chance. On Lacoste’s service the game was 0-15, and 15-all. Then 15-30. 15-40, only one point from a lead of 4-1. But in the end Lacoste won, and took Tilden's service in the next to equalise at 3-all. lie also held his own service in the next, to lead 4-3. lie had thus won three game in a row. Tilden won his service for four-all, but was obviously tired, and Lacoste took the lead again at 5-4, and then came the last game of the set. Lacoste had set point at 40-30. and there came a wonderful rally which it is hard to describe. Tilden cut off a return and placed it short and acutely angled. It looked a real winner. But Lacoste raced up and made a marvellous recovery. Tilden. I think, had eased up, thinking he had the point safe. But he got to the ball and put it across in the other corner, also near the net. (Had his attention not wandered earlier. Lacoste's return could have been killed bv a deep volley). Lacoste again raced across and first got his racquet to the ball and returned it. Tilden volleyed. Lacoste had lost his balance in his last spurt and was actually falling. In his fall he grasped the racquet in both hands and banged Tilden’s volley for a winner of game and fourth set. he himself falling on his face. The crowd went frantic at the series of dramatic escapes, but I personally think Lacoste deserves credit for his first two recoveries—the winning shot was an accident.

“In the last set Tilden, still aggressive but tired, went under 6-3. I watched Lacoste beat Cochet. These fwo are great friends but are extraordinarily -different in appearance and in style of play. C-ochet simply radi-. ates energy. One man near me in the stand described him to a dot when he said, ‘Cochet is like a deer walking.’ .Lacoste is sallow in appearance, walks stiffly, and really one'wonders whether he can run at all. There is, however, no doubt of his speed on the court and he retrieves more impossible balls than any other man in the game. In * making his shots, no matter which, Cochet is always graceful. All his actions seem easy and full of rhythm. His speed when following to the net for a kill is amazing, like a tiger’s leap. Lacoste s shots are all seeminglv laboured and awkward. But there is no doubt at all of their wonderful accuracy. The match to-day was well summed up by one critic as Talent born and polished, against a skill brought to perfection by hard work and discip line.’ ” x :: ss The Australians and Others in Paris. Tennis writers are too often men and they lack the gossipy touch that women can give. Tilden and Lacoste arc just human beings with all the failings of genius as well as the greatnesrer. Is Rene married or engaged? Hoes Bill prefer blondes? The following truly gossipy letter by Isabel Ramcav relates to the doings of the Australians at Auteuil at the French hard court championships:—: The leaf-shaded grounds were thronged every afternoon with a crowd tes cosmopolitan as that which throngs the waterside in front of the Palace of Peace at Geneva. The crowd passed in ceaseless file in front of the committee's fenced-in little cottage; Borotra, with his Basque beret set at a jaunty angle on his head: Cochet, . Lascoste. Brugnon, boyish-looking Boussus, flanked by a handsome, obviously adoring father; Hawkes, with some fresh and more charming sample of femininity in dose attendance each day; the Gallav sisters, wearing the latest sensation in tennis sweaters and headbands: Helen Wills, serious and busi-ness-like. with the e'ye-shade' all the world knows by now drawn well down on her forehead; Boyd, from the Argentine; Sleem. from India; F raulein Aussem, from Germany; Mile Bournan. from Holland; Ingayo. a player from the East; Hunter, from America; Betty Xuthall. Joan Fry, Mrs Lj-cett. from England: the bevy of four Australian girls in charge of Mr Harley Malcolm, whose shoulders appear to have become more bent and whose face seems to have become more lined with the task of managing them; and Norman Brookes. huddled up in a muffler, with his smart looking wife in close attendance. I have been to the Palais de la Paix at Geneva, and I have attended an important conference on dis armament held within its precincts, and I can affirm that the atmo-phere on that occasion was not mare charged with electricity, nor the faces of the world statesmen delilierating round the baize-covered table more drawn and serious than were those of the men and women who spent the last fortnight of their lives at Auteuil, hurrying, racquets under arm, from one court to another. And they are probable doing far more to bring about a better understand ing between the nations than are the serious-faced men who deliberate around baize-covered tables at Gen € Mrs Brookes was telling me that <=he and her husband had flown across from London the day before the tournaments began. . , . ••Norman didn t seem to mind it k a scrap she said, “but I sewed fun ■k, % uslv all the way aqrpss in order to £eep my ipind off thinking, of,, possi-

bilities if the engine broke down or anything else went wrong.” T couldn’t help thinking of the famous, tricoteuses of the French Revolution, who used to knit while they sat and watched aristocrats being marched up to the guillotine. Before going off to Genoa for the Davis Cup matches, Mrs Brookes left their three daughters here in a French family, where they have been absorbing idioms and irregular verbs ever since, and where they will remain while mother and father flit off to London with the other members of the Australian team. Naturally, there have been one or two interludes from the dramatic seriousness of tennis. One of these

was a lunch given to all the players by the Racing Club de France, the select sports club of France; a lunch given by the Stade Garros, a dinner given at the Ritz by the Racing Club, a private dinner to about forty, given by Pierre Gillou, a theatre party to the Folies Bergeres, and a monster party given by Borotra in the Salle Hoche, to which he invited over three hundred friends, all of them tennis fiends. 55 jj jj The English Team's Tour. With only twenty days allotted to New Zealand, there will not be time for many matches against the English team that is scheduled to arrive about the middle of October. It is probable that Canterbury will be allotted a test match, but the province would lx equally as well served if a Canterbury- ; England match were played, and our own best four got a game. Taking the recently published New Zealand ranking list as a guide, Angas has no chance of a New Zealand cap, yet many enthusiasts would rather see how our own colts compare with England’s than to see the older players in action. Seay's chances of a game look good. He is raqked as “ No. 4 ” on the national ranking, and, as Bartleet would be unlikely to travel south after getting a game at Auckland; both Malfroy and Seay would probably play here. The standard of English tennis is not equal to that of America or France, but the difference is not so very great. Austin ran Lacoste to five sets at Wimbledon with the score 6-4, 6-4, 6-8, 1-6, 6-2 against him. He will serve as a standard to measure up our tennis by. A. Wallis Myers, writing of his match with Lacoste, says; “Austin was as fine a stroke player as Lacoste. He had the shots and the knowledge of where to place them, but he lacked the Frenchman’s discipline of mind and body which enabled him to call on his reserves.” With- the team here in a little over two months, it is important that the New Zealand association should map out the matches and the itinerary without delay and have likely players practising. 3 3 Tennis Tips. These tips from a leading player are of merit. He says: “Do riot have any favourite shot. A pet shot is the ruination of any player. A champion is an all-rounder. Lacoste, Tilden and Cochet have no particular shot, neither has Ollivier nor Bartleet. Ollivier is admittedly weak on his backhand, but it is only weak on attack. He can defend his backhand indefinitely.

“ The weakness of the pet stroke or ‘one stroke’ player is that the game is not under his control. If his opponent is at all clever, he- can crack the whip and the oue-stroke man has perforce to jump. It is humorous to see the worried look on a man when he is not getting a chance to play his pet

stroke. He has no other attack, and in desperation tries to force the game without the necessary big gun power. “Another point:—ln a match, never alter your style of play from that which you are accustomed. If ypu are losing, do not get troubled and vary your pace or game. There are hidden virtues in that game that you play week after week at practice. They are not apparent when you are up agaijist a seemingly better player, but the strokes you are used to arc your best ones, so persevere with them. Make your game easy. There is one way. Your easy play is the kind you usually adopt. Ignore the score. Carry on. It may be that that first set was a fiuk\’ one with no one more

surprised than the winner. Keep your game even when he is two sets up. You can still win if you play your best game, and that is: The game you play every day at practice.”

Grips. The most wonderful part about tennis is that if you are great, enough you can adopt any style of play, or grip, or stance, and yet win out. Take the three best-known grips. There are the “ American ” grip. the “ Californian ” and the “ English.” Each has its champions. The American grip is the one Tilden uses and advocates, and is the

same as that used by Norman Brookes and J. O. Anderson, of Australia. The Californian grip is alleged to come from California, but, like the “ American ” grip, was used in Australia before W. M. Johnston, its greatest exponent, ever handled a racquet. Johnston, handicapped by strength and inches, was one of the world’s greatest players, and therefore his grip must be a good one. The “ English ” grip is used by Borotra. Lacoste and Cochet. It, too, must be respected.

Meeting of Delegates. A meeting of delegates is called for next Tuesday, when correspondence from the New Zealand Lax ’n Tennis Association will be received and matters in connection with the English. team’s tour arranged. Australia’s Colts.

A. Wallis Myers, the well-known English critic, discusses the Australian colts:—When Ilopman can cultivate more certainty in his slow shots and Crawford can throw off that air of nonchalance which sometimes lets him down, the Sydney couple may in a year or two contemplate the prospect of bringing the. Davis Cup again to Australia.

Eye on the Ball. A snapshot of Lacoste taking the ball overhead shows the ball just striking or leaving the racquet. and that Lacoste’s eyes are fixed upon the ball. Of the ten rules for good tennis, the first nine are “Keep vour eve on, the ball.”

C.L.T.A. Competitions. Ihe C.L.T.A. competitions will be extended during the coming season. The grass courts at Wilding Park, which were spelled last spring in view of the New Zealand championships, wiU be available, and a senior competition is likely to be arranged, followed possibly by a junior grass court competition after Christmas. This, with the Junior A and the Suburban matches, will see Wilding Park crowded each Saturday, which is as it should be.

N.Z.L.T.A. Ranking List. The New Zealand ranking list issued by the N.Z.L.T.A. will not please everyone. but then no ranking list has ever done so. The fact that D. G. France is third and A. L. France is eleventh

looks as though “Don” is treated t(fo well or “Len” treated badly, for there is little to choose between them. Malfrov and Seay have won recognition and Angas is “number nine.” Knott is placed well ahead of Sturt, which will surprise- Canterbury enthusiasts. Ollivier at “number one" and Bartleet at

“number two,” no one will dispute. The list is G. Ollivier, E. L. Bartleet, D. G. France, I. A. Seay, C. E. Malfroy. J. F. Laurenson. L. G. Knott. A. W. Sims, C. Angas. N. R. C. Wilson, A. L. France, N. G. Sturt.

The ladies are ranked as follows: Miss M. Speirs, Miss M. Macfarlane. Miss B. Knight. Mrs R. P. Adams. Miss M. Tracy, Mrs W. J. Melody, Miss M. Wake. Notes. At Lin wood the final of the Nicholson Cup has been played- S. W. Jameson won through on the • top half of the draw, and last week C. 1. Webb reached the final in the bottom half. In the play-off. Webb beat Jameson, 6-3, 6-3, both on the same mark “owe 15.” In the combined doubles handicap W. Goss and Miss E. Borrows (owe 30 4-6) beat J. Johnston and Mrs Spooner (owe 30 4-0) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. At Avonside, Fi~ld and Wilkinson beat Allison and Eaton in the men’s doubles championship, 6-1, 6-3. Members of the Shirley Club are actively working for their annual ball at the Winter Gardens on Tuesday, August 28.

WIMBLEDON FINALS WERE RATHER TAME.

(Special to the “ Star.”) LONDON, July 12.

The intense interest taken in the early stages of the lawn tennis championships at Wimbledon was not sustained to the end. It is true that each day “Ground Full” notices had to be posted several hours before play began, and that on one occasion twenty-five thousand people were present, though not half this number could be accommodated round the centre court, but the finish was tame.

To some extent this was due to the dismissal of W. T. Tilden in the semifinal by Rene Lacoste, the brilliant Frenchman, for not only is the American champion still the most arresting persopality in the game, but his defeat meant an all-French final. In this Lacoste opposed the holder of the championship, Henri Cochet, and it was expected that the latter would retain his title. But Cochet gave a strangely listless display. Indeed, so lacking were his strokes in their usual virility that he was rather easily beaten •He lost the first set, and then made something of a figlit, and drew level. But afterwards he could not arouse himself to make the necessary effort, and Lacoste won with surprising ease.

I am afraid there is little likelihood of America now recapturing the Davis Cup, the final of 'which is to take place in Paris. -Both Lacoste and Cochet appear to have gained the ascendancy over Tilden, and there is little doubt that both will beat the American second string whether he is Hunter or Lott.

The ladies’ event fell to Miss Helen Wills for the second year in succession, and she is beyond question supreme. Some declare that she is as good as Mile Suzanne Lenglen ever was, and that, if she could meet the old champion to-day she would win by reason of her greater power of stroke. But as Mrs Lambert Chambers points out. it is improbable that Miss Wills would be able to force the pace against INI lie Lenglen as she can against opponents who are not quite her equal. For the third year running, Senorita de Alvarez contested the final, and suffered her third defeat. On this oc casion it was unfortunate that she had to leave a sick bed to go into court. Tndeed, she was not well enough to play on the day when the match was originally arranged, but in any circum stances it is not likfcly that she would have been successful. Miss Wills’s record throughout the event was remarkable. In the second set Senorita de Alvarez took three games, and no one else did any better. The men’s doubles, the women's doubles, and mixed doubles all changed hands. The former was held by the American pair, Tilden and Hunter, but they were dismissed by the Australians G. L. Patterson and J. B. Hawkes. The latter adopted unusual tactics. When Patterson served, Hawkes stood in the same half of the court. This meant that the opposition had to change their style of hitting the ball back, and it undoubtedly disturbed them. But this was the only virtue in the move, and, except through the element of surprise which it introduced, it could hardly be justified. The Australians tried it again against the Frenchmen, Cochet and J. Brugnon, in the final, but the latter were prepared for it, and were not affected There was a terrific fight for the first sec, the French pair taking it at 13-11, but Cochet and his partner won the next two.

Partnered by the South African, P D. B. Spence, Miss Rvan was a big help in winning the mixed doubles, and Mrs Watson and Miss P. Saunders car ried off the women's doubles. This is the first time since 1921 that English women players have been successful in partnership.