LAWN TENNIS

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19271, 7 January 1931, Page 5

LAWN TENNIS

NEWS FROM ALL THE COURTS*

By

H. TILLMAN.

Coming Tournaments. Canterbury championships: January 29, 30, 31. Auckland championships: January 28, 29, 30, 31 » West Coast championships: End of Tanuary. The West Coast Tour. A meeting of the Competition Committee will be held early next week' to pick the team to play matches against Hokitika, Greymouth, Westport, Reefton and against a combined West Coast team. The team is to comprise six men and six ladies, but probably a couple of emergencies will be taken. Mr J. Mercer, who was in charge of the team last year, will be going again. Miss May Andrew. What is it that makes for success? Think of ail the ladies playing tennis in Christchurch, who practise hard, who long for championship honours, and lo! from the Opawa Club comes a young lady and in a year or two has two New Zealand championships to her credit. Of Miss Andrew it would have been a bold prophet who would have picked her to win the Canterbury championship when she did. No one expected her to win the New Zealand ladies’ doubles with Miss Wake, and few there were who thought that Miss Andrew and Seay could win the national mixed doubles this year. Miss Andrew has a good serve, but in all her other strokes there are dozens of lady players whose strokes are as good. How then does Miss Andrew achieve so much? There can be but one answer and that is: character A mind, not that of a tennis genius, but of one who sees clearly. An active, intelligent, confident personality. With strength of mind to keep playing her best in the tight corners and still to keep playing well when victory is in sight. In the last game she sent down her best serves when others would have been overawed by the occasion. She won because she was Miss May Andrew At United. At this period of the year Tennis, as spelt with a capital T, is dead in Christchurch. If Tennis is a young lady, she is either lying on some beach, or sitting on a cool verandah rather bored at the mention of the game. Of course the tennis, with a small t, still goes on.

but even that is listless. At holiday resorts men rush round in braces • and enjoy themselves, but mostly they wait till the cool of the evening. During the holidays United, in spite of its cool grass courts, was almost deserted, and many club courts could hardly raise a “ four.” In the events at United few matches have been played. 11. G. Searle beat S. W. Field, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 and L Armstrong beat A. L. Kay, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. A start will be made soon to push the events forward. Barnett will be missed in the finals for he is already out to Patterson in the first round. Patterson won 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, but he will never win as easy again for Barnett has got confidence and is adding every day to his knowledge of match play. Robertson took Barnett to five sets at Timaru. These two have met several limps with Barnett always getting the verdict. Dymond will not meet Angas again, as Dymond 'is in the bottom half with Patterson. It is possible that Dymond’s success against Angas in the championship was due to his knowledge of Angas’s play. These two were playing together a fair amount before the big tournament. They are playing together in the United doubles and should win it as at practice against Wilson and Stedman, Angas and Dymond took two sets at something like 6-3, 6-3. Patterson and Allison appear their closest rivals.

In the ladies’ singles four of the last eight are shown. They are Misses Sherris Donaldson, Tayles and Edmonds. Misses Gould and Macdonald have reached the semi-final. They are in th o top half of the ladies’ doubles and meet Misses Andrew and Wake again. Misses Gould and Macdonald will not win this time—so easily. In the bottom half probably Mrs Miles, and Mrs Peppier will fight it out with Misses Morrison and Smithson Notes. Two Canterbury ladies should have some satisfaction out of the championship tournament. They are Misses M. Sherris and E INI. Johnston. They pushed the winners of the ladies doubles, Mrs Melody and Miss Myers, to three sets, and were only beaten 7-5, 5-7, 61. It was Stedman's year for itbut it might not have been. It is said that Dymond nearly put Angas out, and that he has been slipping lately', but is it not possible that -Angas could have won? If Angas had got that first set the had set point a few times) would that have not strengthened his arm, and taken a little of the confidence of Stedman’s drive? Again, if Angas had known of Stedman's weakness to a high-bounding bair on his backhand, could not the result have been dittei-

An onlooker say*s: —“Angas was never greater than in the hour of his defeat. In spite of the mounting score against him he struggled on without a let-up. When the last stroke had been played he. relaxed. He smiled, clapped his opponent on the back and shook hands just the same as we have .seen him do dozens of times, but with himself the victor. He thanked the um pire, made no excuses and walked away.”

pire, made no excuses and walked away.” There was a comic picture in “ Punch ” depicting the consternation at the finding of a dandelion on the centre court at Wimbledon. Of the whole twenty courts at Wilding Park no dandelion could be found. Canterbury players have a debt to pay to Mr Haile, the groundsman at Wilding Park, for the wonderful courts there All the visiting players admitted the surface could not be improved upon Wilding Park, with its courts and flower bed and trees is one of the biggest things .that Canterbury’ has done. To the average player a tournament or two are big things in a year, but there are a favoured few to whom the New Zealand championships are merely the beginning of a round. All through January Mrs Brown and Miss Smith will fight out the singles again at either Wanganui, New Plymouth, Masterton c- Wellington, or somewhere else. If Mrs Brown does not meet Miss Smith she will meet Mrs Jones, whom she either met in Christchurch or Wanganui or New Plymouth-or somewhere. It is no mean honour for Stedman to get his name on the national cham pionship singles cup. They are a select few. Angas won last year, and before him Bartleet. The mighty' Geoff, won seven times and H. A. Parker six times Tilden’s name figures there for 1920. as does E. D. Andrews, who is doing well in the tennis world of the other side of the globe. Anthony Wilding, the first to make New Zealand known to racquet wielders, won in 190 S and 1909. Til den has turned professional. As an amateur we stood no chance of seeing him here, but as a professional we may. Hopman, when he returned, gave it as his opinion that Tllden, in spite of his thirty-seven years, is still the .—t-Jd’s greatest player, and could beat Uoehet if he would go to the net. There is no doubt that Tilden will be a good draw. People also were willing to pay to see “ Big Bill ” in action Alain Gerbault, the well-known French tennis player, who is credited with roaming the Pacific because of a broken heart, is setting off on another Tuise It is possible that this romantic player may visit New Zealand on his next cruise. Angas and Seay’ won the doubles title in a very simple way’. There were no tactics shown They' won because thcy r returned the .serve more often than the Frances and because in the majority' of volleying duels the Canterbury- men returned the ball the

oftener. Angas paid an unconscious tribute to Seay r ’s ability by seldom poaching, and once or twice in the semi-final gave way' for Seay' to take the smash. Seay’s more spectacular play appealed to the onlookers, but the sting in Angas’s drives and volleys and the few errors was a big factor in the result. The poor “gate” at the champion ships will revive the agitation to have the New Zealand meeting play’ed at the latter end of January', instead of at the beginning. Don France was. quite emphatic about it, contending that in Wellington there had been little chance for play on the grass before Christmas.; One of the reasons that the championships were altered this year back to the original Christmas date was because the tennis public of Christchurch was expected to flock to Wilding Park in the holiday's. This they failed to do. There is a sound argument that championships should be decided at. the close of a season and not at the start, but they have been played at Christmas, with one exception, for so many years, and the champions have always been the best we have, so there is little need to change A further argument against altering the dates is that the Wimbledon championships take place in the middle of June, which corresponds to our December, and no one say's the winners are not fit. There is, of course, the question of the weather. The end of January is a better month for good weather than Decern ber all over New Zealand. In 1923 two young women players, says the “Otago Daily Times*” leaped into fame at Wimbledon and astonished the assembled thousands by' the sparkling form they displayed. As they' worked their way through to the final the spectators were captivated by their dashing style, and in almost every' round they recovered from losing positions, bringing off spectacular victories, much to the delight of the cKnvd. In the final round these two young play'ers were matched against Miss Rvan and Mdlle Lenglen, two very noted play'ers. They were Miss Evelyn Colyer and Miss Joan Austin, and they forced the champions to the limit to obtain victory. These two juniors became the darlings of the crowd, and were given all sorts of peti names. With their bobbed hair and simple sleeveless dresses, athletic without any sacrifice of delicate feminine charm, they.' made a picture, sunny', yet cool. Attack and aggression was their watchword, and they rushed the net with the fleetness of foot of champion runners. What a dashing pair they w’ere. Miss Joan Austin became Mrs Randolph Ly'cett. and still plays in big tennis. Miss Colyer, who was a daughter of Sir Frank Colyer. the wellknown British dental surgeon was married early in the y'ear to Mr Hamish Munro, a tea planter in Assam Now the tragic news of her death has come to hand. Mrs Munro’s death followed thirteen days after the birth of twin children—a boy and. a. girl. The girl died lour days after birth, and the boy died a week after the mother. Tennis

players must read with regret of the passing of this fine player. She regarded life as a great adventure. Her temperament found expression in the way in which she followed and played the game. There was a touch of adventure in her brief engagement arfd marriage, and in her death she entered on the last Great Adventure at the early age of 27, before she had really attained to her full womanhood. DRAW FOR SIXTH ROUND j OF CLUB COMPETITIONS. It lias been decided that no matches in connection with the senior grade inter-=club competition shall take place cn January 10, 1931. Matches in connection with the sixlf round, section I. of the inter-club complayed on January 10, as follows: Grade A, ' Section I.—-Sixth round: Opawa v. Lin wood, at Wilding- Park grass courts Nos. 9 and 10; Woolston v. Cathedral, Nos 11 and Li; Avonside v. Spreydon. Nos. 13 and 14: Riccarton v. Shirley. Nos 15 and Ifi; Edgeware v. St Albans, Nos. 23 and 21. Grade 33, Section I.—Sixth round: Opawa v. Linwood, at Linwood; St Marv Avonside, at Wilding Park courts Nos. 1 and 2; Woolston v. Shirley, at Woolston; Redcliffs v. Hornby, at Wilding Park courts Nos. 3 and 4; Cathedral v. St Albans, Wilding Park, courts Nos. 9 and 10. Grade C, Section I.—Sixth round: North Linwood v. Papanui, at Wilding Park courts Nos. 11 and 12; St Martins v. St James’s, at Wilding Park courts and 20. Waimairi v. Riccarton, at Riccarton; Redcliffs v. Avonside, at Wilding Park courts Nos. 13 and 14. Grade D, Section I.—Sixth round: Wesley v. Cathedral 1., at Cathedral; Woolston v. Barrington, at Wilding Park courts Nos. 5 and 6; C.S. Baptist v. St Mary’s 1., at Wilding Park courts Nos. 7 and S; St John’s v. Edgeware, at Wilding Park courts Nos. 15 and IG.