TENNIS NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 956, 28 December 1933, Page 13

TENNIS NOTES.

N.Z. Championships Should Produce Great Play.

(By

“BASELINE.”)

On Saturday the New Zealand chainpionships will begin. Even in the early stages the play will be interesting, while before the semi-finals are reached there should be great tennis. To have visitors like E. D. Andrews and C. Sproule competing is a privilege to a country situated in one of the corners of the world. Andrews is no certainty this year, for Sproule, the Australian Davis Cup player, is in his class. Sproule led Vines 7-3, 7-5 and 5-1 when Vines was in Australia. He had match point twice, and in one case Vines made a fluke shot that left him apologetic. Sproule has had the misfortune to have been overshadowed by Crawford, who has put him out in two finals and also in more than ope semifinal. Those who saw Sproule practising at Wilding Park on Tuesday saw a greater player than when he was here with Kahns. In his doubles play he out-volleyed Andrews, and his net attack was daring but perfectly controlled.

Angas is the unluckiest player in the draw, and Malfroy is the luckiest. Out of courtesy, the firs! two players seeded were Sproule and Donohoe, and after them Andrews and Malfroy. The luck of the draw put Angas in the top half with Sproule and Andrews. Barnett is better treated, even though he is against Donohoe. The latter would be a greater singles player if he did not get so much enjoyment out of genuinely applauding his opponents's good shots. The tennis race is to the dour. Donohoe was launching a stinging sliced forehand at practice, and if Barnett can slow the game down, Donohoe is too much of a D'Artagnan to put the ball across more than a couple of times. Malfroy’s path looks easy till he meets either Donohoe or Barnett, and from then on to the final should be possible, when he meets either Angas, Sproule or Andrews. It might be considered out of place to consider Angas as a possibility for the finals. If Angas can take a set of? Andrews he can take three. His game is now faster and he retains aII his old tenacity and brilliance overhead and at the net. He will play with all the care-free abandon of not holding the title, and yet with the knowledge that he has held it twice. Angas does not go out on to the court beaten. Against Sproule he will give his best.

The doubles do not appear so open. Sproule and Donohoe should win. Sproule has won the New South Wales championsip with Crawford, and Donohoe is an Australian doubles champion. Malfroy and Seay are the holders of the title and will go well with Angas and Barnett as possibilities. Bartleet. and Sturt, by their form in the Wilding Shield play, are not very impressive.

The Australian team will add interest to the women’s singles. Although the team is a good one, the standard is not a great deal higher than our own. The draw assumes that; Miss Yalkenburg, Mrs Dykes,. Miss Nicholls and Miss Bickerton will be in the semifinals. From this stage there will be a large gallery. In the doubles, the Australians will probably win, with the most opposition corning from Mrs Dykes, Mrs Adams and Miss Nicholls and Mrs Melody. The combined doubles will not lack onlookers, with Andrews and Miss Ilall, Donohoe and Miss Yalkenberg, Sproule and Miss Dingle, Malfroy and Mies Macfarlane, and Sturt and Miss Nicholls participating. 3 3 3 We pride ourselves on Wilding Park, hut there are good judges who assert that the grass courts there are ruining Canterbury players. The courts are too perfect: they do not get enough play ——that is the opinion of a Davis Cup player. lie says that the courts need play and more play to tread out the mat of grass roots that has formed a cushion in I‘he top-dressing.

Air Murray Kean considers that the courts are on the slow side. He js a great believer in fast, courts. Mr Kean proves his arguments from the honours lists and points out the number of champions who have come oft' hard

Tilden. too, believed that the game could be best mastered on fast court services. Andrews, Malfroy, Ferkins, Barnett, Robertson, Bedford, Arita l-lowe, Dulcie Nicholls, Noeline Bishop, Jessie and Vera Burns—all our great juniors—are products of hard courts. It is a bit of a blow to hear that Wilding Park is the downfall of our tennis, but there is no doubt that something has happened In recent years. This is, no reflection on Mr Haile, Wilding Park’s greenkeeper, but the soil there is not suitable for grass courts. One sary will have to be imported from Auckland. Tuesday witnessed the opening scene in the Casket play. The choruses sang and danced prettily. Yesterday, the principals appeared. Miss Nicholls played Miss Macfarlane and Mrs Dykes played Mjsy Newton (Auckland). How wonderful was the tennis. The filial set between Misses Nicholls and Macfarlane was full of thrills, every point being contested valiamly. Twice Miss Nicholls had the odd game and once Miss Macfarlane. Miss Macfarlane had a match point and Miss Nicholls’s bail just clipped the outside of the side-line. She was lucky to get the decision. Another sixteenth of an inch and the ball would have been out: thus .are matches decided. That ball determined whether Miss Macfarlane or Miss Nicholls received the congratulations. There was more artistry in Miss Nicholls’s game. Neither played purely defensive shots. The return of serve was always to a corner, and every bit of angle was taken advantage of. Irreproachable forehands and backhands were seen, and the control of length could rot have been better. Miss Nicholls used the short ball and drop shot to tire her opponent. and like Malfroy in the last game against Sturt, made sure of the final game by unwinding stinging serves. They are great match clinchers. The stage was cleared to show Mrs Dykes and Miss Newton. After seeing flawless tennis in the previous match, a contest between two masters of the women's games, it was still a relief to watch Mrs Dykes. She does not play woman's tennis: she plays the man’s game and. after all. that is real tennis. The smash and volley, and the stinging drive are tennis, and Mrs? Dykes is our one exponent. Her mantle will fall on Miss Thelma Poole. Yesterday, after seeing Mfss Poole cutting off returns of service from three-quarters the way across the net and smashing from the baseline, one could have no doubt about her future. Miss Newton has a hopeless backhand, yet it could be seen that on her day she would be a breaker of reputations. Bet us hope that she goes a good distance in the championships for she has brought a new kind of tennis. It is one of the wonders of this sport that the game is still filled with possibilities for an original thinker. Miss Newton showed drop shots that for delicacy of touch were masterpieces. She hit flat drives half way along the sideline from behind the service line. By a delayed hit she need Mrs Dykes several times. Mins Newton goes to (lie net and. with a flick of the wrist, the hull is a cod. Miss Newton led 5-1 in the first set arid then Mrs Dykes turned her guns on her opponent's btvfrk ll ;;nd and spoilt what promised to be a good match.