TENNIS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19990, 5 November 1927, Page 4

TENNIS

ST. JOHN’S CLUB EXTENSION OF ENTRIES DATE. At the committee meeting of the St. John’s Club last Tuesday evening it was decided to extend the closing of entries for the handicap events until the week-end. MECHANICAL GENIUS LACOSTE’S EVEN TEMPER. METEORIC RISE TO FAME.

J. Rene Lacoste, of France, may fairly claim to be the champion tennis player in the world this year, writes Pat. O’Hara Wood in the Melbourne Sporting Globe. Although beaten by his compatriot, Borotra, at Wimbledon, Lacoste has won the singles championships of France and America, and in addition he defeated both Tilden and Johnston in the challenge round of the Davi« Cup. Lacoste is a mechanical genius, and his rise to fame has been meteoric Five years ago he was unknown, and, in fact, a mere beginner. He had one fixed idea in his head, and that was to become the champion player of tjie world, and all his tennis has been played with that idea in view. Unlike the majority of his fellowcountrymen, and most of the Continental people, ho is blessed with a calm and equable temperament to a very marked degree. He does not get

excited and upset, and h© is a gam® fighter. He is a keen student of the game, and in his practice games he works out theories and methods of attack and defence. He analyses the game of every player he has met or watched, and makes a note of their strength and weakness. In fact, he has a book in which ho writes down, his impressions of his opponents and anything about their game that he considers worth remembering. Lacoste is not too proud to learn, something from the veriest beginner, and all the knowledge he acquires is tabulated in his brain and produced when the occasion demands it. His actual play is not particularly inspiring to watch. He is not spectacular, and he has no outstanding strength, but he has ffo weakness at all, and, following in the footsteps of the famous Suzanne Lenglen, he has eliminated errors from his game as far as is humanly possible. When at his best he is a veritable machine. Every shot, no matter how hard, is returned into play, not softly, but with purpose behind it. To beat Lacoste his opponent must make a larger number of outright winners than errors, as the French champion gives nothing away in the matter of mistakes.

He is only 23 now, and should have another 10 years at least of championship tennis, and if he continues to improv® at the same rate as in the past five years, there is no knowing what he will be able to do.