LAWN TENNIS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 279, 28 November 1935, Page 4

LAWN TENNIS

AUSTRALIAN TENNIS N.Z. PLAYERS RETURN. .VALUABLE EXPERIENCE. WELLINGTON, Nov. 26. Despite the fact that they were unsuccessful in the championship matches in Australia, members of the New Zealand women’s tennis team have gained valuable experience. Four of the players, Misses E. Rudkin, T. A. and I. Poole (Canterbury), and D. Miller (North Otago 4 , returned yesterday by the Makura from Sydney. Miss D. Nicholls, New Zealand champion, who will not be returning to the Dominion until next month, put up the best performance by reacuiug the semi-final in the New South Wales championship. She was beaten by Miss Joan Hartigan, who is top of the ranking list in Australia. Speaking to a Post representative, Miss Rudkiu said she gained the impression that at the start of tho tour the Australians expected the New Zealanders to be better than they wore. Improved form was sh«iwn later. The New Zealanders, said Miss Rud kin, found conditions strange when they first arrived. During the tour they played on three different kinds of courts, and this imposed a strain upon them. The team had a bad trip across the Tasman, and it took them about a week to get into form. They engaged in a match soon after their arrival, and three or four days later they played in an inter-State match. In the New South Wales championships the New Zealanders survived the first and second rounds, but collapsed after that with the exception of Miss Nicholls, who reached the semi-final. Miss Rudkin was very enthusiastic about the hospitality accorded the team. Everywhere they want, nbo said, they received an excellent reception.

In Miss Budkin’s opinioh, th-e standard of women's tennis in Australia is much higher than in New Zealand. This was accounted for, perhaps, by the fact that players entered the game at the age of nine or ten. By the time they reached eighteen or nineteen they were almost veterans. One of the most marvellous players in Australia today was Miss Thelma Coyne, who was on!}’ seventeen years of age. She had a style very much like Jack Crawford’s. Miss Nicholls met her, and was beaten in two sets. In the final of the New South Wales championships Aliss Coyne completely outclassed Miss Hartigan, although the latter did not show her best form. Among the younger men tennis players J. Bromwich, aged sixteen, was one of the most outstanding. Be played just as sound tennlj with cither